He got up and stepped back, viewing the body. He exhaled.
Right.
He began to search the floor around the corpse, widening his field of operations until he was back out in the hall. He found nothing, not even a drop of blood.
He went back inside and stood over the body, thinking.
Footsteps sounded out in the hallway. Thaxton looked over his shoulder.
A man in quasi-Renaissance dress went walking by. As he did he glanced into the alcove. He did a double take and halted.
'You there,' he said. 'What's going on?'
Thaxton turned his head to look down at the body.
'I asked you a question,' the man said as he came into the alcove. His gaze locked on the body. 'Ye gods!'
Thaxton stepped aside.
After kneeling over the corpse for a moment, the man stood up and faced Thaxton. He was tall and black- bearded, like the dead man. He looked somewhat younger. His eyes were fiercely blue.
'What do you know of this?' he demanded.
'Not very much, I'm afraid.'
'When did this happen?'
'My golf partner and I found him not five minutes ago,' Thaxton said, 'right where he is.'
The man regarded Thaxton suspiciously for a moment, then turned around to view the body again, his chest rising and falling rapidly. 'What happened?'
'I'm afraid I don't know that either. May I ask…?'
The man gave Thaxton a sharp look. 'Yes?'
'Might I ask who this gentleman is?'
'The viscount Oren, of course!'
Thaxton nodded.
The man turned his head again and said quietly, 'My brother.'
'You have my condolences,' Thaxton said.
'Thank you,' Oren's brother answered dryly. 'Did anyone see him take ill?'
'I'm afraid I wasn't at the garden party.'
'Weren't you serving?' The man looked Thaxton up and down. 'Oh. You're one of them. I should have known by the ridiculous costume.'
Thaxton glanced down at his knickerbockers and saddle shoes, then coolly scanned the man's attire ? a rehash of the viscount's but heavier on the embroidery.
'I rather think that's a case of pots calling kettles, don't you?'
The content of the remark sailed over the man's head, but not the implication. 'How dare you! I'll have none of your impertinence, do you hear? And you will address me as _my lord.''
Thaxton coughed quietly into his hand. 'Don't you want to examine the body?'
'Eh?'
'There may be clues.' Thaxton added, 'My lord.'
He understood. 'Oh, yes. Yes. The body.' He began a motion to stoop, but halted. 'Run and fetch someone. Tyrene.'
'He is being summoned, my lord.'
'Ah. Good.' He knelt, then looked up. 'What is your name?'
'Thaxton, my lord. And whom do I have the honor of addressing?'
'Arl. Lord Arl.'
Thaxton watched Arl fumble with the corpse's clothing. 'Might I suggest we turn the body to one side?'
Thaxton helped him, lifting the body toward himself. When Arl's eyes found the hole in the gown, they went round and wild.
'Merciful gods!'
He shot to his feet. 'He's been murdered. My brother's been murdered!'
'So it would seem, my lord,' Thaxton said. 'Frightfully sorry.'
Arl looked helpless, confused. 'It can't be. It simply can't be.'
Running footsteps came from the hallway. Breathless, Tyrene ? Captain of the Guard ? burst into the alcove, followed by two Guardsmen. He immediately went to his knees and examined the wound.
'Gods,' he said in a whisper.
Presently, Tyrene stood and faced Thaxton. 'Did you see anybody in the hall just before you found the body?'
'Not a soul,' Thaxton said.
Arl was still standing over the corpse, unmoving.
'My lord, did you see anybody?'
Arl wrenched his gaze from his brother's body. 'No. I ? no.'
'Was the viscount at Her Highness's fete?'
'Yes,' Arl said. 'It can't be more than a quarter-hour since I saw him there.'
'Did you see him leave, my lord?'
'No. No, I did not. I grew bored and left early. I was passing in the hall when I saw this man, here. And my brother… lying there. Dead.'
'My sincerest commiseration is yours, my lord, in this your hour of grief.'
Arl nodded absently.
Dalton puffed into the alcove, halted, bent over and put his hands on his knees for a moment and breathed deeply. Then he straightened and leaned toward Thaxton. 'Just a little winded,' he whispered.
'I'm sorry; I should have gone. Not thinking.'
'You seemed to have had the situation well in hand.'
'My lord,' Tyrene was saying, 'can you give me any information at all concerning your brother's actions during the fete that would shed light on the question of who may have attacked him?'
Lord Arl took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he said, 'I can tell you little. As you may know, my brother and I were not on speaking terms. We did not speak at the fete, nor did we associate. I saw him playing hedge ball. Then later I saw him sup with Lady Rilma. That was not very long before I departed. I thought I'd left him at the fete.'
'My lord, did you see him speak or associate with anyone else besides his wife?'
'He was playing hedge with Lord Belgard and Lady Rowena.'
'Very good, my lord. My lord, if it be not too inconvenient, might we continue this line of questioning later? I must to the fete and inform Her Highness and the other guests.'
'Yes. Yes, by all means, Tyrene.'
'Thank you, my lord.'
Two more people arrived: a young page, who carried a folded leather stretcher, and a gray-haired older man in a brown cloak. Although Thaxton had never availed himself of the man's services, he recognized Dr. Mirabilis, the castle physician. Thaxton wondered about the state of forensic medicine in the castle.
'Obviously a dagger or other sharp instrument,' Dr. Mirabilis pronounced after examining the body. 'I'll know more after I perform an autopsy, but I'd say there's a good chance that the viscount died as a result of the wound. There's been a great loss of blood, probably bleeding into the chest cavity. As I said, we'll know for certain later.'
'When can the autopsy be performed, Doctor?' Tyrene asked.
'Immediately. If you can have the body brought to the infirmary.'
The body was lifted onto the stretcher. The page produced a sheet to drape the body, then he and one Guardsman bore the stretcher away.
'I'll have my report messengered directly to you, Captain,' the doctor said. Then he departed.
'His Majesty must be informed immediately,' Tyrene said. 'Was he at the fete, my lord?'
'He hadn't arrived by the time I left,' Arl said. 'But I'd heard he would be late.' He looked away for a moment,
