“There is no answer yet, Elvera,” said Stuart patiently. “Sit down there, all of you over there. It’s time for this meeting to begin.”
At last the room fell silent. The giant table was surrounded by curious faces. Dora Fairchild had been crying, and looked it. So had Manfield Cotter. So had others whom Marklin didn’t even know. All friends of Aaron Lightner, or worshipers, to be more correct.
No one here had really known Marcus. His death had horrified everyone, of course. But grief was not a problem there.
“Stuart, has the Mayfair family answered?” came another question. “Do we have any more information about what happened to Aaron?”
“Patience, all of you. I will post the information as soon as it’s received. What we know now is that something has gone terribly wrong within this house. Intruders have come and gone. Perhaps there have been other breaches of security. We do not know if all these events are connected.”
“Stuart,” said Elvera, raising her voice shrilly. “This man asked me if I knew that Aaron was dead! He walked into my room and started talking about Aaron!”
“Of course it’s connected,” said Joan Cross. Joan had been in a wheelchair for a year now; she looked impossibly frail, even her short white hair was thinning, but her voice was impatient and domineering as it had always been. “Stuart, our first priority is to determine the identity of this killer. We have the authorities telling us the fingerprints are untraceable. But we know that this man might have come from the Mayfair family. They do not.”
“Yes … all connected somehow, doesn’t it seem?” Stuart was actually stammering. “But we have no further indication. That is what I meant.” Suddenly his deep-set eyes fixed upon Marklin, who sat almost at the far end of the table, looking calmly at him.
“Gentlemen, to tell you the truth,” said Stuart, tearing his eyes away and searching the faces around him, “I’m completely inadequate to take Anton’s place. I think … I think I should pass the scepter to Joan, if it’s all right with the entire assembly. I can’t continue!”
“I have no alternative!” said Stuart loudly, as if he were speaking only to his novice. “Gentlemen, I’m too … I’m too upset over Aaron’s death to be of use.”
Interesting statement, wise statement, thought Marklin. Stuart had always taught them, if you have some secret you must keep from the psychics around you, think something close to the truth.
Stuart had risen. He was giving the chair to Joan Cross. There were cries of “Aye!” and approval coming from all sides. Even Elvera was nodding. Young Crawford, one of Joan’s pupils, was maneuvering her wheelchair into position at the head of the table. Stuart stood back, near the wall. Stuart was going to try to slip out!
Not without me, thought Marklin, but how could he leave now? Stuart wasn’t going to get away from him, he wasn’t going to get a chance to flee to that secret place where he kept Tessa. No, that was not going to happen.
Once again, there was a hubbub. One of the old men was complaining that in this emergency the Elders present should identify themselves. Someone else had told the old man to be silent, not to mention such a thing again.
Stuart was gone! Quickly, Marklin slipped out of the chair and hurried through the north doorway. He could see Stuart leagues ahead of him, it seemed, moving towards the Superior General’s office. Marklin didn’t dare call out. There were two younger members with Stuart-Ansling and Perry, both secretarial assistants. They had been a threat to the operation since the beginning, though neither had had the wits to realize that anything had been wrong.
Suddenly the trio disappeared through the double doors and closed them. Marklin stood alone in the empty hall.
A gavel sounded in the council room, or something very like it. Marklin stared at the doors. On what pretext could he enter? To offer his help, his condolences? Everyone knew he was devoted to Stuart. Good God, what should he do under normal circumstances, if he wasn’t … Don’t think about it, don’t ever clearly dwell upon it, not here, not within these halls.
He glanced at his watch. What were they doing? If Stuart had resigned the position, why was he in that office at all? Perhaps the fax was feeding out a message from the Elders. Tommy had had time to stop the interception. Or perhaps Tommy had written the communication that might be coming in.
At last he couldn’t stand it any longer. He marched forward, rapped on the doors, and opened them without waiting for permission.
The two young men were alone in the office, Perry seated at Marcus’s desk, talking on the telephone, and Ansling hovering above him, obviously trying to follow the call. The fax was silent. The doors to Anton’s bedroom were closed.
“Where is Stuart?” Marklin asked loudly and directly, though both men gestured for him to be silent.
“Where are you now, Yuri?” said Perry into the receiver.
“You shouldn’t be here,” said Ansling. “Everyone should be in the council room!”
“Yes, yes …” Perry was saying, clearly humoring the man on the other end of the line.
“Where is Stuart?” demanded Marklin.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You will tell me!” said Marklin.
“That’s Yuri Stefano on the phone,” said Ansling, obviously very ambivalent about what he was revealing, glancing anxiously now from Perry to Marklin. “Stuart’s gone to meet him. He told Stuart that he had to come alone.”
“Where? How did he leave?”
“Well, down the Superior General’s private stairs, I imagine,” said Ansling. “How should I know?”
“Shut up, both of you!” said Perry. “Ah, God, he’s just rung off!” He slammed down the receiver. “Marklin, get out of here.”
“Don’t speak to me in that tone, you idiot,” said Marklin furiously. “Stuart’s my tutor. What private stairs?”
He went right past them, ignoring their indignant and imperious voices, moving through the bedroom and then seeing the perfect cutout of a doorway in the paneling, the unmarked door itself pushed only a few inches ajar. He shoved it back. There was the stairway! Damn!
“Where’s he gone to meet Yuri?” he shouted to Ansling, who had only just entered the room.
“Get away from that passage,” Perry said. “Get out of this bedroom now. You don’t belong in the Superior General’s bedroom.”
“What’s the matter with you, Marklin!” said Ansling. “The last thing we need now is insubordination. Go back to the council room at once.”
“I asked you a question. I want to know where my tutor has gone.”
“He didn’t tell us, and if you’d shut up and stayed out of this, I might have gotten it out of Yuri Stefano myself.”
Marklin stared at the two angry, frightened young men. Idiots, he thought, idiots. I hope they blame you and your sniveling, subservient kind for everything. I hope they expel you. He turned and went down the hidden stairs.
A long, narrow passage wound round the corner before leading to a small door. It opened directly to the park, as he knew it would. He had never even noticed this door! There were so many. A few scattered stepping-stones led off across the lawn in the direction, more or less, of the garage.
He broke into a run, but he knew it was useless. When he reached the cars, the attendant was on his feet.
“They’ve asked everyone to stay in, sir, until the meeting’s over.”
“Stuart Gordon. Did he take a staff car?”
“No, sir, his own, sir. But his orders were that no one else should leave without express permission, sir,
