by Dan Wingreen
"And wouldn't that Duke prefer you catch her actual murderer?"
"He'd prefer to see justice done."
Elias snorted. "Because the nobility is just so concerned with justice."
"Don't matter what they're concern' with. I'm concern' with justice and I'm going to see it carried ou'."
"Against an innocent man, yes, I can see how that could be construed as 'justice'." Elias crossed his arms. "Is this what you do all the time? How many other innocent men have been thrown into the dungeons because you decided you disliked them?"
"No one spawned by a Dar' King is innocent!" Spellings shouted.
"Now which one of us is talking about a subject they have no experience in?"
"I. Know. Evil."
"Then you know that there are different kinds of evil. The Dark Prince is not a paragon, but neither is he a monster. Nor is he stupid. He would not kill someone just for insulting me"—Probably—"and if he did, he wouldn't leave a body in the middle of the castle to be discovered."
Spellings jaw clenched as he rubbed his scar. "Well, you're the only bloody one to think so."
"So justice is handed out based on consensus now?"
"It is when I got orders from on high—"
Spellings clamped his jaw shut and, for the first time since Elias met him, the older man looked discomposed.
"Orders from on high to do what?" Elias asked.
"Get out," Spellings snapped.
Several things clicked into place for Elias, like tumblers in a lock, and he thought he knew exactly what Spellings had almost said.
"Someone ordered you to only look into the Dark Prince, didn't they?"
"I said get out."
"They did! And you resent it."
"It don't matter what I resent. He's still guilty. He's still a Dar' Prince of an evil land and, orders or not, I'm going to see 'im hang for 'is misdeeds!"
Elias gripped the arms of his chair to keep from flinching at the sheer fury he could see in Spellings' eyes. The only thing that kept him from fearing for his life was the somewhat irrational impression that the fury wasn't directed at him.
"Do you truly believe that?" Elias asked, breaking the thick silence that had gathered in the wake of Spellings' outburst. "Are you truly this prejudiced, or are you trying to justify following an unpalatable order?"
"It ain't prejudice if it's true."
"You never used to think that way," Elias said.
"Then you never knew me at all," Spellings said, curling his lip.
Elias shook his head. He wouldn't be getting through to Spellings. What bothered him the most about their encounter, however, wasn't that he'd failed to help the Prince, but that he still wasn't completely sure whether Spellings was focused on the Prince because of hatred or because of an order he was desperately pretending didn't go against his beliefs. Elias would probably never know.
"Perhaps I never did," he said.
But he did know more than he had that morning, which was more than enough to call the meeting a success.
Chapter 24
"It has to be the Crown Prince," the Dark Prince said later that night. They were once again sitting in front of a fire which—much like the Prince—burned with an almost frantic intensity. "There's no other explanation."
Elias sighed and pushed up his glasses. After telling the Prince about everything that had happened that day, from Spellings to his meeting with the Librarian—where he determined the Prince's letter had been stolen—and getting a list to look into of people who had access to the Librarian's office, the Dark Prince seemed to get stuck on the idea that the other prince was the murderer. An idea that he refused to let go.
At least he's stopped pacing.
"It's not the Crown Prince," Elias said, not even trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. He was getting weary of having the same conversation over and over again.
"You can't know that," the Dark Prince said. "He fits all the facts."
"All the facts we have." Elias corrected. "Which are not many."
"He still fits them—"
"So does the King."
The Dark Prince rolled his eyes. "Why would your king want to kill a trollish shrew?"
"Why would the Crown Prince?" Elias shot back.
"Because he hates me!"
Now it was Elias's turn to roll his eyes. "More like you're conjuring a villain because you hate him."
"I don't hate him."
Elias shot the Prince a distinctly disbelieving look.
"I dislike him greatly." the Prince clarified. "To hate him I would have to care about him in some way, and I can assure you that I most assuredly do not."
"How very reassuring," Elias muttered. Then, louder, "Regardless of what your feelings towards the Prince are, you're letting them influence your judgment."
"And you aren't?" the Dark Prince asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No." Elias crossed his arms. "I'm letting my knowledge of the Crown Prince influence my deductive reasoning."
The Dark Prince threw his hands into the air with a frustrated, wordless shout. "You've just made my entire argument for me."
"I await your elaboration with bated breath," Elias said, crossing his arms.
"Haven't you ever read a murder mystery? The murderer is always the person you least suspect."
Elias closed his eyes briefly. "Then it can't possibly be the Crown Prince, since, thus far, you've suspected only him."
The Dark Prince sighed and sank into his chair. For the first time since they had started talking that night, he seemed weary. Elias could only hope that meant they'd soon be able to move past this seemingly never ending argument. "Elias…"
"No," Elias said firmly. "It's not him. The Crown Prince would never be able to stomach the murder. It's impossible."
"If the guards are truly suspecting magic then there wouldn't be any blood."
"He still wouldn't be able to do it. He can barely keep from passing out when his father drags him on royal hunts. And, honestly, do you actually think the Crown Prince is capable of killing someone while leaving the body completely intact?"
To Elias's great relief, the Dark Prince seemed to be actually, finally, considering Elias's words.
"What if he ordered someone else to commit the murder?"
Elias opened his mouth to automatically refute this latest theory, then paused when he realized it was actually something he should have considered earlier.
"It's possible," he conceded.
"There!" The Dark Prince sat up straight, grinning.
"It's still only a theory," Elias said before the Prince could say anything else. "One which we will be looking into as best we can, considering that I am apparently barred from coming within one hundred feet of the Crown Prince's chambers." And wasn't that just the height of irony? Elias Sutterby being denied the Crown Prince's presence the one time he actually desired it. "But we won't be pursuing it to the exclusion of all others."
"You say that like we have any other theories," the Prince said.
"We—"
"Which we haven't already discarded."
Elias closed his jaw with an audible click. It wouldn't do to start another argument when it finally seemed like they were getting out of the current one. Besides, the Prince was right. They had talked over other theories, briefly, before the Dark Prince had gotten stuck on the Crown Prince, and none of them fit the facts either. It couldn't be a jealous lover or a mistreated servant, because they wouldn't have been able to direct an investigation. It couldn't have been the King, because he was shrewd enough to want to avoid potential inter-kingdom incidents even if he had no idea that imprisoning the Dark Prince would lead to war. It couldn't have been a robbery or attempted sexual assault gone wrong for the exact same reasons why it couldn't be a lover or a servant. To Elias's everlasting frustration, aside from his complete inability to commit murder, the Crown Prince was the best suspect.
If one were to look at the murder and the order to o
nly focus on the Dark Prince as separate issues however…
"What if the Prince did issue the order, but had nothing to do with the murder itself? Elias asked.
The Dark Prince looked thoughtful. "You mean, what if someone else killed Selma and the Crown Prince just took advantage to try and frame me?"
Elias nodded. "Exactly. It fits all the facts we have."
"It does seem awfully coincidental, though. Doesn't it?" The Dark Prince frowned. "Someone just happens to murder one of the only people in this kingdom that I would have any reason to want to see dead, the very day I publicly threatened her life, in a way which could be misconstrued as magic?"
"I thought you wanted the Crown Prince to be behind this?" Elias asked, somewhat put out at having holes poked in his theory.
"I thought you wanted me to be more logical?"
A noise, which sounded suspiciously like strangled laughter, came from Chappy's darkened corner.
Elias let out a disgusted snort. "Fine. So, to summarize our investigation, we have exactly one suspect, who can't commit murder, a dead woman who was killed by some unknown means which isn't magic, and a list of potential thieves who may or may not have stolen an incriminating letter."
"And a list of witnesses who saw the body."
Elias started. "What?"
The Dark Prince grinned sheepishly as he reached into his robe and pulled out several sheets of parchment rolled up and tied off with what looked like one of Elias's extra hair ribbons. "Didn't I tell you? I slipped into your guard commander's office before dinner and copied his notes on the case."
Elias blinked. "You…"
The Prince's grin turned slightly smug at Elias's obvious surprise.
"How did you sneak into his office?" Elias finally managed. With the way the winding, closed-in staircase echoed and the fact the door was made of thick solid wood and locked whenever Spellings was out, sneaking in should have been all but impossible.
"Magic is useful for more than just seducing not-librarians and lighting fires, you know," the Prince said with a shrug.
Elias stared blankly. "Indeed." He shook himself, then gestured impatiently for the Prince to hand over the rolled up parchment. "Are the notes useful?"
"I have no idea," the Prince said as he handed them over. Elias quickly untied the ribbon and pocketed it the moment the notes were in his hands. "I didn't get a chance to look them over."
Elias paused in unrolling the papers. "You said you copied them. Please don't tell me you stole a case file from the guard commander when we're trying to keep you out of the dungeons."
The Dark Prince sighed. "One of these days, my dear, you're going to learn that not all princes are completely incompetent. I copied them with magic. All I needed to do was touch the parchment, not read it."
"You can copy something that's written down without reading it?" Elias's jaw dropped. "You…you could single-handedly reproduce the entire Great Library. You could mass produce any book!"
Elias was practically salivating at the possibilities.
The Dark Prince stared at Elias. "I should have led with book copying instead of the magical lust."
"What?"
"You're drooling, my dear."
Elias flushed and wiped at his mouth, then glared at the Dark Prince's smirk when there wasn't a trace of saliva.
"I hate you."
The Dark Prince laughed.
Elias scowled, then pointedly looked away and started reading through the case files. Although why he was helping the infuriating royal stay out of the dungeons was something he didn't quite know right then.
Not that these would be much help, he realized after a few minutes of reading. So far, there was very little in the notes they hadn't already deduced themselves. Confirmation the body was unmarked, statements from the witnesses who found the body, and more detailed statements from the witnesses who overheard the Dark Prince threatening Selma.
"It's impossible to keep someone alive for more than a few hours after flaying them," Elias said as he read a particularly in-depth witness account.
"You say that so confidently."
"You said you read my books," Elias said, only half paying attention to the conversation.
"Ah," the Dark Prince said after a pause. "The Lowtown Skin Grabber."
"Mmm," Elias agreed absently.
Thankfully, the Prince stayed silent and Elias was able to finish reading. When he was done, he placed the pages on the table between their chairs with a faint scowl.
"There's very little new information in here," he said. "They haven't even gotten the coroner's report back yet."
The Prince sniffed, looking vaguely put out. "My apologies. Next time I shall endeavor to steal documents of greater use."
Against his will, Elias found his lips pulling into a small smile. Who would have thought petulance could be almost cute?
"At least we know for sure we were on the right path," Elias said. "What we don't know is what could kill a person without leaving a single mark, and I think that's where we should start before we attempt to assign a motive."
"Magic," the Prince said at once, throwing off his mood like an uncomfortably warm cloak.
"Yes, but we're trying to prove you didn't do it." Even as he was speaking, however, Elias took out his small notebook and portable writing set and wrote down magic. "Is it likely that someone else in the castle can cast spells?"
The Prince winced. "Don't say 'casting spells', it makes it sound so common. But no, it's very unlikely. Unless someone has access to an artifact as powerful as the Mournhelm, and if they did I doubt their first act of magical might would be to kill a marchioness, no matter how horrid she may be, and attempt to pin the crime on me."
"If the person in question despised you enough, they might."
"If they hated me that much, they would just use their artifact to kill me."
"Unless they were afraid of the possibility of you fighting back and besting them."
The Prince had started shaking his head before Elias had even finished his sentence. "No. My magic is diluted, Elias; passed on through conception and limited by what little magical energy my body can hold without burning from the inside out. Anyone with a magical artifact would be able to kill me with embarrassing ease, and they would know it, too. It's not magic."
Elias didn't miss the significance of the Dark Prince exposing a weakness like that, especially since they were going to be living in a kingdom where weakness was apparently seen as something to exploit. It spoke of a trust that Elias had honestly never truly expected, and it made him love the Prince even more than he already did.
"All right," Elias said, somewhat roughly. He cleared his throat. If the Prince was going to act like he hadn't just made a monumental confession, than Elias could be courteous and follow his example. "It's not magic."
He crossed magic off with a single, harsh line.
"What else?"
The discussion which followed was much shorter than Elias had expected it to be.
"Poison, then?" the Dark Prince asked.
"Poison," Elias agreed.
"So, I suppose the logical follow-up question would be to ask who in your kingdom possesses knowledge of poisons."
"Almost nobody except the Hightowers," Elias said.
"Truly?" the Prince asked, surprised.
Elias nodded. "There is very little reason for anyone who isn't a medical professional to know anything about poison."
"I can think of several off the top of my head," the Prince said. "Most have to do with cleaning up untidy succession issues."
"Our nobles are predisposed to sloth and bluster, not homicidal urges," Elias said.
"Nothing homicidal about it," the Prince argued. "Simply good bookkeeping."
"Bookkeeping?"
"Messy successions do awful things to finances, my dear. It's a noble's duty to keep the family investments in order back home, you know. What's a little subtle murder in the face of duty?"
Elias stared at the Prince.
Nobles.
"Regardless," Elias said, deciding to forgo the ethical debate of "murder versus balanced books", "there are still very few people in this kingdom who know enough about poison to successfully kill somebody."
"Your Duke and Marquis Hightower being the exceptions, of course."
"I did say successfully," Elias said dryly. He paused, turning an idea over in his head. "Although, if they hadn't been in the infirmary since last week, I'd probably say they were our best suspects. Especially with the duke's interest in you."
The Prince frowned. "Elias. They were both at court yesterday."
Elias sat up straight. "Are you sure?"
"They aren't exactly easy to miss," the Prince said. "Not when they're constantly moving to make sure they're on opposite sides of whatever room they're in."
"Then one of them could have done it," Elias muttered to himself, thinking aloud as he stared into the fire. "The duke, most likely. He was already interested in the Dark Prince and he's on the Law Enforcement Council. He wouldn't be able to order the guard to investigate a certain suspect, but he could threaten Spellings with early retirement if he refused…" Elias nodded to himself, then looked back to the Prince. "Yes, we should definitely start with the duke."
The Prince grinned, apparently no longer upset about the Crown Prince not being their number one suspect. "Excellent! I will interrogate him tomorrow and tell you if he confesses."
Elias frowned. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, all right, I'll tell you everything he says regardless of whether or not he confesses. I'll write it down if you let me borrow one of those little books you're always carrying around."
"No," Elias said, shaking his head. "You won't. Because I'm going to be the one questioning him."
"Absolutely not," the Prince said instantly.
"I repeat," Elias said, narrowing his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Elias," the Prince said, giving Elias a patient, somewhat condescending smile. "You can't honestly expect me to let you go interview a probable murderer all by yourself."
"I've done it before—"
