The Midnight Watch

Chapter 22

I had got the better of him so easily because he was already injured. Long, half-healed scratches to his abdomen, which had opened up in the struggle. They wept blood now, straining his shirt in long streaks.

"Good work, Sav," Kai said with no small amount of satisfaction. His arms were covered in new gouges, like fingernail marks. No doubt the old woman had tried to delay him.

His next action was to call the rest of the patrol in by mind-link. Becky, who had been nearby, returned dragging a boy in handcuffs. I would guess this was a brother of my captive, just by their familiar features.

"He jumped out of a window," she said by way of explanation. "I just had to untangle him from a rosebush."

Becky attached the runner's cuffs to a radiator and turned her attention to the boy who was still glowering at the end of my knife. Together, Becky and I pushed him heavily onto the sofa. We hovered at his shoulders, in case he had to be restrained a second time. Kai took a seat opposite and leant over the table, putting his weight on his elbows. It was an interrogation, and the boy knew it.

"So," Kai began jovially, "do you want to tell us why you're covered in blood?"

"No."

"Really? Because at the moment, you're the prime suspect in a murder investigation."

The boy scowled. "I didn't kill him," he said slowly.

"But you know he's dead. How's that?" Ben and Alex had quietly made their entrance, not looking the least disappointed about missing all the action. They had helped the old woman to a seat in the back room, well out of our way. Now, Alex yawned. His voice dripped with boredom.

"Everyone does. The whole village. But I. didn't. kill. him."

"So who did?" Kai demanded.

He shook his head. "I don't know. None of us. We were fighting them, yes. But no one was aiming for the throat. We just wanted to chase them off. Your Llewellyn minions were trespassing. What would you do, if there were Rochester mutts on your turf?"

"The same," Ben piped up. "But that's beside the point. How many were there?"

"A dozen-maybe more. All Wynhold boys. They thought it was funny, I suppose. Wanted to take out their anger on some Rochesters, and thought we would make easy targets. They even accused us of poisoning the queen, as if we're to blame for what the king does."

Kai glanced at me and nodded. "Okay, so it was their fault. It still doesn't excuse murder."

"How many times?! It wasn't us!" The boy tried to stand up, but Becky and I both hauled him back down and held him there. His brother wrenched at his cuffs. Suddenly, he found the attention of our entire patrol focused on him.

"And you?" I asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"The same as him," he insisted stubbornly. "They attacked us. We defended ourselves. That's all."

"Then why did you run?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you get it? It doesn't matter if we're innocent. He"-a wild gesture at Kai-"is a Llewellyn prince. You think he would side with us over his own men?"

"While I'm in Moon Guard uniform, I'm impartial," Kai said truthfully. "I'm sorry that the Wynhold House attacked you, and they will be disciplined for it. But if what you say is true and you didn't kill Isaac, then we need to know who did."

"We don't know-aren't you listening? Last time I saw the kid, he was breathing. He tried to stop the fight. With another boy. I recognised him from school. The neighbourhood halfwit-Patrick."