The ABC Affair: Stonehenge. Chapter 3 Letter C

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Chapter 1, Chapter 2

THE PROMPT: CIRCLE



“Well with that, shall we get down to business Doctor Goodwin-Walker?” Illya attempted to get the conversation back on track.

“Yes, of course, and please just call me Ellery,” the doctor said. “As you can see the body bags are still here. I had them kept here at the site rather than having them sent to headquarters. They’ve been put into a small refrigeration truck for safekeeping, it’s located behind the tent.”

“May we see them?”Napoleon asked.

“Of course, though they’re all pretty much the same. We can start with this fellow I call subject A.” She unzipped the black body bag and revealed the well preserved corpse.

The agents peered down at it and other than the throat having been sliced from ear to ear, the body appeared undamaged and remarkably ‘fresh’ given its so-called age.

The wound was barely visible beneath the man’s bushy brown beard. That was scruffy and unkempt as was his longer hair. His skin though pale was smudged and dirty, presumably the conditions one would be living in the Neolithic age were not exactly hygienic. Life for them was a bit ‘earthy’ to say the least as they were not only hunters but farmers as well. It was a rough, rural existence.

The doctor held up some articles of clothing.

“This is what he was dressed in; it’s a plain woven cloth, with one system of threads much closer together. There are about 32 threads per inch, and about 10 threads per inch in the wide-set system. There was a dress accessory bone pin used to fashion the garment closed, similar to those found in Skara Brae from Late Neolithic Orkney. His shoes were made of stitched animal skins with no sign of tanning, also typical of the period.”

“I presume clothing typical of a Neolithic man in the U.K.” Illya said. “Have the pin and skins been radiocarbon dated?”

“Yes, typical. All of the bodies are dressed exactly the same, and I mean exactly, right down to every stitch. That’s a bit unusual, to say the least. I’m waiting for the radiocarbon results.”

“Anything else unusual? “Solo asked.

“The bodies were found on the perimeter of the henge, creating an incomplete circle.”

“All died the same way?”

“Yes. Initially I was told they tested to be from the Neolithic period but after arriving and doing my own examinations I have discovered something strange and perhaps sinister.”

“What’s more sinister than a circle of dead cavemen who look like they just died?” Napoleon asked.

“They aren’t from the Neolithic period. Somehow, someone has altered their body chemistry. These are modern men, but why someone made them appear to be from the past, I have no idea. If you’ll pardon the pun, the dead give away without even involving any tissue samples is the fact that some of the men have dental fillings. Some composite resins, others amalgam fillings.”

“For someone to have gone to so much trouble to pass these corpses off as Neolithic people but to have left this obvious bit of modern dentistry makes no sense,” Illya said.

“Agreed, “ the doctor said. “Why they seem to have been ritually murdered is a mystery as well. Oh and all their throats were slit with a serrated blade...not exactly a Neolithic tool. Their tongues have been removed as well.”

Neither agent reacted to that gruesome detail...

“Were they all killed at the same time?” Solo asked.

“No, the bodies have mysteriously appeared over the last few days.”

“Appeared as in manifested?”

“No one has seen them being deposited, though there have been reports of ghostly images near the site,.” Walker said. “After which a new body is added.”

“Could this be all leading to the Summer Solstice perhaps?” Illya asked. “It is coming up very soon. There are some who hypothesize that Stonehenge was the site of some sort of ceremonial killings.

“That’s a very good point, Mister Kuryakin.”

“You may call me Illya, since you prefer being less formal with names.”  His demeanor was placid and emotionless.

“Yes, ahem, and you can call me Napoleon...Ellery. Now that that’s out of the way, I think I have to point out a possible fly in the ointment as far as our investigation is concerned.”

“And what’s that?” She asked.

“The film crew from the BBC,” Solo’s brow furrowed.

Chapter 4