‘And you had no idea who the attackers were?’
‘No. On the occasions when we did go outside Dowrkampyer land, the idea was to avoid people.’
‘Thank you, Marielle.’
‘No problem.’
Zoe volunteered next, surprisingly. She wriggled into the corner of the sofa, pulled her knees up to her chin and looked out at him warily.
‘I will tell you, but I doan want loadsa questions,’ Zoe stated.
‘I understand,’ responded Hogarth. ‘And if I ask you something you don’t want to answer then you don’t have to.’
‘I know. K. So. Elodie woke me up. We got dressed and the other children and everyfing. Then we were in the hall and noise and fighting and smoke and fire on the stairs, and we went to see if it was safe and it wasn’t, and then it was. And we have to get the children out. They were fighting outside, not inside then, ‘cept maybe by the kitchen, so we could all go down the stairs, but then that bad man came out, and he was all dangerous, and I thought he’s gonna kill my friend Shilpa and Mimi and Roger, and I like them, so I had to stop him, and he was a bad man, so I picked up the wand and bang! And there was a big light, and then the bad man was all gone, and we got away.’
‘Zoe, did you know the wand would kill Lord Dowrkampyer.’
‘He was a bad man.’
‘Yes, he was,’ Hogarth agreed. ‘But did you know the wand would kill him?’
‘I didn't know ezackly. I wanted him to stop.’
‘Yes.’
‘And he did. That all?’
‘Yes, thank you, Zoe.’
‘Ok. You gonna take me for a ice-cream?’ asked Zoe, clearly feeling that this was part of the bargain.
‘Yes, after I’ve talked to Elodie and your brothers.’
‘Hm. Ok,’ she conceded.
‘May I speak to Geoffrey?’
‘Yup. I get him. Bye.’
Chapter 31
Chief Inspector Hogarth Interviews: Geoffrey, Elodie and Peter
Geoffrey seated himself upright, but relaxed, hands lying open, palm up, in his lap.
‘Thank you, Geoffrey, for talking to me.’
‘Always my pleasure, Michael.’
‘May I say ... you don’t seem the sort to take a life.’
Geoffrey regarded Hogarth solemnly.
‘None of us is born the sort to take a life.’
‘We are all born with the instinct to survive,’ countered Hogarth.
‘Yes. But there is more than one kind of survival.’
‘True. Well, before we get into too deep philosophical waters ....’
‘Yes, I understand.’
‘Geoffrey, do you remember seeing anyone that you recognised that night?
‘Just the Dowrkampyers running past our door and the one who told us to go back into our room, Lord Mordren Dowrkampyer and the young Frongar Dowrkampyer. Apart from the children, no one else was identifiable. There could have been more Dowrkampyers outside, but it was dark, and our objective was to get to the van and get away.’
‘But someone tried to prevent you?’
‘Someone said something like, “Hey, they’re getting away”. Something like that. Someone started running towards us, but either they gave up because of the sirens, or because we managed to get into the van and drive away quickly enough.
‘Were there any casualties that you saw?’ Hogarth asked.
‘Yes, there was a body on the stairs near the hall, and at least two others in the hall itself who might have been either wounded or deceased. Unfortunately, there was no time to see if any of them could be helped. We had our priority: we had to get the children out.’
‘But you were challenged on the stairs, on the way down?’
‘Yes, the children were on the flight above, and we were on the final flight down to the hall, when Mordren Dowrkampyer came out, cutting the children off from us and from escape. It was clear, from the way that he spoke to them that he did not intend to let them go.’
Hogarth suggested, ‘While he was distracted with the other students, you could have made a run for it.’
‘One must defend one’s own. That is my responsibility. As the eldest and the one born to protect my brother and sisters. But also others more vulnerable than I: those three children on the stairs. Perhaps if it had been only ourselves, we would have attempted escape, while Dowrkampyer was temporarily distracted by something else rather than somebody. But the children were there, and they were my own. My own people, whether they knew it or not. And there was the wand, lying nearby.’
‘So, you used it?’
‘I played my part, Michael,’ Geoffrey responded gravely. ‘And for that, I must make peace with myself.’
Hogarth pressed. ‘So, it wasn’t Zoe or Marielle who fired the wand-shot that obliterated Dowrkampyer?’
‘It was not.’
‘Thank you.’
‘You are welcome. Would you like to speak to Elodie next?’
‘Please.’
Heels and knees together, tucking her hair behind one ear, there was no need for the words:
‘I’m here.’
‘Thank you, Elodie. Tell me again, please, purely from your own perspective, what happened that night.’
‘You want to know what was going on around us?’
‘That you personally can recall,’ clarified Hogarth.
‘I can’t say what was happening above, apart from the fire. I did see lights like fireballs passing up by the windows. I heard shouts. We got the students dressed and onto the stairs leading from the hall outside our room to the first-floor landing. That was when it was clear.’
‘Before that?’ he asked.
‘There were members of the Dowrkampyer family running past.’
‘So, when it was clear ...?’
‘I looked down into the main hall — the entrance hall — and saw fighting with what looked a bit like conductors’ batons with coloured points and streams of lights coming out of them.
