Murder at the Kinnen Hotel Read Online Free

have implicated him.”
    “So you think someone set him up?”
    “I’m convinced of it,” Adamat said.
    “Give me your theory.”
    “The first part of my theory,” Adamat said, “is that a powder mage entered Ricard’s room sometime yesterday and planted a sufficient enough amount of black powder to sound like a pistol shot when set off. They entered his room again in the middle of the night to put the gun beside him in the bed. This morning they proceeded to a rooftop a quarter mile away, where they took a shot with a rifle, killing the poor girl. It would have been an easy shot with their sorcery. They then returned to the hotel where they set off the hidden powder charge with their sorcery in order to alert the staff.”
    “That’s … quite a story,” Hewi said. Her expression was halfway between bemused and entirely annoyed. “Do you have anything to back this theory up, beyond the unfired pistol?”
    Adamat was ready for her skepticism. “Powder residue in the bath. Reports of a shot fired at six this morning from the roof of a tenement east of the Kinnen Hotel—and, by the way, tracks in the snow on the rooftop. The window was open two inches and a straight line can be drawn from the victim’s head to the window, and to the distant rooftop.”
    Hewi’s annoyance seemed to ebb. She let out a whistle. “This has all been documented?”
    “The precinct artist is giving me a likeness of each location, including the footprints on the roof.”
    “All right, detective constable. What about the shot from the room? Powder fired from a pistol makes a different sound than powder burned in the bottom of a bathtub. How do you account for that?”
    “I understand that powder mages can warp the blast of the powder with their minds. Replicating the sound would take practice, but it’s entirely possible.”
    Hewi reached across her desk for a jar of tobacco then packed a pipe before lighting it with a match. She puffed it to life then pointed the stem at Adamat. “You know, you have a hard time getting along with the other constables because you always have the answers.”
    “They’re just theories, ma’am,” Adamat said. He understood that it had been meant as a compliment, but frankly it annoyed him that other constables couldn’t see what he saw. Investigative police work was not common practice in any force that he’d heard of. It was considered right and proper to take everything at face value.
    “They’re damn good ones,” Hewi replied. “And it’s why I brought you with me from the Twelfth.” She let out a sigh. “It’s damn good police work, but it may be for nothing.”
    Adamat blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
    “Commissioner Aleksandre came by about an hour ago. He heard about your powder mage theory, and the fact that you let Ricard Tumblar go home. He ordered that we arrest Tumblar and charge him immediately.”
    “That’s preposterous!” Adamat sat up straight.
    “I’m aware,” Hewi said, her tone level.
    “You said yourself that it was damn good police work. And the pistol was clean. It couldn’t have been Ricard.”
    Hewi gave a slow nod. “I told the commissioner that you had a good reason not to suspect Ricard. Do you know what he said?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “He didn’t give a damn. He wanted Ricard arrested, and he wanted Lieutenant Dorry given the lead on the case. The commissioner said, and I quote, ‘I want Ricard facing the guillotine within two weeks.’” Hewi snorted.
    Adamat set his jaw. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I smell something foul in the air, captain.”
    “So do I, but I had no choice. We’ve already arrested Mr. Tumblar. You should head home and get some sleep. No doubt the commissioner will be around within the next few days about Dorry’s complaint.”
    Adamat got to his feet, feeling deflated. He’d finished the first leg of the investigation with confidence. He knew he was right about the powder mage, just as he knew