Fisher gave the Sister one of her best scowls, just to make it clear who was really in charge here, and then followed her through a series of stairs and corridors to a plain anonymous door on the second floor. The Sister bowed deeply and left her there. Fisher knocked once, and walked straight in without waiting for an answer. The room was luxurious without being overbearing, and the furnishings had the understated elegance of old money. Fisher wondered fleetingly just how old the Sisters’ establishment was, and then fixed her attention on Charles Buchan. He was standing stiffly beside a chair on which sat a beautiful young woman, a pale willowy blonde barely into her twenties.
Is that it?
thought Fisher.
All this secrecy, just because he’s fallen for a girl young enough to be his daughter?
And yet... there was something wrong with the scene. She turned and pushed the door shut, to give herself a moment to think. Buchan’s attitude; that was what was wrong. As soon as she turned back, she recognised what it was. Buchan didn’t look ashamed, or indignant, or obsessed with the girl; he looked protective toward her, as though all that mattered was protecting the Sister from Fisher. If he cared at all about being found out, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it. He met Fisher’s gaze unwaveringly.
“Captain Fisher. I should have known you’d find us out, if anyone would.”
Fisher shrugged. “I don’t like secrets. I take it personally when people hide things from me. Particularly when it affects a case we’re supposed to be working on together.”
“There’s no connection between this and the God murders, Captain. You have my word on that. Annette, I’d like you to meet Captain Fisher, one of my colleagues on the God Squad. Captain, this is Annette. My daughter.”
Annette smiled at Fisher, who just stood there, completely thrown.
“Why don’t we all sit down?” Buchan suggested. “This is going to take some explaining.”
“Yes,” said Fisher. “I think it is.”
Buchan pulled up a chair beside Annette, and Fisher sat on a chair facing them. Buchan took a deep breath and plunged straight in.
“Annette’s mother was a young Lady from a rival Family. The heads of our Families weren’t talking to each other, and there had even been a few duels. Nothing unusual, but it was all very tense, and the worst possible time for us to meet and fall in love. But we were young and foolish, and nothing mattered to us except each other. We were going to run away and be married secretly. We even had some naive hopes that our marriage would bring the Families back together again.
“But she became pregnant. Her Family found out, and when she wouldn’t name the father, they sent her out of the city to stay with relatives until it was all over. She died giving birth to Annette. Her Family let everyone assume the child was dead, too. They weren’t interested in raising some bastard half-breed mongrel, so they gave her to the city orphanage.
“I went a little crazy after I heard my love was dead. I’d do anything, for a laugh or a thrill or just to fill my time. I chased women endlessly, trying to find someone who could replace the one I’d lost. Finally it all got out of hand, and I ended up on the God Squad. It was interesting work, and it passed the time. And then I came here, on business for the Squad, and found Annette. She looked just like her mother. I investigated her background, and worked out who she was. I thought about it for a long time, and then came here and introduced myself.
“She’s very precious to me. For all my affairs, Annette is my only child. We sit and talk for hours.
“But somehow word of my visits to this house got out, at least in High Society, and I couldn’t explain why I came here. Someday Annette may choose to leave this place and take her rightful place in High Society. The Quality must never know of her time here. They can be very old-fashioned about some things. So, I decided to let people think what they liked about my visits to the Sisters of Joy. My friends and family disowned me, and the Quality turned their back on me. But Annette’s secret was safe. The rest you know.”
Fisher shook her head slowly. “That is so crazy a story it has to be true.”
“Will you keep our secret?” said Buchan. “For her sake, if not for mine.”
“Sure,” said Fisher. “Why not? Hawk will have to know, but I don’t see any reason why it should go any further.” She looked at Annette. “Are you happy here, lass? Really happy? If they’ve got any kind of hold over you, I can take care of it. No one’s stupid enough to upset me and Hawk. If you want to leave, just say the word. I’ll escort you out of here right now.”
Annette smiled and shook her head. “Thank you, Captain, but I’m quite happy here. As I keep telling my father, I wasn’t brainwashed into joining the Sisters of Joy, there isn’t any geas keeping me here, and if I want to leave I’m perfectly free to do so at any time. The Sisterhood is a vocation, and one I believe in. How many other religions do you know that are simply dedicated to making people happy? Perhaps someday, I’ll feel differently, but even then I don’t think I’ll be joining High Society. From what I’ve heard of the Quality, I doubt we’d get on. In the meantime, my father and I have each other. No one ever told me who my father was. I never dreamed it would turn out to be the legendary Charles Buchan.”
Buchan stirred uncomfortably. “You don’t want to pay too much attention to those stories, Annette.”
“Why? Aren’t they true?”
“Well, yes. Most of them. But I’m a reformed character, now I’ve found you.”
Annette raised an eyebrow. “Reformed? You?”
Buchan grinned. “Partly reformed.”
Father and daughter laughed quietly together. Fisher got to her feet, feeling decidedly superfluous, and wished them both goodbye. They favoured her with a quick smile and a wave. Fisher smiled quickly in return and left them to each other.
The Dead Dog Tavern was a seedy little dive in the Northside, not that far from the Street of Gods. The air was full of smoke, the sawdust on the floor hadn’t been changed in weeks, and the only reason the drinks weren’t watered was that the patrons would have lynched the innkeeper if he’d tried it. Hawk and Fisher had used the Dead Dog as a meeting place before. It was the kind of place where everyone minded his own business, and expected everyone else to do likewise. Or else. Having Hawk and Fisher around didn’t keep people away; the other patrons just kept their voices down and one eye always on the nearest exit. Hawk and Fisher liked the Dead Dog because it was quiet and convenient and nobody bothered them. There weren’t many places like that in the Northside.
Hawk glared into his ale, gave a frustrated sigh, and slouched down in his chair. “Dammit, we’re getting nowhere with this case, Isobel. No matter which way we turn, we end up going round and round in bloody circles.”
Fisher took a healthy drink from her mug, and shook her head. “Don’t give up now, Hawk. We’re getting close; I can feel it. Look; we know how the God murders took place. Somebody used the Exorcist Stone. That tells us who; it has to be one of the God Squad. Did you notice that when we talked about Bode’s death, and the lack of magic at his house, none of them even mentioned the Exorcist Stone as a possible murder weapon? Significant, that. All we have to do is find a way to narrow it down from three suspects to one.”
“It’s not that simple, Isobel, and you know it. First, the Council put a geas on all of them, specifically to prevent them misusing the Stone. If the compulsion spell had somehow been broken, the Council would have known immediately. And second, we still don’t have a motive for the murders. What do any of them have to gain by killing Gods?”
They sat in silence for a while, nursing their ale.
“Let’s go over everybody again, one at a time,” said Hawk. “The one thing the three of them have in common is that they all have secrets. Buchan has a daughter who’s a Sister of Joy. Tomb has broken God Squad rules by worshipping Le Bel Inconnu. And Rowan is dying of cancer and doesn’t want the others to know about it. Secrets often make for good motives. People will do desperate things to keep a secret hidden.
“So, suppose the dead Gods knew about Buchan’s daughter. Priests do talk to each other, even when they’re supposed to be enemies. They’re in the same line of business, after all. Word could have got around. What if the murdered Gods had tried to use that knowledge, to put pressure on Buchan to look the other way on occasion? It could be a very handy thing for a Being to have a member of the God Squad in his pocket.”
“It’s a nice idea,” said Fisher. “But I don’t think it’s Buchan. In order to come and go without being seen by the Gods’ followers, the killer must have had access to some kind of sorcery, and Buchan doesn’t have any. He had to use an ordinary disguise when he went to visit his daughter, remember? And besides, if he’d had any magic, he’d have used it against that creature at the Hellfire Club, wouldn’t he?”
“Not necessarily,” said Hawk. “He could be trying to put us off the scent by not using magic when we’re around. He might have known you were following him.”
Fisher sniffed. “Firstly, if he’d known I was following him, he wouldn’t have led me to the Sisters and revealed his secret. Secondly, I don’t really think Buchan’s that clever, to be honest. He’s famed for many things, but subtlety’s not one of them. I think we’d be better off taking a hard look at Tomb. Now, he has a motive that makes sense. If the Council know about his private God, they’d throw him off the Squad, and Tomb’s put a lot of time and effort into making the God Squad a force to be reckoned with. He might see a threat to himself as a threat to the Squad, and act accordingly. So, if another Being had found out, and threatened to tell on him ... Hey, wait a minute, I’ve just had another thought. What if the God killings were some kind of sacrifice to Tomb’s God? To make it stronger, more powerful?”
“Could be,” said Hawk, thinking about it. “Certainly Tomb’s got enough sorcery to get in and out of the churches undetected.”
“And he certainly knew his way around when he showed us the murder sites earlier on.”
“No. We can’t single him out on that. According to the informer Lacey, all of the God Squad had visited the dead Beings previously.”
“All right,” said Fisher. “Forget that. But the rest fits.”
“It still doesn’t explain how he broke the geas without the Council circle of sorcerers knowing. That’s supposed to be impossible.”
Fisher nodded reluctantly. “All right. Let’s leave Tomb for a moment and look at Rowan. She’s got enough sorcery to move unseen, and she’s certainly got no love for the Gods.”
“Sure,” said Hawk. “But what’s her motive?”
“Revenge,” said Fisher. “She’s dying, and she wants to kill as many of the Gods she despises as she can before she dies.”
“That’s pushing it a bit, isn’t it?”
Fisher shrugged. The two of them drank more ale, their scowls deepening as they struggled with the problem. People around them took in the danger signs, quietly finished their drinks, and made for the exits.
“I don’t know,” said Hawk. “Whatever motives the God Squad have, I keep coming back to the geas. Either one of them’s found a way round the compulsion spell, which is supposed to be impossible, or it has to be somebody else. Maybe it’s really the sorcerer Bode after all, using the Dark Men as weapons. Remember, two of the Gods had been torn apart, which would seem to indicate that the killer had great physical strength.”
“You may have something there,” said Fisher slowly. “But have you ever noticed that the Dark Men never attack us except when the God Squad aren’t around?”
They looked at each other for a moment. “Are you suggesting one of the God Squad is the controlling mind behind the Dark Men?” said Hawk finally.
“Why not? It fits!” Fisher leaned forward excitedly. “That’s how someone on the Squad could use the Exorcist Stone! The geas was placed on a specific person, once that person was in another body—a Dark Man homunculus—he or she became a different individual, free to use the Exorcist Stone without any restraints!”
“You’re right,” said Hawk. “It does fit. I think we’re finally getting somewhere. And it means we can rule out Buchan as the murderer. He was there when the Dark Man attacked us at the Hellfire Club. And anyway, he doesn’t have the sorcery needed to transfer his mind from one body to another. You know, more and more makes sense now. Let’s assume our God Squad murderer is the same person who hired Bode. That’s why Bode sometimes didn’t recognise his friends on the Street of Gods: Someone else was using a duplicate of Bode’s body at the time! Bode’s body could ask questions that a member of the God Squad couldn’t ask without appearing suspicious. Whoever gave Bode his mission wasn’t just hiring Bode as a person, they were also hiring his body! Hell’s teeth, that’s devious.”
“Don’t get too excited,” said Fisher dryly. “We still haven’t got a motive. Let’s try it from a different angle. What was Bode, or the person inside Bode’s body, looking for on the Street of Gods?”
“Ways of getting to the Beings?”
“No, they already knew how to do that as part of the God Squad.” Fisher scowled, and doodled aimlessly in the spilt ale on the table. “Bode, or whoever was inside his double, was asking questions about the Gods themselves. Their histories, their powers, their natures. It was the answers to these questions that marked the Beings for death.”