Page 5 of You Only Love Twice
A body lay on the other side of the barred door. Jamison unlocked it, even as Gemma peered around him.
The guard on the floor wore the same uniform Jamison did. He had a pistol in his hand, and most of the left side of his face was missing. Whoever did this wanted it to look like a suicide.
Which meant they'd somehow managed to subdue the guard without alerting any others, kill him, then pose the body. Unusual.
"This door was locked?" Malloryn asked.
"Yes, your Grace."
"Nobody saw anything out of the ordinary?"
"Not a damned thing. It happened in the middle of the guard shift."
"And nobody heard anything?"
Jamison shifted uneasily as they stepped through the door to where they could get a better look at the body. "Some of us thought we heard something, but it occurred during parade training in the yard. Lots of yelling and horns. Lots of noise. Whoever did this timed it spectacularly well."
Hmm.
"Do you have regularly scheduled parades?" Malloryn asked.
"No. This was organized yesterday. The commander was displeased with the recent turnout of the guards, and thought we needed drilling."
Who?Gemma mouthed, prompting Malloryn to ask the questions she couldn't while she was supposed to play his subordinate.
"Who is he?" Malloryn asked, resting his hand on hilt of the cane-sword sheathed at his hip.
"Robert Kirkland. He's been an officer of the guards for nearly ten years. Good man." Jamison's voice roughened. "Or at least, he was."
Malloryn asked a few more questions, before looking impatient. "Show us the cell."
They moved along the hallway.
The iron-bound doors set into the stark stone walls were closed and locked down. Occasionally she heard people shifting behind them, but Thorne Tower was meant to break men. Not offer them a single luxury. Even light and sound was denied to them in the solitary wing.
Another body lay slumped in the hall.
"John Dunne," Jamison explained. "He's the warden. The curious thing is, he had keys upon him, but they were still in his pocket."
"Or maybe someone put them back?" Malloryn mused.
Gemma examined Dunne. Throat cut from behind, ear to ear, though that wouldn't kill him. The blood trickling from inside his ear showed where a thin poniard had been stabbed. That was the killing blow. Blue bloods could heal from almost anything short of decapitation or removal of the heart.
In this long, narrow tunnel, there was no way he couldn't have seen or heard his assailant coming. Which meant he knew the perpetrator.
Little pieces of the puzzle began to fit themselves together.
The next cell door lay ajar. Gemma's steps slowed.
"Who opened the door?" Malloryn asked.
"It was open when the guards made their rounds," Jamison explained. "That was the first sign something was wrong. We were coming from the other direction, so we didn't see Dunne or Kirkland until it was too late."
Gemma examined the door. The lock hadn't been tampered with. The keys hadn't been taken. Perhaps the killer had their own set of keys? A breathless sensation swept through her.
An inside job.
It had always been the first clue.
