"You heard the answers," said Hawk. "Everyone here denied being the murderer."
Gaunt frowned unhappily. "Maybe you didn't word the questions correctly."
"Grabbing at straws," growled Lord Hightower.
"If the murderer isn't one of us, then he must be hiding somewhere in the house," said Dorimant. "It's the only explanation!"
"There's no one else here!" snapped Fisher. "Hawk and I have been through every room, and there isn't a hiding place we haven't checked. There's no one here but us."
"Exactly," said Gaunt. "My wards are up and secure. No one could have got in without my knowing about it, and they certainly couldn't have moved about the house without setting off a dozen security spells. There can't be anyone else here!"
"All right then, maybe the truthspell was defective!" said Hawk. "That's the only other answer I can see!"
"I am not in the habit of casting defective spells," said Gaunt coldly. "My truthspell was effective, while it lasted."
Fisher looked at him quickly. "While it lasted? You mean it's over? I thought we had twenty-five minutes."
Gaunt shrugged. "The more people involved, the greater the strain on the spell. It's over now."
"Can you cast another?" asked Dorimant.
"Certainly," said Gaunt. "But not for another twenty-four hours."
"Great," said Hawk. "Just great."
"All right," said Stalker. "What do we do now?"
"There is one place we didn't check as thoroughly as the others," said Fisher suddenly. "The kitchen."
Hawk shrugged. "You saw for yourself; there wasn't anywhere to hide."
"I think we ought to check it anyway. Just to be sure."
Hawk looked at Gaunt, who shrugged. Hawk sighed and got to his feet. "All right, Fisher, let's take another look." She nodded, and got to her feet. Hawk glared round at the guests. "Everyone else, stay here; that's an order. I don't want anyone leaving this room till we get back. Come on Fisher."
They left the parlor and went out into the hall, closing the door behind them. Gaunt and his guests sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Visage stirred uncomfortably in her chair, then rose suddenly to her feet.
"I really think we should stay here," said Gaunt. "It would be safer."
"I have to go to the bathroom," said Visage quietly, her cheeks crimson. "And no, I can't wait."
"I don't think you should go off on your own," said Dorimant.
"Quite right," said Lord Hightower. He turned to his wife. "Why don't you and I go up with her? Just to keep her company, so to speak?"
"Of course," said Lady Elaine. "You don't mind, do you, dear?"
Visage smiled, and shook her head. "I think I'd feel a lot safer, knowing I wasn't on my own."
"Don't be too long," said Gaunt. "We don't want to upset Captain Hawk, do we?"
Lord Hightower snorted loudly, but said nothing. He and his wife got to their feet and followed Visage out of the parlor. Dorimant stirred uncertainly in his chair. He would have liked to go with her too, to be sure she was safe, but the poor girl wouldn't want a crowd following her to the toilet. Besides, the Hightowers would look after her. Dorimant sank back in his chair and tried to think about something else. He felt a little better, now that Hawk and Fisher knew about the evidence he'd been concealing. Even if it didn't seem to have helped much. He glanced surreptitiously at Katherine. How could she have done it? To kneel beside her dead husband, and drive his own dagger into his chest; Dorimant shuddered.
"The wineglass worries me," he said finally. "If the wine wasn't poisoned;"
"It wasn't," said Gaunt flatly. "I tasted some myself."
"The wine;" said Katherine suddenly. Everyone looked at her. Katherine looked into the empty fireplace, frowning. "William didn't drink much, even at private parties. It was a rule of his. He'd already told me he'd had enough for one evening; but he had a fresh glass of wine in his hand when he went upstairs to change. So who gave him that glass; ?"
"I don't remember," said Dorimant. "I wasn't really watching." He looked at the others, and they all shook their heads.
"I'm sure I saw who it was," said Katherine, frowning. "But I can't remember; I can't;"
"Take it easy," said Stalker. "It'll come to you, if you don't try and force it."
"It's probably not that important anyway," said Dorimant.
Hawk and Fisher checked the kitchen thoroughly from top to bottom, and found nothing and no one. There were no hidden passages, no hiding places, and nothing that looked even remotely suspicious. Not that they'd expected to find anything. Hawk and Fisher had just needed an excuse to go off on their own so that they could talk in private. They leaned back against the sink and looked gloomily about them.
"Hightower was right," said Fisher. "Much as I hate to admit it. The truthspell didn't get us anywhere. The new angle on Blackstone's death is all very interesting, but we're still no nearer finding his killer."
"Maybe," said Hawk, "and maybe not. I wouldn't know a clue if I fell over it, but I know a guilty face when I see one. Hightower's hiding something. He was jumpy as hell when he first discovered we were all stuck here for the night, and he was almost in a panic at the thought of a truthspell. There was something he didn't want to talk about;"
"You didn't ask him many questions," said Fisher.
"He wouldn't have answered them if I had."
"We could have leaned on him."
Hawk smiled. "Do you honestly think we could make Lord Roderik Hightower say one damned thing he didn't want to?"
Fisher smiled reluctantly. "I see your point. Besides, there's no actual evidence that whatever's worrying him has anything to do with the murders. Old soldiers and politicians always have something to hide. After all, you asked him if he killed Blackstone and Bowman, and he said <em>no</em>. Didn't even hesitate."
Hawk scowled, thinking. "How do we know Gaunt actually cast a truthspell? Maybe; No. No, it worked all right; I tested it myself."
"Maybe he only cast it on you," said Fisher.
"Maybe. And maybe we're both getting paranoid."
"There is that."
"Let's get back to the parlor," said Hawk. "I don't like leaving them alone too long. I'll hit them with some more questions; try and break someone's story. High tower's hiding something. I'd stake my career on it."
"We are," said Fisher dryly. "We are."
Visage waited alone on the landing, not far from the bathroom door. The Lady Elaine was taking her turn in the bathroom, while Lord Roderik had gone back to his room to change into more suitable clothes. The landing was still lit by only the one lamp, and the shadows seemed very dark. Visage glanced nervously about her. She wished the Lord and Lady would hurry up.
She shivered suddenly, and wrapped her arms around her. The house was still full of the sweltering summer heat, but Visage kept finding cold spots. She bit her lip and frowned unhappily. She didn't like Gaunt's house. She hadn't liked it from the moment she first crossed the threshold, but now she knew why. The DeFerriers might be dead and gone, but their house still held dark memories locked into its stone and timber. It was hard to think of a man like Stalker being a DeFerrier, but she didn't doubt it for a minute. Despite all the songs and legends, and even though he was always studiously polite to her, she'd never warmed to him. Visage had never known what William saw in him. She'd never liked Stalker. He had cold eyes.
She looked along the landing to what had been William's door. Poor William. He'd had such hopes, such dreams; And poor Edward had died right there on the landing, at the top of the stairs. She looked at the ragged bloodstains on the carpet, and then looked away. She felt sorry for Edward, now he was gone. She shouldn't have said those awful things about him. They were all true, but she shouldn't have said them.