"You got him, then!" Brent exclaimed when Janyn dragged the unconscious man into the house.
"That was good work," Tera acknowledged. Janyn blinked in surprise when he saw the magistrate.
"When you chased off after him," Brent said, "I sent Luka to the inn to fetch her. I figured we'd want the law on hand at once when you caught the murderer."
Janyn shook his head.
"This isn't the murderer."
"What?" Brent exploded. "But he tried to kill me!"
"That's how I know."
"Are you accusing me of the killings? I'm your client, damn it!" Brent roared. "I'm paying you to find the murderer, not shove my neck in a noose! That law would do that job for free!"
"Just be quiet and wait," Tera snapped. Brent had taken several steps towards Janyn, but stopped at the magistrate's upraised hand. "Janyn, explain what you mean."
The hunter nodded.
"I'm not accusing you of anything, Brent. I'm just saying that the method of attack used tells me that this man didn't commit the crimes."
"This is your judgment as a hunter, as an expert fighter?" Tera verified.
"Yes."
Janyn hoisted the man off the ground and dumped him into a straight-backed chair.
"Explain."
It might have been polite of her to ask, but Janyn supposed she didn't have to. At this point Tera was a law officer requesting a witness's testimony, regardless of the fact that they were working together on the case. From what he'd seen of her character, that wouldn't matter, not when she was fulfilling her duty.
"He's a lousy knife-fighter, first off. Not just 'worse than me,' but actually bad, probably never trained and learned what he's managed to learn by surviving what brawls he's been in. That's suggestive but doesn't clinch it, because you can be a bad fighter but good at stealthy murder, and it doesn't take an Alys Brangwin to cut an incapacitated victim."
The would-be assassin groaned dully; he was slowly coming around.
"More important was his attempt to kill Brent," Janyn continued. "He crept up in the dark and intended to shoot Brent with an arrow. In the lamplit area, Brent was a perfect target, while being outside it, this man was in cover. It was a good plan, but he botched it."
"How?"
"The arrowhead was highly polished and reflected the light. Using a dusted weapon would be basic, anything to cut down on the reflective quality of the blade."
"Maybe he didn't think of it," Brent offered, more as a matter of form than of real belief. It was Tera who contradicted him.
"Undoubtedly," she agreed. "Janyn's point is that someone who is such an expert at stealth as to carry out the Tyrell and Prentiss murders without leaving a trace would have thought of it." She glanced at the hunter. "Correct?"
"Exactly. Anyone who is that good, it becomes second nature. This man is no assassin. Besides, the one who killed Tyrell and Prentiss wouldn't kill with any weapon as clean as a bow-gun."
"It isn't personal enough," Tera agreed. The phrase surprised Janyn, but then he started to see what she meant. The kind of emotion, be it hate, rage, fear, or sadism, that drove a person to vicious torture wouldn't be satisfied with striking a victim down at range.
"H-hey!" the captive man spoke for the first time. "You don't think I killed Tyrell and Prentiss, do you?" His voice was thick and a little slurred, but there was fear in it.
"No, we don't," Tera said.
"'Cause I didn't! I'm no killer!"
"Only by luck," Janyn told him. "You were caught in the act of attempted murder. There's a price to be paid for that, I'm sure."
"Of course," said Tera.
"You are going to tell us everything about it. Why did you want to kill Brent?"
"We know that already," Tera corrected. "Ned Crain sent him."
Janyn looked at the prisoner, taking a good look under good light for the first time, and realized what she'd seen right off.
"Yes, of course. You're one of the men from the Red Dog, one of Crain's lackeys. The last time we met I threw you into a wall."
"Smug bastard."
"You will speak respectfully!" Tera snapped. "You are a prisoner in custody; there is no question of your guilt. Your only chance for leniency is to tell us everything you know. Why did Crain want you to kill Mr. Brent?"
"I'm telling you nothing."
"Of course you will."
"I'll make him talk," Brent growled. "That coward Crain didn't even have the guts to come in person. Just give me a couple of minutes."
"That won't be necessary," Tera said. "He will tell me whatever he knows."
For some reason Janyn was reminded of when he'd first met Tera and the way she'd been examining Prentiss's corpse without the slightest sign that she was conscious of anything besides its physical characteristics.
It seemed, from the sudden look in the captured thug's eyes, that his thoughts were running along similar lines despite the fact that he hadn't been there. Or maybe it had finally sunk in that, in a town where there was no prison to incarcerate criminals, the punishment facing him might be very little better than if his arrow had hit its target. For whatever reason, he began to talk.
"All right, yeah, Crain sent me. He said Brent, there, needed to be taught a lesson for siccing the hunter on him."
That was interesting, thought Janyn. His attempts to provoke Crain had evidently worked, but the explosion of violence hadn't been directed at him. Instead, Crain had ignored the lackey and gone after the employer. Was it because of his antagonism with Brent? Or was Crain merely the kind who didn't see an employee as being capable of independent action? Not that it mattered, but Janyn was curious as to how he'd gone wrong.
"Killing a man is quite a lesson."
"Hell, he'd never do it again," said the thug with a toothy grin.
"That scum!" Brent exploded. "That bloody, back-stabbing trash! I'll--"
Janyn dropped a hand on his employer's shoulder.
"You'll go back to bed and keep your doors locked and windows shuttered," he said, squeezing a bit as a warning for Brent to hold his tongue. "We'll take this thug to the guardhouse, and I'll ask for a guard to be posted here in case Crain has a backup plan."
"You won't have to ask," said Tera. "I'll order it. At least we can stop that crime. After that, I intend to have a long talk with Mr. Crain."
"Mind if I help?"
"I assumed you would."
-X X X-
The prisoner's name turned out to be Jonn Parl; the night-watch at the guardhouse recognized him at once. He was duly signed in and locked up in the cell next to Saya and Mira. Janyn looked in on the two women; both were asleep, but one's was disturbed by whimpers and cries as she was caught in the throes of a nightmare.
It made no sense to him, why anyone wouldn't immediately seize the first chance to get free of that kind of fear, but what could he do? Not everyone lived up to the same standards. Indeed, not everyone could even agree on what the standards were.
Once they were on their way to the Red Dog, Tera spoke for the first time about the arrest, but not in the way he expected.
"I appreciate your loyalty to the truth," she told him.
"Oh?"
"You were the only witness to the attack on Brent and you fought Parl one-on-one, alone. You held the evidence that he was not the one we seek, but you spoke up. I've known others who would not."
"I saw Prentiss's body," Janyn said. "Do you think I could protect someone who did that?"
"Some would. This man we just arrested was going to commit a murder because Ned Crain paid him. Dolan Brent is no doubt paying you considerably more. You stopped him from talking, after all, to protect him."
It was true; Janyn had wanted Brent to stop before he started issuing threats against Crain in a fit of anger, justifiable as the anger might be.
"People don't always think when they're angry, and he's in a tight corner. Fear of murder charges, and now fear of being murdered by someone completely different. I wouldn't be calm and rational, either."
"I understand that. We have a responsibility to prevent trouble from occurring."
"Is that another part of Zio's creed?"
"Of course, though it is even more basic than that. If we can prevent someone from going wrong now, there will be no need to deal with the consequences later. But, we have an equally strong duty not to let personal loyalties interfere with our greater dedication to what is right. You did not keep quiet, even though the truth exonerated Crain from ordering Tyrell and Prentiss's deaths."
Janyn blinked, surprised.
"Exonerated Crain? I know that it cleared Parl, but how do you see Crain as necessarily innocent?"
Tera stopped and looked at him, wide-eyed.
"If Crain sent the killer of Tyrell and Prentiss, or was the murderer himself, wouldn't he do the same for Brent? Why send a man like Jonn Parl when there is someone far more skilled to do the job?"
"There could be reasons. Perhaps he didn't want to be linked to those murders, or he wants us to think Brent was responsible."
She shook her head with sharp, decisive movements.
"No; I considered that, but it makes no sense. If you have a scalpel, you don't try to cut with a club. Besides which, murder is murder. It makes no difference to Crain if he hangs for killing Tyrell and Prentiss or for killing Brent. There is no profit in having one murder become his alibi for another."
She was right. As much as Janyn wanted to deny it, she was right.
It made no sense at all for Crain to use Parl as his enforcer against Brent if he had a more skilled expert on hand, not unless he was certain not to be caught.
Perhaps that was it? Perhaps Crain just had the supreme arrogance to assume that the killing would succeed and there would be no way to trace it to him? The idea that someone successful in building up a criminal influence would be that foolish did not sound likely, but then again, this was Morova, not a large town like Aiedo or Kadary. A small fish could seem big if all the other fish were even smaller.
He couldn't really believe it, though. In his heart, Janyn was sure that Tera was correct; Crain was not the killer who entered without leaving a trace and killed with a red-hot blade.
"If you believe that," he said, "then why are you so set on arresting Crain now?"
"As I said, murder is murder. Do you think I would condone crimes just because they aren't the ones I am investigating? I want this side event finished with as quickly as possible so I can return to my real quarry, yes, but not by ignoring it. And there may be something to be gained, besides."
"You mean that Crain may not be so reluctant to tell what he knows, now?"
She nodded agreement.
"Yes. Before he had reason to be silent, to keep from revealing his own crimes. Now, confessing all he knows may help spare him the worst of his punishment."
Tera turned back towards the tavern and started off again.
"He'll probably fight back," Janyn said, "and he'll have help if he does."
"Probably," she agreed. "Why do you mention it?"
"I want to know if I can count on you in a fight."
"I'd be worthless as a magistrate if I couldn't defend myself against criminals."
"You don't carry any weapons."
"I am guarded and kept safe by Lord Zio's hand."
"I've never seen a prayer stop a sword," Janyn said.
"The arts of Zio's Chosen are considerably more than prayers!" she snapped.
"Techniques?"
"Those as well, but I speak of a similar but purer art, drawn not from the regimented laws of science but by calling upon one's faith in the Holy One."
Janyn thought he understood. Many hunters trained in using their will to augment their weaponskill with mystic power. Those were martial arts, not acts of faith, but they likely were the same kind of effect. So long as it worked, he really didn't care about the specifics. The important thing was that the frail Tera wouldn't have to defend herself in hand-to-hand combat, and that Janyn could worry primarily about his own safety and not act as a shield for her. It wouldn't be as good as fighting alongside a true partner, where the two could help and support one another, but it was better by far then having to do all of the fighting and simultaneously protect a noncombatant. No hunter enjoyed bodyguard jobs.
"All right, then. Let's go."