BooksBarbecue
Back Cardinal Black Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. One: Into the Storm
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Two: London Calling
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Three: The Malignant Seven
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Four: Squirrels and Cats
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Twenty-Seven
  33. Twenty-Eight
  34. Twenty-Nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-One
  37. Thirty-Two
  38. Five: Revelation
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. About the Author

“Come along, please.” Miss Mulloy was already at the door. Matthew’s skin crawled as he turned his back on Cardinal Black, who remained sitting motionlessly in the corner.

With their return to the parlor, they found the Owl seated amid the group to prevent any further squabbling. They could only wait as Merda was escorted by Miss Mulloy back to Lash’s study, and Matthew kept as far as possible from the Owl while the last bidder’s offer was being contemplated.

Merda and Miss Mulloy returned after about ten minutes. When they walked into the parlor Victor stood up from his chair and asked, “All right, what happens now?”

“Now,” said the lady, “you wait for the vice admiral’s decision. In the meantime there is to be some entertainment I need to arrange, so if you’ll pardon me. More wine is on the way.”

“Dare we drink it?” Montague was on his feet as well. “It occurs to me that with all the treasure before him in that study, Lash could just poison us all and be done with it. Then he could put that damned book up for auction a second time.”

“Ah,” said Julian, who mirrored what Matthew was thinking to say, “a good point. What assurance do we have that we will leave this house alive? After all, as the vice admiral said … this is his house and his rules.”

The Owl stood up. “Your caution is noted but unnecessary. As Miss Mulloy will verify, Vice Admiral Lash is an honorable man. He did not organize this event to offend or antagonize the various guilds and affiliations you represent. I daresay that if none of you returned to your bases of operation, those same guilds and affiliations might communicate with each other and take a dim view of the vice admiral’s disposal of their finest resources. Thus this event is a legitimate auction, not a prelude to murder, and the winner will indeed leave here with the book and a pair of bodyguards.”

“Good to hear,” Lioness quietly said from her seat in the far corner. “It would displease me to be forced to end the vice admiral’s life tonight.”

No one spoke in the wake of that statement. Matthew thought that of all the killers gathered here this snowy eve, Lioness Sauvage and Miles Merda might be the most formidable, Victor next in terms of danger, then Montague and lastly Krakowski as an unknown due to the drug’s effects. With the real Count Pellegar and Baron Brux in attendance, that would have made a malignant seven. As it was, it was still a malignant seven if one counted Lash and Cardinal Black. In any case … way too many killers in one room for his taste.

“The Owl is correct,” said Miss Mulloy, who aimed her voice toward Lioness. “The vice admiral is an honorable man. Pardon me now, I’m needed elsewhere.” She turned away and left the room.