Dave Duncan - The Alchemists pursuit

"You look disgustingly smug, apprentice," he said. "You have discovered who is murdering courtesans?"

"No," I admitted. "I know why they are being killed, though. And I know that Zorzi Michiel did not kill his father."

Nostradamus cautiously eased himself farther back in his chair. "Then you had better tell us that before madonna Violetta leaves. Bring a chair."

I fetched one of the pair that stand beside the armillary sphere. Normally it is the Maestro who reveals the solution to the mystery, so I was eager to get my chance this time, especially with my darling present.

"Gentile Michiel was killed with a khanjar dagger, which they still keep on display, and which was freely available to anyone in the house. Contrariwise, any outsider would have had much trouble getting hold of it, and no servant would have been admitted to the Basilica that night. In short, that weapon trumpeted to the heavens that the killer was a member of the family.

"Jacopo was only a child then. Bernardo and Domenico had fair but not unassailable alibis. Zorzi refused to give one. I don't know about Friar Fedele, but he has renounced the world and the flesh, so what motive could he possibly have? The same goes for the daughter, Sister Lucretzia.

"But donna Alina was frantic that her favorite child was about to be dispossessed. She lived a very secluded life, kept in purdah by a tyrannical, puritanical husband, so-unlike her sons-had no opportunity to go out and buy some nondescript, anonymous weapon. Ergo, she was the one who took the dagger. She need prepare no alibi, because she was entitled to be present. She is right-handed. No man, tall or otherwise, pushed her aside-she made that up. She carried the sheathed dagger in her left hand, perhaps hidden in her sleeve or a muff. In the crowded darkness, she drew it with her right, threw herself at her husband, and stabbed him in the back. They fell together and she screamed that she had been pushed."

The Maestro did not seem surprised, but I never expect him to. "Why did the Council of Ten not see this?" he murmured. "Are you really so much smarter than they are?"

"On average, yes," I admitted. "I expect they were hampered at first because the idea of a lady, a noblewoman, committing such a crime is almost unthinkable. Gentile's sons were unlikely enough, but his wife defied belief. No doubt the inquisitors would have worked their way around to the idea if they had been given time, but at first they did not even think to ask if any of the family recognized the weapon. Eventually young Jacopo blurted out in front of witnesses that the khanjar was missing from its display case."

"Who told you that?"

"He did. But even before that happened, donna Alina's children must have known who was guilty. The lady is undoubtedly crazy by most standards, but her sons decided to protect her, which tells you what sort of a husband she must have had. Domenico himself told me, 'Run from hounds and they will chase you.' Zorzi was chosen to be the goat. I expect he was bribed with a substantial pension, enough to buy all the courtesans he can handle, wherever he is. Lechery was his only interest in life and it is available anywhere for a price. He probably dropped a confession in the Lion's Mouth on his way out."

I gave my master a meaningful glance to convey the message that we would find that out when Circospetto showed me the Ten's file on the case. So far as I knew Violetta was not aware of my midnight bribery. He might have told her, though, because she was nodding. She was gray-eyed Minerva, the clever one.

"Have you any evidence?" the Maestro asked testily, "or is this all wind?" He would not be happy to have a murderer for a client.

"No witnesses," I admitted. "But Jacopo hinted on Saturday that Alina was even more upset by Zorzi's conviction than she was by the murder. I wouldn't put much stock in anything he says, but Domenico later said much the same. It makes sense if she had known about the murder in advance but the verdict was a surprise. Listen to this: the children had a conference on Sunday. They even included Jacopo, who told me what everyone said except donna Alina, and when I asked Bernardo if she had even been invited, he flew into a rage and threw me out."

My master snorted. "You are jumping to conclusions again. You do not know for a fact that donna Alina was not present?"

"No, but what were they talking about? Not money or politics or even scandal, because they had brought in the two religious, who don't care about those. They included Jacopo, whom the lady treats as a drudge but who probably knows more about her behavior and state of mind than anyone else now. Donna Alina was not invited because she was the agenda!"

Nostradamus pouted and I assumed that he was unable to challenge my logic. I should have known better.

"Maybe donna Alina was the agenda," he growled, "but that doesn't mean she killed her husband. They may have been trying to stop her from hiring me to prove Zorzi's innocence because-as you just told us-that means that another of them must be guilty. That other may not be donna Alina."

Violetta was frowning, too, equally unconvinced. "If the lady really killed her husband, then why has she hired Doctor Nostradamus to find the 'real' killer? It would be suicide. Is she as demented as that?"

"She may be," I said. "She may be weighed down by guilt and willing to risk anything to see her boy again. She may have put her own guilt completely out of her mind. Or she may have deluded herself into believing that she will never be suspected. People do things like that. She may be playing a huge game of bluff. But she did insist on changing the contract so that the Maestro will report his findings to her before he feeds the lion."

"You mean she believes he will do that even if he finds proof that she is the murderer?"

"Perhaps. She may expect him to try blackmailing her."

"Is Jacopo really Zorzi?" the Maestro asked.

Violetta gasped, but I had been expecting the question.

"He could be," I said. "The Council of Ten has been known to accept a massive fine in return for a secret pardon, even for major crimes. Even if it hasn't done so in this case, it's been eight years. He wears a thick beard and Zorzi was clean-shaven. All the servants who knew Zorzi have gone and the genuine Jacopo, if there ever was one, could have been disposed of with a bag of silver and a ticket to Rome or Milan. The family is very small, with no close relatives on either side. Jacopo obviously has more money than most young men can dream of. Also, according to Bernardo, he's a lecher like Zorzi."

Nostradamus was nodding impatiently. "But?"

"But," I admitted, sorry to topple such an elegant solution, especially when I'd worked it out for myself, "I'm more inclined to believe Jacopo is younger than me than older, porcupine beard or not. And if he is the reprobate returned, he is going around killing off the courtesans who knew him in his first life. I can't see either the Ten or the family standing for that."

My master grunted. "Neither can I."

"Then who is doing the killing?" Violetta asked.

That was the primary question, after all.

"A hired bravo," I said. "Nobles do not do their own strangling or stabbing. They pay other people to do that."

Medea's eyes flashed an angry green. "Who?" she demanded. "Who is paying the killers?"

I thought I knew the answer, but I had even less evidence to go on than I had for Alina being Gentile's murderer. "Motive's been the problem all along, hasn't it? And timing, too-why is this happening now? I think that Zorzi has tired of exile and wants to come back and clear his name. According to the family, he refused to give an alibi for the night of his father's murder because he was romancing a noble lady and would not betray her to her husband. Possibly the lady has died, leaving a signed confession. I don't believe that she even existed. I think Zorzi was with a courtesan as usual.