The Castle: A Cumbria Crime Novella by Rachel McLean and Joel Hames, book 0.5 in the Cumbria Crime series - Chapter 1

It was going to be a hot morning, Guy thought. But not for a few hours. In the meantime, the only way he was getting any warmth into his body would be by moving it. Fast.

The sun wasn’t visible yet, but the sky was beginning to lighten as the ruins of Egremont Castle came into view. The hill rose before him as he peeled off the main road and onto the path. Last week he’d slowed down here, afraid his legs wouldn’t take it. When he’d told his daughter, she’d smiled at him: a patient, sympathetic smile that had made him all the more determined to improve. Today, a week fitter, he forced his legs up and down, his breath coming in gasps as he emerged from the trees and took a shortcut across the dew-laden grass to the castle.

Or what had once been a castle. All that was left of the near thousand-year-old building were its walls, and the remains of the gatehouse Guy now ran through.

He felt his heart quicken, the acid building in his legs, the ache beginning to spread.

It was good, that ache. It told him he was working, he was doing something, getting somewhere. And it had come on later than last week, too. Through the gatehouse as the tip of the sun burst into view over the wall opposite, then three laps of the inner path, anticlockwise this time, the walls towering then dipping beside him. He slowed for the second lap and put on another burst of speed for the final one, then out through the path at the far corner, beside where the Great Hall had once stood.

Downhill now, on uneven ground, his knees jarred. He headed back into the trees and passed a man lying asleep or drunk in the shadows. The man would be cold there, despite it being a hotter-than-usual September. The dew would have soaked into his clothes and chilled his bones.

Guy turned his head as he passed, wondering if he should wake him. How long had he been there? His clothes were wet. Darkness was seeping through his t-shirt.

Guy slowed.

The man wore a white t-shirt. And the darkness that had spread through it – it wasn’t entirely black. It wasn’t grey, either. It was…

Guy gave a final, disappointed look ahead – this would have been his best run to date – and stopped. He turned and took three steps back towards the ruin.

It’s just the sunrise. The sun’s rays could add colour to something bland and monochrome. Could even make a white t-shirt look like… like something different. It was just the sunrise.

Except the sun hadn’t reached the man yet. He lay on his back in the shadows, motionless, his mouth hanging open. Guy stepped towards him.

Red. The stain on the man’s t-shirt was dark red.

“Hello?” he said.

Nothing.

“Hello?” he repeated, louder, watching for a twitch, for any sign that the man was even breathing.

Still nothing.

Another step closer.

The stain was darker at its centre. Thicker.

Guy bent down and listened at his mouth.

Silence. He watched the chest, trying not to look at the blood. It was blood, he couldn’t deny it now. Trying to detect any movement at all.

Nothing.

Without taking his eyes off the man, Guy reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He glanced down to unlock it and press the numbers, then held it to one ear.

“Hello?” he said. “I think… an ambulance, please. And the police, I think.” He stopped. “Please.”

Why was he being so polite? So English?

“Yes,” he said. “I’m at Egremont Castle. There’s a man here with blood all over his chest, and I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”