“That was more difficult than finding the way out. Didn’t want to have to drag his ass all around, now did I? Someone like him probably wouldn’t walk if he got a splinter.”
“Well,” said Thea. “I’m sending you over to the police doctor, and when she confirms you’re not cursed, come back over here. We’ll confront the Fergus family together. Think of anything relevant from your time in there—including anything the Fergus thief might have said—and be ready to inform me when you get back.”
Benen nodded, downed the rest of his tea, and dragged himself to his feet.
* * * *
By the time Dr. Bethann Davies returned, Benen had drifted off to sleep. He started in the chair and blinked hard at her, but she only sighed.
“None of my tests say you’re experiencing any side effects from that orb apart from the residual magical aura. Congrats, Benen, you haven’t strayed across a curse. You ought to get some rest, though.”
“On a case,” said Benen, then yawned. Bethann picked up a needle and added it to her bag. “Sleep when it’s over.”
“I’d warn you against it, but you won’t listen, will you? Get out of here—I have to go examine the man you locked up now.”
Benen shuffled back down the corridor, not expecting Evander to like having to give blood, but seeing whether blood reacted to a special solution was still the fastest way to check for a curse. He yawned again. He didn’t have time to worry about Evander’s comfort, not when he needed to find the real murderer.
“All clear,” said Benen when he entered the office again. Raldina passed him his cuffs, his Turtledove II, and then another mug of wakeleaf tea. “Thanks.”
“I want you to pay attention,” said Thea, checking her watch. “Let me or Raldina do the talking. Alasdair Fergus should be awake by now.”
Benen tossed back the tea and followed them out of the police station, pointedly not looking at George as he left. He didn’t want to know what anyone else thought of him not making short work of a thief. Thea hired a cab and Benen fell asleep on the ride over, ashamed when Raldina shook him awake. He hoped the time he’d snagged here and back in the doctor’s office would be enough rest to run on the remainder of the day.
“Lead Detective Thea Lister to see Alasdair Fergus,” said Thea at the door to the Fergus mansion a little ways outside of Jewylle on Ilben proper. She held up her badge for the butler and Benen backed up a few steps, peered up at the place.
The Fergus home was massive, three stories tall, chimneys and turrets protruding everywhere. Stretching beyond the mansion were gardens, fields, and in the distance, forest. What it had been like for Evander to grow up here, secluded and sealed away from the kind of life Benen was living back in Jewylle on Ilben’s streets…Benen couldn’t comprehend. He should feel more jealous—as recently as yesterday, he would have—but he was too fascinated by the vastness of the difference. He should hate Evander for this and yet it thrilled him. That two so very different people could not only get along, but manage to respect each other, was exciting. He could almost imagine a scenario where he showed Evander around the streets, allowed the man to invite him over to the Fergus mansion.
Benen blamed the maze for this sudden lightheaded thrill, even if he didn’t want to. But somehow knowing he and Evander were so different only made the fact they liked each other more compelling.
The butler led them into the sitting room and went to fetch Alasdair. Thea selected a chair and sat, while Raldina wandered the room, examining everything. Benen followed Raldina’s lead, trying to focus on searching for anything useful rather than let himself get sucked into speculation, but it was too much. He couldn’t help but wonder whether Evander ran around this room as a child, conducted his own business here as an adult. He was thirty; he had to have people calling on him.
Benen was examining a carved wooden figure on the mantle, trying not to guess which features of the room Evander liked and disliked, when the door opened. A white man in his mid-thirties entered. He was dressed well and the family resemblance to Evander was clear—he too was not a broad man, had long, slender features—but he was obviously not old enough to be Evander’s father.
“Detective,” he said, words brisk. “I do wish you would have sent ahead before dropping by.”
Thea smiled briefly.
“Is your father in?” she asked. “I’m here to speak with him, not you.”
“You asked for Alasdair.” The man forced a pleasant expression. “I apologize for the mistake. Callers tend to specify, myself or my father. I’ll of course fetch him for you—what is this about?”
“Just fetch him. Thanks.”
Benen saw a flicker of anger in Alasdair’s eyes, and then he’d turned and left. Benen wished Evander were here, suspected he and his brother didn’t get along at all. Benen thought he’d enjoy listening to them verbally spar, particularly considering he decided Evander would absolutely shame his brother.
“What are you smiling about?” asked Raldina.
“This place. These people,” said Benen, gesturing. “It’s all ridiculous.”
“Not enough to grin stupidly about.”
“That’s not fair, Fiyor,” said Thea. “Trelayne hasn’t had his beauty sleep. His mind’s off.”
Benen scowled.
“Nothing would fix that face.” Raldina paused. “You think the son did it?”
“Possibly. Wouldn’t be the first time one of these wealthy bastards killed off another.”
“You hear that?” asked Benen, interrupting. Both Thea and Raldina fell silent, the noise outside in the corridor growing. Whatever the commotion was, Thea had just gotten to her feet when the door burst open and Alasdair staggered in.
“Detective,” he said, words spluttering out of him. “You’re here—good—he’s…”
“What?” asked Thea. “Take a breath. Speak clearly.”
Alasdair swallowed and nodded. Behind him, through the open door, Benen could see the staff rushing back and forth, passing hurried messages, wide-eyed.
“It’s my father,” said Alasdair after long seconds. “He’s been murdered.”
* * * *
The body of Alasdair Fergus, Senior, lay sprawled in the study, bashed to death much like Josen Nevgeradel’s had been. Thea circled the corpse while Raldina examined the room and Benen eyed Alasdair. The man gaped, hands stiffly at his sides, and swallowed occasionally.
Relief washed over Benen. There was no way Evander could be blamed for this, not while having been locked away in the police station, and since the murder style was the same as Nevgeradel’s, that should clear him from that as well. The murder weapon was still missing, which was a bad sign, and Benen’s mind jumped around, trying to figure everything out. Who could have wanted a blackmailer and Evander’s father dead? The sister? He doubted it.
A weight dropped into his gut. If Evander hadn’t done it, his life was probably at risk.
“I don’t understand,” said Alasdair. “The rage…to bludgeon someone…I just don’t understand.”
“Same person who murdered Nevgeradel?” asked Benen. Thea straightened, snagged up a sheet one of the staff had provided, and covered the body.
“Possibly,” she said. “We’d have to connect the two.”
“Someone with a grudge?” asked Alasdair, then fear flashed through his eyes. “I’m next.”
“Calm down,” said Thea, and waved a hand at Benen. “Just—take the man out of here and give him a drink of something, Trelayne, will you?”
She crossed to where Raldina was going through Alasdair Senior’s paperwork, leaving Benen to placate Alasdair himself. He led the man out to a chair in the corridor, then returned for a decanter, which he unstoppered and sniffed.
“You think it’s poisoned?” asked Alasdair, fearful eyes following Benen’s motions as he poured.
“No,” he said, and extended the glass. The man wouldn’t take it. Benen sighed and tossed the drink back, enjoying it while he could. Rich people
bought good alcohol. When he poured a second drink and held it out to Alasdair, the man accepted it and sipped. Benen set the decanter on a side table, Alasdair not looking at him. If Benen had been a paranoid man, he might wonder if Alasdair could somehow tell by looking at him that he’d fucked around with his brother.
“I don’t understand,” said Alasdair again, faintly. Benen resisted rolling his eyes, then thought about Evander. Shit. He was acting like he did back when he had his first crush.
He focused on Thea and Raldina through the half-open door. Maybe the family resemblance was too much for Benen; looking at Alasdair only reminded him of Evander. Raldina flipped through record books while Thea examined the desk; after only minutes, she’d found a false panel and was extracting another, thinner book.
“What’s that?” asked Alasdair, neck craning to watch the detectives. He tried to stand but Benen put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back to his seat. “What’s going on?”
“Calm down,” said Benen. Alasdair drained his glass and coughed, and this time Benen could not keep himself from rolling his eyes. He snagged the glass and poured Alasdair another. He had to wait until the man had stopped coughing before handing it over. Of course the asshole couldn’t drink.
“Interesting,” said Thea, thumbing through the pages. She passed the book to Raldina. “What do you think? Regular payments out here.”
“I’ve seen these amounts before. The shit Trelayne was supposed to go through last night. Nevgeradel’s books—he had a maze of them, but I had a peek this morning. Looked like he had payments divided into different amounts and organized in brackets, and these numbers exactly match what I’ve been calling medium-level blackmail.”
“Blackmail,” said Alasdair. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” asked Thea, glancing over at him. She grabbed a glass and exited into the corridor, then poured herself a drink. “Who else in the family can we talk to? We need to speak with someone who does understand.”
Benen smirked as Alasdair bristled. Raldina spoke up from the desk.
“The mother, Marla, has been dead for years, but there is a sister. Marla. Currently the Jewylle on Ilben Representative to the Council. She hasn’t been around here in weeks.”
“I have a younger brother, too,” said Alasdair, and looked away.
“Do you think either of your siblings would know more about why your father was being blackmailed than you would?” asked Thea, and sipped at her glass.
Alasdair knocked back his drink, started coughing again. Benen grabbed the glass, decided against refilling it again. If Alasdair could barely drink it, he’d be no good to them having had more than two. Without anything to hold onto, Alasdair’s hands grew stiff again, bunched against his legs. He let out a dry little laugh.
“Marla doesn’t know anything,” he said. “She’s too busy with her politics.”
“And you’re firstborn. Your father must have been teaching you to manage the assets,” said Benen, but Thea shot him a look, telling him to shut up.
“Do you and your brother get along?”
“We don’t speak, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Alasdair. He glanced over like he wanted another drink, but Benen didn’t move. “He’s a bit…estranged.”
“Could that have anything to do with the blackmail?” asked Thea.
Benen felt his stomach knot. All Evander’s secrets, everything about him was about to come out. He could sense it. Thea would be able to get it all out of Alasdair, if he knew it, and then…No, even if it made Evander look bad, he was at the station during this latest murder.
The murder of his father. Benen hoped he wouldn’t take it badly.
“You think…” began Alasdair, then frowned. “My father wouldn’t pay for that! What evidence could Josen Nevgeradel have had of any of that? We kept it quiet.”
“Well don’t be quiet now,” said Thea. “I can’t catch your father’s murderer without evidence.”
Alasdair sighed and buried his face in his hands.
“Evander completely destroyed our sister’s engagement to Graden Fallswenne. He’s the only child of a tea importer—”
“We know who he is,” said Raldina. She moved to stand in the doorway. “Did Marla like the match?”
“What? As far as I know.” He paused, swallowed. “He…tempted Graden away.”
“So Evander wanted to prevent the engagement? Did he offer a bribe?” asked Thea, and Benen cringed. This would all come out anyway.
“No,” he said. “He means seduced. Don’t you, Alasdair?”
“I thought that was something people like them think is low-class,” said Raldina. Alasdair groaned.
“Did your brother and Graden have a relationship?” asked Thea, then when Alasdair nodded, “an intimate one?”
“Yes.” He glanced at Raldina out of the corner of his eye, his expression one of disgust. “And it is the case people like me tend to not pair up in such a manner. It’s fine for you—there are enough of you breeding away down there in the streets. Our family lines will die out if we don’t restrain some impulses.”
“Trelayne, don’t,” said Thea, seeing his glare. She turned back to Alasdair. “So Marla called off the engagement.”
“No. My father…interfered. He sent Evander away and confronted Graden. As I understand it, they came to an agreement—my father would say nothing more about it provided Graden ended the engagement. I don’t know what he said to Marla—as far as I’m aware, she doesn’t know the why of it, only that Graden was no longer interested. You must understand, if it came out her husband was in bed with her brother…that would have destroyed her career. My father knew that. He didn’t like having to do any of it. He loved my brother, and respected Graden a good deal.”
“Did he,” said Benen, voice dry. Thea shot him a look. Abruptly, Raldina snapped the book shut.
“There’s no point in judging,” said Alasdair. “We’re in different worlds. Life doesn’t function the same way.”
“An interesting perspective. I’ll bring it up with my wife sometime,” said Raldina, and Alasdair frowned down at his hands. “And that’s what Nevgeradel was blackmailing your father about? What about those last payments? The two large sums.”
“How should I know? I wasn’t aware Josen Nevgeradel was blackmailing my father. I have no idea what information he would have even had—unless he obtained something from Graden or my brother. Love letters? Though understanding Nevgeradel’s business, I am not surprised he used whatever he had against as many people as possible.”
Thea took a drink, then another. Benen knew that look, that technique from her. She was waiting Alasdair out, knowing at some point the weight of his distress, the pressing of the silence, would cause him to talk. He didn’t seem to want to look at them, people here interrogating him over the body of his father like he was a common criminal.
“I have to inform Marla…”
Thea passed her empty glass over to Benen and he replaced it by the decanter. She was clearly unimpressed with Alasdair’s attempt to leave.
“A few minutes won’t make a difference. Your brother will want to know, too.”
“How am I supposed to know where he is? Last I heard he was by the docks.” Alasdair’s mouth twisted with disgust. “Graden, too. I’m guessing they’re very happy together. Why don’t you tell him for me? You might question him while you’re at it. He probably knows whatever it is Nevgeradel had over my father.”
“Hmm,” said Thea, and stood. “We actually have your brother in custody at the moment. He tried to break into the police station.”
Alasdair looked up in surprise, then his eyes narrowed and he laughed.
“I never thought him particularly clever, but to do something like that…” he trailed off and shook his head. “Then you can question him.”
“We dropped by to ask your father if he wanted to pay to have him released.”
Alasdair shot a worried look past Raldina into the room.<
br />
“Would you care to have your brother released, Alasdair? You are the heir, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Alasdair. He blinked. “I mean, no. To releasing him. What are the odds I’m next? If this has something to do with his affair with Graden, wouldn’t the best place for him be in the station? Can you spare any officers to watch my home?”
“You’re still shaken, I can see,” said Thea. “Why don’t you contact your sister and get some rest. If you think of anything or care to have your brother released, you know who to contact.”
* * * *
“Tea finally working?” asked Raldina as they returned to the station. “You managed to stay awake the entire ride back.”
“Yeah, screw you, too,” said Benen, turning away from the front desk as they passed, but George was occupied helping a woman fill out paperwork.
“Children, settle down,” said Thea, and went immediately to the wall at the back of the office. “Let’s get what we know down. The doctor should have something for us in a few hours, but I don’t want to wait for a confirmation on what’s obvious. Same weapon, same killer. Bludgeoned last night?”
“Explains why he was just discovered now,” said Raldina. “I’d be surprised if this doesn’t have anything to do with the blackmail. The two final large payments are well over what they should be. Something’s going on here.”
“The brother?”
“Was stuck here with me last night,” said Benen, forcing his expression to remain constant, his voice even, as both Thea and Raldina turned to look at him. “Believe me, stuck in that maze, I couldn’t get more than a few feet away from him at any point.”
“We’ll need a more precise time of death,” said Thea, dismissing Benen’s provided alibi immediately. “He could have done it before coming over here.”
“It was fairly early. George had just left.”
“You did get kicked in the head,” said Raldina, and Thea shoved the conversation aside with a wave.
The Officer and the Thief Page 6