'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 started.'
'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 parlor 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.'
'I have to go to the bathroom,' said Visage quietly, her cheeks crimson. 'And no, I can't wait.'
'I don't think you should go off on your own,' said Dorimant.
'Quite right,' said Lord Hightower. He turned to his wife. 'Why don't you and I go up with her? Just to keep her company, so to speak?'
'Of course,' said Lady Elaine. 'You don't mind, do you, dear?'
Visage smiled, and shook her head. 'I think I'd feel a lot safer, knowing I wasn't on my own.'
'Don't be too long,' said Gaunt. 'We don't want to upset Captain Hawk, do we?'
Lord Hightower snorted loudly, but said nothing. He and his wife got to their feet and followed Visage out of the parlor. Dorimant stirred uncertainly in his chair. He would have liked to go with her too, to be sure she was safe, but the poor girl wouldn't want a crowd following her to the toilet. Besides, the Hightowers would look after her. Dorimant sank back in his chair and tried to think about something else. He felt a little better, now that Hawk and Fisher knew about the evidence he'd been concealing. Even if it didn't seem to have helped much. He glanced surreptitiously at Katherine. How could she have done it? To kneel beside her dead husband, and drive his own dagger into his chest; Dorimant shuddered.
'The wineglass worries me,' he said finally. 'If the wine wasn't poisoned;'
'It wasn't,' said Gaunt flatly. 'I tasted some myself.'
'The wine;' said Katherine suddenly. Everyone looked at her. Katherine looked into the empty fireplace, frowning. 'William didn't drink much, even at private parties. It was a rule of his. He'd already told me he'd had enough for one evening; but he had a fresh glass of wine in his hand when he went upstairs to change. So who gave him that glass; ?'
'I don't remember,' said Dorimant. 'I wasn't really watching.' He looked at the others, and they all shook their heads.
'I'm sure I saw who it was,' said Katherine, frowning. 'But I can't remember; I can't;'
'Take it easy,' said Stalker. 'It'll come to you, if you don't try and force it.'
'It's probably not that important anyway,' said Dorimant.
Hawk and Fisher checked the kitchen thoroughly from top to bottom, and found nothing and no one. There were no hidden passages, no hiding places, and nothing that looked even remotely suspicious. Not that they'd expected to find anything. Hawk and Fisher had just needed an excuse to go off on their own so that they could talk in private. They leaned back against the sink and looked gloomily about them.
'Hightower was right,' said Fisher. 'Much as I hate to admit it. The truthspell didn't get us anywhere. The new angle on Blackstone's death is all very interesting, but we're still no nearer finding his killer.'
'Maybe,' said Hawk, 'and maybe not. I wouldn't know a clue if I fell over it, but I know a guilty face when I see one. Hightower's hiding something. He was jumpy as hell when he first discovered we were all stuck here for the night, and he was almost in a panic at the thought of a truthspell. There was something he didn't want to talk about;'
'You didn't ask him many questions,' said Fisher.
