Crimes by Moonlight

by Charlaine Harris

  “Don’t ask. Besides, Reinette was quite willing. Ramon found the whole process amusing, and told me that a dozen vampires put in bids, but it came down to Geoff and Vilmos. They kept upping their offers until Vilmos ran out of money. As it was, Geoff had to pay twice the usual stipend, plus expenses and monthly gifts of jewelry. When the term is up, she gets a house and pension.”

  “That’s a lot of bucks just to win a pissing contest.”

  “Geoff is an idiot. And now he’s got to put up with Reinette for the next five years.”

  They were about to head downstairs when a scream ripped through the mansion. With a place that large, few humans would have heard the screams unless they were nearby, but vampires came from every corner with blinding speed. Mark, of course, was the last to arrive and pushed his way into the spacious suite, mindless of protocol.

  At first, it didn’t register that the heavy draperies were open, exposing the room to the nighttime sky. Then he realized how wrong that was. He’d never seen any of the house’s drapes open, for obvious reasons. As far as he knew, he was the only vampire young enough to endure the sun.

  Reinette was staring at the bed, no longer screaming, but as pale as the oldest vampire. The blankets were pulled back, and the sheets rumpled as if someone had slept there, but the bed was covered in a fine coating of steel-gray dust.

  Mark wasn’t sure what he was seeing. Stella knelt by the side of the bed farthest from the window, then stood holding something. Mark’s mind rebelled when he realized it was an arm, a man’s arm.

  “He always slept with one arm hanging over the edge of the bed,” Alexis said, “ever since I gave him the Choice.”

  “Who?” Mark asked.

  “Geoff,” Stella answered. “This is all that’s left of him.”

  Reinette swayed, and Ramon moved to catch her as she fainted.

  “How did this happen?” Alexis demanded, eyes flashing. Her languor of the night before was gone—Mark hadn’t realized that she was Geoff’s dam.

  “I don’t know,” Ramon stammered. “My servants are trained to perfection. They would never do such a thing.”

  “They must be questioned.”

  “I’ll see to it immediately.” Realizing that he was still holding Reinette, he looked around, as if for a convenient shelf on which to place her.

  “Take her to my room,” Vilmos said. Mark hadn’t even seen him—for once, he wasn’t the center of attention.

  “Gods above, Vilmos!” Alexis said. “Control your appetites!”

  “How dare you imply—”

  “Give her to Mark,” Stella said calmly. “He can watch over her.”

  Mark wasn’t sure if it was because he was trusted or because he was too low in the pecking order to be a threat, but both Alexis and Vilmos nodded in agreement, and Ramon passed the unconscious woman to him almost tenderly. The other vampires stepped aside, and Mark carried Reinette to his and Stella’s room. Fortunately, they’d left the door open. He hesitated about whether or not to put her on the bed, and deciding to avoid giving the wrong impression, laid her on the sofa.

  Reinette stayed out for over an hour, while Mark went back to work on Vilmos’s finances. Though he kept hoping Stella would let him know what was happening, they were left alone. Finally Mark heard Reinette’s breathing and heart rate change, and after a moment, she spoke.

  “Is Geoff really dead?” she asked in a tiny voice.

  Technically, Geoff had been dead for years, but Mark didn’t think she was in the proper frame of mind for technicalities. “I’m afraid so.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, and he was touched by the depth of her emotion until she choked out, “Then what happens to me?” and burst into the most annoying sobs he’d ever heard.

  Mark found a box of tissues to give her, but felt helpless otherwise. Presumably he could have held her or patted her back, but he didn’t want to touch her.

  Suddenly she stopped. “There was something about this in my contract! Think, Reinette, think!”

  “Silly girl, nobody expects you to do that.”

  Mark and Reinette looked up to see Ramon in the doorway.

  “Ramon, do you know what my contract says about Geoff dying before the term is up?” she asked.

  “Probably the usual provision for you to get everything you would have if he’d lived: the stipend, the pension, the house.”

  “And the jewelry?”

  “I suppose,” he said, “but that’s all moot.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that the only provision of your contract that applies is one about punishment for killing your patron. Once you’re found guilty by the tribunal, you’ll be given to Geoff’s sire, which means you’ll be spending the rest of your life as Alexis’s belonging. Did I mention that she’s quite angry at you for killing Geoff?”

  “But I didn’t!”

  “Every other human in the house has been bespelled and questioned, and none of them went into that room today. It had to have been you who opened the curtain.”

  “It wasn’t! Bespell me and ask me.”

  “You know that’s not possible.”

  “Why not?” Mark asked.

  “Reinette was rendered immune from bespelling,” Ramon explained. “It’s part of the bond between a concubine and a vampire. How else could it be a binding contract?”

  Reinette said, “You can’t give me to Alexis! I told her she looked old, and she hates me because it’s true.”

  “That wasn’t very diplomatic,” Ramon said, clicking his tongue.

  She started crying again, even more loudly.

  “Ramon, are you serious? Alexis is going to own Reinette?”

  “Marcus, don’t tell you me you’re squeamish about the fate of a murderer.”

  “What I’m squeamish about is slavery. How do we even know she’s guilty?” Mark had eaten at the same table as Reinette no more than two hours before Geoff’s remains were found. He couldn’t believe she’d just killed her patron or intended to do so within the next few minutes. Nobody was that good an actress.

  “Don’t worry. The tribunal will prove that she’s guilty first—it shouldn’t take long.” He checked his watch. “They’ve given Reinette an hour to prepare.”

  “An hour?”

  “Why waste time? I’m to stay with Reinette so she doesn’t cheat by killing herself—Alexis is hinting that she’ll let us all sample her this evening.”

  The concubine broke into fresh wails. As for Mark, he wished he hadn’t eaten real food that evening, because he felt very close to losing it at the thought. “But Reinette will have a chance to defend herself?”

  “If she likes, or she can pick a spokesman. Maybe I’ll volunteer. It might be fun.” Ramon snapped his fingers. “Hold on! Didn’t Stella tell me you’re a lawyer?”

  “I do financial planning, not courtroom work.”

  “Close enough. You can give me some tips. Are there any appropriate Latin phrases? Habeas corpus?”

  “Ramon, you can’t make a joke out of Reinette’s life. Get somebody who’ll take it seriously.”

  “Oh, nobody else dares face Alexis’s wrath. I’m only willing to risk it for the amusement value.”

  Mark looked at Reinette, who’d thrown herself on the couch sobbing, then remembered the stories his mother had told him about their ancestors who’d been part of the Underground Railroad. “Tell me how the tribunal works, Ramon. I’ll defend Reinette.”

  Given the choice between Ramon’s mocking and defending herself, Reinette leapt at Mark’s offer, even if he was a baby vampire. Fortunately, Ramon restrained his sense of the absurd long enough to give Mark a brief but thorough description of vampiric legal procedures, which were fairly simple.

  The vampires present would choose a judge to oversee the tribunal, usually the most senior vampire present. Both sides would present their cases, and the judge would make a ruling. Any punishment would be carried out immediately. Fairness was ensured by v
ampires’ long memories—nobody wanted to be accused of favoritism by a vampire who might be in charge of his tribunal in a decade’s time.

  There were no formal rules of evidence or testimony, and of course, nobody swore on the Bible.

  “Is there anything else I should know?” Mark asked.

  “Like the part about your having to suffer the same punishment as the accused, should she be found guilty?”

  Mark blinked.

  Ramon broke into laughter. “I’m kidding, Marcus. We’re a tad more civilized than that.”

  “Other than the part about letting Alexis torture Reinette.”

  “I did say ‘a tad.’”

  “Fine.” With only a few minutes left, and knowing vampires’ love for style, Mark dressed in his best suit while Reinette made what repairs she could to her face. She ran roughshod over Stella’s makeup in the process, but that was the least of Mark’s worries. At the last moment, he grabbed a pad and pen just because he thought he should have one.

  Reinette clung to his arm the whole way to the ballroom, and Mark was afraid he was going to have to carry her the last few steps, but just before she reached the door, she straightened up and stepped inside proudly and defiantly.

  “Very Joan of Arc,” Ramon said, but Mark was impressed. Maybe she wasn’t a total waste of space after all.

  The ballroom furnishings had been rearranged to mimic a modern-day courtroom, with a judge’s bench, tables for the prosecution and defense, and a witness chair. The gallery was already filled with vampires and, at the very back, frightened-looking humans. Presumably they were there to witness the cost of treachery.

  The judge’s place was empty, but Alexis was already seated at the prosecutor’s table. She watched Reinette menacingly as the girl stepped past her to sit in the defendant’s seat, and the look she gave Mark was nearly as hostile.

  He hadn’t seen Stella as he came in, but didn’t have a chance to look for her before Ramon went to stand in front of the room and said, “By the traditions of our kind, this tribunal has been convened to determine the truth behind the death of Geoff, of the line of Alexis.” Everyone rose, and when the judge came in, Mark realized he didn’t need to look for Stella after all.

  Stella was the judge.

  Mark could tell she was as shocked to see him defending Reinette as he was to see her as judge. He glared at Ramon, who must have known, but the trickster shrugged and tried to look surprised.

  Reinette whispered, “Isn’t that your sire? That’s going to make it easier, right?”

  “You don’t know Stella,” Mark said. She’d be fair, but she’d do her duty as she saw it, even if it meant ruling against him. He honestly didn’t know if he could stay with her should she allow Reinette to be enslaved.

  Stella sat, and everyone else followed suit.

  “Who asks for judgment?” she asked formally.

  Alexis said, “As Geoff’s sire, I call for judgment against the concubine Reinette for foully betraying her patron to the sun.”

  “Is the accused present?”

  “Yes,” Reinette responded meekly. “I’ve asked Mark to speak in my place.”

  “Mark, have you been made aware of our customs?”

  “I have, Your Honor.”

  “Then we shall proceed. Alexis, state your case.”

  “It is brutally simple. This creature drew the curtains during daylight while Geoff slept helplessly. He burned to nothingness until his arm fell from his ravaged body.” She paused to let the horrific image sink in. “Under our laws, she is mine to do with as I will.”

  “Mark? What is your defense?”

  “The defense is just as simple,” Mark said. “Reinette is as much a victim as Geoff.”

  There was hissing from the gallery until Stella quelled it with a look.

  “I call Reinette to the stand,” Mark said.

  Reinette went to the chair that had been set up, and Stella warned, “Be aware that a lie—any lie—will cause me to rule against you.”

  “Yes, Your Honor.” She saw the gallery of vampires watching her hungrily, and swallowed visibly.

  “Reinette,” Mark said, “tell us what happened from the time you left Vilmos’s gala to the moment you discovered Geoff’s remains.”

  She could barely speak at first, but with Mark’s coaxing, managed to give her account. Geoff had carried her to her room and enjoyed a nightcap of her blood before going to his own suite. “I don’t like being with him when he’s, you know, not breathing, so I always have my own room.” She’d slept until after two, and after performing a remarkable amount of grooming, had gone to the dining room, where she’d found Mark. After he’d left—“kind of suddenly” in her opinion—she’d finished eating and went back to her room to watch TV and primp still more. She would normally have waited for Geoff to come to her, but was hoping to convince him to present her monthly gift a day early, so used her key to get into his room. They all knew the rest.

  Unfortunately, the only piece of the story that could be confirmed was her meal with Mark, and that wasn’t nearly enough to prove her innocence.

  Lastly Mark asked if she had any reason to want Geoff dead. “Of course not! Geoff gave me everything I asked for, no matter how much it cost. I know he had to because of the contract, but he never fussed. And he was good in bed, too.”

  Mark turned it over to Alexis, who asked a single, devastating question. Did Reinette know that if Geoff died before the end of the term of their contract, she would get everything she would have had he lived?

  She did, meaning that she knew she stood to benefit substantially from Geoff’s death.

  Next Mark called Ramon, who explained that the only keys to the room had been in the possession of Geoff, Reinette, and Ramon himself. Even if there had been a way for a servant to gain access, all the humans on the estate had been questioned, and none of them had gone into Geoff’s room. Mark asked about other security measures, but while the perimeter of the estate was thoroughly protected with both high-tech and mystic measures, there was nothing comparable inside the house.

  After Ramon stepped down, Alexis said, “Reinette’s guilt is clear. I demand that judgment be made immediately.”

  “You are not in a position to demand anything,” Stella said. “I will make my decision when I am ready, not one second before.”

  The two vampires locked eyes, but it was Alexis who finally relented.

  For once, Mark was grateful for the pissing contest.

  Then Stella said, “Mark, do you wish to call further witnesses?”

  He flipped through the blank pages of his pad, trying to come up with something. He wasn’t a trial lawyer, and this was like no trial he’d ever seen, anyway. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. “Your Honor, I would like to make an observation, if you will allow it.”

  Stella raised one eyebrow, but nodded.

  “Ramon’s testimony suggests that no human could have entered Geoff’s bedroom, but there are far more vampires in residence than humans.”

  “Geoff, Ramon, and the girl were the only ones with keys,” Alexis pointed out.

  Mark said, “Locks can be picked. All that is required is a set of easily obtainable picks and a person with good hearing, a steady hand, and patience. I think that would apply to any of the vampires here.”

  There was a great deal of murmuring until Stella said, “We will have quiet.”

  “Since any of the vampires could have picked the lock,” Mark went on, “any of them could have opened the curtains.”

  “How?” Alexis wanted to know. “None of us woke until dusk. The only vampire awake before then was you.” She bared her teeth. “Are you confessing?”

  Mark didn’t dignify that with a reply. He was still trying to find some way to prove that somebody else had been in that room. Could he be wrong about Reinette? Could she have casually insulted him after killing Geoff? He looked at her again, but still didn’t believe it. The only thing that had been on her mind was
jewelry. Jewelry ...

  “Your Honor,” he said, “Geoff gave Reinette apiece of jewelry each month on their anniversary, and she told me he had brought along this month’s gift wrapped in a velvet bag. I request that a search be made to find that gift.”

  Stella looked uncertain, but Alexis threw up her hands and said, “If it will speed this charade, then find the creature’s bauble.”

  “I will allow it,” Stella said. “Ramon?”

  Ramon, grinning of course, picked two other vampires as witnesses and sped away. In just a few moments, they returned, with Ramon triumphantly holding a black bag. He handed it to Stella, who turned it upside down. Only a sprinkle of dust emerged.

  Mark asked, “Ramon, was there anything else in that room that could have been this month’s gift?”

  “Nothing,” Ramon said.

  “So?” Alexis said. “We have only Reinette’s word that there was anything in that bag in the first place.”

  “But we do know that tomorrow was their anniversary,” Mark countered, “and that Geoff was meticulous about providing gifts.”

  Alexis scoffed. “Then Reinette took it. She probably has it on her now.”

  “I do not,” Reinette said. “You can strip me here if you want!”

  Ramon leered. “Anything to please a lady!”

  “Ramon!” Stella admonished. “Come here, child.” She wasn’t overly rough with Reinette, but she was thorough. “There is no jewelry on her.”

  “She must have hidden it,” Alexis said.

  “When?” Mark asked. “She hasn’t been alone since Geoff’s remains were found.”

  “She hid it before raising the alarm.”

  “Then I request a search of the house to find it.”

  Now there were sounds of anger from the gallery.

  “That could take days!” Alexis sputtered. “Your Honor, I object most strenuously.”

  Stella looked at Mark. He knew she wanted to know if he was stalling, but he didn’t move a muscle—if she could be a stickler for procedure, so could he.

  Then she said, “With the jewelry missing, you have adequately established the possibility that a vampire could have gotten into Geoff’s room and taken it, but unless you can provide a viable suspect or suspects, I will have to make my decision.”