"Willa Dount, Mr. Garrett. Loss of her position and title is a foregone penalty. Let's not extend any false hopes."
"You're the boss. Whatever, I want to do her first. Then your husband. Then the staff—if that appears productive."
"Wouldn't it be a bit trifling?"
"Maybe. But a few trifles are all I need to fill the gaps in the picture I already have."
"I'm tempted to invoke penalties on the lot and let the gods distinguish between the wicked and the merely incompetent."
Sometimes I felt that way about our ruling class. I observed the Dead Man's advice, though, and kept my opinion to myself. "I know what you mean."
"How do you want to work it? In my presence? In Amber's?"
"In Willa Dount's case, with you present and Amber absent. To begin. I've already told Amber how long to stay away. After she comes in, I want you to find a reason to leave. Having dealt with Willa Dount, I doubt the footwork will do any good, but I want to try."
"Very well."
"I'll want to see all the documents she has. Especially the letters from the kidnappers. Have you seen those?"
"Yes, I have."
"Did you recognize the hand?"
"No. It seemed feminine."
"I thought so, too. So precise, what I saw. I feared the one-in-a-thousand chance that Amiranda had written them."
"Amiranda had the penmanship of a drunken troll. There was no reading it, but no mistaking or disguising it, either."
"Good. Now, with your husband I'd prefer to begin with you out of the room. As for the staff, I'll ask you and Amber person by person. If the intimidation factor inherent in your presence is counterproductive—"
"I understand. Let's get to it."
"Where is Willa Dount now?"
"In her office, doing the job that will be hers for a few more hours."
"Would you get her, Amber? Tell her she needs to bring the documents."
"Yes, master." She gave me a wink that her mother caught.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd hold off acting against Willa Dount or anyone else for another day, Stormwarden. Tomorrow I want to take everyone on a walk-through of what happened the night of the ransom payoff and the morning of Amiranda's death."
"Is that necessary?"
"Yes. Absolutely. Afterward there'll be no lingering doubts."
She didn't press for details, a courtesy I appreciated. Maybe she wasn't such a bad old gal after all.
We waited in silence.
______ L ______
Willa Dount marched in with a stack of papers. "You sent for me, madam?" She didn't seem surprised to see me—and shouldn't have since she had her agents among the staff.
"I've hired Mr. Garrett to hunt down the person or people responsible for the deaths of Amiranda, Karl, and Courter Slauce. He wants to ask you questions, Willa. Answer completely and truthfully."
I raised the eyebrow. Slauce too? Surprise, surprise. But certainly a point for her.
"Give those papers to Mr. Garrett."
She did so with ill grace. "You're a vulture circling this family, aren't you? You won't rest till you've picked its bones."
"If you take a quick count of the number of noses on your face, you'll come up with more than the number of times I've approached the daPena family soliciting employment."
"Your wit hasn't suffered any improvement."
"Willa. Sit down and be quiet. Restrain your prejudices and speak only when you're spoken to."
"Yes, madam."
Did the whip crack there, or did it crack?
Willa Dount planted herself in a chair, face blank and cool. If she was going to perch I was going to prowl. I rose, began moving, shuffling the papers. The kidnappers had gone to great lengths to make sure Domina Dount understood exactly what she was supposed to do. I slipped a finger behind the letters I'd met already, looked Willa Dount in the eye, and asked, "When did you first suspect that Karl's kidnapping was contrived?"
"When Amiranda disappeared. She'd been odd for weeks, and had her head together with Karl for days before he vanished."
Lie number one, straight out of the chute? Willa Dount should have been on the road to her payoff appointment before Amiranda made her break. Unless...
Unless she'd known beforehand what Amiranda planned.
"When did you begin to suspect the game had become real?"
"When I reached the place where I was supposed to hand the gold over. Those people weren't playing. They were deadly real. I'm afraid I almost lost my composure. I've never been that afraid."
"Describe the people you met there."
She frowned. I told her, "I've asked you before about the payoff. You wouldn't talk. It was your right at the time. But not now. So tell me about those people, and about that night." I thumbed the first letter I hadn't yet read.
"There were two closed coaches and at least four people. Two coachmen of mixed parentage, probably ogre and human. The ugliest man I've ever seen. And a fairly attractive young woman. The ugly man was in charge."
"You said at least four. What does that mean? Was there somebody else?"
"There might have been someone inside the woman's coach. Twice I thought I saw movement in there, but they made me stay on the wagon. I wasn't close enough to be sure."
"Uhm." I picked a spot near a good light and adjusted a chair. "From the beginning of that night. Every trivial detail."
She began. And soon I was hearing what I expected, a tale with no significant deviations from the one Skredli had told me. I lent her both ears and one eye while I skimmed the letters. Then I went over a few again. Then again. And finally I thought I saw what I'd half expected to see, though I'm no expert on forgery. Willa Dount reached her departure from the bridge over Cedar Creek. I didn't figure anything interesting happened after that. "Hold it there."
She stopped dead. And dead is the way I'd describe the voice she'd been using. She'd been under so much strain for so long she had very little fire left.
"That payoff setup was as queer as a nine-foot pixie. No swap on the spot—though I admit there wasn't a lot you could do once you got there. You couldn't run away. But they let you see them. And then they let you go without killing you. Knowing who you worked for. At a time when at least one of them knew there'd be a murder within a few hours."
"I can't explain that, Mr. Garrett. Death is all I expected when I realized that Karl wasn't there."
Unless you took out some kind of insurance, I thought. Like maybe not delivering the whole ransom, and, maybe, refusing to let the balance go until you and Karl were safe. Maybe even not knowing where the rest was, or saying you didn't, so they wouldn't try anything rough. There was something or you wouldn't be here now. I thought it but didn't say it.
"Did you hear any names mentioned? Did you get a good look at any of them?"
"No names. There was moonlight. I saw all four well enough to recognize again, though the woman and the ugly man stayed back. I have excellent night vision. Maybe they didn't realize how clearly I saw them."
"Maybe. It probably doesn't matter now, anyway. They're all dead but the woman."
She just looked at me. You couldn't crack her with a sledgehammer. I had everything I wanted to get with the Stormwarden watching. I was wondering how I could stall just as Amber let herself in. Raver Styx made no pretenses and no excuses. She stood and left.
Amber whispered, "I didn't find anything in her quarters. She doesn't keep a journal or—"
"You don't have to talk behind my back in front of me, Amber. Spit it out."
I nodded.
"The accounts didn't look jiggered. The silver was sold for anywhere from seven to fifteen percent below market. I'm not sure, but I'd guess that would be reasonable in the circumstances. Whatever, the price of silver has fallen enough that now the buyers are the losers."