‘So, you were facing down the stairs until you heard that door open?’
‘Yes, so I turned around. Consequently, I don’t know what was happening behind me, down in the hall.’
‘What did you hear?’
‘Someone coming in from the side door.’
‘Which one?’
‘Erm ... let me see ... the left-hand one as you stand inside looking toward the front entrance.’
‘So that would be to your right, behind you?’
‘Yes. Then I heard a sort of sizzling ... ping, and a thudding sound, then Lord Dowrkampyer looked past me in that direction. Then there was another fainter sort of tyoooo and another thud down in the hall. But by then Lord Dowrkampyer was looking up at the other students. I tried to wave them back, but it was too late and, with the fire above, there was nowhere for them to go. And he said something like “You’re not going anywhere” or “it’s over” and aimed his wand at them. They were trapped. I’d seen how the people were fighting with wands, so when I saw one on the stairs next to me, I picked it up and pointed at Lord Dowrkampyer. There was this burning light and then an explosion, and he was gone and we ... I had to get the children out ....’
‘All right, Elodie,’ Hogarth said gently. ‘As you left Growan House, what did you see?’
‘Bodies of the fallen and people dragging them out. People fighting back near the kitchen. Some were in black, but that’s all I can tell you. I didn’t recognise any of them. I think there were more people on the ground outside, but it was too dark to see who they were.’
‘So, could you divide the strangers you did see into two groups: those in black and those who weren’t?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank you, Elodie.’
‘Peter now?’
‘Please.’
‘Peter, I appreciate your going over this with me again.’
‘Not at all, dear chap.’
‘The body on the stairs, can you remember anything about it?’
‘Er … female, long black clothes. Odd choice for battle, I thought. Dark hair. She was not advanced in years, but neither was she a teenager. Eyes were open in a fixed stare, but I can’t say I registered the colour. Sorry I can’t be more specific. I didn’t look at her for long.’
‘But she was dead?’ asked Hogarth.
‘I wouldn’t like to pronounce on that. Certainly, she appeared so, eyes open as I said. She was very still, lying with her arm outstretched on the stairs. I only saw her for a second or two as we got down into the hall.’
‘And were there any other casualties?’
Peter cleared his throat.
‘Er, yes, at least two – men, I think — incapacitated. One moving, one still.’
‘Blood?’ Hogarth enquired.
‘No, erm ... burns, I think, I remember dark, singed patches on their clothing. One of the bodies was near the door. Had to go round or over it.’
‘The side door you left by?’
‘Yes,’ Peter confirmed. ‘Both were open. One had been broken down – the one we used. The other was just open, and there were shouts and flashes coming from outside from the front and the other side, I think.’
‘Once you were outside, what do you remember seeing?
‘Figures in the light from the fire; some in quite close combat, I think, but lots of small flashes. The top floors of the house were an inferno, and bits of masonry were falling. The place was a mass of crackling and sighing, and the firework-like flashes.’
‘What was the last you saw of Mordren Dowrkampyer, Peter?’
‘The moment before he, er, became part of the surface to the architecture — stairs and landing. The moment after I used the wand.’
‘You fired it?’
‘It was the only logical course of action to preserve the lives of the maximum number of people,’ Peter responded calmly. ‘I had to save my family. Not only that. There were three innocent children on the stairs above us about to be killed; we had to get them out.’
‘So, it was not any of the others who fired the wand-shot?’
Peter shook his head and asked,
‘What do I have to do to convince you?’
***
‘There,’ concluded Hogarth. ‘You now have the same testimonies I had. Five accounts by five people. Four were lying, for the best of reasons: to protect the one who was telling the truth. But which one?’
Amanda and Trelawney went over it on the way home, but found themselves going round in circles.
‘You know what, Inspector?’
‘Hm?’
‘Marielle reminds me of Uncle Mike.’
‘Yes.’
‘The way they’re both playful and think everything’s funny, but they’re strong too. And I bet Uncle Mike could kill someone in a situation like that. Then again ….’
Sleep brought clarity to neither, and no realisation had dawned when Amanda woke early, with still hours to go until the inspector would come to collect her for Sunday lunch with the family.
Chapter 32
Between Friends
Amanda, bored with tossing and turning, got up, and put on the heating. She lit the fire and went out to the kitchen. She had just sat down on the sofa with her cocoa and gingernut, when she was startled by a voice in her ear.
‘You still haven’t done it.’
Amanda spun her head to the right.
‘Oh, Granny, you startled me!’
‘I can’t see why. You must have been expecting us,’ Senara pointed out, stirring her own still-slightly-ethereal cup of Horlicks.
