Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [48]
I cooked a hearty luncheon of soup, which I served with black bread, and while we ate we told Benelaius everything we had seen that morning in the swamp. He looked at each of us intently as we spoke, and I fancied that each word, each disparate observation on our part was coalescing in his mighty brain, forming some ingenious solution that he would soon share with us.
When I came to the part about finding the white powder on the tomb floor, I handed the bit of paper to him. He unwrapped it, wet his finger, and tasted the powder the way I had in the cave. His lip curled for an instant at its bitterness, and he grunted and wrapped it up again.
"We'll analyze this after lunch," he said, putting it in one of his inner pockets.
Lindavar and I finished our story, and I leaned forward breathlessly, waiting to see what conclusions Benelaius would draw. "So," he said slowly, wiping his mouth and beard with his napkin, "it seems that Grodoveth was beheaded by a left-handed killer at Fastred's tomb. But the question remains, what was he doing at Fastred's tomb in the first place?"
Lindavar steepled his fingers and looked at the inside of them as he spoke. "He was reading about Fastred in the library."
"But before the ghost started appearing," I reminded him.
"Yes. But supposing that was merely a coincidence. Then, as Dovo began to appear as the ghost, Grodoveth got more interested, more curious. The more he reads, the more he starts to discover about Fastred, where his tomb might be, and the treasure that's supposed to be there as well.
'Then Dovo is found murdered, and it becomes more than a treasure hunt for Grodoveth. Despite his faults, he is the king's envoy, and he sees a chance to bring a killer to justice. Find the tomb, he reasons, and he may also find the person who kills as Fastred killed-and a treasure to boot.
"So, by using clues that he found in the old books, Grodoveth is actually able to discover not only the whereabouts of the tomb, but the secret of opening it as well."
"Would that be possible?" I interjected. "I mean, weren't these bandit kings usually able to keep their tombs a secret? You know, the old 'dead men tell no tales' thing?"
"Since you found no skeletons of those who had interred Fastred," Benelaius said, "I think it likely that someone put him in there and left alive. Perhaps his curse kept those who knew the secret away from the tomb."
"But it didn't keep them from talking about the tomb," said Lindavar, "at least elliptically, if someone-the killer or Grodoveth or maybe both-was able to find and open it."
"Mmm," Benelaius said. "So you think Grodoveth and possibly the killer put together the different clues left hither and yon over the years and found the tomb."
"Yes," Lindavar said. "Unfortunately when Grodoveth found it, the killer was lying in wait and killed him."
"Or," I said, "perhaps the killer hadn't found the tomb at all but followed Grodoveth there, killed him, and took the treasure."
Lindavar considered that for a moment and then nodded."True," he said. "We have no knowledge of anyone else examining those particular books in the library."
"The lack of something proves nothing," said Benelaius. "The killer might have gotten the information elsewhere. With all due respect to Phelos Marmwitz, there are greater receptacles of knowledge than the Ghars library. For example, I'd be willing to wager that my own modest collection contains enough works of local folklore and history for a methodical reader to locate Fastred's tomb." He sighed. "Be that as it may, do you two feel that we are any closer to an actual solution now than we were before?"
"Further away, if anything," Lindavar said. "Before, Grodoveth was strongly in the lead as the murderer, but becoming a victim has definitively put him out of the running."
"Oh, I don't know," I said flippantly. "Perhaps he was the killer, and out of guilt, he chopped his own head