Katherine nodded tiredly. “Yes. I lied about the door being locked. But I didn’t kill William.”
“If you didn’t, then who did?” said Stalker.
“No one,” said Katherine, looking up for the first time. “He committed suicide.”
“What?”
said Fisher. “You have got to be joking!”
Everyone started talking at once. Hawk yelled for quiet, and went on yelling till he got it. The voices died away to a rebellious silence as Hawk glared impartially about him.
“Let’s take this from the beginning,” he said grimly. “Visage, you found Blackstone’s body. Tell us what happened.”
Visage glanced briefly at Dorimant for support, and then began her story in a low whisper.
“I wanted to talk to William. There was something about Gaunt’s house that made me feel uneasy, and I wanted to be sure he was wearing his amulet of protection.”
“The one you designed for him,” said Hawk.
“Yes. Stalker gave me the idea. He’d seen something like it in his travels.”
Hawk looked at Stalker, who nodded. “That’s right, Captain. They’re very common in the East, and with all the recent threats I thought the amulet might be a good idea. I explained the theory to Visage, and she made the amulet for William.”
“All right,” said Hawk. “Go on, Visage.”
“I went to William’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, but the door was ajar, so I pushed it open. William was lying on the floor. I ran over to him and checked his breathing, but he was already dead.”
“Did you touch the knife?” asked Fisher.
“There wasn’t any knife,” said Visage flatly. “When I found William, there wasn’t a mark on him. I saw the wineglass by his hand, and I assumed one of his enemies had poisoned him. I didn’t know what to do. I know I should have gone to you, Captain Hawk, but I was afraid to. I was the one who’d found him, and I thought I’d be blamed.... I panicked, that’s all. I ran back to Graham’s room and told him what I’d found. He was kind to me. He said that we’d go and tell you together, and say that we’d both found the body. We were just getting ready to go downstairs when we heard you breaking down William’s door. And then ... well, we heard about the knife and the locked door, and we didn’t know what to think. Graham never doubted me, but ... In the end, we decided to say nothing. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me, and I didn’t want Graham to get into trouble by supporting me.”
Hawk waited a moment, but Visage said nothing more. He looked at Dorimant. “Is this true? You conspired to conceal evidence in a murder case? Even though the victim was your friend?”
“I had to,” said Dorimant. “You and your partner have a reputation for violence. I had to protect Visage. William would have understood.”
“Let me just check that I’ve got this straight,” said Fisher. “Visage found Blackstone’s body before Katherine did. Only then, the door wasn’t locked and there was no knife wound. Katherine finds the body later, brings us up to see it, but fools us into thinking the door is locked when it isn’t, and never was. And when we find the body, there’s a knife in Blackstone’s chest.” Fisher looked at Katherine. “I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”
Katherine Blackstone looked at the glass of wine in her hand. She hadn’t drunk any. “Captain Hawk was right about the locked door,” she said finally, “But I had to do it. When we first left the parlour and went upstairs to change for dinner, I went to visit Edward Bowman in his room. We were lovers. When I returned to my own room, I pushed the door open to find my husband lying dead on the floor, a half-empty wineglass lying by his hand. Like Visage, I thought immediately of poison, but I knew it wasn’t murder. It was suicide. A few days ago I finally confessed to William about my love for Edward. I was going to divorce my husband, in order to marry Edward. William threatened to kill himself if I left him.” She looked pleadingly at Hawk and Fisher. “Don’t you understand? I
couldn’t
let his death be suicide! The scandal would have destroyed his reputation, and everything he’d achieved. People believed in William; he was Reform. The truth about me and William and Edward would have been bound to come out, and William’s enemies would have used the scandal to undo everything he’d achieved. My life would have been ruined, and Edward’s political career would have been at an end. I had to protect my husband’s reputation, for all our sakes. So I took William’s knife from his boot and thrust it into his chest, to make it look like a murder. As a martyr, William could still serve the party he founded. Particularly, if no murderer was ever found. And how could the killer be found, when there never was any murder?”
There was a long pause. Hightower stirred restlessly.
“That is possibly the most ludicrous story I have ever heard,” he said finally.
“But true,” said Gaunt. “Every word of it. The truthspell is still in force.”
“So William killed himself,” said Dorimant.
“I don’t think so,” said Hawk. “I can see how it would have looked that way to you, Katherine, but I still believe your husband was murdered. You see, the wineglass has mysteriously disappeared from Blackstone’s room.”
“The wine wasn’t poisoned,” said Gaunt. “I checked. I even tasted it myself.”
“It still has to be significant,” said Hawk stubbornly, “or it wouldn’t have been taken. But we can come back to that later. Katherine, is there anything else about your husband’s death that you haven’t told us? Anything else that you’ve concealed from us?”
“No. There’s nothing else. I didn’t kill my husband, and I didn’t kill Edward.”
Hawk thought a moment, and then turned to look at Visage. “Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?”
“No,” said the witch quietly. “William was already dead when I found him. And I don’t know anything about what happened to Edward. Although ...”
“Yes?” said Hawk.
Visage frowned. “There was a funny smell on the landing....”
Hawk waited, but she said nothing more. He turned to face Lord Hightower. “My Lord ...”
“I object to this whole proceeding.”
“Just answer the questions, my Lord. Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?”
“No,” said Lord Roderik. “I did not.”
Hawk looked at him thoughtfully. He couldn’t think of any more specific questions to ask the Lord Hightower, and he had a strong feeling that what answers he did get would be as unhelpful as Hightower could make them. Hawk sighed silently. He could tell Lord Hightower was edgy about something—it was plain in his face and his manner—but there was nothing he could do about it for the moment. If he did put the pressure on, and found nothing to justify his actions ... Hawk turned to the Lady Hightower.
“My Lady, did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?”
“No.”
Hawk looked at her for a moment, but her level eyes and the tight line of her mouth made it clear that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her either. Hawk scowled. The truthspell had seemed like such a good idea at the time.... He turned to Stalker.
“Sir Stalker, did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?”
“No.”
Hawk sat back in his chair and frowned thoughtfully. He’d asked everybody outright, and each had denied being the murderer. That was impossible. One of them had to be the killer, so one of them must be lying. But since the truthspell was still in force, they couldn’t be lying.... He thought hard. He was missing something again; he could feel it.
“Sir Stalker...”
“Yes, Captain Hawk.”
“Whoever the killer is, he must have extensive knowledge of this house, to be able to move about it as freely as he has. Gaunt told me earlier that you had been very insistent in your attempts to buy this house. Perhaps you could tell me why this house is so important to you.”
Stalker hesitated. “I can assure you my reasons have nothing to do with killing Blackstone and Bowman.”
“Please answer the question, sir Stalker.”
“This used to be my home,” said Stalker quietly. “I was born here.”
Everyone gaped at him. Dorimant got his breath back first.
“You mean you’re actually a DeFerrier? I thought they were all dead!”
“They are,” said Stalker. “I’m the last, now. And I prefer to use the name I made for myself. I ran away from home when I was fourteen. My family had become ... corrupt, and I couldn’t stand it any longer. But this house is still my home, and I want it.”
Hawk thought furiously. He and Fisher had only lived in Haven a few years, but he’d heard of the DeFerriers. Everybody had. They were an arrogant and evil family, sexually perverse and heavily involved with black magics of the foulest kind. It took a long time to prove anything against them; they were after all an old, established family, with friends in high places. But then children began to disappear. The Guard finally forced their way into the DeFerrier house, and what they found there shocked even the hardest Guards.... Three DeFerriers were hanged for murder, and two more were torn to pieces in the streets while trying to escape. The others had all died in prison, one way or another. And this was the family that had produced the legendary Adam Stalker, hero and avenger of evil....
“Is that all?” asked Stalker. “I really don’t have anything else I wish to say.”
“Yes,” said Hawk, snapping alert again. “I think I’m finished now. I don’t have any more questions.”
“You may not have,” said Lord Hightower, “but I do.” He looked about him. “There are two people here who haven’t been questioned under the truthspell. Don’t any of you find it suspicious that these murders only began after Hawk and Fisher entered this house?”
“Oh, come on,” said Fisher.
“Wait just a minute,” said Dorimant. “We all know William had enemies. What better way to get to him than by the very Guards who were supposed to be defending him? Who’d ever suspect them?”
“That’s ridiculous!” said Hawk.
“Is it?” said Visage. “We’ve all had to answer under the truthspell. Why shouldn’t you?”
“Very well,” said Fisher. “I didn’t kill Blackstone and Bowman. Hawk, did you kill them?”
“No,” said Hawk. “I didn’t.”
There was a long silence.
“Well, that was a waste of a good truthspell,” said Stalker.
“Right,” said Dorimant. “We’re no nearer finding the murderer than when we parted.”
“It wasn’t a complete waste,” said Hawk. “At least now we know how Blackstone died.”
“And we know the murderer isn’t one of us,” said Visage.
“There’s no one else in this house,” said Gaunt. “There can’t be. One of us has to be the killer.”
“You heard the answers,” said Hawk. “Everyone here denied being the murderer.”
Gaunt frowned unhappily. “Maybe you didn’t word the questions correctly.”
“Grabbing at straws,” growled Lord Hightower.
“If the murderer isn’t one of us, then he must be hiding somewhere in the house,” said Dorimant. “It’s the only explanation!”
“There’s no one else here!” snapped Fisher. “Hawk and I have been through every room, and there isn’t a hiding place we haven’t checked. There’s no one here but us.”
“Exactly,” said Gaunt. “My wards are up and secure. No one could have got in without my knowing about it, and they certainly couldn’t have moved about the house without setting off a dozen security spells. There can’t be anyone else here!”
“All right then, maybe the truthspell was defective!” said Hawk. “That’s the only other answer I can see!”
“I am not in the habit of casting defective spells,” said Gaunt coldly. “My truthspell was effective, while it lasted.”
Fisher looked at him quickly. “While it lasted? You mean it’s over? I thought we had twenty-five minutes.”
Gaunt shrugged. “The more people involved, the greater the strain on the spell. It’s over now.”
“Can you cast another?” asked Dorimant.
“Certainly,” said Gaunt. “But not for another twenty-four hours.”
“Great,” said Hawk. “Just great.”
“All right,” said Stalker. “What do we do now?”
“There is one place we didn’t check as thoroughly as the others,” said Fisher suddenly. “The kitchen.”
Hawk shrugged. “You saw for yourself; there wasn’t anywhere to hide.”
“I think we ought to check it anyway. Just to be sure.”
Hawk looked at Gaunt, who shrugged. Hawk sighed and got to his feet. “All right, Fisher, let’s take another look.” She nodded, and got to her feet. Hawk glared round at the guests. “Everyone else, stay here; that’s an order. I don’t want anyone leaving this room till we get back. Come on, Fisher.”
They left the parlour and went out into the hall, closing the door behind them. Gaunt and his guests sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Visage stirred uncomfortably in her chair, then rose suddenly to her feet.
“I really think we should stay here,” said Gaunt. “It would be safer.”