Death's Executioner by Charlotte E. English

Author:Charlotte E. English [English, Charlotte E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical fantasy, historical mystery, victorian detective, murder mystery, supernatural mystery
Publisher: Charlotte E. English
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Malefic Curse

Chapter One

A knock came at the door of Bakar House.

Konrad, ensconced in the best parlour with Nanda, did not move so much as a muscle. He had a butler for a reason. Hopefully the caller would prove inconsequential, and easily fobbed off; Gorev was good at that kind of thing. At three in the afternoon on so foul a day, sleet driving down from the skies in great torrents, and the streets awash with the half-melted snows of early spring, he rather wondered that anybody had troubled to travel to his door at all.

‘It seems our reverie is at an end,’ said Nanda. Resonant footsteps were indeed approaching the parlour; Konrad heard them as clearly as she, though he toyed briefly with denial.

‘Come in,’ he sighed, when his butler’s discreet tap sounded at the half-closed door.

Gorev entered, and bowed with an apologetic air. ‘It’s the inspector, sir. He’s—’

Konrad sat up. ‘What? Well, let him come in! He need not stand on ceremony.’

Gorev cleared his throat. ‘I meant to say, sir, that the inspector has sent someone. A policeman. Shall I say that you are at home?’

‘Is it Karyavin?’

‘That was the name given, yes.’

‘Send him in, quickly.’ If the inspector had sent a human being rather than a note, then the matter was of some urgency. If he had not come himself, doubly so.

Gorev withdrew, and a moment later Karyavin came in. A young man, he was high in the inspector’s good graces, a consequence of his quick wits, level head and obliging nature. Konrad rather liked the man himself. He was everything Konrad might have liked to have been in his own youth. ‘Sir,’ said Karyavin, with a bow for Konrad and a smile for Nanda. ‘There’s been an, ah, incident…’ Karyavin’s eyes wandered about the parlour for a moment, dwelling on the majestic carved fireplace with its enormous mirror, and travelling to the silk-upholstered couch and armchairs. He had not, perhaps, expected to find Konrad surrounded by such extravagant splendour.

‘Nuritov sent you?’ Konrad prompted.

‘Yes, sir. He’s down by the river. He asked that you come as soon as possible. And,’ the young man added, his gaze turning on Nanda, ‘Miss Falenia as well, if you’re at leisure, ma’am.’

Nanda, slouching in her chair in a half-doze, blinked and awoke. ‘Me? He asked specifically for me?’

‘Yes, ma’am. The incident is of an unusual nature, and he thought perhaps your unique abilities might be of use.’

Nanda exchanged a look of mild disquiet with Konrad. ‘Just what is the nature of this incident?’

‘There’s been a death.’

That got Konrad’s attention. A death? Murder? No. Were it murder, surely he’d have heard by now. The serpents were vigilant about that kind of thing. But if it were a natural death, or some accident, why summon Konrad?

Serpents? Konrad called. Have there been any murders in the city today? The kind that I ought to know about?

No, Master, they chorused.

Yesterday? Last night?

No, Master.

Konrad, at a loss, asked no further questions. He set aside the book he’d been pretending to read, and rose.

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