by Ward Wagher
Eden and two of the guards climbed into the back. Daphne stood for a few moments and then walked over and climbed into the back also, as the little vehicle turned to make its way back to Castle Montora.
The corpsmen eased Wendy’s body onto a stretcher and gently carried her to the aircar. After the two aircars lifted out from the plaza the onlookers gradually dispersed.
Yasmin Gris stepped up next to Riggs. She was quiet for a moment and then took a long shaky breath. “A sad, sad day, Father.”
Riggs looked at her. “We have lost a lot of things over the years here in the village, Yasmin, but this is unquestionably the worst.”
Gris looked down at the flagstones. She bent over and picked up Wendy’s flower. “The last gift to her from the village.” She sobbed again. Then she slowly turned and walked back to the village hall.
Father Edmund Tracy Riggs remained by himself for a long time in the plaza of Montora Village. He looked up into the clear afternoon sky. He looked at the trees with the early growth of spring on their branches. He looked at the snow covered mountains of Montora, lying in uncaring majesty above the village. He then shook his head and walked back to his church.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Hai Ciera’s comm unit buzzed. He pulled it out, without looking at it and continued driving. “Ciera.”
“Commander, this is Gerry Blakely.”
The odd quality of Gerry’s voice didn’t register. “Yes, Gerry.”
“Sir… the margravine is dead.”
“What?” The car swerved. Ciera quickly pulled over to the curb, and stopped. “What did you say?”
“Wendy is dead. Somebody hit her with a dart gun. We think it was poisoned.”
Now I know what the condemned man is thinking when the trap door opens. Only I didn’t see this coming.
Ciera laid his head against the steering wheel. What is Frank going to do without Wendy. How am I going to be able to face him? How am I going to be able to face the admiral? What is the point of any of us going on without Wendy?
“Are you there, Commander?”
“A… moment, please, Gerry.” Ciera wiped an eye with the back of his hand and leaned back in the car seat. He closed his eyes as he propped his head against the head rest. Okay, Commander Fool Ciera, you have just let everything go into the toilet. What do you do now?
“Gerry… what is the situation up there now?”
“Sir, it is very quiet. Major Boodles has his people out quartering the valley. We have not found whoever did it yet. The regimental doctor had to sedate the margrave.”
“I’ll just bet he did. Okay. I am on my way back.” Whatever am I going to say to Frank?
Ciera disconnected from Gerry and punched Vos’s number.
“Vos.”
“Justin, Wendy Nyman has just been killed…”
“Oh, no. How did…”
“I need to get back up to the village. I am on my way to the starport. Can you have somebody roll out the aircar?”
“Certainly. I’ll meet you at th…”
Ciera disconnected and whipped the car back into the traffic.
The house shook when the door slammed against the stop. Glenn Foxworth stepped through before the door rebounded and slammed closed again. He marched down the hallway and into his den. He aimed himself like a missile for the liquor cabinet, and he didn’t hear Monica running down the stairs in response to the noise. She quickly moved into the den and got between him and the cabinet.
“Bunny, whoa! What’s going on?”
Foxworth stopped his headlong charge and focused on his wife. She stood in front of him in her exercise leotard with hands on hips.
“I don’t even know where to begin this time, Monica. Yes I do. I got a call from Louie – you know, the Woogie over at the hotel. He had gotten word the margrave’s wife is dead.”
“Wendy Nyman?” Monica’s eyes went wide. “That is horrible. How did it happen?”
“It gets worse, sweetheart. She was murdered. The details are scant right now, but Louie seemed to think somebody was trying to take out the margrave and got her instead.”
She put her hands on his arms and moved up close. “Do you think that little creep in Cambridge Castle did this?”
“I honestly do not know, Monica. He was dancing around in his office like it was Christmas when I told him about it. He sobered up quickly when I reminded him what the wrath of God out of Montora Village would look like.”
“Why could he not have learned? He cannot be that stupid, can he? I mean somebody that far behind the curve would have drowned himself urinating before reaching the age of eight!”
“It really doesn’t matter whether he did it or not, because Nyman is going to think he did and that is just as bad.”
“What are we going to do, Bunny?”
“I told him I wasn’t feeling good and I was going to work from home for a while. Which is the truth. I don’t want to be anywhere near him right now. It’s like waiting for lightning to strike.”
There was a low rumble from the afternoon storm rolling in from the sea.
“I take your point,” Monica said. “Okay, it’s time for a vacation. We pack up and fly out to Castle Paravel for a couple of weeks.”
Foxworth shook his head. “Can’t do it, Monica. Somehow I have got to keep a lid on things. I don’t know how, but if it all comes apart, we won’t be able to run far enough.”
“Who can you talk to up in the mountains, then?”
“Not the margrave, that’s for sure. He must be going berserk. I just cannot imagine.”
“Maybe Louie can reach somebody.”
“Louie’s contact is probably the hotel manager up there. I need to go higher than that.”
“When all else fails, you could just call the Castle.”
Foxworth sighed. “You are probably right. I don’t want to, but I’ll probably have to do that. Now, can I have a drink?”
“A drink? You need your wits about you.”
“How long is he going to sit like that?” Daphne whispered to Hai Ciera as they looked into the small private sitting room of the keep.
Frank was sitting in the sofa staring into the fireplace, which Gerry Blakely had kept stoked all evening.
“Let him be, Daph. Probably the best place for him to be until the tranquilizer wears off. We don’t want him wandering near a bottle or he will be in trouble too.”
“But it’s just so sad, him sitting in there all by himself.”
“He doesn’t want anybody in there with him.”
“It’ll be three months before his son can get here; at the earliest. What are we going to do?”
Ciera motioned with his head and walked down the hallway to the dining area. Daphne followed. “Your voice carries, Daphne. If he can sit there and work through his grief, I’m happy for him. I’ll have guards on him all night and every day until we get a sense of whether or not he is going to come apart on us.”
“Do you think he will fall apart?”
“The Skipper? No, he’s tough. But this is the worst thing that could have happened to him. Wendy was his right arm. The two of them were about as close as any couple I have ever known. The one thing which has been eating at him since they came here was the risk to Wendy. His worst fears came true and my biggest concern is his guilt over this will overcome his good sense.”
“How can he believe that?” she asked. “I mean, she did what she wanted to do. She was even more stubborn than I.”
“If that were possible,” Ciera murmured.
She glared at him. “This not a time for your silly jokes, Commander.”
“But you know what I am talking about, don’t you?”
She glared at him some more and finally turned away. “I just cannot believe something like this happened. I don’t understand how Zidowisc managed to slip into the village in the first place.”
“I’m just glad they caught him. He flew in using the duke’s aircar and had almost made his way ba
ck to it when Boodles’ people stopped him. I cannot believe I let things get away from me like that.”
“So he was working for the duke, then?”
“That is the next item on my agenda,” Ciera said. “I’m letting him sweat a bit downstairs before I talk to him.”
“Do you expect him to be hard to crack?”
“Oh, no. He is not too tightly wrapped as it is. My challenge is to keep him from saying anything he thinks I might want to hear. He will be sure to blame anyone and everyone for his troubles.”
“But there is not much doubt the duke was behind this.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“Actually I am not positive. Oscar will tell the tale, if he can be trusted. Actually, Roma has been pretty quiet since Earl Paravel tried his attack over the mountains. If the toll collectors were kicking back part of their take to the duke and earl, this would have been enough to get him back into gear.” He sighed. “There are missing pieces to the puzzle, Daphne.”
“But he had the duke’s aircar.”
“It is possible he stole it. I don’t think that is the case, but we have to follow up on that.”
“Would it be any loss if we knocked off the duke on general principles?”
“I do not want to hear that from you, Daphne. Any action we take would blow back on us far worse than if we did nothing. I sent a message to Admiral Krause on the same courier that went out to Franklin Nyman. It’ll probably take at least six weeks to get him here.”
“And what is the admiral going to do?”
“That is another imponderable. He loved Wendy like she was his own daughter. If I had to bet, though, he will make decisions based upon his own sense of duty. He will not like that, but in the end, Willard Krause has always done exactly what he had to do.”
“You make him sound so heartless.”
Ciera walked over to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. “I’ve been on my feet too long today. No, he’s not heartless. He will be heartbroken about Wendy. We all are. But he has to balance this entire sector and if things come unglued on Hepplewhite, a lot more people will die than just Wendy.”
“So what do we do meanwhile?” Sarcasm filtered through her voice.
“Sit down, Daphne.”
She walked over to the other side of the table and pulled out a chair. “Is this one of your patented Hai Ciera lectures?”
Now Hai glared at her. “The Admiral’s instructions have not changed. He gave them to the Skipper, but they apply to us as well. We have to keep a lid on things. We have to do that in spite of Guiletto Roma’s best efforts. Frankly things are so screwed up right now it’s amazing the Montorans haven’t taken it upon themselves to march over the mountains and burn Cambridge. I would certainly be tempted.”
“I thought you just told me not to do something like that.”
“I did and I was serious. A poor choice of words on my part. When it comes down to it, we are going to have to sit on the Skipper until admiral Krause gets here. And you have never seen Frank Nyman when he is in an incandescent rage. Once the drugs wear off and he figures out what happened, you won’t believe the storm.”
“So how about if we let him take action?”
Ciera leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes. “Okay, Daphne, I need your word right now, this moment, you will not take action against the duke.”
“And if I don’t, Commander?”
“I will lock you up downstairs until we get this sorted out. I am as serious as I can be, Daphne. I need you with me on this. If you cannot do that, I will put you in custody.”
The two stared at one another for a full minute. Finally Daphne dropped her eyes. “I understand, Sir.”
“Do I have your word, Daphne?”
A long pause. “Yes.”
Gerard Blakely stepped into the room. “Commander, the prime minister is on the comm, and wishes to speak with you.”
“Now what? Okay, bounce him over to my unit.”
“Of course, Sir.”
Ciera’s comm unit trilled and he opened it. “Hai Ciera.”
“Commander Ciera, this is Prime Minister Foxworth.”
“Yes, Prime Minister?”
“I heard the horrible news about the margrave’s wife. My wife and I wanted to call to offer our condolences, but with the situation as it is, we were not sure it would be wise.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, Sir,” Ciera said, “and I am sure the margrave would too. He spoke highly of you. He is currently indisposed.”
“I understand, Commander. Can you fill me in on what happened?”
“She was killed by a dart from an air-gun. It was poisoned, apparently. I am still waiting on word as to exactly what was on it. We did catch the… malefactor.”
Foxworth was quiet for a few moments. “Commander, I know this is sensitive, but can you tell me who did it?”
Now Ciera hesitated. “Prime Minister, it was Oscar Zidowisc who pulled the trigger. I thought perhaps you could tell me who arranged it.”
“Does it make a difference?” Foxworth was silent for a moment, and then muttered an oath. “Zidowisc was in here this morning screaming about being tossed out of Montora. The duke pulled him into his office and I wasn’t privy to the conversation, but I do know money changed hands. The duke told me he hired Zidowisc as a security consultant. I’m not an artist, but I can draw the lines about as well as you, I think.”
“Thank you for your candor, Prime Minister. But you have no direct evidence?”
Foxworth snorted. “No. The duke no longer shares with me all his activities. He is afraid I would figure out a way to deflect him, which, of course, I would do. If possible. I clearly failed, though.”
“Prime Minister, we all failed today. And I don’t know…” Ciera shook his head. “I am almost at a complete loss.”
“Don’t flake out on me now, Commander,” Foxworth’s voice hardened. “I need your help with this. You are the most competent operator on planet at the moment.”
“After this? I surely don’t feel like it. Do you think between the two of us we can keep a lid on things until the Krause gets here? I messaged him today.”
“I messaged the duke’s brother when I heard about it. I think we can safely conclude you and I will not be able to hold things together for much longer. On the other hand, we do not have a choice. I feel like the wet navy captain going down with his ship.”
Ciera was able to generate a small laugh. “Believe me, I know the feeling. I think it would be wise if we talked on a daily basis until we can get some higher authority here. You and I need to know what the two of us are doing even if we cannot control our charges.”
“Are you saying you won’t be able to stop the margrave if he decides to take action?” Foxworth now sounded nervous.
“I don’t think there’s any question but the margrave will try to take action. The question is whether I will be able to stop him. Or, frankly, whether I would even want to.”
“Commander, you know, I would really like to go kill him myself.”
“But we won’t.”
“Agreed.”
“Very well, Prime Minister. I do thank you for your call.”
“And thank you for your time, Commander. You can reach me at this number – I am planning to stay at home until things get settled.”
“Probably wise. Good night.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After the black cotton twill slacks comes the black turtleneck sweater. Then comes the socks, right foot first, then the left. Next the wilderness boots. I put the right one on first. Funny I never noticed that before. I always put on the right shoe first. The left boot twists the sock slightly so there is a ridge along the sole of the foot. Let’s try that one again. I despise wrinkled socks. The boot comes off and then goes on again after the sock is straightened. The black stocking cap, rolled up, goes into a back pocket, a small set of keys in the left pocket.
The secret passages in the keep are still op
en and available. No sense alerting the guard outside the door. The locked opening into the armory in the basement yields to the key. The lights are on in the armory and a dark garbed Hai Ciera turns from the work bench with a slightly raised eyebrow.
“What are you, a mind reader?” Frank said.
“I am a hypocrite. I am getting ready to do what I have spent the last week telling everyone else not to do.”
