Dach’osmerrem Cambesharan was waiting in her receiving room, which had a series of narrow, arched windows looking out over the building’s atrium. She was a diminutive elven woman, her white hair elaborately dressed with combs and tashin sticks and a strand of black pearls, in contrast to her clothes, which were of expensive materials, but very simple. Her eyes, cornflower blue, were full of lively curiosity, and she said, “We do not believe we have ever had a prelate call on us before. We are Cretheno Cambesharan. How do you do?”

“We are Thara Celehar, a Witness for the Dead. The Marquess Ulzhavel has asked us to witness for his wife.”

Her mouth tightened. “Is he still insisting on this mad idea that Tomilo was murdered? We grieve for her, too, but that does not mean her death was murder.”

I said, “We feel that the marquess’s concerns are justified. Did he tell you about the note?”

“What note?”

“He found a threatening, unsigned note among the marquise’s papers. Did she tell you about it?”

“A threatening note? Who in the world would want to threaten Tomilo?”

“That is what we are endeavoring to discover,” I said. “Do you know of anyone who was angry at her?”

“Well, there was the Cemchelarna disaster. But that was nothing worth committing murder over.”

“People will commit murder for surprisingly trivial reasons. What was the Cemchelarna disaster?”

“Tomilo had been on the board of a foundling school in Cemchelarna for years and years, and then they decided they wanted to economize by lowering the teachers’ wages. Tomilo was outraged. She argued and argued and finally resigned. She said it was unconscionable and would destroy the school, and two years later, it turned out she was right. The school had to close. Tomilo never forgave any of them.”

“Do you think any of them was angry at her?”

“We are sure they must have been, but we cannot imagine they were angry enough to kill. Tomilo did nothing to cause the school to close; she was merely correct that that was what was going to happen.”

“Some people cannot bear to be proven wrong.”

“We have known several such,” agreed Dach’osmerrem Cambesharan, “but we still think it an unlikely reason for murder.”

“Osmin Tativin mentioned an Osmer Vobora Bazhevar.”

“Him,” said Dach’osmerrem Cambesharan. “We would believe it of him, although you will still have to explain to us how he did it.”

“What did he disagree with the marquise about?”