The Watergate: Muirteach MacPhee Mysteries, #2.5

By Susan McDuffie

In "The Watergate" Muirteach MacPhee accompanies the Lord of the Isles to meet with King Robert II at Urquhart Castle where the death of a beautiful woman draws Muirteach into an even deeper mystery.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Liafinn Press
• Release date: Aug 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9780984790043

Book preview

Liafinn Press

Copyright 2016 by Susan McDuffie

All rights reserved.

This novelette is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

Published by Liafinn Press, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-9847900-4-3

Interior design and formatting by:

www.emtippettsbookdesigns.com

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright 2016 by Susan McDuffie

Books by Susan McDuffie

THE WATERGATE

Muirteach MacPhee Mysteries

A MASS FOR THE DEAD

THE FAERIE HILLS

THE WATERGATE, A Muirteach MacPhee Novelette

THE STUDY OF MURDER

THE DEATH OF A FALCON

Scotland, April 1374

T he next time Himself has a fancy to see the Great Glen, my uncle muttered as the icy rain poured down on us in torrents, I’m hoping I’m not along on the trip.

I could spare little breath to answer my uncle. My bad leg, as well as my back, ached from hours in the saddle. Rivulets of water dripped down my nose and chin as I nodded shortly in agreement and guided my roan horse down the slippery stones on the narrow path. The downpour soon let up, but I shivered, chilled to the bone despite my woolen mantle. The air, this early in the spring, felt clammy.

I wrapped my sodden brat around me a little more tightly and looked around. In front I could see Himself, the Lord of the Isles, and his mounted retainers proceeding in single file down the narrow track, the muted colors of their plaid mantles dulled by the constantly falling rain. Some other chiefs, his lordship’s allies and vassals, also made up part of the party. Behind me servants straggled along with four pack animals. All through that long day of travel we had seen few signs of people besides our own party. No houses, no villages. Just a dark forest hemming in the path, as though grudging our right to pass, and a dark horse watching us from a hillside.

There, my uncle said, as we neared a break in the trees. That will be the loch just ahead.

The loch stretched before us towards the north, metallic gray waters lapping up