Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [21]
"Why, uh…" Tobald said, belching and frowning at the taste, "why is he wearing that armor?"
"My servant Jasper can answer that," said Benelaius.
I nodded. "It was part of his trick, his impersonation."
"Jasper saw the ghost last night," Benelaius said. "Fastred's ghost, or so he thought. Something dressed in old armor and helmet, with an axe and a glowing green face. Care to draw any quick conclusions?"
"You mean," Flim said slowly, as if trying to work out what letter comes after A, "this man was playing at being the ghost?"
"Apparently," said Benelaius. "And his bogus appearance answers the description given by most of those who have seen the so-called haunt. I think you'll find that unguent on his face… the green that's not mold… is derived from glimmergrass."
"Now wait a moment, Benelaius," Tobald said briskly. He seemed to have once more become his old garrulous self. "Are you saying that when I saw the ghost, it was Dovo I saw?"
"I believe so."
Tobald shook his head firmly. "My friend, I have no doubt that I can tell the difference between a real apparition and an imposter such as this!"
Benelaius began to shrug, but since his body was not made for shrugging, he abandoned the effort. "Perhaps you did, Tobald. I know for a fact that ghosts exist, as do spirits capable of doing… what was done to Dovo here."
Tobald's face was as one who suddenly finds enlightenment. "That must be it, then! This"-he gestured to the corpse, then looked quickly away, swallowing hard-"this is supernatural vengeance. Fastred's ghost has taken his revenge on the human who mocked him!"
"Maybe… or maybe not," said Benelaius in a tone that told me he was on the maybe not side. "Tell me, Jasper, did you find any footprints other than your own, Lindavar's, and Dovo's?"
"Well, sir, as best I was able to make out, there were two people here, both with big feet. And Dovo had big feet."
"Are you sure," said the doctor, "that they weren't just one set of big feet? I tend to favor Tobald's theory."
"As might I," said Benelaius, "save for three things. The first is the extra set of footprints-I have more faith in Jasper's evidence-gathering skills than you, you see. Here is the second." He pointed a pudgy finger at the axe. "This is certainly the murder weapon, caked with Dovo's blood. Why would not the ghost of Fastred use his own axe? And if he had lost it somewhere over in the spirit world, why would he not take this one along?" He smiled. "It certainly seems sharp enough.
"As for the third thing, beside a few severed fingers, I note the presence of several small shards-"
"Of clear glass!" I volunteered, wanting them to know that I had seen the clues, too.
"Very good, Jasper," said Benelaius with a trace of sarcasm that only I would have noticed. "And your conclusion?"
"Um… something broke?" "Yes. But what?"
"Something… made of glass,…" I suspect Captain Flim would have done as well as I.
"The glass is curved, is it not?" said my master. "And what is partially made of curved glass that a human might require out in a pitch-black swamp?"
"A lantern!" This from Doctor Braum, just before I was about to say it.
"Correct," said Benelaius. "This glass, if I'm not mistaken, is part of a broken panel from the metal housing of a bullseye lantern."
"So Dovo had a lantern out here," said Tobald. "He'd need one in the dark. So how does that prove that Fastred's ghost was not involved?"
Benelaius looked about the ground eloquently. I saw what he meant. "It proves it right enough," said I. "The lantern's gone. But what need would a ghost have for a lantern? And a broken one at that? Someone human did this deed."
"And you, Jasper," said Benelaius, "have seen him, from mere feet away."
11
Well, that stopped everybody dead in their tracks. They all turned and looked at me in amazed expectation, except for Captain Flim and his men, who were still in their uninvolved professionals mode.
At first my mind was a blank, and then it hit me. "The rider," I said. "The rider I passed last night."
"You see,"