Robert put a hand over Hincks’s wrist.“Francis, that cannot happen. The alliance we are seeking to buildcan only work if it is founded upon absolute trust and pursued inthat spirit. Louis, Marc and I will go ahead with the business offinalizing the documents, as planned, but when we’ve finished andbefore any signature is appended, I’d like everyone concernedbrought in here and the coroner’s edict explained in full. Thenwe’ll see what can be done.”
Hincks started to protest, but settled for adeep sigh. “Damn. We were so close.” Then he brightened a bit andsmiled at Marc. “But you’re going to find us a murderer by seveno’clock, aren’t you, my friend?”
Daniel Bérubé was next. As usual, he preferredtalking to listening. “My God, Edwards, I hope this dreadfulbusiness doesn’t upset all our plans. We’ve got to get theseprovinces moving again or we’ll all starve! Just the thought of adecent set of canals and roads and a government interested inmaking money instead of hoarding other people’s gives me theshivers. I feel sorry for this wretched butler, of course, buthundreds have already died for our cause and thousands more havesuffered terribly — ”
When Marc finally settled him down enough toget a few words in edgewise, he learned that Bérubé, like Hincks,had gone straight to bed following their billiards game and falleninstantly asleep. He had heard nothing, and was very sorry he couldnot be more useful.
Macaulay brought Erneste Bergeron in next.While he looked worried, anxious even, the purple bags under hiseyes had disappeared.
“You slept well, then?” Marc inquired. “Atlast.”
“Yes, sir, I did. I had to be wakened andtold the unhappy news about the butler. I am still in a state ofdisbelief.”
“So you went to your bedchamber right aftersupper, about eight-forty-five?”
“Well, I did and I didn’t. I fetched mynight-clothes and went into the bathroom to have a good relaxingsoak. The servants had left everything prepared, so I drew my ownbath and lay in it for a good half-hour.”
“You’ll recall that Mr. Macaulay mentionedhis wife’s laudanum as a possible sedative for you?”
“Of course. But I felt so mellow there in thebath — and sleepy — that I decided not to avail myself of it, butgo straight to bed.”
“But did you by any chance notice whether ornot the vial of laudanum was on the shelf?”
“Oh, yes. It was there all right. I had it inmy hand, but put it back.”
So, Marc thought, Priscilla Finch was tellingthe truth. The killer must have removed the drug some time afternine-thirty — possibly much later and just before heading up themain hall to Chilton’s office.
“One final question,” Marc said. “We’rehoping to trace the source of a bottle of sherry found at the sceneof the crime, a vintage Amontillado.”
“Was that where the poison was?” Bergeronasked, going suddenly pale. Perhaps the grim reality of thebutler’s death had just struck him, unawares.
“Yes. But we don’t know where the Amontilladooriginated as it didn’t come from our host’s cellar.”
“I’d like to help, Mr. Edwards, but I don’thave the foggiest notion where the butler could have got it.”
Bergeron had nothing more to add, but he hadbeen helpful. Moreover, like Bérubé, he had given no indicationthat he was being treated as a suspect. For which Marc wasgrateful.
Maurice Tremblay was not pleased to be ushered intothe library by Garnet Macaulay. Even before he sat down, he glaredat Marc and said, “We were not told you were a policeman as well asa translator.”
“I am neither a policeman nor a translator,”Marc said evenly. “As you know I am a barrister who speaks Frenchand supports the Reform party.”
Something close to disdain appeared inTremblay’s eyes. “I heard one of the servants refer to you as theHero of St. Denis. You are a soldier, a British soldier. You firedyour weapon at me two years ago. For all I know you may havemurdered one of my friends there.”
Marc was taken aback by the vehemence of theaccusation. He kept eye contact with Tremblay as he replied, ascalmly as he could, “I was an officer in the 23rd Regimentof Foot. I fought in the battle at St. Denis, not out of convictionbut because it was my soldierly duty. I did not have severalfingers blown off, but I was severely wounded. I resigned mycommission. I changed my life. And I am here this week withmy friends and your allies, Francis Hincks and RobertBaldwin.”
“All that may be so,” Tremblay said, hissneer softening just a little, “but right now you are a policemanwho sees before him a possible murderer.”
“You are not a suspect, sir, but a potentialwitness who may help Constable Cobb and me solve this case andsalvage the political achievements we’ve made since Wednesday. AndI am not a paid policeman or investigator. I am occasionallyseconded by the police to assist them in murder cases, as I wasthis morning. I could hardly say no, especially in circumstanceswhere tact and judgement may be essential.”
“Very well, then. Proceed with the fictionthat I am merely a witness. I have nothing to hide in anyevent.”
“I didn’t suppose you had. Now, first of all,tell me what you did when you left the dining-room ateight-forty-five last night?”
“I thought this incident took place aftermidnight?” Tremblay said warily.
“Did you go right to your room?”
“No. If you must know, and I fail to see howit’s any of your business, I went up to my room for the purpose ofpreparing to take a bath.”
“But Erneste beat you to it.”
“Not exactly. He looked as if he needed itmore than I did — he hadn’t slept much in three nights. I patientlywaited until he had finished, and then ran my own bath.”
“A little past nine-thirty?”
“Probably.” Tremblay’s lip curled as headded, “Where is this going, Edwards? The butler wasn’t drowned,was he?”
“He was poisoned with laudanum from a bottleremoved by the killer from the shelf above the bathtub. Did younotice whether or not it was still there?”
“You think I may have removed it, waited tillthe rest of you nodded off, and then went straight up the hall tothe butler’s office and induced him to swallow it?”
Marc was beginning to seethe at these rudeand contemptuous remarks, but held his temper long enough to say,“Please tell me whether you noticed it there while you bathed.”
“I didn’t notice it and then again I did notnot-notice it. In short, I haven’t the slightest idea whether itwas there or not.”
If Tremblay were telling the truth, then thelast person to confirm its existence on the bathroom shelf wasBergeron, about nine-thirty. “Let me ask you another question,then. You were back in your bedchamber before your other twocolleagues retired about ten o’clock. Did you see or hear anythinglater on? Any sound or movement in your hallway?”
“How could I? I was asleep by ten-fifteen. Iam a sound sleeper.”
“You had no cause to leave your room in thenight? To visit the water-closet, for example?”
“Or commit a murder? And if I did so, Icertainly wouldn’t confess the crime to you, would I?”
“I repeat, sir, that you are not a suspect,”Marc lied. “I am asking you the question because I’ve been toldsomeone on your floor did leave his room around midnight. Thatperson may have seen or heard something he didn’t considerimportant at the time but in hindsight might be critical to thisinvestigation.”
“I fell asleep. Period.” Tremblay set hischin on his chest and dared Marc to continue.
“I do have one final query. Did you bring anywine or spirits with you or see such anywhere in the house that didnot come from Macaulay’s cellar?”
Almost resigned to these apparentnon-sequiturs, Tremblay sighed: “No and no.”
Marc smiled and sat back. “You are not happywith the accord we are going to ratify later today, are you?”
“Why should I be?” Tremblay snapped. “But I’mnot foolish enough to poison my host’s butler just to throw aspanner into the works. If this is an example of your prowess as aninvestigator of crimes, we have no hope of catching the actualkiller.”