Alex Bledsoe - Dark Jenny

“Insurance,” Kay said. “His authority still stands.”

“Exactly what is he an expert in?” Thomas Gillian asked. He had the kind of eyes that methodically swept over you, cataloging and analyzing as they went.

“Investigating murders,” Kay said.

“The ones he committed?” a tall man with red hair snorted.

“We don’t know that,” Kay said. “He has an alibi, and as long as it holds up, I’m satisfied with it. But I haven’t had time to check it out. That’s why he’s restrained.”

A slender man with a long, drooping mustache said, “The guests sure think he’s guilty.”

“The guests also think they’re the whole reason the world exists,” Kay said. “Neither one is true. Mr. LaCrosse is a professional, just like we are. And hear this: Mr. LaCrosse better stay healthy, or I know some knights who won’t. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” they barked in unison.

Kay turned to me. “The show’s all yours. What do we do?”

I was rarely the shortest man in any group, but I was here, and it felt odd, as if I were the new kid in a tough school. “Gentlemen, I appreciate that you’ve lost a friend here today. I wish there was more time to mourn him, but right now, the longer we let things sit, the better chance the real murderer has of getting away. Has anyone left the room since this happened?”

“The queen retired to her quarters with her women,” the red-haired man said. “The only guest who’s left the room is you, sir, and the soldiers involved in guarding you. The other guests and all the servants have been kept here. The perimeter is secure. Sir,” he added, with a glance toward Kay.

“Well…,” began another knight, scarred from a burn across his chin.

“Well, what?” Kay demanded, then suddenly answered his own question. “Agravaine,” he spat.

“Yeah,” the burned knight said. “He took it on himself to question the serving girl who delivered the apples.”

“And he took Vince and Aidan with him,” Gillian added.

“Of course he did,” Kay snarled. “And none of you brave warriors stood up to him?” They all looked down or away, like guilty schoolboys, except for Gillian, whose expression remained neutral. “I ought to put the lot of you on report. You can be sure the king will hear about this.”

“Well, what difference does that make, anyway?” one of the other knights said. “Has anyone talked to Perfect Jennifer? She brought the murder weapon, after all.”

Kay was instantly nose to nose with the speaker; the younger man could not meet Kay’s furious gaze. “Back that talk down, mister. You are a member of the Knights of the Double Tarn, and you will show respect to your queen.”

“Yes, sir,” the offending soldier said, as sincerely as a pimp says, “I love you.”

“An investigation starts with the actual crime and works backwards,” I said, trying to sound as authoritative as my handcuffs allowed. “We follow the trail where it leads, not where we assume it goes, no matter how certain we might be. A smart criminal knows how to use assumptions like that, and since your friend was murdered right under the noses of the country’s best soldiers, I’d say the killer was pretty smart.” To Kay I said, “We should talk to the serving girl ourselves. She can at least tell us where she got the apples.”

Kay nodded. “Where are they?”

Gillian nodded at a door. “In there.”

As Kay and I crossed the hall, I felt the eyes of every single banquet guest follow me. I knew they were concocting elaborate conspiracies that had the Knights of the Double Tarn protecting me from justice for murky, nefarious reasons. I could do nothing to change their minds except produce the actual murderer, so I tried not to worry about it. “So who’s this Agravaine?” I asked Kay.

“Dave Agravaine,” he said through his teeth. “He’s a wild knife, and he’s got two toadies, Vince Hoel and Aidan Cador, who ask ‘How high?’ when he says ‘Jump.’ They’re all three worth their weight in gold in a battle, but they stink as human beings in peacetime.”

“I’ve known a lot of soldiers like that.” For a while, I’d even been one, but I kept that to myself.

Just as we reached the door to the indicated serving room, I glanced back and spotted Thomas Gillian, the intended murder victim, still watching me with that hawklike intensity. I couldn’t read his expression. I wondered if anyone ever could.

“Agravaine!” Kay bellowed as we entered the small room. It was identical to the one in which I’d earlier cornered Astamore, except that the door leading into the kitchens was closed and bolted.

Three knights surrounded a stool, on which perched the unfortunate serving girl. She huddled like a frightened sparrow, head down and arms around herself. “Get out there with the rest of the men,” Kay snarled, holding the door open. “We’ll take over here.”

One of them completely ignored Kay and glared solely at me. He was the first Double Tarn knight I’d met shorter than me, but he had wide shoulders and a white streak in his hair that indicated a serious battle scar on his scalp. He moved with a cocky shoulder roll that radiated arrogance, and his features seem to have adopted a disdainful sneer as their natural expression. I guessed he was about forty, old enough to have fought in the last of the unification wars. “You’re the guy we pulled off Patrice’s dead body.”

“And you’re this far from getting a boot enema, Agravaine,” Kay snarled. “You had orders to stay in the hall. Were they too complicated, or have you just not washed your ears lately?”

“This skanky little wench gave Sam the poisoned apple,” Agravaine said. “She might be dangerous. We can keep a better eye on her in here.” Then, in an insolent, singsong taunt he added, “Isn’t that what Marcus would want, big Sir Bob? And don’t you always do what Marcus wants?”

The tension between Kay and Agravaine had an almost physical presence. Before Kay could throttle him, I said to him, “Thanks, we appreciate your initiative, but we need some time alone to ask the young lady some questions.”

Agravaine’s hateful gaze shifted back to me, and he smiled. It was the kind of smile that begged to be forcefully knocked down his throat. “Right. I always do what a man in chains tells me. Well, here she is.” He snapped his fingers, and the other two knights stepped aside.

The girl had not moved or spoken during this exchange. She sat hunched with her hair down over her face and shook so violently the stool’s legs tapped against the floor. I put my hand on her shoulder, careful not to let the manacle chain touch her. “Miss,” I said gently, “I’d just like to ask you a couple of questions, and then you’ll be free to go.”

She looked up slowly, and her hair fell away from her face. I saw bruises and an eye swollen shut. Fresh tears made tracks through the dried blood around her puffy lips. She was so terrified her breath came in rapid, shallow whimpers.

Kay inhaled sharply behind me.

Her beautiful serving gown had been torn off one shoulder, and her fingers clutched the ripped fabric so tightly her nails dug into her palms.

“Please, sir,” she said in a trembling, mechanical whisper.

My own hands began to shake. “I’m sorry,” I said genuinely. “I wish we’d gotten here sooner.”

Behind me, Kay stepped close to Agravaine. “You little pissbucket-”

His two pals stepped up behind him, their presence a looming threat that Kay ignored. “She insulted the queen,” Agravaine said defensively. “We can’t have the servants doing that, can we?”

“You just like smacking women around,” Kay hissed. “Don’t pretend otherwise.”