Lora of Two Worlds

But upon the skin of the corpse there had appeared a string of small cat’s paw-prints. I blew more oil-ash, and upon the right arm of the dead I found another pair of cat’s paw-prints. This discovery startled all who were present. Vivienne Locke said, in wonder, ’I mind me that the dead kept no cat in their house. Whence came these paw-prints?’ ’This, I fear, is the very key of the case!’ In the dark, I had laid hold of a thread of clue. ’It cannot be so. What can a string of cat’s paw-prints signify? It could not be a cat that did the deed. Mayhap it was a neighbour’s cat that strayed in,’ Vivienne Locke guessed. I pointed at the paw-prints. ’Look you close. These prints are passing clean.’ ’Are not cats clean by nature? I have a cat at home, and when it has naught to do, it loves to lick its paws,’ Vivienne Locke said. Elara saw the light. ’I understand! At that hour the dead was covered in blood. But these prints have taken up no blood.’ I smiled a little. ’At last, one who understands!’ Vivienne Locke, still unconvinced, said, ’Mayhap they were left before?’ I explained, ’This string of prints was set upon the body, which shows that the dead had already fallen. Therefore they were, without doubt, left after death. My instinct tells me these prints have a great part in this case!’ Vivienne Locke still wore a face of doubt. I called to the Watchmen. ’Why stand you idle? Come, take the imprint!’ The Watchmen gave answer, and ran to fetch the soul-imprinting device. The autopsy was done. I drew from my bosom some parchment, divided it into three heaps, found a copper basin, and burned it. For each of the three dead I recited a Stygian Prayer. Then I made my vow: ’Hear me. I, Soren, in the name of my forebear the Ancient Master of the Death-School, do swear: I shall avenge you! Pass over the River Styx in peace!’ The words were scarce spoken when the flame in the basin was stirred by a strange wind, and flickered this way and that, as if, in the dark, some thing had made answer to me. Vivienne Locke looked on, struck dumb. Presently, the Watchmen brought the soul-imprinting device, and took imprints of the paw-prints upon the corpse for proof. I bade them call all men together. When all were gathered, I said to Elara, ’Watch-Captain Elara Thorne, I shall presume to take command!’ Elara was taken aback a moment, then gathered her wits, and laughed. ’Command as you will. This time I am not the chief. We three are here to aid you.’ I bade them have the paw-print imprints printed out, one for each man, and go back to the scene of the murder to ask here and there, to see if any neighbour kept a cat, or if any stray cat had been seen, and to match the prints. In truth, I set no great hope on this clue. But since there were so many hands to command, it were waste not to use them. The work of seeking clues is, after all, like combing the hair. One must sift, little by little, before the clue is found. When the tasks were given out, I asked a Watchman, ’Where is Sir Bancroft Ash?’ ’Sir Bancroft has gone home.’ ’He has no small courage! Bid him come back at once. Else let him not abide in this commission!’ I cried in wrath. After what had passed, these Watchmen bore some fear of me. That Watchman said he would send a message to Sir Bancroft at once. I bade them disperse for the present. Elara laughed. ’Well done, Soren, you bear authority like a lord.’ ’Have you not seen a swine run, even if you have not tasted its flesh?’ I answered. ’Eh? What do you mean? Am I a swine?’ Elara spoke, and raised a pink fist in threat. ’Nay, nay! I spoke amiss!’ I waved my hands again and again. I drew the white sheet over the corpse, and said to Vivienne Locke, ’I pray you, lead us to the evidence room.’ ’Good. Follow me,’ Vivienne Locke nodded. When we came out of the dead-house, it was as if one had walked from the North Pole to the tropics. Elara cast off her cloak as she went, and said, ’Heavens! I was well-nigh frozen within. The pathologist’s trade is no easy one.’ ’Even so. To work in such a place year in and year out, many a pathologist falls victim to joint-aches and the rheum,’ Vivienne Locke explained. I thought to myself that this was, in truth, the better case. In the old days, when there was no craft of cold, a corpse could be kept only in a cold room or a cellar, and yet it would not stop the rotting. In hot weather it was worse. The thanatologist must dress in a close-woven robe that covered him from head to foot, and was soaked in sweat. In a chamber reeking of the dead and buzzing with flies, he must do his work. Many a thanatologist, for breathing in too much of the death-air, fell ill with lung-ache and skin-disease. That work was, in a word, hell! Our company came to the evidence room. Vivienne Locke spoke a word to the elder who kept the room, and we went in. Elara asked, in some doubt, ’Is your governance here somewhat slack? So great a place, and one walks in at will? You do not even look at our warrants?’ Vivienne Locke explained, ’After all, we are all of the Watch. It could not be that one would steal the evidence.’ Elara said, ’That is not so sure. Fear not the ten thousand, but the one. The loss of evidence is a great trouble. I counsel you to speak of it to the Lord Marshal.’ Vivienne Locke, in no wise moved, answered coldly, ’I know!’ The evidence room was a wide chamber, with rows of iron shelving. It was well aired and dry. Vivienne Locke found, by their numbers, the several pieces of evidence for this case. They were all sealed in clear linen evidence-bags, with labels upon them. We took them up, one by one, and looked. They were all the belongings of the dead: message-rune, purse, garments, and certain broken bowls and chopsticks. I marked that several numbers were wanting. When I asked, Vivienne Locke answered, ’Those are the murder weapons. They are now in the trace-examination hall for testing. If you would see them, I will take you there by and by.’ ’Not for the present.’ I opened the message-rune and looked. The dead had been a chapman. Three days after his death, the calls and messages he had received were enough to frighten a man to death. I said to Elara, ’Let us take this message-rune. By and by, we will have someone sift it for any clue of mark.’ Elara took it, and put it in her pocket. The rest held no discovery. I asked Vivienne Locke, ’Are the evidences of the case three months past kept here?’ ’They are!’ Vivienne Locke nodded. We came to that shelf, and looked over the evidence, one by one. The Watch keeps evidence for thirty days. But in that case, since the whole household was dead, and no man came to claim the goods when the time was out, these things had stood here ever since. The Watch of Wuqu City feared no trouble. They had brought well-nigh all the goods of the dead man’s house. Among them was a lovely lucky-cat statue. Was this, too, called evidence? I counted the numbers. None was wanting in the midst. I said to Vivienne Locke, ’Let us go and look at the scene.’ ’Which case do you mean?’ Vivienne Locke asked. ’The present one,’ I said. ’The Watch has sealed the scene. If you would look...’ Vivienne Locke grew red in the face. No doubt she thought of the wager she had laid with me, that she should be our driver at no coin. ’I will take you thither!’ Elara looked at her watch. ’It is now the tenth hour of the morning. When we are done, at noon I will stand you all to roast duck at the House of Plenteous Cheer.’ ’You are, in sooth, as good as your word!’ I said. ’Of course! I am one whose word is as nine tripods.’ Elara laughed, and then marked that Dane had stood by without a word. ’Ha, Dane, you lover of food! You hear of roast duck and have nothing to say? It is most unlike you.’ When Dane spoke, I found his voice grown thick. ’Soren, I think I have taken a head-cold.’ ’No doubt you caught it in the dead-house. Will you not go and rest a while?’ I said. ’Aye. I will find an inn and sleep a while. I will not run with you today...’ Dane nodded. Elara asked Vivienne Locke, ’We have come from far. Have you no place of rest made ready for us?’ Vivienne Locke said, ’Let me ask the Captain.’ We left the evidence room. Because we had taken one piece of evidence, we filled out a form with the elder who kept the room. Moreover, since we were to go to the scene, Vivienne Locke took with her a bunch of keys from the evidence room. Vivienne Locke sent a message. Presently, Captain Lionel came, and spoke in some shame. ’Ah, I have been a poor host. The Lord Marshal gave me word before, to open an inn for you hard by. I will lead you thither now.’ Elara waved her hand. ’No need. We will yet go to the scene. Do you but lead this apprentice Dane thither...’ I bade Elara go first to fetch the carriage. I walked with Dane and Captain Lionel to the inn. By the way, I bought him some alchemical cold-medicine. Captain Lionel found a somewhat fine inn, and asked how many rooms we would have. Dane had a head-cold, and might have a fever. He would need someone to look to him. Elara and Broderick could not, in any case, share a room. So I said three. When the rooms were taken, I went up with Dane, set water to boil for him, and bade him rest. Dane said, in low spirits, ’Ah, this time I have dragged at your heels, and you must look after me. I am sorry for it.’ ’Why speak thus? By the way, is your nose stopped?’ I asked. Dane nodded. I gave him a Su-He Incense Pill, and bade him lay it in his mouth. The moment Dane put it in, up he sat, as one raised from the dead. ’By the Three Veils, Soren! What manner of drug is this? So cool, so wondrous! My nose is clear in a flash!’ I explained it to him. Dane praised it without cease. ’This pill is most wondrous! When we have finished our schooling, let us set up a trade, take out a patent, and sell this pill alone. We should earn gold by the bushel.’ I thought upon it, and the idea seemed not ill!