Hightower looked at Hawk and Fisher, and saw that they meant it. For a moment he considered defying them anyway, but the moment passed. He held his wife's hand tightly. There were ways round a truthspell. To start with, it couldn't compel him to talk.
Hawk took Hightower's silence for assent and looked round to see if there were any further objections. Lady Hightower was glaring daggers at him, and Stalker was frowning thoughtfully, but nobody had anything to say.
Gaunt stepped forward. 'Everything is ready. Captain Hawk. We can begin whenever you wish.'
'I'm not too clear on what a truthspell entails,' said Dorimant hesitantly. 'How does it work?'
'It's really very simple,' said Gaunt. 'Once the spell is cast, no one in this room will be able to tell a lie for a period of about twenty to twenty-five minutes. The duration of the spell is limited by the number of people involved. You can of course refuse to speak, or even evade the question, but that in itself tells us something. For as long as the spell lasts, nothing can be said but the absolute truth.'
'If we're going to do some serious talking, how about a little wine to wet our whistles before we start?' said Stalker. He held up the bottle of white wine he'd been using to fill his own glass.
'Hold it,' said Hawk. 'I'm not too keen on wine at the moment. Gaunt, can you check it hasn't been tampered with?'
'Of course,' said Gaunt. He gestured lightly with his left hand, and the wine seemed to stir briefly in the bottle. 'It's perfectly sound, Captain. Not one of my better vintages, but;'
Stalker shrugged. 'With your taste in wine, it's hard to tell. Now, who's for a drink?'
It seemed everybody was. Gaunt passed round the glasses, and Stalker poured the wine. People began to relax a little. Stalker left Hawk to last, and gestured with his head that he wanted to speak privately with him. They moved away a few feet.
'Just a thought,' said Stalker quietly, 'about the locked room. You staked a vampire earlier today, right?'
'Right,' said Hawk. 'What's that got to do with anything?'
'Think about it,' said Stalker. 'Vampires are shapeshifters, remember? They can turn themselves into bats, or even into mist.'
Hawk nodded slowly. 'Right; a locked door wouldn't stop a vampire, not once it had been invited into the house. It could turn to mist and seep through the cracks round the door! No, wait a minute; it doesn't work.'
'Why not?'
'The undead don't usually need to stab their victims with a knife. And besides, vampires don't eat or drink; they can't. But everyone here was invited to dinner, and I've seen everybody with a glass in their hand at one stage or another. No, it's a nice idea, but there are too many ways a vampire would have given himself away by now. Thanks anyway, sir Stalker.'
'You're welcome. It was just a thought.' Stalker moved back to rejoin the others.
'If everyone would care to take a seat,' said Gaunt, 'we can begin.'
Hawk and Fisher and the guests pulled up chairs in a rough semicircle facing the sorcerer. He waited patiently till they were settled, and then made a sweeping motion with his left hand. Time seemed to slow and stop. Gaunt spoke a single word of Power and there was a sudden jolt as the whole room shook. There was a vague tension in the air, and then everything snapped back to normal. Hawk frowned. He didn't feel any different.
'Who's going to ask the questions?' said Gaunt.
'I will,' said Hawk. 'I suppose we'd better start with a test. My partner is;' He tried to say the word <em>short</em>, and found he couldn't. His mouth simply wouldn't form the word. 'Tall,' he said finally. 'Your spell seems to be working quite efficiently, sir sorcerer.'
Gaunt nodded calmly. Fisher gave Hawk a hard look, and he smiled awkwardly. He looked quickly round the assembled guests, and braced himself. <em>All right; in at the deep end</em>.
'Sir Gaunt, let's start with you.'
'Very well.'
'You are a sorcerer.'
'Yes.'
'Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?'
'No.'
'Did you bring about their deaths indirectly, by use of your magic?'
'No.'
'You have an acquaintance, who helped you in the Hook. Is that person in any way associated with the murders?'
'That is; highly unlikely.'
<em>He didn't say it was impossible</em>, thought Hawk. <em>Let's push this a little further</em>.
'You were once sorcerer to the King,' he said carefully.
'Yes.'
'You quarreled with him.'
'Yes.'
'Was it about your acquaintance?'
'In a way.'
'What happened? Why did you leave the Court and come here, to Haven?'
Gaunt hesitated, and then sighed jerkily. 'The King wanted her for himself, and I wouldn't give her up. I couldn't. So I came here, to; work things out on my own.'
'Wait a minute,' said Lord Hightower. 'Who are you two talking about? What's this woman got to do with anything?'
'Apparently nothing,' said Hawk. 'Please relax, my Lord; we'll get to you in good time. That's all for the moment, sir sorcerer. Now then, sir Dorimant;'
'I didn't kill them,' said Dorimant quickly.
'I have to ask the question,' said Hawk politely. 'Otherwise your answer won't mean anything. Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?'
'No. No, I didn't.'
Hawk looked at him narrowly. Dorimant was sitting awkwardly in his chair. His smile was weak and his eyes were evasive. <em>He's hiding something</em>, thought Hawk. <em>I wonder what</em>?
'You said earlier that Visage was with you at the time of the first murder,' he said slowly. 'Was that true?'
'Yes,' said Dorimant, though he didn't look too happy about admitting it.
'Why was she with you?' said Hawk.
Dorimant looked at Visage, who bit her lip and then nodded unhappily. Dorimant looked back at Hawk. 'She was the first one to find William's body,' he said reluctantly. 'She'd gone to his room to talk to him, and found him lying dead on the floor. She came to me for help.'
Everyone sat up straight in their chairs. Hawk felt a sudden rush of excitement as he finally put two and two together. He looked at Visage.
'The room wasn't locked when you found him? You just walked right in?'
'Yes,' said Visage. 'It wasn't locked.'
'Of course,' said Hawk happily. 'That's it! That's what I've been missing all along!'
Fisher looked at him dubiously. 'What are you going on about, Hawk?'
Hawk grinned. 'I've finally worked out how the murder took place in a room locked from the inside. Simple: the door was never locked to begin with!'
'Of course the door was locked,' said Fisher. 'You had to break it down with your axe! I was there, remember?'
'How did you know the door was locked?' said Hawk. 'Did you try to open it?'
'Well, no;'
'Exactly. Neither did I. Katherine came down and told us the door was locked. We went back with her, but she was careful to get to the door first. She rattled the door handle convincingly, told us again that it wouldn't open,
