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Ball Side Thread: Midnight Meeting- Xmas 1677


Charles Whitehurst
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"I had not noticed this before," Charles mumbled to himself as he discovered the hidden letters. "T and H. Are these your initials?" he queried the spirit. "T must be for Thomas," he speculated. "H could not be for Howard could it?" The Howards were a large clan and there had been many Thomas Howards in the family's history.

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As soon as Charles saw the letters, they stopped glowing. The lantern blinked once when he asked if the letters were the Lion's initials and twice when he inquired as to whether he might be a Howard. The spirit gave no indication whether or not Thomas was his first name.

 

“I can go back to the archives and look at that book again,” Susan said. “I marked the pages that had the dagger on it, so it shouldn't be hard to find a Baron whose initials were T and H. Only twenty-one gentlemen received one, unless I missed ...”

 

Her words were cut off when the flame extinguished itself once more. Two sets of faint footsteps could be heard in the corridor and they stopped quite some distance from the secret room. The intruders were speaking in soft tones, which sounded like a soft murmuring.

 

Susan moved closer to Charles and accidentally stepped on his foot. “Sorry,” she whispered. In the inky blackness, he would not be able to see her blush.

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"If not a Howard, then perhaps he was a Herbert," Charles offered in a jovoal tone. "He would be a relative of yours then." He was certain that his own family was not connected, for his family was relatively new to the nobility. Had they introduced themselves to the spirit? It would be entertaining to find that the two were related.

 

Further speculation would need to wait as the light went out. The intruders were near again. Charles fingered the hilt of his sword as Susan moved closer. She did not hurt him with her misstep because he had worn boots. "No problem" he whispered as he moved closer to the door, intent on hearing what he could of the pair in the hallways.

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“If any of my relatives had mysteriously disappeared, even a century ago, I think I would have heard about them. Unless they were really distant cousins.” Susan was fairly certain that the Lion had not been a member of her family, but she watched the lantern to see how it flickered. The flame continued to burn steadily.

 

Until it blinked out. The interlopers didn't move closer and their words remained unintelligible. The lantern flickered back on, but it burned low, as if the spirit was still wary. “I wonder who they are and what they're doing down here,” Susan mused.

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Without being a Howard or a Herbert, the two easiest H families were removed. Charles was eager to not leave before learning more about the Lion's last name or title.

 

The strangers were still in the hall. Curious. He pressed his ear to the wall and listened for any snippets of conversation. Perhaps they were just party-goers that had stumbled upon the passage by accident.

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Susan thought they already had enough information to identify the Lion. She just needed to get back to the library and look through that book again. The Swan would probably be harder to find, since they didn't know anything about her. The spirit had not even confirmed that she had been a lady of the Queen.

 

She was about to ask when a sudden burst of laughter pierced the air. With his ear to the wall, Charles would be able to hear it more clearly. It sounded distinctly feminine. The voices were still too far away for any words to be heard, but another peal of laughter, this one deeper, reverberated through the corridor.

 

“I don't think they're the same people we heard before,” Susan remarked softly, basically stating the obvious. The previous intruders had both been men while this pair seemed to be a lady and a gentleman. “These passageways are quite popular tonight.”

 

The lantern's glow was still dimmer than it had been before.

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"Couples should not be in these corridors," Charles complained aloud, blind to the fact that he was criticizing their own foray into the corridors. Somehow it seemed more offical to him, with his status and Susan's status; yet, if he was honest, the pair was on little more than a lark. It was only happenstance that they had made contact with the spirit of the Lion. So, that seemed to dignify their holiday tomfoolery. He was tempted to open the door and shoo away the partygoers that were trespassing in *his* secret corridors. It was only with great restraint that he convinced himself that little good would come from it.

 

Slipping back to Susan's side and the lantern, Charles spoke. "Let us gain other clues that we can before the witching hour ends." Turning to Susan he asked "do you want to ask about dates when our friendly spirit was born to help you identify him? Or, shall we switch to the Swan?"

 

On the subject of the Swan, Charles asked "was she a lady to the Queen? Was she of royal blood or married someone of royal blood?" It was seeming that the lady was more important than the man. The Lion was a baron who was arrested and murdered. The lady might be a duchess for all he knew. If they learned her identity, might they be able to visit her grave and speak with her spirit?

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“Maybe one of your soldiers thought the passages would be a perfect place for a tryst,” Susan suggested. During balls, she had sometimes seen couple hastily adjusting their clothes while coming out of closets, from under tables, and even from behind curtains. She had been embarrassed at first, but after a few seasons at court, such things didn't bother her anymore. However, she couldn't help wondering what exactly they were doing and why they went to such lengths to do it. She supposed she wouldn't find that out until her wedding night.

 

The lantern flared back to normal, which Susan took to mean that the Lion didn't think the laughing couple posed any threat. If they moved closer, the flame would probably go out again. She hoped that they left the corridors before it was time for she and Charles to go.

 

“Going through dates will take a long time. I doubt that two Barons with the same initials both received one of those daggers, so I should be able to find him fairly easily. We could meet in the library again and look through that book, or I can just tell you what I learn."

 

The lantern blinked once when Charles asked if the Swan was one of the Queen's ladies and twice in answer to his question about royal blood. “She might be on the list of ladies-in-waiting I made. We just need to narrow the possibilities down a bit more.”

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The focus was now on the Swan. "Let us see if we can get the initials of her name," Charles offered. "Best if we go through the alphabet again on first and last names. That should aid your research immeasurably I would think."

 

After the name game, Charles was curious about the contact. "Is there some other message you wanted to give us this evening?" He looked for one blink. "If so, it will be challenging to identify it with yes and no questions only." Working together he was pretty sure that he and Susan might discover it. It would either be a warning of danger, or perhaps there was some service he sought of them.

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The lantern blinked as soon as Charles spoke the first letter of the alphabet and blinked again when he got to 'E.' The flame remained steady as he recited the rest of it.

 

“So her first name starts with an 'A' and her last with an 'E,' unless it's the other way around.” Queen Elizabeth had appointed a lot of ladies-in-waiting during her long reign, and there was probably more than one with the same initials. The book listing the dagger forgings had dates on them, so when she found the Lion's name, she would know approximately when the Swan had lived.

 

The flame indeed flickered once when Charles asked if the spirit had other messages for them. “We just need to get creative. There is something I would like to know, though.” Susan gently touched the pearl ring. “Did this belong to your Swan?”

 

One blink.

 

“I knew it!” She grinned at Charles, but a moment later, her expression became thoughtful. “How how did he get it then? Oh! Maybe she sent it to him to signify that she was ready to run away with him."

 

Another single blink.

 

"But something went terribly ..."

 

The flame suddenly blazed much brighter and higher than it should have been able to. Susan cried out and jumped back, It flared furiously back and forth, but it did not ripple close enough to either Charles or Susan to burn them or even singe their hair.

 

"I think I made him mad," Susan breathed, "or brought back bad memories."

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"Her name must have been Anne," Charles guessed aloud. It was the most common female name that began with the letter A. "Or perhaps Agnes." The lantern would confirm. As for the last name, E might be anything. "She was married to a lord. Did she have a title?" He went with the Duchess, Marquess, Countess, Viscountess, and Baroness to test which it might be. Now they were getting closer.

 

As for the message, Charles could imagine two themes. Susan did a fine job taking the lead until she upset the spirit with a memory of his murder. "Bloody bad luck and evil plots."

 

"You might want us to do something for you?" Charles guessed. "Perhaps move your bones from here and inter them at your home or near where the Swan rests. Or, perhaps you want us to deliver a message to someone ... like your family." He paused to see where the acknowledgement came.

 

"Or, you might be seeking to warn us. This lady has an ... overprotective brother that might try and kill me for coaxing his sister down dark passages. Or, perhaps there is other danger because of what we discovered about your murder?"

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The lantern did not confirm or deny whether the Swan's name was Anne or Agnes. Maybe he is only willing to give us initials for some reason, Susan thought. There might be something he wants us to find that we would overlook if he revealed their names. Or maybe there are rules in the spirit world. The last notion was rather silly, but she couldn't help considering it.

 

The flame calmed down again when Charles commiserated with the spirit's misfortune. Susan was afraid to ask it anything else for fear of distressing it again. One blink followed each of his first two questions. It flickered twice to his inquiry about Susan's brother. She knew that Philip would be furious if he knew where she was and with whom, but she doubted the Lion had the ability to predict the future.

 

After Charles asked if they were in any danger because of their discoveries, the dagger rose in the air and embedded itself in the nearest piece of wood from the broken cupboard, splitting it completely in half before clattering to the floor. Susan was so frightened that she couldn't move or even speak. Someone meant them harm, but who? And how did the spirit know?

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"We will collect your bones then," Charles acknowledged. " I am unclear whether you want them buried at your home estate or whether you wanted to wait until we discover the identity of the Swan and where she is resting." He elongated the sentence so that the lantern could blink for one or the other. "And was there a message for your family?" If so, it would take forever to elicit from the spirit ... unless "maybe that we tell your nearest male heir that you were murdered here by the Swan's husband?" He was assuming that was who was behind the murder, but maybe not.

 

As for the danger, the warning was stark. "But how could we be in danger?" he mumbled almost incoherently. "It has been a century ago. Surely no one today fears the discovery of your murder, or that your bones have been found." Unfortunately, Charles had not posed anything as a yes/no question so there was unlikely to be a meaningful response.

 

"Who might want to hut us?" he began. "Someone in your family?" He paused. "Someone in the Swan's family?" he paused. "Someone in the family of the men that murdered you?"

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The lantern flickered once when Charles spoke of burying his bones with the Swan's. “He must have loved her very much to wish to be buried with her than in his own family's tomb,” Susan whispered. Again, the lantern winked once. “Maybe he had no descendants of his own. Or ...” Her voice raised with excitement. “The Swan was pregnant with his child and that was why they were going to run away!”

 

A single blink.

 

“Do you know what happened to the child?”

 

The flame flared again but then settled back to its normal size. It blinked twice to Susan's question.

 

“Now we have another mystery to solve. We need to find his descendants from the Swan, which may be difficult, since she ...” Not wanting to risk angering the spirit again, she leaned close to Charles and whispered the rest of her sentence into his ear. “Since she was married to another man.”

 

Susan also wondered what kind of danger they could be in. The lantern burned steadily until Charles asked a question that could not be answered by 'yes' 'no, or 'I don't know.' It blinked three times to each of his inquiries. Apparently the spirit didn't know who meant them harm. Or it did know, just not to whom they were related.

 

Right after it blinked the third time, the dagger rose again and started spinning around and around while hovering in the air, the blade pointing downward.

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"A child." The plot thickened. Charles found himself rubbing his chin in thought as Susan spoke.

 

"He does not seem to know who wants to harm us." It made him wonder how the Lion knew that they were in danger. The spirit did not seem to travel much. Frankly, the young officer did not fear danger. In fact, he felt that the culprits hunting them should fear more for their own safety when he went after them. He had soldiers and a prison at his disposal.

 

As the dagger danced, it did not help the young soldier fathom any new evidence. "Are you pointing down because there is evidence below this level that we need to discover?" The last time, the blade had pointed upwards. Yet, how could he ask the spirit why? Yes or no questions could take one only so far.

 

"Are you able to leave this room, or is your spirit chained here, maybe because your bones are here?" If the spirit could only travel, it could learn much to assist them. Maybe if we move the bones he can come with us.

 

"We need the Swan's last name," Charles mumbled to Susan. Initials were not good enough. "We need to find her grave and her family tree." He was going to ask the spirit whether the child had been a girl or boy, but it did not seem to know anything beyond the confines of the room.

 

"Was it the husband that arranged your murder?" He assumed so, but it was worth checking.

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Communicating with a spirit seemed almost normal now, although more than a bit surreal. It was still difficult to believe that the dead could talk to you beyond the grave. Susan had been so adamant that there were no such things as ghosts. Maybe she would wake up at any moment and realize that she had only been dreaming. Yet even when she pinched herself, nothing happened.

 

Wondering how the Lion knew that somebody wanted to harm them when he didn't know who, she watched the spinning dagger as if hypnotized by it. The lantern blinked twice when Charles asked if there was anything below them that they needed to discover. Its flame cast interesting patterns on the blade of the knife. Idly, she wondered how many levels comprised these tunnels. Who knew what might be hidden in the others?

 

The Earl's next two inquiries were answered with two blinks and then one. So the spirit was unable to leave the room. Then how did it know that they were in danger in the first place? “Going through each letter of the alphabet over and over will take too much time,” she replied. “Let me see if I can find it in the library first. If I can't, we can come back and go through the alphabet then.

 

“I think it's more important to find out why we're in danger and from whom.” She didn't relish the thought of looking over her shoulder wherever she went, afraid of being attacked.

 

The flame flickered three times when Charles asked if the Swan's husband had arranged the Lion's murder. “He must have been led here and killed by strangers. That would explain why nothing of value but the dagger was in the room. But I'll bet the Swan's husband was behind it. I wonder why they hid the dagger …” Her eyes widened. “Maybe the Swan's husband wanted the dagger and they left it here for safekeeping until they got paid.”

 

She looked up at Charles. “What if we're in danger because someone knows you have it?”

 

One blink. The knife stopped spinning and clattered to the floor.

 

Susan's gaze turned to the lantern. “But how do you know …?” She remembered the voices of the two men in the corridor. “You heard something. Somebody has been down here looking for either the dagger, this room, or both.”

 

Another blink.

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A few more pieces to the puzzle fell into place. "We should take his bones with us, or at least his skull. Perhaps his spirit will follow." It was worthy of a test.

 

"So the husband was not present here for the murder." Else the spirit would have known. "He hired men to do it and they left the dagger." The more intriguing thougfht was whether the danger accompanied the dagger or the discovery. "If the dagger draws danger to us, the other person that knows about the dagger besides you is the weaponsmith I paid to polish it for me and a Lady Tamsin who entered the shop when I was collecting it, and remarked on it. She was attacked by brigands, but I did not think they were targeting me." It was possible that they were. It caused him to pause.

 

"I could go back to the weaponsmith and interrogate him." He liked doing that. "If it is the dagger, he is the best person to follow. He knew what the dagger was." More silence. "But why would anyone want the dagger a hundred years after it disappeared? Why is it so valuable or dangerous tod ay I wonder?" It was a rhetorical question because he knew that Susan would not know the answer.

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As soon as Charles spoke of taking the Lion's bones, the flame flared higher and blinked twice. It seemed to Susan that the spirit was alarmed. “I don't think he wants us to move his bones until we find the Swan's tomb. Maybe he can't communicate with us if they're separated from each other.”

 

There was no acknowledgment from the lantern as to whether or not she was correct. The flame still glowed vigorously. Was the spirit waiting for Charles to change his mind about taking the skull with him? Susan thought it was likely.

 

“They must not have been very good thieves if they mistook a lady for you,” she chuckled. “They were probably just looking for someone to rob. I think you should go back to the weaponsmith. But don't interrogate him, or he probably won't give you any information at all. Perhaps I should come with you?”

 

Susan didn't know the answer to his question, but she had some ideas as to why somebody would want the dagger. “There were only twenty-one of them made, so it's probably very valuable. Maybe somehow the descendants of the Swan's husband know about it and want to find it and sell it. Or he could have told a close friend about the secret room and the dagger and he passed it on to his own descendants. The hired thugs would have known about it as well.”

 

It seemed kind of odd that anyone would reveal a murder that they had committed, but perhaps it had been a deathbed confession. People often confessed their worst sins when they were dying, hoping to be absolved of them so that they would go to heaven instead of hell.

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"Maybe he can only communicate with us here," Charles surmised as the spirit resisted relocation. "I hope you can communicate with us on nights other than the New Year," he ventured. If the witching hour of a new year was the only way to reach him, then they would need to stay and learn as much as they could in one visit. "We will not move your bones yet."

 

"It is the weaponsmith then," Charles agreed. "No you cannot come. I do not want anyone seeing you involved in this. Better that the brigands come after me only. If they know you are a target, then you will not be safe. I would never put you in harms way Susan," he vowed. She should have expected no less. "You must be disconnected from anything involving this. If we are observed by these brigands, let them think our meetings are romantic only."

 

"Maybe ..." Charles offered soberly, "I will tell the weaponsmith that I plan to bring the dagger to a certain place and time and then lay a trap for the brigands." He liked the idea of outsmarting them. "I could gather some solders and a few gentlemen. Melville, FitzJames and Chichester would join certainly. I'll round them up in short order and have them behind bars within hours thereafter. Then we will see what tune they sing." He was feeling more encouraged as he spoke.

 

"Why is the dagger so valuable that a search would survive generations and would contemplate further crimes? Surely a large jewel would be more valuable." His words were rhetorical. He expected no answers. Something did not add up in his mind and he desperately needed a prisoner to interrogate. "It has been so many years that the murderer is long dead. What does the present company fear?"

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The lantern blinked once to Charles' supposition that the spirit could only interact with them in the secret chamber and the flame calmed down when he promised to leave the Lion's remains where they were. Susan congratulated herself on being right. Maybe the spirit would be unable to communicate if any of his bones were removed from the room. Who knew what kind of rules existed in the spirit world?

 

She had figured that he would not allow her to accompany him to the weapon shop, which was just as well, for if she was seen there, she would have a lot of explaining to do when Philip found out where she had been and with whom. Charles would have more to worry about than brigands if he found himself on the receiving end of her brother's wrath. Plus, her attendance on the Queen, which would be required more often as the season neared its end, must always come first.

 

Susan thought it was sweet of him to want to protect her. “Why, it almost sounds like you care for me, Lord Langdon,” she remarked, flashing him a mischievous grin. “Very well, I will stay behind but you must tell me everything you find out. It might help me in my research.” She said nothing about pretending that their meetings were romantic. They couldn't show any affection for each other … real or feigned … without potentially ruining her reputation and risking Philip's anger. She wanted to protect Charles as much as he wanted to protect her.

 

His idea for laying a trap for the person or people who were after the dagger sounded good to her. Susan knew better than to ask to be involved. Catching miscreants was a soldier's job and no place for a young lady, even an adventurous one like herself. “Just be careful,” she said softly, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

 

His question was the same one she was asking herself, and she knew unless the brigands were caught, they would never know the answer. “I wonder if there's anything else here that might be useful to us.”

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"Why of course I care for you," Charles was quick to retort, unwilling to deny it. "I have one of the most charming and desirable ladies at court as my partner in crime," he added in a lighter flattering tone. "A gentleman always protects his partners."

 

He was glad she liked his plan. It had come to him in a moment of lucidity. "I shall keep you informed. I think regular meetings in the library might be in order. You shall need to report your own findings to me."

 

In answer to her last question, Charles took to his feet and looked around the room. "Is there any other clue or momento here in this room that we need to discover?" he asked the spirit. The dagger might even point the way if there was something they had overlooked.

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Was he just teasing her or did he mean it? In other circumstances, that kind of comment might have ended in a passionate kiss, which Susan would not have minded at all. But they were in a dark room deep in the bowels of the palace, there was a spirit watching their every move, and the mystery they were trying to solve was becoming more complicated by the minute. There were other things on Charles' mind, and on hers. Still, she would have liked a kiss. Perhaps he would give her one before they went back through the door that led to the passageways.

 

A girl could always hope.

 

“Of course I'll let you know what I find. And we can certainly meet in the library again. Let me know when you're free and I'll ask Her Majesty for a few hours off. I doubt I'll be able to get away tomorrow, but I can hardly wait to go back to the archives and see what I can find.”

 

The lantern flickered once, but the dagger remained where it was. Instead, the skeleton started rattling again. Susan jumped and grabbed onto Charles' hand. “I wish he wouldn't do that,” she said, a bit of annoyance in her voice. “But I suppose he's trying to tell us that whatever he wants us to find is close to his body.”

 

She hoped that he would volunteer to search. Though she had told herself many times that she wasn't afraid of anything, those bones in the corner creeped her out.

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Kissing her in front of a spirit seemed wrong somehow. Charles had already kissed Susan that evening anyway. Had he known she was seeking a kiss, however, Charles Whitehurst was ever ready to comply in that regard.

 

"There must be something on his body," Charles mused aloud as he moved to search the skeleton. Maybe there was a piece of jewelry or engraved pocket watch.

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The bones stopped rattling when Charles approached the Lion's skeleton and Susan breathed a sigh of relief, partly because that awful sound had finally ceased, and partly because Charles didn't ask her to help him search the body. It was in the same condition it had been in when they had found it, minus the skull and the hands, which had fallen off when they had discovered it.

 

“Maybe we should put his head back in place,” Susan remarked, moving a few steps closer to watch Charles examine the remains. There were no objects on or around the skeleton, although if he ran his hands over it, he would find that its hipbones and tailbone were vibrating.

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It seemed as though there was something hidden with the hip or tailbone. Men such as Langdon were timid about placing one's hands up the rear of any man, alive or dead, so he did so with trepidation. Moving the lantern closer for a better look, Charles felt along the bones in the pelvis region, including on the floor beside it.

 

"We can put his skull back before we leave." That seemed the decent thing to do. Susan was right about that.

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Susan was glad that Charles agreed to replace the skull. Its separation from the body didn't hamper the Lion's ability to communicate, but she thought he would like to have his bones intact. With any luck, the entire skeleton wouldn't have to be taken apart when they found the Swan's grave, although by that time, he probably wouldn't care because he would be able to rest with his beloved forever … assuming the Swan's descendants allowed him to be buried with her.

 

The young blonde's curiosity eclipsed her uneasiness and she found herself right next to Charles as he explored the skeleton. The Lion didn't seem to mind or the flame would not have remained so steady.

 

Right underneath the bony bum. Charles would feel the cool touch of metal and when he drew it out, would find himself holding a medium-sized key. There was nothing remarkable about it, nor would it be apparent what kind of lock it fit into. Perhaps it would open a door, a chest, a cupboard, or something else entirely. It was too large to fit the lock on the box of letters they had found previously.

 

The fact that it was discovered right underneath the Lion's backside raised a question in Susan's mind. “Do you think he hid that ...” She paused as she tried to think of a proper way to express her thoughts, but finally settled with the not so proper “...where the sun doesn't shine? It must be quite important if he did.”

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"A key," Charles announced when holding it aloft. The piece of metal rotated in his hand as he sought for clues about the key.

 

Susan thought that he might have hidden the key in his own orifice, causing the young earl to grimace at the thought. "It might have been in his pocket," he offered, hoping for a happier alternative. "Maybe the killers did not search him well enough." One could hope.

 

As to the use of the key, there were questions he could pose to help with that. "Is the key to a chest ... door ... gate?" He went down the list of alternatives looking for tell-tale signals from the lantern to confirm it. "Are there papers there that you want us to read?" He was thinking of a different kind of correspondence.

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With an anxious look toward the skeleton, Susan studied the key. It was just a plain piece of metal, with no engravings or markings upon it … functional rather than decorative. “Or he sat on it before he was murdered. Since he was holding the box of letters, I assume that he was sitting in that corner when his life ended. It would be odd for his killers to go to all the trouble to arrange his body like that.”

 

The lantern blinked once, confirming her theory. How had they done it, she wondered? Had they stabbed him with his own dagger, or had they shot him? Did guns even exist in the sixteenth century? Maybe they forced him to drink poison. It was impossible to tell how a man died when there was nothing left of his corpse but his bones.

 

The answer to Charles' question was rather cryptic. The flame flickered once, then twice, then three times.

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"Sloppy assassins," Charles agreed. He grunted his disdain at the thought.

 

"It is a key to a chest and perhaps a gate," Charles replied aloud to the clues offered by the spirit. He looked to Susan for further thoughts.

 

"Is the chest somewhere in the palace or underground?" he asked the lamp. "Was it at your home ... or the Swan's home?" This was going to be a needle in the proverbial haystack without more guidance.

 

"Is there something important in the chest? Letters? Treasure?"

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“They were efficient. They killed him, look everything of value, and then left. Less chance of discovery that way.” Susan could see the practicality in their method. “If they had dragged the body around, somebody might have heard. It would also have taken quite a bit of time to arrange him like that. Maybe more people frequented these passages back then. Even this room was known to the killers and the Swan's husband.” She was absolutely certain that he had been behind the Lion's death.

 

The spirit no longer seemed upset when they spoke of his murder. Perhaps he realized that Charles and Susan were trying to bring him justice and allow him to finally rest in peace.

 

“Maybe the gate is around the chest and he doesn't know if it's still there? It might not be an actual gate at all, but something similar that the chest was hid inside or behind.”

 

Two blinks answered all of Charles' inquiries about the location of the chest. “It could be in a place where they used to meet,” Susan suggested.

 

The flame flickered brightly.

 

As to what was in the chest, it winked once when Charles said 'letters' and three times when he said 'treasure.'

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