"Right," said Hawk. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Think about it," said Stalker. "Vampires are shapeshifters, remember? They can turn themselves into bats, or even into mist."
Hawk nodded slowly. "Right; a locked door wouldn't stop a vampire, not once it had been invited into the house. It could turn to mist and seep through the cracks round the door! No, wait a minute; it doesn't work."
"Why not?"
"The undead don't usually need to stab their victims with a knife. And besides, vampires don't eat or drink; they can't. But everyone here was invited to dinner, and I've seen everybody with a glass in their hand at one stage or another. No, it's a nice idea, but there are too many ways a vampire would have given himself away by now. Thanks anyway, sir Stalker."
"You're welcome. It was just a thought." Stalker moved back to rejoin the others.
"If everyone would care to take a seat," said Gaunt, "we can begin."
Hawk and Fisher and the guests pulled up chairs in a rough semicircle facing the sorcerer. He waited patiently till they were settled, and then made a sweeping motion with his left hand. Time seemed to slow and stop. Gaunt spoke a single word of Power and there was a sudden jolt as the whole room shook. There was a vague tension in the air, and then everything snapped back to normal. Hawk frowned. He didn't feel any different.
"Who's going to ask the questions?" said Gaunt.
"I will," said Hawk. "I suppose we'd better start with a test. My partner is;" He tried to say the word <em>short</em>, and found he couldn't. His mouth simply wouldn't form the word. "Tall," he said finally. "Your spell seems to be working quite efficiently, sir sorcerer."
Gaunt nodded calmly. Fisher gave Hawk a hard look, and he smiled awkwardly. He looked quickly round the assembled guests, and braced himself. <em>All right; in at the deep end</em>.
"Sir Gaunt, let's start with you."
"Very well."
"You are a sorcerer."
"Yes."
"Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?"
"No."
"Did you bring about their deaths indirectly, by use of your magic?"
"No."
"You have an acquaintance, who helped you in the Hook. Is that person in any way associated with the murders?"
"That is; highly unlikely."
<em>He didn't say it was impossible</em>, thought Hawk. <em>Let's push this a little further</em>.
"You were once sorcerer to the King," he said carefully.
"Yes."
"You quarreled with him."
"Yes."
"Was it about your acquaintance?"
"In a way."
"What happened? Why did you leave the Court and come here, to Haven?"
Gaunt hesitated, and then sighed jerkily. "The King wanted her for himself, and I wouldn't give her up. I couldn't. So I came here, to; work things out on my own."
"Wait a minute," said Lord Hightower. "Who are you two talking about? What's this woman got to do with anything?"
"Apparently nothing," said Hawk. "Please relax, my Lord; we'll get to you in good time. That's all for the moment, sir sorcerer. Now then, sir Dorimant;"
"I didn't kill them," said Dorimant quickly.
"I have to ask the question," said Hawk politely. "Otherwise your answer won't mean anything. Did you kill Blackstone and Bowman?"
"No. No, I didn't."
Hawk looked at him narrowly. Dorimant was sitting awkwardly in his chair. His smile was weak and his eyes were evasive. <em>He's hiding something</em>, thought Hawk. <em>I wonder what</em>?
"You said earlier that Visage was with you at the time of the first murder," he said slowly. "Was that true?"
"Yes," said Dorimant, though he didn't look too happy about admitting it.
"Why was she with you?" said Hawk.
Dorimant looked at Visage, who bit her lip and then nodded unhappily. Dorimant looked back at Hawk. "She was the first one to find William's body," he said reluctantly. "She'd gone to his room to talk to him, and found him lying dead on the floor. She came to me for help."
Everyone sat up straight in their chairs. Hawk felt a sudden rush of excitement as he finally put two and two together. He looked at Visage.
"The room wasn't locked when you found him? You just walked right in?"
"Yes," said Visage. "It wasn't locked."
"Of course," said Hawk happily. "That's it! That's what I've been missing all along!"
Fisher looked at him dubiously. "What are you going on about, Hawk?"
Hawk grinned. "I've finally worked out how the murder took place in a room locked from the inside. Simple: the door was never locked to begin with!"
"Of course the door was locked," said Fisher. "You had to break it down with your axe! I was there, remember?"
"How did you know the door was locked?" said Hawk. "Did you try to open it?"
"Well, no;"
"Exactly. Neither did I. Katherine came down and told us the door was locked. We went back with her, but she was careful to get to the door first. She rattled the door handle convincingly, told us again that it wouldn't open, and ordered me to break the door down. Afterwards, the lock was such a mess we couldn't tell it hadn't been locked. And that's why we found the key on the floor, and not in the lock."
Everyone looked at Katherine, who stared at the floor with her head bowed.
"Is this true?" asked Gaunt.
Katherine nodded tiredly. "Yes. I lied about the door being locked. But I didn't kill William."
"If you didn't, then who did?" said Stalker.
"No one," said Katherine, looking up for the first time. "He committed suicide."
"<em>What</em>?" said Fisher. "You have got to be joking!"
Everyone started talking at once. Hawk yelled for quiet, and went on yelling till he got it. The voices died away to a rebellious silence as Hawk glared impartially about him.
"Let's take this from the beginning," he said grimly. "Visage, you found Blackstone's body. Tell us what happened."
Visage glanced briefly at Dorimant for support, and then began her story in a low whisper.
"I wanted to talk to William. There was something about Gaunt's house that made me feel uneasy, and I wanted to be sure he was wearing his amulet of protection."
"The one you designed for him," said Hawk.
"Yes. Stalker gave me the idea. He'd seen something like it in his travels."
Hawk looked at Stalker, who nodded. "That's right. Captain. They're very common in the East, and with all the recent threats I thought the amulet might be a good idea. I explained the theory to Visage, and she made the amulet for William."
"All right," said Hawk. "Go on, Visage."
"I went to William's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, but the door was ajar, so I pushed it open. William was lying on the floor. I ran over to him and checked his breathing, but he was already dead."
"Did you touch the knife?" asked Fisher.
"There wasn't any knife," said Visage flatly. "When I found William, there wasn't a mark on him. I saw the wineglass by his hand, and I assumed one of his enemies had poisoned him. I didn't know what to do. I know I should have gone to you, Captain Hawk, but I was afraid to. I was the one who'd found him, and I thought I'd be blamed; I panicked, that's all. I ran back to Graham's room and told him what I'd found. He was kind to me. He said that we'd go and tell you together, and say that we'd both found the body. We were just getting ready to go downstairs when we heard you breaking down William's door. And then; well, we heard about the knife and the locked door, and we didn't know what to think. Graham never doubted me, but ; In the end, we decided to say nothing. I was afraid you wouldn't believe me, and I didn't want Graham to get into trouble by supporting me."
Hawk waited a moment, but Visage said nothing more. He looked at Dorimant. "Is this true? You conspired to conceal evidence in a murder case? Even though the victim was your friend?"