Not only is the body gone. The whole interior of the cabin has been thoroughly cleaned, top to bottom. no blood, no flies, and a lingering odour of bleach. We are of course, all of us completely perplexed. We sat on the stoop of the porch of the cabin, since there appeared to be room enough for all four of us to sit down and take a load off, plus, the place was cool and shady. No one said anything, we just sat there feeling both relieved and defeated. Still there were no birds singing, but I could hear a raven calling from a distance. Then two ravens, as though holding a conversation.
It was Rhona who gave the call, and we got up and returned the the mansion. No one exchanged so much as a word on the way back. After lunch, we all sat out on the verandah. There wasn't any work to do and we really wanted to stick together for mutual support. It was Lydia who asked Rhona about the deceased.
Oh, yes, Russell, she said. He escaped from our group last year and fell in the hands of a rival cult, one that is particularly evil and demonic. There had been an ongoing quiet war between groups. The group, I think, really wanted this house, and so would wage little acts of terror and vandalism against the place in the hopes they could drive us out. In a way, they won.
Russell, you see, was Philip, our leader's son...
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