Part 3 (1/2)

”_Evil?_” My lady the Countess looked shocked.

”Sorry, my lady, but--” Master Sean began contritely.

But Father Bright interrupted by speaking to the Countess. ”Don't distress yourself, my daughter; these men are only doing their duty.”

”Of course. I understand. It's just that it's so--” She shuddered delicately.

Lord Darcy cast Master Sean a warning look, then asked politely, ”Has my lady seen the deceased?”

”No,” she said. ”I will, however, if you wish.”

”We'll see,” said Lord Darcy. ”Perhaps it won't be necessary. May we go up to the suite now?”

”Certainly,” the Countess said. ”Sir Pierre, if you will?”

”Yes, my lady.”

As Sir Pierre unlocked the emblazoned door, Lord Darcy said: ”Who else sleeps on this floor?”

”No one else, your lords.h.i.+p,” Sir Pierre said. ”The entire floor is ...

was ... reserved for my lord the Count.”

”Is there any way up besides that elevator?”

Sir Pierre turned and pointed toward the other end of the short hallway. ”That leads to the staircase,” he said, pointing to a ma.s.sive oaken door, ”but it's kept locked at all times. And, as you can see, there is a heavy bar across it. Except for moving furniture in and out or something like that, it's never used.”

”No other way up or down, then?”

Sir Pierre hesitated. ”Well, yes, your lords.h.i.+p, there is. I'll show you.”

”A secret stairway?”

”Yes, your lords.h.i.+p.”

”Very well. We'll look at it after we've seen the body.”

Lord Darcy, having spent an hour on the train down from Rouen, was anxious to see the cause of the trouble at last.

He lay in the bedroom, just as Sir Pierre and Father Bright had left him.

”If you please, Dr. Pateley,” said his lords.h.i.+p.

He knelt on one side of the corpse and watched carefully while Pateley knelt on the other side and looked at the face of the dead man. Then he touched one of the hands and tried to move an arm. ”Rigor has set in--even to the fingers. Single bullet hole. Rather small caliber--I should say a .28 or .34--hard to tell until I've probed out the bullet. Looks like it went right through the heart, though. Hard to tell about powder burns; the blood has soaked the clothing and dried.

Still, these specks ... hm-m-m. Yes. Hm-m-m.”

Lord Darcy's eyes took in everything, but there was little enough to see on the body itself. Then his eye was caught by something that gave off a golden gleam. He stood up and walked over to the great canopied four-poster bed, then he was on his knees again, peering under it. A coin? No.

He picked it up carefully and looked at it. A b.u.t.ton. Gold, intricately engraved in an Arabesque pattern, and set in the center with a single diamond. How long had it lain there? Where had it come from? Not from the Count's clothing, for his b.u.t.tons were smaller, engraved with his arms, and had no gems. Had a man or a woman dropped it? There was no way of knowing at this stage of the game.

Darcy turned to Sir Pierre. ”When was this room last cleaned?”