"About time, Edwin," said the Sarjeant. His voice was unusu ally harsh, even for him, but somehow unfocused. "Our Matriarch has been murdered." He looked at Molly. "What is the witch doing here? She's not family."
"Not now, Sarjeant," I said. I made myself walk past him, to the side of the bed. Made myself look closely at the body. "What happened here? How was she… murdered?"
"Stabbed," said the Sarjeant. "A single thrust, from the front, through the heart. I knew it, the moment it happened. One of the little secrets of my position-I'm linked to the Hall, and everyone in it. It is necessary for me to know exactly where everyone in the family is, so that they can always be found, and disciplined. So I always know, when one of us dies. The Matriarch's sudden death brought me right up out of a deep sleep. For a moment, I tried to tell myself it was just a bad dream, but I knew it wasn't. So I came straight here, found the door open… and found her dead in her bed."
"Ethel's quite positive the Hall is still secure," I said. "No one's broken in, or out. No intruders means… this wasn't the work of any of our enemies. This was an inside job. The killer is one of us."
"One of the family?" said Howard, still just inside the doorway. He couldn't look at the body. "How could one of us do something like this? It's not possible! She's… she's the Matriarch!"
But I was looking at Molly, and we were remembering what she had said to me earlier about Immortals infiltrating the family. Our deadliest enemies, hidden behind familiar faces. And I suddenly had to wonder about the timing of the Matriarch's death. Could we have been overheard? Had the Matriarch been killed just to send me a message? Was this my fault? Molly started to say something, and I stopped her with a quick gesture. We couldn't talk here. Not when there was no telling who might be listening.
The Sarjeant-at-Arms saw the look, and the gesture. He started to say something, so I cut quickly across him.
"Stabbed right through the heart," I said, bending over the body and examining the wound closely. "A practised, professional blow. And no defensive wounds on the arms… No signs of any struggle, the bedclothes are hardly disturbed. All of which suggests the attacker was someone she knew, and trusted, right up to the last moment. He must have just knocked on the door, and been invited in. She sat up in bed, he walked up to her, and… He must have been quick. She was a teacher of unarmed combat for thirty years. No one could have overpowered her, if she felt threatened. She could have held off even the most determined assassin long enough to summon up her armour. But a face she trusted, with a knife she never saw until it was far too late…"
"But how could the killer just walk in here?" said Molly. "Didn't she have any guards outside her door?"
"Inside the Hall?" said Howard, shocked. "We don't have guards here. We're safe, here. Danger always comes from outside."
"There are… protections in place, to prevent any outsider from doing harm inside the Hall," said the Sarjeant. "But they wouldn't affect any member of the family, or a really powerful magic-user…"
I didn't like the way he was looking at Molly. "Now wait just a minute…" I said.
"You threatened to kill the Matriarch," the Sarjeant said to Molly. "To her face, in front of the Advisory Council."
"I was angry!" said Molly. "But I'm not stupid enough to kill her here, surrounded by her family. And I'm certainly not stupid enough to stick around afterwards. Besides, I wouldn't just stab someone! I'm the wild witch of the woods! I'd use some really subtle magic, make it look like natural causes. Or, if I wanted you to know it was me, I'd do something really vile and horrible, and then disappear while you were all still throwing up. I don't do stabbings."
"What better way to disguise your involvement, than a crude attack with an anonymous blade?" said the Sarjeant.
"Stop this," I said. "Stop it right now. Molly had nothing to do with this. She's been with me ever since we left the Sanctity. It couldn't be her."
"Well, you would say that, wouldn't you?" said the Sarjeant. "But even if it were true, you had to sleep sometime. She could have left your side, done the deed and returned while you were still sleeping. Couldn't she?"
"No," I said. "No." I looked at the Armourer. He was still holding the Matriarch's dead hand, his head bowed over it. "Uncle Jack? You don't believe it was Molly, do you?"
"Hush, Eddie," he said, not looking round. "My mother is dead."
A thought struck me, and I looked back at the Sarjeant. "Does Alistair know? Has anyone told him?"
"The Matriarch's consort doesn't know anything anymore," said Howard. "It's a miracle he's still alive. After what you did to him."
"He threatened to kill Molly, and me," I said.
"He's still in a coma," said Howard. "Hooked up to a whole bunch of life support, down in the hospital ward. He hasn't said anything in months. Why disturb him now?"
I leaned forward over the bed, and studied the Matriarch's face. Dead bodies were nothing new to me, but it's always different when it's someone you know. There was nothing in her face-no shock, no outrage, no fear or pain. It was just… empty. She seemed smaller, as though the most important part of her was gone, and this was just something she had left behind. I took her free hand in mine, and then dropped it again because just like that she was standing beside the bed, staring at me. A tall regal figure in her best tweeds and pearls, looking very much alive. I looked back at the bed, but the body was still there. I looked at the others, and it was clear they could see the vision of my grandmother as well. It couldn't be her ghost; Martha had always been very firm that ghosts had no place in the Hall. The family always looks forward, never back. So this must be a vision; a recording made earlier, and activated by the touch of my hand. I felt obscurely affected, that she had chosen me as the trigger for her message. The Matriarch started speaking, and I gave her my full attention. Her? face was calm and unmoved, as though this message from beyond was just another necessary task.
"If you're seeing this, then I'm dead," she said flatly. "I suppose it could have happened in any number of ways, but I'm betting on violence. Droods live well, but we don't live long. Comes with the job. It doesn't really matter how; what matters is the family. Do not let my death divide or weaken the family. The Council must take over the running of things, until a new leader can be decided on. Work together; this is my last instruction to all of you. Edwin, we never agreed on anything much, except that the good of the family must always come first. Anything, for the family. Anything, for England. Anything, for Humanity. Remember that, and you won't go far wrong. I was always proud of you, Edwin, hard though you may find that to believe. Even when you outraged and defied me. Perhaps especially then. It's good to know the family can still produce lions as well as drones.
"Jack… Good-bye, my dear. My only living child. I wish… we'd found the time to talk more. But you were always so busy in your Armoury, and I had the family to run, and the world… just kept getting in the way. You always think there'll be more time, to say the things you want to say. Until suddenly there isn't.
"Sarjeant-at-Arms, do your duty. Protect the family. And if I have died at some assassin's hand, let nothing stand between you and getting to the truth. I think that's it. I can't think of anything more to say. I have no regrets. No apologies. Everything I did, I did for the family. Nothing else matters."