Alceten. They said it was just runaway horses but I saw someone driving them. He was lying on the seat, almost hidden from view by the footboard. He couldn't ride properly like that, but he still whipped the horses into action and they mowed down Alceten. The carriage raced off down the street. When it was recovered there was no sign of a driver."
"And no one else saw him?'
"No. But I did."
"This was in the evening? When it was dark?"
"Quite dark, yes."
"And raining?"
Merlione looks offended. "Yes, it was raining. But I know what I saw. There was someone in the carriage."
"Were there any other witnesses?"
"Only Zinlantol. She works at the Record House. She told the King's Steward that there was no one driving the carriage. But she came out the building after Alceten, she can't have seen it properly."
"Has anyone explained why the horses bolted?"
"Daringos told us they must have been startled by some dogs. There are dogs there, sometimes. But I didn't hear any of them barking."
I take this in. I have known horses to be startled into bolting by dogs. I've known people to be killed by runaway carriages too, in narrow city streets. I ask Merlione what she was doing outside the Royal Record House.
"Alceten asked me to meet her. Her father was the Royal Record Keeper."
"Did you often meet her there?"
"Not often," says Merlione. "But sometimes we'd meet before going to the Queen's Bathing House. That day she sent me a message, saying she wanted to see me."
"What about?'
"I don't know. The message just asked me to meet her in the evening."
"And you arrived just in time to see her killed. Do you have any idea at all what might be behind it? Had she any enemies?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Have you?"
Merlione shakes her head, though for the first time in our interview, she looks troubled. "I didn't think so. But I was very close to Alceten when she was run over. I think the carriage was hoping to run us both down. That's not all that's happened. Two days ago I was walking along King's Royal Way and a slate came off a roof and shattered right beside me."
"You think that wasn't an accident?'
"I"m sure it wasn't."
I'm not immediately convinced. A slate falling from a roof isn't that uncommon. King's Royal Way, despite the fancy name, is a fairly dilapidated row of buildings that leads from the Baron's houses into the centre of Elath. The road is in poor repair, and so are the houses.
Merlione sips water from a silver goblet. "Why did my mother hire you?" she asks, abruptly.
"To find things out."
"But you're a stranger in town. Why you?"
"I'm a professional investigator. You don't have any in Elath."
Merlione looks doubtful. "It seems odd to me. Did someone recommend you to her?"
I'd rather avoid the subject of how I know Baroness Demelzos. It strikes me that I haven't had beer for a while.
"Could you send for some beer?"
"You mean wine?"
"No, beer."
"I don't think we have any."
"Servants usually have some."
Merlione is surprised by my request, but claps her hands, causing a servant to hurry in.
"Do we have any beer for our guest?"
The servant gives me a look of withering contempt. "I believe the chef may have a supply in the kitchen."
Merlione is smiling as the servant leaves. "I don't think anyone has ever asked for beer before. Is it true you have an Orcish wife?"
"No. I have a companion who is part-Orc."
"Is she very savage?"
"At times. She's also a scholar."
"Really?' Merlione, who seems altogether friendlier since I asked for beer, leans forward, interested. "What does she study?"
"Everything. Now we've moved in with Arichdamis she's been talking to him about measuring the volume of cones. Or cylinders. Or parabolas. Something like that, I'm not clear about it."
When the servant returns with my beer, I ask Merlione to tell me more of her circumstances. I'm not really convinced that her friend was murdered, or that her life is in danger, but I owe it to Baroness Demelzos to investigate properly. Partly because she's paying me, and partly because I did skip out without saying goodbye properly. Even if it was over twenty years ago, that bothers me a little.
Most of what Merlione tells me I already had some idea of, from Demelzos - her brother's Orgodas's wedding for instance. The household is in a state of high excitement about his upcoming marriage to the eldest daughter of Baron Vosanos, yet another of Samsarina's wealthy nobles. I get