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Now there were sounds of anger from the gallery.
“That could take days!” Alexis sputtered. “Your Honor, I object most strenuously.”
Stella looked at Mark. He knew she wanted to know if he was stalling, but he didn’t move a muscle-if she could be a stickler for procedure, so could he.
Then she said, “With the jewelry missing, you have adequately established the possibility that a vampire could have gotten into Geoff’s room and taken it, but unless you can provide a viable suspect or suspects, I will have to make my decision.”
Mark wanted to kick something extremely hard, but he didn’t dare show doubt, or Reinette was doomed. Maybe she already was. All he had was an empty bag that could have contained jewelry, and a dead vampire’s arm. Alexis had means and opportunity on her side, and one of the best motives imaginable: greed. Mark had managed to cloud means and opportunity a little, but he had nothing for motive. Unless…
“Mark?” Stella asked.
“Your Honor, I call Vilmos to the stand.”
Mark heard gasps, and even Ramon looked appalled. But Stella said, “Vilmos, will you take the stand?”
Mark had been expecting haughty indignation, but instead Vilmos was chuckling as he sat. “Of course. Who am I to argue with genius?”
Mark took a deep breath. “Vilmos, it is my understanding that you made an offer for Reinette’s services as a concubine.”
“I did. Under the circumstances, I count myself fortunate that I did not succeed.” He chuckled again.
“I also understand that the bids were unusually high.”
“We got caught up in the moment, I fear. No woman is worth that much money.” He twinkled at Stella. “No human woman, that is.”
“In other words, you bid more than you could afford?”
“I would have honored any promises made,” Vilmos said stiffly, no longer affable.
“Presumably Geoff felt the same way.”
“Geoff would not have shamed me by failing to meet his obligations,” Alexis said.
Mark was sure that he had the answer now, but he needed one last thing to prove it. The question was, how far would Stella be willing to play along? “Your Honor, I again request a search of the house.”
Alexis jumped up, furious, while Vilmos laughed out loud, and said, “A genius!” But Mark looked only at Stella. He’d told Reinette that having Stella as judge would give them no advantage, but he was hoping he’d been wrong. It all came down to one question. Did she trust him enough to risk loss of face in front of her fellow vampires?
It didn’t matter to him what anybody else did.
Finally she spoke. “I will allow a one-hour recess for a search. No more. Ramon, you may choose assistance as needed.”
Mark said, “May I make a private suggestion to Ramon?” He whispered his thoughts to Ramon, who looked at him as if he were making the joke for once, but nodded before enlisting a trio of vampires.
Stella left the room, but Mark and Reinette remained as the rest of the vampires and humans speculated wildly. It was all he could do to keep from pacing, but preventing Reinette from going into hysterics kept him distracted.
Stella came back into the room five minutes before the hour was up, and Mark could tell she was as anxious as he was. Half the people were watching the clock, while the others were watching the door. One minute before the time was up, Ramon came into the room, gri
Mark turned to Stella, who was smiling at him, and neither of them noticed that Reinette had fainted again.
“IT was the joke of a lifetime!” Ramon said admiringly.
“Perhaps not so fu
They had gotten the whole story out of Geoff. It was a classic case of buyer’s remorse. After signing Reinette’s contract for far more money than he should have spent, he’d had to meet the terms even as the economy drained his pocketbook. As Mark had verified with a quick audit, Geoff was fast approaching bankruptcy, and the monthly gifts of jewelry were the last straw.
So he’d staged his own death, spreading around the dust he’d brought in the velvet bag Reinette was so covetous of and cutting off his own arm to add the right touch of horror.
“Because he’d rather lose his arm than lose face,” Mark said.
Stella rolled her eyes. “Aren’t Ramon’s jokes enough?”
“Sorry.”
After setting the stage, Geoff snuck out of the room and locked the door behind him before going to hide in the attic.
“I’m surprised it took so long to find him,” Mark said to Ramon. “I told you to look up there first.”
“Oh, we found him in the first ten minutes. We only waited to make a better entrance.”
There was nothing Mark could say to that, and no point, anyway. Ramon was incorrigible.
Geoff had pla
Once the plot was revealed, Reinette, with prompting from Mark, asked for judgment against Geoff for trying to skip out on their contract. Alexis, furious that he’d dishonored her line, had supported the concubine.
Stella’s judgment was that Reinette be released from her contract but that she immediately receive everything promised to her, including the jewelry or its cash value, which would drive Geoff into poverty. Moreover, since Geoff had been willing to go without an arm, he could continue to do so. Each time it grew back, it would be cut off again. For a full five years. Knowing how much it hurt to regrow a finger, let alone an arm, even Vilmos winced at Stella’s decision, while Alexis offered up another one of her rare smiles.
Reinette was so grateful that she offered to feed Mark right then and there, but he respectfully declined. He hadn’t wanted her enslaved, but that didn’t mean he liked her. He did accept her emerald ring as a thank-you gift and pla
“I think Reinette has learned something from all this,” Ramon said. “She’s going to change her life around, perhaps attend college or go into charity work.”
Mark and Stella stared at him.
Ramon chortled. “Just kidding. As far as I know, her only goal is to see how fast she can spend Geoff’s money. When that gets old, she may sign another contract. Or perhaps I’ll offer her the Choice.”
“Ramon, tell me you’re joking,” Mark said, aghast.
“Oh, I know that she’s vapid and vain and greedy, and honestly, not terribly bright.”
“Then why?”
“Because I’m in love with the little bitch!” Ramon snapped. Then he gathered himself enough to put the clown mask back up. “It would give me somebody else to play jokes on instead of you, Marcus-won’t that be a relief? Maybe after a decade or two or three, she’ll grow up.”
He sauntered off, leaving Mark and Stella to enjoy their first time alone in what seemed like days. They took advantage of it promptly.
Afterward, Mark said, “I just realized that Ramon purposely maneuvered me into defending Reinette.”
“That’s quite a compliment, to put the life of his beloved in your hands.”
“That kind of compliment I can do without. Setting me against you, then dragging out the search for Geoff to the last minute. Which reminds me. I never thanked you for giving me that hour.”
“You’re welcome. Besides, I needed it, too.”
“Oh?”
She looked embarrassed. “It took me most of that time to get in touch with a sorcerer I know. He was ready to teleport into the house on my signal, and teleport out with Reinette.”