waiting to see who can snatch the biggest titbits from the dear departed.' He
stopped, looked at Hawk, and cocked an eyebrow. 'No offence intended, Richard.'
'Of course,' said Hawk calmly. 'Personally, Isobel and I will be grateful for
whatever largesse Duncan may leave us, but that's not why we're here. We just
wanted to meet Jamie and get reacquainted with the Family. We've been out of
touch too long.'
'A long way to come, just for that. Lower Markham's pretty remote, after all. In
fact, I wasn't even aware the Family tree had any branches in that area. Tell
me, what branch of the Family are you descended from?'
There was an awkward pause, as Hawk chose and discarded a dozen names, and hoped
desperately Fisher would bail him out. It quickly became clear that she was as
thrown as he was. Hawk smiled easily at Alistair, and fought to keep his voice
calm and even. 'I believe we're descended from Josiah MacNeil, on our father's
side.'
Alistair frowned. 'Josiah? I was just looking at the Family tree in that book,
but I don't seem to recall…'
'Wrong side of the blanket,' said Fisher quickly. 'That's why he left Haven in
the first place. You know how these things are…'
'Oh, I see. Yes, of course. Happens in the best of Families…' Alistair smiled,
just a little coldly and nodded to them both. 'If you'll excuse me…'
He moved away to join Katrina and Marc. Katrina looked openly relieved at being
rescued from Marc's monologue. Hawk and Fisher looked at each other, and smiled
grimly.
'That was close,' said Fisher.
'Right,' said Hawk. 'If it had been any closer, it would have been behind us. We
should have spent more time working out a background on the way here. It's
always the niggling little questions that catch you out.'
'We can worry about that later. Right now, the day's dragging on and we're no
nearer working out which of this bunch is the freak and which is the spy. What
are we going to do?'
'Mingle, and keep our eyes and ears open. What else can we do? We can't just
drag them off and interrogate them one by one. Unfortunately. We'll just have to
keep digging away, and hope somebody lets something slip.'
'It's possible, I suppose,' said Fisher, looking unobtrusively around her.
'They're scared, all of them. Some of them are hiding it better than others, but
you can feel it on the air. If the atmosphere were any tenser, they'd be choking
on it. As it is, they're all smiling too much and laughing too loudly; making a
pretense of enjoying themselves so they won't have to think about what's been
happening.'
'I don't blame them,' said Hawk. 'One of them is a murderer, and they could be
talking to him right now and not know it. Even worse; they might be him and not
know it.'
Fisher shivered quickly. 'That's spooky.'
'Damn right.'
'Let's split up, and see if we can get a few helpful answers to some carefully
phrased questions. I'll try Alistair again, since he has such an eye for a
pretty face. You try Holly and her two swains.'
She was already off and moving before Hawk could raise his objections. Lord
Arthur might not have recognized him so far, but Hawk had a strong suspicion he
shouldn't press his luck. Drunks sometimes had a way of seeing things that other
people missed, especially things they weren't supposed to spot. Hawk shrugged,
and moved over to join the group by the fireplace. Greaves had given up on the
fire and had gone over to try and mediate between Jamie and Brennan, but David
and Holly greeted Hawk warmly, and Arthur presented him with a cup of the
steaming punch. Hawk blew on it cautiously, and took a careful sip. It tasted
hot and spicy, and then blazed down his throat to explode in his stomach.
'Hell's teeth,' said Hawk respectfully, when he got his voice back. 'No wonder
you're all looking so cheerful. This stuff is strong enough to bring a smile to
a dead man's lips.'
'Thank you,' said Holly, blushing. 'It's an old Family recipe I found in a
cookbook. I thought it might be fun to try it out.'
'If your ancestors drank this stuff on a regular basis they must have had
insides like old boots,' said David, and Holly giggled.
'I don't know what you're all making such a fuss about,' said Arthur, draining
his cup in easy swallows. Hawk stared at him openly, half convinced that smoke
was going to come pouring out of his ears. Arthur just smiled his usual vague
smile and held out his cup to Holly for a refill.
'I think you've had enough for the moment, Arthur,' said Holly firmly. 'You
mustn't be greedy.'
Arthur nodded and looked at David. 'I hope you're not going to let her boss you
around like this, Davey.'
'Damn right I'm not,' said David. 'I'm my own man, always have been. I go my own
way, come what may.'
'You always were stubborn,' said Holly, leaning against David as he put an arm
around her waist. 'But so am I, when I want to be. You needn't think you're
going to have everything your own way, David Brook.'
'We'll discuss this later,' said David, and whispered something in her ear that
made her giggle again. Arthur looked resignedly at Hawk, and though he'd been
drinking steadily ever since Hawk first saw him, he seemed just as calm and
sober as ever. Interesting, that.
Holly, on the other hand, looked quite perky. Hawk thought at first that she was
flushed from the heat, but then realized it was expertly applied cheek rouge. At
some point during her brief absence Holly had subtly remade her face with a
liberal use of makeup. She looked ten years older, much more sophisticated, and
altogether more fashionable. Though perhaps not as pretty or as pleasant, if
truth be told.
'Well?' said Holly, grinning. 'What do you think?'
'Sorry,' said Hawk, 'I didn't realize I was staring. You look very splendid. Do
I perhaps detect Katrina's hand in this transformation?'
'Got it in one,' said Holly. 'I couldn't believe it was me, the first time I
looked in the mirror.'
'You look marvelous,' said David.
'Very striking,' said Arthur.
'Jamie hates it,' said Holly, the corners of her mouth turning down. 'He still
thinks I'm ten years old. He wanted to send me back to my room to wash it all
off, but as Robbie is busily pointing out, the will is to be read soon, and they
can't have that without me. Jamie's in a frightful temper. Serves him right for
being so pompous.'
'Well,' said Arthur, after a slight pause, 'only a few moments now to the
