Коллектив авторов - Grantville Gazette 37

"All clear, Miss Schaubin?"

"All clear, Neustatter," she answered.

"Lukas is at the same door as Karl."

Astrid nodded. In a guard position that was both flashy and uncomfortable, she suspected.

"I considered firing him. He considered quitting. He still may. He considered fighting me. That won't happen."

Astrid sucked in her breath. "Neustatter, Lukas is angry much of the time. He might decide not to fight fair."

"Of course he wouldn't fight fair. First of all, I train all of you not to. Second, Lukas knows he wouldn't win a fair fight with me. What he's trying to decide right now is whether he can sneak up on me."

Astrid didn't think so, but she felt she had to caution her boss. "Neustatter, he does have a rifle. What if he just decides to take a shot at you?"

Neustatter grunted. "I've had to discipline Heidenfelder before. In Wallenstein's army, a lot of men did things. The men from our village knew there were certain things they couldn't do. Heidenfelder tested the limits a couple times."

"What happened?"

"I disciplined him. The captain disciplined me. I blew the captain's brains out at Alte Veste."

"Herr Neustatter, you scare people."

"Fraulein Schaubin, that way there are fewer I have to shoot."

****

Astrid spent the next hour or so fairly angry with Lukas Heidenfelder for complicating the assignment. Neustatter had circled the building a couple times, leaving her alone out front. Being the sole guard out front took some getting used to. Neustatter was back soon enough, though.

He had just returned from his second circuit when they both heard raised voices down the street.

"Stand ready," Neustatter directed. "Our men are all in place, and the BGS meeting is still going."

Whatever was going on down there seemed to have a crowd forming. After a few minutes, the crowd started moving their way.

"Miss Schaubin, send Phillip, Karl, and Lukas out here. Then you take position right outside the room where the BGS meeting is. You'll have to watch your back."

Astrid ran for Karl and Lukas's door. After she'd sent all three of the others to Neustatter out front, she took position outside the lecture hall.

Not ten minutes later, the front door was wrenched open. Astrid could hear a ruckus outside. One man strode in, questioned a student near the door, and made straight for the lecture hall.

Astrid drew her pistol but kept it pointed down. "Who goes there?"

"Town watch. We're here to question the heretics."

"Why?"

"For murder!"

Astrid swiftly considered and rejected several options. Neustatter wouldn't want her to shoot the town watch. Besides, he was carrying only a cudgel and a short sword. Instead she stepped back.

"Sir, if you are referring to the Bibelgesellschaft , they're inside. They've been inside all day. I'm sure Dr. Gerhard and the Erfurt professors will confirm that, and I'll stay right here."

The watchman looked her over. "Fraulein, you and your pistol may stay between the heretics and me, but I can't have you armed and behind me."

"That's reasonable," Astrid agreed and preceded him into the lecture hall.

"Doctors, please?" the watchman requested. "I'm Watchman Meinhard, investigating a murder."

The professors, the Bibelgesellschaft , and the Erfurt theology students all poured out of the room. She fell in beside Katharina Meisnerin and Barbara Kellarmannin.

"What is happening?" Katharina asked.

"I don't know," Astrid answered. She was concerned that the watchman had gotten past Neustatter. But once they stepped outside she almost laughed in relief.

The watchman had left his partner outside, uncomfortably parked between the mob on one hand and Neustatter, Karl Recker, and Lukas Heidenfelder on the other. As the theology faculty, students, and BGS crowded through the door, one of the good citizens of Erfurt took the opportunity to swing his quarterstaff at Neustatter's head. Neustatter ducked the staff and delivered a side kick to the man's midsection. As he doubled up, Neustatter quickly relieved him of the quarterstaff. A second Erfurter jumped in. Neustatter faked a swing at his head and used the other end of the quarterstaff to sweep his legs and dump him unceremoniously in the street.

Neustatter spun the quarterstaff with practiced ease as Karl and Lukas's rifle butts came up. The good citizens of Erfurt backed off.

"What is going on here?" Watchman Meinhard demanded.

A dozen people started talking at once.

"Silence!"

That must be his dean voice, Astrid surmised. It certainly worked.

"Watchman Meinhard?" the theology dean invited in a normal tone.

"These citizens found blood a couple alleys from here. They believe someone has been murdered by the heretics."

"When did this murder take place?"

"Within a few hours," a deep voice called from the crowd. "I walked through there this morning, and there wasn't any blood there then."

"The Bibelgesellschaft has been inside since eight o'clock this morning," Neustatter stated. "We've been watching the doors."

"Clearly you and your men were in on it!"

"Nonsense," Neustatter stated. "Who was killed, anyway?"

"You know! You did it!"

Neustatter planted one end of the quarterstaff in the dirt and spoke very slowly. "No, I don't know who was killed. If I did, I wouldn't have asked. And I haven't hurt anyone except these two fools in the dirt who decided it would be a good idea to attack a security consultant without being sure of the facts. Perhaps the town watch could identify the body before we move on to such minor considerations as motive."

"There's no body," a voice called out.

"Yeah, the heretics took it!" a nasal tone added.

"So, ah, what makes you think there's actually been a murder?" Neustatter asked as condescendingly as possible.

"There's blood all over the alley!" Several other people shouted contributions, too, but that was the gist of it.

Neustatter looked at the town watchmen. "Have you seen the alley?"

"Ah . . . just a glance. But we left Jost there."

"Yes, take the heretics back to the scene of the crime." That nasal voice from the crowd was getting really annoying.

"The heretics have been inside the classroom with us all day," one of the Erfurt professors said. Astrid thought about it and finally dredged up a name-Niclas Zapf. Nicolaus Zapfius when he was writing.

"Yes, they have," another professor agreed.

"And who are you?" the watchman asked.

"I'm Dr. Johann Gerhard, dean of the theology faculty at the University of Jena. And who, good sir, are you?"

"Uh, Watchman Heinkel."

The crowd quieted down quite nicely, Astrid observed.

"It probably would be a good idea to view the scene," Meinhard stated loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "Let's go."

"One moment, please," Neustatter requested. He reached out a hand to one of the men he dropped. "Are you willing to let the watchmen sort this out?"

"As long as they make the right decision." He accepted a hand up.

The other man didn't. "I want your name!"

"Edgar Neustatter. Neustatter's European Security Services. You're with the Committees, aren't you?" When the man didn't answer, Neustatter sighed loudly. "A quarterstaff is your weapon of choice. You jumped in ahead of the watch. Tell Dieter Strauss hello from me."

"You know Strauss?"

"Of course I know the head of the Erfurt Committee of Correspondence, What kind of a security consultant would I be if I didn't know the important people in cities I operate in? If I give you your quarterstaff back, do you think you could refrain from taking a swing at me?"

"He'd better," Meinhard warned.

The Committeeman nodded sullenly.

****

The townspeople and a good chunk of the university congregated at the mouth of the alley. "Jost, we brought everybody," Meinhard told the watchman who had remained there.