portent, for one wall of the temple was now unaccountably dripping with blood.
Usha dropped her implements, letting the cloth fall back across the face of the painting, and ran for the temple, knowing for certain that a death had already occurred.
CHAPTER 13
Palin was talking with Odila, when Usha came hurrying toward them, her skirts hiked up and her face flushed. 'Are either of you hurt?' she gasped, out of breath.
'No,' Palin said, taking her gently by the arm. 'We're all right.'
Usha glanced quickly around the temple grounds, her eyes coming to rest on the sight of workmen dismantling the collapsed scaffolding. For all the activity, the work site was eerily hushed, affected by the mood of the disaster. The workmen were going about their tasks without any of their usual banter or singing. 'And the others? Was anyone hurt?'
'Most everyone escaped with little or no injury,' Palin answered.
She looked at him sharply. 'Most?'
'The architect for the project, Salamon Beach, is dead.'
Usha's shoulders sagged. 'I expected as much. Not him, precisely, but I feared someone had died.' She looked up into Palin's face. 'When I went to work on the painting today, blood was dripping down the temple wall.' She pointed to where the scaffolding had been. 'That wall there.'
'Your auguries were true, unfortunately,' Palin said equably. 'Would that they could tell us who did it as well.'
'Who did it? You mean this was intentional, not an accident?' Palin nodded.
'Someone, or more than one person if you like, severed a rope that hound the scaffolding,' Odila said, joining the conversation. 'We don't know yet, however, whether they intended to kill Salamon or whether they were just trying to delay construction of the temple. Salamon may simply have been standing in an unfortunate spot when the scaffolding gave way.'
Usha stared at the temple a moment. 'It's hard to imagine someone wanting to disrupt construction of a place devoted to healing,' she said at last.
'There may be dark forces at work here,' Odila said. 'Certainly Mishakal has her enemies among the gods.'
'We can only hope your fears prove ungrounded,' said Usha, laying a gentle hand on Odila's arm.
'Now that you're here,' Palin said to his wife,
'perhaps you can help Odila comfort the survivors.'
'Where are you going to be?' Usha asked, puzzled.
'I've arranged to meet Gerard at Mistress Hulsey's shop,' Palin said grimly. 'We need to learn all we can from Salamon Beach's corpse.'
Kaleen had fallen asleep in the wagon, her head resting on Gerard's shoulder. He tried to move as little as possible, not wanting to disrupt her rest, but his muscles burned with a cramp beneath his shoulder blade. Unfortunately, he had been sitting in an awkward position when she fell asleep. He grimaced and forced himself to hold still. Kaleen had been spending long hours working at the inn, as well as assisting Odila, and she was clearly spent. Before dozing off, she had tried gamely to hold up her end of a conversation, but constant yawns had betrayed her exhaustion.
He studied her while she slept. Her pretty face looked almost haggard, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Poor girl, Gerard thought. She needed this brief rest.
As the wagon bumped and jostled along the pitted road into town, he fell to thinking about whether there could be a link between the murder of Sheriff Joyner and the death of Salamon Beach. Gerard could conceive of no motive that would connect the two deaths, but it was odd they had happened so close together in time. Perhaps there was a conspiracy afoot to undermine the dedication of the temple, and Sheriff Joyner had stumbled upon the plot in its early stages. If so, what kind of conspiracy was it, and why did the sheriff and the architect have to die?
The wagon rumbled to a stop before the imposing house of Cardjaf and Gatrice Duhar, one of the newer, ground-level buildings that had become popular in Solace since the war. Gerard gently shook Kaleen awake, secretly enjoying the opportunity, if truth be told, to brush her shoulder. 'We're here,' he said.
'What? Where?' Kaleen asked blearily, peering about her. She frowned. 'What are we doing here? We're supposed to be going to Mistress Hulsey's shop.'
'I told the wagon driver to stop here first,' Gerard answered. 'You did? Why?'
'Because you need to be at home getting some rest.' When she looked as if she wanted to object, he quickly added, 'Consider it an order from the sheriff.' He was rewarded with a thin smile. 'Well, if it's an official command, then I guess I had better obey.' She yawned deeply. 'I suppose I could do with a little nap before going to work at the inn tonight.'
'You need more than a nap,' Gerard said. 'You need a good night's sleep. I want you to consider staying home tonight; let someone else take your shift at the inn. I'm sure Laura can cope.' Again, she looked ready to argue. 'Please, Kaleen,' he added gently. 'You're so exhausted you can hardly stay on your feet. The temple dedication is coming up in just a few days now, and you don't want to be so worn out you can't enjoy yourself.'
'I suppose not,' she said dubiously. 'Good. Then that's settled.' He helped her down from the wagon.
Just then, the front door was flung open and Cardjaf and Gatrice rushed out, their faces wracked with concern. At least, Gerard assumed the tall woman with the imperious eyes was Kaleen's mother; Cardjaf he recognized from the town council meetings.
'We were so worried,' Gatrice said, wringing her long, slender hands. 'We heard about the accident and were just about to hurry over there to make sure you were all right.' Her gaze fixed on Gerard, her eyes growing bigger as she took in the sheriff's presence 'You are all right, aren't you?'
'I'm fine, Mother,' Kaleen said, allowing herself to be held in the older woman's awkward embrace.
'All those long hours you've been putting in overs that new temple, and now it turns out to be an unsafe place,' Gatrice went on, abruptly dropping her arms and leading her daughter toward the house. 'I told your father we never should have left Palanthas to come here. I have a good mind to forbid you from going back to that dreadful temple.' When Kaleen opened her mouth to speak, Gatrice hurried on. 'But we'll tall about that later. Right now, let's get you inside. You're near collapse, poor thing.' She threw a perfunctory smile of gratitude in Gerard's direction then resumed fussing over Kaleen as they entered the house.
Cardjaf looked awkward, a manner strikingly at odds with his usual self-possession. He couldn't find the right pose; one moment his hands hung uselessly at his sides, the next moment they were clasped with false bravura behind his back, then finally he raised them up and executed a half-gesture of apologetic explanation. 'My wife,' he explained as Gatrice led Kaleen inside. 'She's never quite forgiven me for uprooting her from Palanthas. But we are grateful to you for bringing our daughter safely home.'
Gerard, made uneasy by Gatrice's disapproval and Cardjaf's awkwardness, responded with a formality that came out sounding more brusque than he'd intended. 'The situation isn't really as bad as you may have heard. There was some damage, but the foreman, a dwarf by the name of Stonegate, assures us they'll have construction back on schedule within a few days.'
'But someone was killed, we heard.' Gerard hesitated. 'Yes, Salamon Beach, the architect. Actually, we think the accident may have been concocted to cause his deliberate murder.'
Cardjaf shook his head solemnly. 'I hate to sound callous, but I hope you will get at the facts of the matter. What happened at the temple will affect the town's reputation, especially if does turn out that this death was intentional. We can't afford any negative repercussions.'
'A man is dead, Councilman. For Salamon Beach, the repercussions are already negative.'
Duhar treated Gerard to a penetrating stare. 'Two men are dead, Sheriff. Surely you haven't forgotten about your predecessor? It doesn't help matters that this disaster occurs on the heels of another mysterious incident. I
