caliber--Ishould say a .28 or .34--hard to tell until I've probed out thebullet. Looks like it went right through the heart, though. Hard totell about powder burns; the blood has soaked the clothing and dried.Still, these specks ... hm-m-m. Yes. Hm-m-m."
Lord Darcy's eyes took in everything, but there was little enough tosee on the body itself. Then his eye was caught by something that gaveoff a golden gleam. He stood up and walked over to the great canopiedfour-poster bed, then he was on his knees again, peering under it. Acoin? No.
He picked it up carefully and looked at it. A button. Gold,intricately engraved in an Arabesque pattern, and set in the centerwith a single diamond. How long had it lain there? Where had it comefrom? Not from the Count's clothing, for his buttons were smaller,engraved with his arms, and had no gems. Had a man or a woman droppedit? There was no way of knowing at this stage of the game.
Darcy turned to Sir Pierre. "When was this room last cleaned?"
"Last evening, your lordship," the secretary said promptly. "My lordwas always particular about that. The suite was always to be swept andcleaned during the dinner hour."
"Then this must have rolled under the bed at some time after dinner.Do you recognize it? The design is distinctive."
The Privy Secretary looked carefully at the button in the palm ofLord Darcy's hand without touching it. "I ... I hesitate to say," hesaid at last. "It looks like ... but I'm not sure--"
"Come, come, Chevalier! Where do you think you _might_ have seen it?Or one like it." There was a sharpness in the tone of his voice.
"I'm not trying to conceal anything, your lordship," Sir Pierre saidwith equal sharpness. "I said I was not sure. I still am not, but itcan be checked easily enough. If your lordship will permit me--" Heturned and spoke to Dr. Pateley, who was still kneeling by the body."May I have my lord the Count's keys, doctor?"
Pateley glanced up at Lord Darcy, who nodded silently. The physiciandetached the keys from the belt and handed them to Sir Pierre.
The Privy Secretary looked at them for a moment, then selected a smallgold key. "This is it," he said, separating it from the others on thering. "Come with me, your lordship."
* * * * *
Darcy followed him across the room to a broad wall covered with agreat tapestry that must have dated back to the sixteenth century. SirPierre reached behind it and pulled a cord. The entire tapestry slidaside like a panel, and Lord Darcy saw that it was supported on atrack some ten feet from the floor. Behind it was what looked at firstlike ordinary oak paneling, but Sir Pierre fitted the small key intoan inconspicuous hole and turned. Or, rather, tried to turn.
"That's odd," said Sir Pierre. "It's not locked!"
He took the key out and pressed on the panel, shoving sideways withhis hand to move it aside. It slid open to reveal a closet.
The closet was filled with women's clothing of all kinds, and styles.
Lord Darcy whistled soundlessly.
"Try that blue robe, your lordship," the Privy Secretary said. "Theone with the--Yes, that's the one."
Lord Darcy took it off its hanger. The same buttons. They matched. Andthere was one missing from the front! Torn off! "Master Sean!" hecalled without turning.
Master Sean came with a rolling walk. He was holding an oddly-shapedbronze thing in his hand that Sir Pierre didn't quite recognize. Thesorcerer was muttering. "Evil, that there is! Faith, and thevibrations are all over the place. Yes, my lord?"
"Check this dress and the button when you get round to it. I want toknow when the two parted company."
"Yes, my lord." He draped the robe over one arm and dropped the buttoninto a pouch at his belt. "I can tell you one thing, my lord. You talkabout an evil miasma, this room has got it!" He held up the object inhis hand. "There's an underlying background--something that has beenhere for years, just seeping in. But on top of that, there's a hellishbig blast of it superimposed. Fresh it is, and very strong."
"I shouldn't be surprised, considering there was murder done herelast night--or very early this morning," said Lord Darcy.
"Hm-m-m, yes. Yes, my lord, the death is there--but there's somethingelse. Something I can't place."
"You can tell that just by holding that bronze cross in your hand?"Sir Pierre asked interestedly.
Master Sean gave him a friendly scowl. "'Tisn't quite a cross, sir.This is what is known as a _crux ansata_. The ancient Egyptians calledit an _ankh_. Notice the loop at the top instead of the straight pieceyour true cross has. Now, your true cross--if it were properlyenergized, blessed, d'ye see--your true cross would tend to dissipatethe evil. The _ankh_ merely vibrates to evil because of the closedloop at the top, which makes a return circuit. And it's not energizedby blessing, but by another ... um ... spell."
"Master Sean, we have a murder to investigate," said Lord Darcy.
The sorcerer caught the tone of his voice and nodded quickly. "Yes, mylord." And he walked rollingly away.
"Now where's that secret stairway you mentioned, Sir Pierre?" LordDarcy asked.
"This way, your lordship."
He led Lord Dacy to a wall at right angles to the outer wall and slidback another tapestry.
"Good Heavens," Darcy muttered, "does he have something concealedbehind every arras in the place?" But he didn't say it loud enough forthe Privy Secretary to hear.
* * * * *
This time, what greeted them was a solid-seeming stone wall. But SirPierre pressed in on one small stone, and a section of the wall swungback, exposing a stairway.
"Oh, yes," Darcy said. "I see what he did. This is the old spiralstairway that goes round the inside of the Keep. There are twodoorways at the bottom. One opens into the courtyard, the other is apostern gate through the curtain wall to the outside--but that wasclosed up in the sixteenth century, so the only way out is into thecourtyard."
"Your lordship knows Castle D'Evreux, then?" Sir Pierre said. Theknight himself was nearly fifty, while Darcy was only in his thirties,and Sir Pierre had no recollection of Darcy's having been in thecastle before.
"Only by the plans in the Royal Archives. But I have made it a pointto--" He stopped. "Dear me," he interrupted himself mildly, "what isthat?"
"That" was something that had been hidden by the arras until SirPierre had slid it aside, and was still showing only a part of itself.It lay on the floor a foot or so from the secret door.
Darcy knelt down and pulled the tapestry back from the object. "Well,well. A .28 two-shot pocket gun. Gold-chased, beautifully engraved,mother-of-pearl handle. A regular gem." He picked it up and examinedit closely. "One shot fired."
He stood up and showed it to Sir Pierre. "Ever see it before?"
The Privy Secretary looked at the weapon closely. Then he shook hishead. "Not that I recall, your lordship. It certainly isn't one of theCount's guns."
"You're certain?"
"Quite certain, your lordship. I'll show you the gun collection if youwant. My lord the Count didn't like tiny guns like that; he preferreda larger caliber. He would never have owned what he considered a toy."
"Well, we'll have to look into it." He called over Master Sean againand gave the gun into his keeping. "And keep your eyes open foranything else of interest, Master Sean. So far, everything of interestbesides the late Count himself has been hiding under beds or behindarrases. Check everything. Sir Pierre and I are going for a look downthis stairway."
The stairway was gloomy, but enough light came in through the arrowslits spaced at intervals along the outer way to illuminate theinterior. It spiraled down between the inner and outer walls of theGreat Keep, making four complete circuits before it reached groundlevel. Lord Darcy looked carefully at the steps, the walls, and eventhe low, arched overhead as he and Sir Pierre went down.
After the first circuit, on the floor beneath the Count's suite, hestopped. "There was a door here," he said, pointing to a rectangulararea in the inner wall.
"Yes, your lordship. There used to be an opening at
every floor, butthey were all sealed off. It's quite solid, as you can see."
"Where would they lead if they were open?"
"The county offices. My own office, the clerk's offices, theconstabulary on the first floor. Below are the dungeons. My lord theCount was the only one who lived in the Keep itself. The rest of thehousehold live above the Great Hall."
"What about guests?"
"They're usually housed in the east wing. We only have two houseguests at the moment. Laird and Lady Duncan have been with us for
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