Ten Little Wizards: A Lord Darcy Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

against the heel of the other, distributing even more drying mud onto the plum carpet in the process. Lord Darcy found the series of motions annoying, and he almost snapped at the man before realizing how unfair that would be. Instead he looked up from the letter the armsman had brought and twisted his lips into a smile, hoping the smile didn’t look as artificial as it felt.
    “I’ll be about ten minutes or so composing a reply to this letter,” Lord Darcy said. “Why don’t you go inside, through that door, and have my man Ciardi fix you a drink, er, of caffe, since you are still on duty.”
    “Very good, my lord. Thank you,” the armsman said with evident relief, and he retreated hastily through the indicated door.
    One of our country cousins , Lord Darcy thought. Then he did smile, recognizing the expression as one that his good friend and companion Mary, Duchess of Cumberland, used to describe the inept or the unsophisticated.
    The message the armsman had brought was from another old friend of Lord Darcy’s, from the days when he was merely the chief investigator of the Duchy of Normandy, instead of Investigator in Chief of the Court of Chivalry for the whole Angevin Empire. It was short and to the point, but the unwritten subtext went on at some length.
    Dear Lord Darcy,
    I hope you won’t think it presumptuous of me to write you after all this time. I heard you were at the Castle Cristobel in charge of security for the coming coronation. His Majesty could not have picked a better man.
    There has been a double murder here in the small town of Tournadotte, at an inn named the Gryphon d’Or . The killings had no motive that anyone here can determine. The identity of one of the victims is also still a mystery. I thought this might interest you, since you are, so to speak, in the neighborhood. The village of Tournadotte is but two stops farther down the Paris-Le Havre line, at the Calais junction.
    It would be good to see you again. I remember fondly how you helped me in the matter of the disappearance of the late Marquis of Cherbourg.
    Your Friend,
    Henri Vert
    Prefect of Police
    Duchy of Normandy
    Lord Darcy remembered the case of the missing marquis well. It had been a long time ago, when life had been less complex. Or, perhaps, it had only seemed less complex.
    What Darcy’s old friend Henri Vert, who was now the highest uniformed police official for the whole duchy, wanted from Darcy was clear: He needed help—or thought he did—in solving these two murders. The fact that he sent an armsman to deliver the letter personally showed that. He could not ask for aid from the Court of Chivalry directly unless one of those killed was noble, or a noble was suspected of complicity in the killings, or the murders were somehow of importance to the Empire. And, clearly, he could not demonstrate that.
    But does not any man’s death diminish us? came the quote, unbidden, into Lord Darcy’s thoughts. And, after all, he was in the neighborhood—less than three hours by train to the Gryphon d’Or , according to the note. Unsolved murders were not good for the soul of the people. When he could get time off from his present duties, Lord Darcy decided, he would go down and see if he could give Chief Henri a hand, if the spring flooding did not close down the railway line, as it was threatening to. He was sure that Master Sean O Lochlainn, the Angevin Empire’s Chief Forensic Sorcerer and Darcy’s good right hand, would also volunteer to accompany him.
    Lord Darcy spent the whole ten minutes composing his answer. He would have to speak to Coronel Lord Waybusch, commander of the Castle Guard, to see if he could get free for a couple of days. He couldn’t just leave, even though he was not in charge of security, as Chief Henri thought, but merely on hand to observe and advise on security for the coronation. But there was no point in antagonizing the Coronel, a friendly, hard-working trooper who welcomed his advice. And in