Murder on High (34 page)

Authors: Stefanie Matteson

BOOK: Murder on High

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“Would you like to officiate at this ceremony?” she asked.

“Keith, you have your drum!” Didias said.

“That I do,” he said. “We did some drumming before we set out,” he explained. Reaching into his backpack, he produced a hand drum, and a drumstick wrapped with leather strips. “I’ll do a chant,” he said.

For a few minutes, Keith pounded on the drum, a fast, steady beat. Then he began to chant. It started out low, and then rose in volume and pitch, like the wind that had roared through the basin a short while before.

It was an eerie, primitive sound; a sound that had reverberated in the Maine wilderness for ten thousand years.

Keith chanted for ten minutes to the accompaniment of the drum. When he had finished, Charlotte unscrewed the cap of the bottle, took a swig, and passed it around. They each took a drink.

“Iris would have thought of this as drinking the blood of the enemy,” Keith said as he took his swallow.

Then Charlotte stepped over to the edge, and emptied the contents of the bottle into the void. “For Pamola,” she said.

And also for Iris, for Linc, for herself, for Ron Polito, and for the dark side of Hollywood history.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Drew Padrutt

ISBN: 978-1-5040-3716-7

This edition published in 2016 by
MysteriousPress.com
/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com