Free 3 A Basis for Murder by Morgana Best Page B

made a show of sipping coffee.
    Douglas continued, "SI7 is a covert British government department for investigating the paranormal and the occult. Have you heard of MI7?"
    I shook my head and said, "I don't much about anything, it seems." Douglas tried to pat my hand but I pulled it away and cut up the hash brown.
    "I suppose the simplest way to put it is that MI7 is like MI6, but investigates the paranormal and occult. Of course, the government denies that MI7 does this at all, and says that it was simply set up around a hundred years ago to deal with censorship and propaganda. The government has put out a great deal of misinformation about it to cover their tracks. The organization Jamie works for, SI7, is similar to MI7."
    I overwhelmed and upset by his disclosure, and it didn't help that I was so tired. Why hadn't Jamie told me this? He had always kept the name of his organization from me. It wasn't even set out on any of the forms I'd had to sign. Why was it that Douglas was the one to tell me this, while Jamie had avoided it? My stomach clenched, and the smell of the food was suddenly making me nauseous.
    It took me a moment or so to realize that Douglas was still talking. "And so you need to go out to Bakers Creek Falls," he concluded.
    I didn't like to admit that I hadn't heard a single word he'd said, so asked, "Say that again please, but in more detail."
    Douglas finished the last of his meal before answering. "There isn't much more detail I can give you; it's quite straightforward. The Orpheans want you to go back out to Bakers Creek Falls where you found the body. I'm here to give you your assignment."
    "But..." I caught myself just in time. I had nearly said, I already have an assignment . "Douglas, did you have anything to do with that murder?"
    Douglas looked affronted. He clutched at his chest. His expression was one of complete innocence. "Of course not! How could you say such a thing?"
    I shrugged, and motioned for him to continue.
    Douglas cast a quick look around the café before speaking. "Your assignment is to find out if there's a spirit that's behind that murder, as well as the previous murders, you know, the massacres and all. Then you are to find out the name of that spirit and report the name to me."
    Now that was suspicious. "Lucky I'm already in town researching Hillgrove's ghosts for my magazine," I said dryly, carefully studying Douglas's face for any reaction.
    There was none. He sat there as cool as a cucumber. All he said was, "Yes, that's good."
    We both sat in silence for a moment, and then he asked, "By the way, have you heard from Jamie lately?"
    Well that threw me. "Why do you want to know?" I asked, doing my best not to sound rude.
    Douglas shrugged. "Just curious. Anyway, The Orpheans want you to find out that spirit's name as soon as possible."
    I couldn't have been more suspicious if I tried. I had never trusted Douglas, and now I trusted him even less.
    What was I to do? I figured that I might as well go to Bakers Creek Falls and see if I could pick up the presence of any evil entity. That was my assignment from SI7 anyway, and so far I had made zero progress with internet research. It was time for a bit of field research.
    By the time I'd walked back to Brandon's, fed Diva lunch, and then headed out to Bakers Creek Fall, I felt a fuzzy headache coming on. I parked at the Lookout, downed two headache tablets, swallowed half the bottle of water that I had in the car from yesterday, took a pen and my notepad, and locked the car. There was no other human in sight.
    I walked over the viewing platform again. Although I had been here recently with Melissa, and although the last time I was here I’d found a dead body, I was again was in awe at the scenery. I knew from the guide book that it was a two thousand and seven hundred foot perpendicular drop over massive granite cliffs into the bottom of the gorge. The Bakers Creek Mine was at the bottom of the gorge. I took out a photocopy of a