Mike Shevdon - The Eighth Court

“That was an accident,” said Katherine. “It was a build up of gas. There was an inquiry…”

“There was a guy called Naylor,” she continued. “He drowned — I drowned him.” She bit her lip.

“You can’t have done,” Katherine said. “Is that all of them?”

“Eve, and Chipper…” her hands were balled into fists. “I didn’t kill them, but they died because of me.”

“How many? How many people have you killed?” demanded Katherine, her voice rising in pitch.

“Not now, Katherine,” said Blackbird.

“How many?” Katherine repeated.

“Enough,” said Alex sullenly. “No one that didn’t deserve it.”

“I can’t believe you said that,” said Katherine. “I can’t believe my own daughter… where? Who were these people? What could they possibly have done?”

“Just let it be, Mum,” said Alex. “It was them or me, all right?”

“Do you think,” said Blackbird, “that you could have this discussion with your daughter at another time?”

“What better time is there to find out that-”

“Enough!” said Blackbird. “Or I will be taking this discussion somewhere else.”

Katherine gave her a dark look, but faced with Blackbird’s implacable determination, she relented. “We’ll talk about this later,” she said to Alex.

“I don’t think we will,” said Alex under her breath.

“Do you have somewhere safe you can go?” said Blackbird, bringing the focus of attention back to Claire.

“I could do with getting some things from my flat…?”

“If you go back there, he’ll kill you, if only out of spite. You laid him out and then stabbed him. He has to kill you, or he’ll never hear the last of it. He’ll be looking for you.” She looked at Alex and then at Katherine. “And for anyone else who knows what happened.”

“Me?” said Katherine. “I don’t know anything.”

Alex responded. “Anyone fey can hear the truth, Mum. There’s no point in lying.” The irony of that statement coming from Alex was not lost on Blackbird, but she kept a straight face for Claire’s sake.

“What can I do?” asked Claire.

“You can tell me what really happened at the Quit Rents ceremony,” said Blackbird.

Claire’s expression became closed. “Nothing happened,” she said.

“OK then,” Blackbird said. “What didn’t happen? Something changed.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Claire, but this time there was evasion in her words.

Blackbird shook her head. “It’s worse than you think. The safe in your office has been taken, along with the contents. The knives are lost, and the only horseshoes are the one in your flat, and the one in your bag. The rest have gone with the knives.”

“That’s bad news,” said Claire. Again, Blackbird could hear the evasion in her tone.

“Claire has told us the ceremony did not go as it should,” sad Blackbird to Alex, “and that the Remembrancer stumbled on his words, and yet she says that everything was as it should be. Even so, the Seventh Court are here, when they should not be able to cross until the solstice, which is still days away.”

“They must have come here at the equinox,” said Claire. “Maybe they’ve been here all the time.”

“That may be true,” said Blackbird, “and yet something isn’t right here. When I told you the safe had been taken, you barely reacted.” She watched Claire closely.

“Jerry and I did everything as we should,” said Claire. “You can’t blame us.”

“For what? What is there to be blamed for?” asked Blackbird.

“I meant for the Seventh Court being here,” she answered, but there was that twist of evasion again.

“Very well,” said Blackbird, getting to her feet. “Thank you for the warning. We will do what we can. I wish you luck. Keep moving. Don’t stay in any place too long. You already know to take precautions.” She glanced significantly at Claire’s handbag. Even with it tucked out of sight, she could sense the iron of the horseshoe in the bag. It was disrupting her sense of truth and falsehood in the room, but not enough to miss that Claire wasn’t being entirely forthcoming.

“What about me?” asked Claire.

“I’d like to help you,” said Blackbird, “but you’re holding something back. You may have your reasons for that, and I respect your secrecy, but until I know what the problem is, I can’t help.”

“So what can I do?”

“You can finish it,” said Blackbird. “You just need to make a proper job of it this time.”

“I can’t kill anyone!” said Claire. She glanced again at Alex as if wondering how anyone could do such a thing.

“Then you’d better start setting your affairs in order,” said Blackbird, “because whoever came after you won’t have any such compunction.”

“Why can’t she come back with us?” asked Alex. “She could stay at the courts.”

“That’s not a good idea,” said Blackbird.

“Oh, come on,” said Alex. It’s not like she doesn’t know about us, and there are loads of empty rooms still.”

“No, Alex,” said Blackbird.

“I don’t want to be an imposition,” said Claire.

“It’s not safe there,” said Blackbird, meeting Claire’s gaze, “not for you.” Alex sent Blackbird a questioning look, and Blackbird gave the merest shake of her head.

“Where then?” said Claire. “I can’t keep living out of motels.”

“If you keep moving you’ll be harder to trace,” Blackbird remarked. “Don’t stay in one place more than a day. Never go back to the same place twice. Don’t do anything to attract attention — ditch your bank accounts, credit cards, drivers licence — anything that links back to you. You don’t want to leave a trail that can be followed.”

“They’re not in the safe,” said Claire.

“What?” said Alex.

“The horseshoes and the knives. They’re not kept in the safe all the time — only in the days close to the ceremony,” said Claire.

“You understand,” said Blackbird, “I am not offering you sanctuary. I am simply offering to help you find a way out.”

“I can’t live like that.” Claire fished into her bag and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue which she proceeded to twist. “You have to help me.”

“It may not be enough,” said Blackbird.

“It will be something. It’s better than sitting in hotel rooms waiting for the money to run out, never trusting anyone, waiting for a knock on the door, or the click of a lock.”

“Tell me about the safe,” said Blackbird.

“It was supposed to be a secret,” said Claire. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone.”

“Someone knows,” said Blackbird, “or you wouldn’t be where you are now.”

Claire gathered herself, moving her bag, pushing back her hair. She leaned forward in the chair. “You must promise not to tell anyone,” she said.

“No,” said Blackbird.

“You must!” said Claire.

“I won’t make a promise I might break,” said Blackbird. “That’s not my way. We’re beyond that.”

Claire, looked first at Alex and then at Katherine.

Blackbird followed her gaze. “They’re both in on this, though they may come to wish that they were not… you may as well tell them.”

Claire looked from one to the other, then resigned herself. “Since Jerry retired there’s been a bit of a hiatus. I had this idea I was going to choose a successor — a new clerk for a new Remembrancer — and semi-retire myself. I’ve been going through the journals of the past clerks at the National Archives, looking at how previous clerks have chosen their successors. Looking for clues.”

“How does this relate to the contents of the safe?” asked Blackbird.