know yourself,' I said in a low voice, 'that I can't answer that question.'
The young Frenchman nodded very seriously Then he care fully stubbed his cigarette out on the floor.
'Let's go, Mr Russian. I'll show you the place. Only don't smoke any more, there's nothing but rags and cardboard here, perfect tinder for a blaze ?whoosh!'
He pushed the door and, of course, it opened easily. Jean gave it a thoughtful look and shrugged. We walked through a few more rooms.
'There it is, the crappy Castle of the Vampires, 'Jean said in a gloomy voice. He fumbled at the wall and clicked a switch. The light became a lot brighter.
Yes, darkness was appropriate here. Without it, the tourist attrac tion simply looked ludicrous. The River of Blood that people were supposed to sail across to the vampires was a long metal trough about three metres wide. The trough was full of water.
It wasn't deep.
Maybe up to my knee.
The metal barge wasn't actually floating on the water, of course. I rocked the side of the boat with my foot and realised that it was standing on rollers of some kind. And under the water I could see the cable that towed the boat from one 'mooring' to the next. The total length of the trough was no more than fifteen metres. Halfway along it the metal tub crept into a room that was separated off by heavy curtains (they were pulled back now). I saw an impressive-looking fan on the ceiling of the room. On one wall there was a crudely painted picture of a castle standing on a cliff.
I walked to the bow of the barge and glanced into the dark room. Yes, it was an idiotic sort of place to lose your life. Right... in five days any clues could have disappeared, but I would give it a try.
A glance through the Twilight was no help. I spotted weak traces of Others ?Light Ones and Dark Ones, but that was the special ists from the Watches who had investigated the crime scene. There were no signs of a 'vampire trail'. But I could sense emanations of death ?and they were very clear, as if only an hour or two had elapsed, not five days. Oh, the boy had died a very bad death...
'Who does the sound effects?' I asked. 'There must be some kind of gasping and groaning, terrifying howls? Your tourists don't ride in total silence, do they?'
'It's a recording,' Jean said sadly. 'The speakers are over there, and over there...'
'And doesn't anyone in here keep an eye on the tourists?' I asked. 'What if someone feels unwell?'
'We watch them,' Jean admitted reluctantly. 'You see that little hole in the wall across there? There's always someone standing there and watching.'
'In the dark?'
'They use a night-vision device,' Jean said, embarrassed. 'An ordinary video camera in night mode. You stand there and watch the screen...'
'Aha...' I nodded. 'And what did you see when Victor was being killed?'
Either he was feeling calmer now, or he didn't see any point in pretending, but he didn't try to deny anything. He just asked:
'What makes you so sure I was there?'
'Because you're wearing a vampire costume. What if one of the customers is recording in night mode too? That's what the makeup's for, right? I think each one of you has his own role to play, and during the show you were wearing that costume and you were somewhere nearby'
Jean nodded.
'That's right. I was there. Only I didn't see anything, believe me. They all just sat there. Nobody attacked any of them, no one went anywhere near them.'
I didn't bother to mention that you can't catch a hungry vampire (and he would have to be very hungry to hunt as brazenly as this) on tape in night-video mode. Night mode uses infra-red, and a hungry vampire is no warmer than his environment. There might just be a few slight traces on the tape.
'Was everything being recorded?'
'Of course not. Why waste the tape?'
I squatted down and dabbled my hand in the water. It was cold and musty. It looked as though nobody had bothered to change it... but then, if the investigation wasn't over yet, that was only natural...
'What do you see? 'Jean asked curiously.
I didn't answer. I was looking at the water through closed eyes. Looking with the Twilight vision that pierces through reality to the essence of things.
The trough filled up with hazy crystal forms. There were crimson threads showing through the crystal, and