Murder In The Marais by Wray Phillip

Author:Wray, Phillip
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Published: 2023-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

when Charles arrived at the Louvre the following morning, a fire was already crackling in the fireplace, and Henri was reading notes. Charles had forgone his sling, endeavoring instead to be careful moving his arm. He went to sit in his usual place facing the desk, but Henri ushered him to the desk’s chair the guard usually commanded.

“I’m not an invalid,” Charles protested, but, nevertheless, he settled into the leather seat. He looked at the broad sheet of paper spread across the desk, held flat by books stacked at each corner. It was a larger copy of the marquise’s drawing of the seating arrangements on the night in question. Arrows ran to and from the various names with comments alongside each.

“What is this?” asked Charles, scanning the sheet.

Henri handed Charles a cup of hot chocolate. “I created this yesterday when I wasn’t busy looking through the records. I thought it would help to see the information in one place.” He pointed to the list of names and ran his fingers along the arrows. “These go from the person who had a reason to harm another guest to the person with whom they had the grievance.”

Charles considered the arrows. One pointed from Baron de la Fayand to the marquis. Beside it, Henri had written “grandfather’s murder.” Another arrow went from the vicomte to Thibault and a third went the opposite way. Beside each was written “debt.” An arrow stretched from the vicomte to the marquis; beneath it were the words “broken marriage contract.”

Charles said, “I know Thibault was upset with the vicomte for obtaining the loan under false pretenses, but why an arrow from the vicomte to Thibault?”

“What better way is there to cancel a debt than having your creditor die?”

“Good point.” Charles continued surveying the paper to the hiss and pop of the fire. “No arrows yet between Thibault and the marquis or the baron and Thibault.”

“None so far,” Henri said. “Of course, we did not know about the connection between the baron’s and the marquis’s families until yesterday. Who knows what else might be out there?”

“True,” said Charles.

The two men worked on the list of suspects, plotting how to uncover what else might have been hidden from them. They discussed the potential motives of the various suspects but did not formulate any other motives to add to their sheet.

As lunchtime neared, Charles said, “If it’s all right with you, I would like to have lunch with a friend today.”

“I’m a friend,” said Henri, straight-faced.

“You’re not a lady friend,” Charles said with a grin. “And I haven’t seen her since before our trip to Meaux.”

Henri said, “It’s fine with me.”

“I should tell you …” Charles hesitated. “She works in an apothecary, and I asked her to find out some information about poisons.”

Henri’s eyes widened. “You didn’t—”

“I didn’t tell her we’re working on this investigation,” Charles assured the guard. “I just wanted to get some general information.”

“And what did you find out?”

“I’ll let you know after I lunch with her,” Charles said.

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