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.'
'But what's so important about those questions?' said Hawk. 'Every tourist in the Street asks questions like those.'
'And they end up with tourist answers. But a sorcerer and a member of the God Squad might just get an answer that meant something…' Fisher sat up straight suddenly. 'Hawk, I think I've got it! Remember the Being who was stabbed to death—the Sundered Man? That priestess of his. Sister Anna, was really bitter about his death because it meant she'd wasted her life worshipping something that wasn't really a God after all! I don't know about the last death, the Lord of the New Flesh, but both the other dead Beings died when the Exorcist Stone removed all the magic from their vicinity. The Dread Lord fell apart, and the Carmadine Stalker aged to death. That's what Bode and his employer were looking for on the Street of Gods: proof that a Being wasn't a God after all but just a supernatural creature with magic powers and a following.'
'Not quite,' said Hawk suddenly. 'Turn it around. They weren't looking for Beings among the Gods; they were trying to find one real God among the Beings, and killing the ones who failed the test.'
'But why would Tomb or Rowan be so desperate to find a real God?' Fisher's eyes widened suddenly. 'Because one of them needed a miracle cure. It's Rowan; it has to be! It all fits together. The killings only started after she joined the Squad. She went to Bode when her potions couldn't control the cancer, probably hoping he'd have something that would help her. After all, he was an alchemist as well as a sorcerer. He didn't have a cure, but he did have the Dark Men. Which was just what she needed to investigate the Beings. She must have been getting pretty desperate by then. She couldn't ask questions on the street herself, so she got Bode to do it for her, and sometimes did it herself in one of the homunculus bodies. Every time she thought she'd found a real God, she'd go to them and beg for a miracle cure. If they couldn't or wouldn't help her, she destroyed them, using the Exorcist Stone and the strength of the Dark Man. Presumably out of revenge for wasting her limited time.'
'No wonder she's spent so much time in bed recently,' said Hawk. 'Her mind was out and about, attacking us in a Dark Man body. But why did she kill Bode?'
Fisher shrugged. 'Maybe he found out about the God killings, and wanted to call it off. She couldn't allow that. She killed him the same way she killed the Beings. She must really have panicked when she found out the same two Guards who investigated Bode's murder had been seconded to the God Squad. That's why she tried to get rid of us when we first arrived. And why she kept attacking us through the Dark Men. We were so close to the answer all along, and didn't know it… But then, why did she tell us she had cancer?'
'Trying for sympathy, I expect,' said Hawk. 'Hoping that would distract us from seeing her as the killer. It almost worked. You don't expect a dying woman to be a murderer. We've got to get back to the Squad and confront her.'
'What's the hurry? She's not going anywhere in her weakened condition.'
'Oh no? What's to stop her leaving her dying body behind and living on in a healthy Dark Man body?'
'A woman living in a man's body?' Fisher wrinkled her nose. 'That's kinky.'
'Don't knock it till you've tried it. Now let's go. I wouldn't put it past Rowan to have a few more tricks up her sleeve. And we can't afford another dead God.'
