Midway through the morning, Fellows called Dahran into his office, and Kadin spent the next hour wondering how they planned to do any investigating if they spent the whole case sequestered in a windowless room.
Around the same time she was considering finding Olivan and Trinithy for lunch, Inspector Warring surged into the office and banged open Fellows’s door. “How did you get him to do it?”
Kadin turned around in her chair in time to see Fellows frown. “How did I get who to do what?” he asked.
“How did you get Duke Baurus to turn himself in?” Warring shook his head and laughed. “I was beginning to think we’d need an international manhunt to find the guy, but a couple of hours ago he came into our offices himself. I’m surprised you haven’t been up in my office claiming all the credit yet.”
“Yes, well…” Fellows glanced at Dahran, but Kadin knew the junior detective wouldn’t have any insight. “We know how to get things done.”
Warring made a disbelieving noise. “I don’t know about that. Have you seen this file?” He threw the folder in his hands onto Fellows’s desk. “I have to give you credit for organizing your notes for once instead of handing me a collage of hand-written scribbles, but the case has holes all over the place. So stop congratulating yourselves and interview Landis Imbolc before I decide to interrogate you about why you pursued the DeValeriel angle so hard.” Warring headed out of the room and yelled over his shoulder. “And tell Combs to get me a real cause of death. Magic, indeed!”
Fellows uttered a few flabbergasted monosyllables at Warring’s retreating back. Dahran said, “Where did he…?” before dead silence filled the room. Kadin felt two pairs of eyes on her.
“Miss Stone?”
She pasted a bright smile on her face and turned to look at Fellows. “Yes, Detective?”
“Do you know why Duke Baurus turned himself in?”
Kadin’s grin slipped a little. “Possibly because I told him that it was in his best interests to do so.”
Dahran’s mouth fell open, and she worried the little blood vessel at Fellows’s temple might explode.
Eventually Dahran spoke. “But… But… how did you find him?”
Kadin’s heart pounded, and she could feel her lungs quivering. “Oh, he owns a house in the Merchant District under a different name.” She shrugged as it if were no big deal. “Once I found out about it, it seemed logical that he would be there.”
Dahran shuffled through the file Warring had dropped. “He has a house in the Merchant District? But… I’ve been investigating him all week, and I haven’t found anything of the kind. How did you learn that?”
“My source… prefers to remain anonymous.”
“Anonymous?” Fellows’s booming voice made Kadin wince. “You’re an aide, Miss Stone. You don’t get to have anonymous sources.”
Would it be worse to tell them nothing or admit I talked to the king on my own? “I’ll try to keep that in mind for the future, but I swore secrecy on this matter. Isn’t the important thing that Duke Baurus is in custody?”
Fellows’s cheeks puffed up, and his face reddened. “Miss Stone, I realize that you are new to this position.” Fellows’s tone indicated he was being patient with her, as one would be with a child who had done something to infuriate him. He planned to dismiss everything she said as irrelevant, but he still needed to put her in her place. “So I will explain the hierarchy to you. Every decision that is made while you are working on this case, who you question, when you question him, when you take a break to eat, and especially who you convince to turn himself in, is made by me. If you think that you by some miracle have an idea that I have not considered, you bring it to my attention, and I decide whether it has merit. Understood?”
“All right, Detective. It’s just…” Kadin looked at the floor.
“It’s just what, Miss Stone?”
She turned her head back up and looked him in the eye. “You wouldn’t listen to me.”
Fellows glowered. “And I suppose you can tell me why Inspector Warring doesn’t think that Duke Baurus killed the queen.” From his tone, Kadin couldn’t tell whether the worse answer would be “No” or “Yes.”
Kadin took a few steps forward, until she was almost in the room with the detectives. “Duke Baurus was our primary suspect because a number of witnesses had seen him angry with Queen Callista on the day of her death. But the murderer killed the guard the night before, before Duke Baurus was angry. Any jury is going to demand his motive for killing the guard on Sunday night.”
The detectives exchanged glances.
“She’s right,” Dahran said. “We should have thought of that.”
Fellows leaned forward. “And I suppose, Miss Stone, that you know why Warring wants us to interrogate Landis Imbolc.”
Kadin nodded. “Yes, sir. It’s because—”
Fellows stopped her with a hand. “Save it, Miss Stone. White, take her over to the Imbolc estate and get some information from them.” He grabbed the case file out of Dahran’s hands. “It seems I need to familiarize myself with my own case.”
Chapter 18
“It’s probably better that I ask the questions,” Dahran said as he and Kadin strode past the lavender-draped bronze statues on the Imbolc estate. They had called ahead, and while Lord Landis was still out of town, Lady Elyesse had agreed to see them. “I’m the detective, after all.”
“All right.” Kadin balanced her high heels on the brick walkway that ran through the manicured lawn. “What are you planning on asking her? So that I can prepare to take notes.”
Dahran came to a stop, apparently realizing he had no idea what this meeting was about. “Well, about her relationship with the queen and Duke Baurus.” He resumed walking, having regained his confidence from what Kadin assumed was an endless well. “Did you have other questions?”
She hurried along after him, repeating Trinithy’s advice about feeding men’s egos in her mind. “I heard a rumor that Queen Callista was having an affair with Lord Landis Imbolc about a year ago. I wanted to ask him about that, but he’s been out of town. I thought that maybe his sister might know something…” Also, he’s sideways, so he wasn’t having an affair with the queen. And Lady Elyesse knows all the details of her brother’s business. But I’m not sure I can repeat that, and you should be able to get the information I need without knowing.
Dahran flashed her an arrogant grin. “Well, that should probably come up when I ask her about her relationship with the queen, but I’m glad to know beforehand.”
Kadin resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
The bird-like woman who answered the door informed them that Lady Elyesse had asked that they be escorted to the library. The housekeeper led them down the third elaborate hallway Kadin had seen this week, this one decorated in Imbolc purple and bronze. Fourth, she supposed, if I count Duke Baurus’s house in the Merchant District. The dark metal gave the corridor a masculine feel, but a feminine floral scent wafted through the air. Kadin suspected the suits of armor and mounted stags’ heads were the influence of Duke Chaise Imbolc, while the accompanying vases of flowers and bowls of potpourri were his daughter, Lady Eylesse. Kadin wondered what role Lord Landis played in the trimming, or if he kept his tastes as secret as his sexual orientation.
The library was quite dark for a room where one was expected to read fine print, but a reading lamp shone above Lady Elyesse’s shoulder. The young Imperial appeared at ease, though her soft brown hair and white dress seemed at odds with the mahogany poker table and studded leather chairs. Lady Eylesse’s book of choice, a pristine paperback with a green and white cover, did not have the same erudite appearance as the many leather-bound tomes that lined the walls, but looked more as though it belonged in Queen Callista’s library.
But what fit in least was the friendly smile that lit the lady’
s face, which lacked any trace of the arrogance Kadin had come to expect from Imperials.
“Thank you, Halla.” Lady Elyesse nodded to the woman, and then turned her beatific expression on Kadin and Dahran. “Please, have a seat.”
Kadin stared at the book in Lady Elyesse’s hands, certain she had seen it before, though she couldn’t place where. Diamonds in my Mind, the title read, and that meant nothing to Kadin. She didn’t frequent bookstores, and Octavira only approved of cookbooks, and the occasional biography of some Merchant’s wife who had been instrumental in maintaining the status quo. Kadin looked down when she realized she was staring, but Lady Elyesse was focused on Dahran anyway.
The detective gave the noblewoman his handsome smile. “I’m Detective Dahran White, and this is my aide, Kadin Stone. Thank you so much for meeting with us.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem.” Lady Elyesse leaned forward, her big blue eyes opened wide. “You wanted to ask me some things about Callista. It’s so sad, what happened to her. She was such a vivacious person. We’re all going to miss her so much. Please, ask me anything. I want to help in any way I can.”
Lady Elyesse liked Callista, Kadin wrote with some surprise. Even Duke Baurus had not described her in so positive a manner, but no doubt the description said more about the woman in front of Kadin than it did about the queen.
Elyesse is such a sweetheart. One hates to disappoint her, Lady Beatrin had said.
She was talking about… a book? Kadin thought. A book Queen Callista had and Lady Elyesse wanted.
Dahran made a few marks on his notepad. “Lady Elyesse, could you please tell me about your brother’s relationship with Queen Callista.”
The lady bit her lip and glanced down at her hands. “I shouldn’t… I mean, Landis told me in the strictest confidence… But I suppose this is for a murder investigation.” She sighed. “I can count on you to be discreet, of course?”
Dahran gave a solemn nod.
“My brother Landis is sideways.” Lady Elyesse almost whispered the word. “I know it’s accepted these days among the common folk, but Imperials… Well, my father still expects Landis to produce an heir, and Landis wants my father to be proud of him.”
His father is proud of a playboy? Kadin though absently, but her mind focused on Lady Elyesse’s book, trying to place it.
The lady took a sip of the light brown beverage in front of her. From the scent, Kadin imagined it was herbal tea. “In order to hide the truth, Landis has a sort of… arrangement with some of the other Imperial women,” Lady Elyesse said. “When he wants to spend time with a lover, he finds an Imperial woman who wants to have a secret affair of her own. They then use each other as alibis. If Landis’s name was coupled with Callista’s, it meant that she didn’t want anyone to know who she was really seeing.”
Someone unsuitable, even for an affair, Kadin thought.
Dahran opened his mouth, no doubt to ask some further question about Landis Imbolc’s affairs.
Kadin spoke before he got the chance. “My lady, would you mind telling me about the book you’re reading?”
Lady Elyesse’s brow furrowed, and Dahran looked at Kadin as if she had asked the lady to stand on her head in front of the palace.
Kadin cleared her throat. “I realize that it might not seem important to the case…”
“No, that’s all right. I mean, I don’t see how it could be related to… what happened to Callista, but it is related to her, at least a little bit.” Lady Elyesse considered for a moment. “Callista, Beatrin Oriole, and I are—were—in the habit of exchanging books, as we all read the same things, and there’s no point in buying three copies. Beatrin and I always tried to lend to each other first, simply because Callista… liked to take her time with them.”
Kadin suspected that a ruder person would have said that the queen borrowed them and then either forgot or didn’t care that other people wanted them.
“Anyway, this book came out a few months ago, and I was in the middle of something else. I knew Callista was desperate to read it, so I told Beatrin to give it to her first.” Lady Elyesse sighed. “I didn’t want to bother Callista or Beatrin too much about it, but it had been a few months, and I wanted to read it, so I might have been a little bit hard on poor Beatrin. And after Callista… passed on… I decided to buy my own copy. I feel bad, now, over putting so much pressure on Callista. I wish the last time I had seen her that I had been nicer to her. I didn’t need to bring up the stupid book.” A tear fell down her face and she looked down, ashamed.
Queen Callista took a lover, one she had to hide from society, and she didn’t hide any of her lovers from society. And that book…
“Lady Elyesse, is this the only book of Lady Beatrin’s that you were waiting for Queen Callista to return?” Kadin could hear the quiver in her own voice.
“Yes.” The noblewoman leaned back a bit, no doubt wondering why Kadin was focusing on books in the middle of a murder investigation. “As I said, Beatrin usually let me read her books before Callista, but in this one case… Miss Stone, are you all right?”
Kadin supposed her face was probably pale at that moment. “Yes.” She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Lady Elyesse, may I use your ringer?”
The lady furrowed her brow but nodded. “Of course, if you need to. It’s in the other room; I can show you.”
As Kadin got up to follow the lady out, Dahran grabbed Kadin’s arm with what she could only assume he did not realize was pain-inducing pressure. “What are you doing? I told you that I would do the talking, and you didn’t even ask her any of the things we talked about.”
Kadin tried unsuccessfully to pull her arm from his grip and nearly fell over in the process. “You can ask her more if you still want to, but I already got the information I came here for.”
Dahran looked at her with a mixture of astonishment and scorn. “You came here to find out about the reading habits of Imperial women?”
He loosened his grip on her arm, and she was able to wrench it free.
“No,” she said. “I came here to find out who killed the queen. And now I know.”
Chapter 19
Half an hour later, Kadin and Dahran’s autotaxi pulled up in front of the palace. She had called the guards, and the king must have given them her name because as soon as she asked, they readily agreed to gather King Ralvin, Captain Carver, and Herrick Strand to meet in the queen’s chamber. Dahran had called the Fellows, since Kadin figured her boss was more likely to listen to his fellow detective than to her.
Kadin had to stifle a laugh when the guards seemed dubious about letting Dahran in until they heard her name. She told them to let the rest of the team in when they arrived, because she didn’t want to think about how angry Fellows would be if the palace staff denied him entrance to his own murder investigation.
Fellows and Combs piled out of an autotaxi before Kadin and Dahran got to the door.
Fellows, a scowl on his face, hurried over to them. “What is all this about, White?”
“Ask her.” Dahran pointed at Kadin, looking no more pleased than this superior. “She said she knew who killed the queen and hasn’t told me a thing since.”
“Miss Stone.” Fellows turned his less-than-pleased expression in Kadin’s direction. “Did we not have a discussion less than two hours ago regarding your role in this investigation? One that forbade exactly this sort of behavior?”
Kadin took a deep breath and tried to look contrite. “We did. However, given some new evidence that has come to light, I thought that you might appreciate the opportunity to re-question some members of the palace guard. As quickly as possible.”
“What new evidence is this, White?” Fellows asked Dahran.
Dahran ran his fingers through his hair. “I told you. I have no idea. You told me to go with her to
visit Lady Elyesse, so I did. Your aide and the lady had a discussion about the Imperial women’s appalling tastes in paperbacks, and before I could ask any further questions, Miss Stone insisted that we come here. I’m sure Lady Elyesse thought we were quite wasting her time.”
A strange expression came over Fellows’s face as he puzzled through his fellow detective’s words. He had been an investigator for a long time, and Kadin knew that something in him recognized that what Queen Callista read was in some way relevant, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
But that didn’t make him any less impatient. “So we are here because…?”
He didn’t address Kadin, but she answered, and this time, he listened. When she had finished, he opened the palace doors and strode down the hallway and up the plush-carpeted staircase toward the queen’s bedroom without another word, leaving the rest of the team to scurry after him.
A few minutes later, everyone involved in the case had assembled in the queen’s gold-and-white bedroom. Kadin hadn’t thought the space could be more crowded than it had been the last time she’d been there, but apparently it could.
King Ralvin stood in the corner, garbed in full royal attire complete with robes, face paint, and shoes that, despite the lack of heels, may well have been less comfortable than Kadin’s from the other day. She couldn’t see a trace of “Vinnie Royal” in his visage, not even when he glanced at her. But she supposed he had become skilled at hiding.
Captain Carver, Corporal Strand, and a few other guards stood at attention in their puffy hats. The members of the investigation team did their best to look as if they knew why they had come to the palace, though Fellows was the only one who succeeded. Kadin assumed the posture of a diligent aide, several steps behind her boss, notepad at the ready.
Catching a Man Page 20
