The bolt that killed Planetary Senator Anhalt passed through the back of his chair and glanced off his fourth lumbar vertebra. Its fuse, activated by the impact, exploded the bolt in his trunk, metal fragments scything in all directions cutting veins, arteries and nerves. Organs were crushed and penetrated. The explosive force further shredded tissue and burst out of the front of his torso in a flower of blood. Senator Anhalt was very surprised. His was still very surprised as he fell to the floor and died.

**********

Inquisitor Roberto Brake was sitting in a chair on the verandah running around three sides of the middle level of the lodge, leaning back, staring out over the lake, apparently at ease. Appearances are deceptive. His mind, ever active, was far from ease. He had run through his repertoire of prayers for Patience, Forbearance, Calm, Control, Obedience and Guidance several times over the last few days, and it was only the prayers of Duty and Humility that had sustained him..

One of Inquisitor Brake’s few weaknesses, and one he fought against long and hard, was his intolerance of time-wasting fools. Time was a precious commodity. The Emperor gave each man only so much. To waste it, or have it wasted by others, was a crime deserving punishment. Politicians seemed to have raised time-wasting to a high art. The Teuton politicians of Norcross III could give classes in the subject. It had occurred to Inquisitor Brake that he had been assigned to this task by High Inquisitor Sigismondo as a punishment for some sin, but that was not like his master. This was a job that could be better done by Scriptor Karpus, Inquisitor Brake’s chief administrative assistant and secretary. No, an Interrogator for show, and Scriptor Karpus, the Inquisitor admitted.

For the last four days Inquisitor Brake had been the official Imperial representative at a private conference concerning the Ork invasion of Suwanee Province and the resulting civil unrest in the provincial capital at Pleasant Hill. For reasons known only to those who had chosen the site, the conference was being held in a large old mansion belonging to the Imperial Commander, on an isolated peninsula jutting into Buford Lake, some twenty miles outside the Planetary Capital. The delegates were all housed in what passed, on this backward planet, for luxurious surroundings in a series of carbon-copy lodges scattered along the edge of the lake. The lodges were built in what the fevered mind of some architect took to be the High Style of ancient Teuton. Inquisitor Brake considered the style to be more Baroque Primitive. There was electric light, but the cooking and heating in the downstairs servants’ quarters was done by combustion of local fuel, the main living level was devoid of all that Inquisitor Brake considered necessary for modern life. The only control console was located inconveniently in the study next to his bedroom upstairs. When he first arrived, Inquisitor Brake had though that he had been allocated the worst lodge as some sort of power play or status game. After having visited both Senator Anhalt and General Graf Helmbrecht in their lodges, he realized that he probably had the best lodge. He certainly had the best view. He reconsidered for a moment, no, he thought, Scriptor Karpus would be useless here cut off from his beloved information net. He would feel as if half his brain had been removed.

The two bodyguards from the Inquisitor’s Nemesis squad stood rigid and alert in their power armor at either end of the verandah. They knew their master well enough to know that this was a good time to be invisible. They were not paying any attention to the view either.

At the muffled sound of the shot, the tableau on the verandah instantly changed, as if statues had suddenly come to life and realized that they had several hundred years of living to catch up on. In an action that appeared to defy the laws of motion and inertia, Inquisitor Brake used his legs to propel himself backward and sideways through the open doorway into the main living area. At the same time, as one, the two guards drew their hell guns, activated the power fields on their servo-axes and rushed together to shield the doorway with their bodies and armor. The sensors in their helmets scanned the darkness for any signs of attack. A few seconds later came the sound of a second muffled shot and both guards turned to the left, toward the lodge of Planetary Senator Anhalt, representative of the Imperial Commander. The shots had come from there.

Inquisitor Brake rolled to his feet and dusted himself off as Master Proctor Paramedes, leader of the night shift of the Nemesis force, rushed into the room. Inquisitor Brake stopped his question with a look.

“No, they weren’t shooting at me” he said. The emotions of relief were clear on Proctor Paramedes’ face. Paramedes was a Norcross III native, from Suwanee Province in fact, and he had only recently come into Inquisitor Brake’s service. To have the Inquisitor assassinated while under his protection was a stain on his honor that his death and that of his entire family could not have erased. Joy through Duty and Death before Dishonor were the two phrases which described Proctor Paramedes’ entire philosophy of life.

“The shots seemed to come from Senator Anhalt’s lodge,” he continued.

“I’ll sent a team to investigate, my Lord’” said the Proctor.

“No, that would be splitting our forces, we will all go.” The look of stark apprehension on the Proctor’s face warmed his heart, but the Inquisitor’s penetrating and commanding stare brooked no discussion. Proctor Paramedes may not have been with the Inquisitor long, but he knew that look.

“My Lord, your Tactical Dreadnought armor is back at headquarters, and you do not have the High Inquisitor’s Armor of Faith, my Lord” he suggested. “You came prepared for a conference, not a war. You don’t even have your light parade armor, my Lord.”

Inquisitor Brake knew that the number of ‘my Lords’ per statement was in direct proportion to the Master Proctor’s agitation and concern, a useful and respectful code.

“I have my helmet and my mesh, and I have you and my faith in the Emperor. What more do I need?” asked the Inquisitor.

Any questioning of that would be a Grade Blue Heresy at least, so Proctor Paramedes turned about and ran up the stairs two at a time to get the Inquisitor’s uniform helmet from his study, while at the same time summoning the rest of the Nemesis squad to the living quarters.

When they were all ready to go Inquisitor Brake looked more like a heretic under arrest than the direct representative of the Conclave of Terra. He was of below average height and of slight build. His heavy casual cloak, which concealed additional armor layers, enveloped his whole body except for the plain red full-face helmet that he wore and the red greaves on this legs. He was surrounded by four tall guards in power armor, hell pistols ready. The power fields of their servo-axes glowed and crackled in darkness, one guard advanced ahead, another covered the rear and Proctor Paramedes marched close by his master’s side.

They advanced slowly and cautiously toward Senator Anhalt’s lodge which could be seen about a hundred yards away through the trees, leapfrogging from cover to cover. As they approached, they could see a black or dark blue ground car with a crest on the doors parked behind the lodge. Proctor Paramedes motioned the guards to halt as he advanced to the point and stepped quietly onto the verandah were it intersected the slope behind the lodge. He and the lead guard edged their way along the verandah, past the side door and stopped where the verandah turned left across the front and parallel to the lake. He beckoned the rest of the party to approach. The vagaries of the breeze carried the sounds of conversation to the sensors in his helmet; the voices of several people talking.

As he turned the corner of the verandah, Proctor Paramedes saw a young blonde man in a dark uniform holding four people, a middle-aged man, a younger man, a young woman, and an older woman of indeterminate age, at pistol point. With very quick professional reflexes, the man with the pistol turned toward him, dropped into a slight crouch, and fired.

In a futile, but reflexive, move the Proctor swung his servo-axe to intercept the shot, and at the same time, but with a little thought he fired back. The blast from the las pistol struck the Proctor right in the center of the Death’s Head coat of arms on the front of his adamantium layered gorget right over his heart, leaving a small black mark. The firer, realizing his error, attempted to drop his las pistol, but the Proctor’s aimed shot hit it cleanly and fused the barrel in a shower of sparks. The pistol fell to the deck and its owner jumped back with his hands raised, fighting back his instincts to beat out the smoldering spots on his uniform. The four others barely moved, cowering slightly. Two more of the Nemesis squad turned the corner and then Inquisitor Brake arrived on the scene. The young man, his uniform still smoldering, snapped to attention and saluted as soon as he recognized the Inquisitor. Everyone else made to speak but stopped at a gesture from the Inquisitor, except the short, stout, bullet headed, middle-aged man in the gold-braided tunic and black half-boots, who blurted out

“I didn’t do it”

Inquisitor Brake returned the young man’s salute and at the same time the palm of his glove displayed the Mark of Command. This didn’t have quite the desired effect. The young man in the dark uniform remained as he was, but gold-braided tunic snapped to attention with sufficient force to pop off three or four buttons. The other three cowered further. Making the best of a bad job, the Inquisitor gestured to the man in uniform who looked down and started extinguishing the remaining sparks on his now ruined uniform. While he was doing this Inquisitor Brake took his helmet off, so that the others could all see him. There were no signs of recognition.

Addressing the older man, “Who are you,” the Inquisitor asked quietly

“Captain-General Graf Wilkelm Huss” was the response, delivered in the flat even monotone typical of Imperial hypno-conditioning.

“Tell me what happened from the time you heard the first shot”. The young man made to speak, but the Inquisitor silenced him and put him back to attention with a piercing look and nod.

“I was in the Lavatorium. I went into the living area, I called out to Councilor Anhalt. There was a second shot. I ran into the library, it was dark, I tried to turn on the light but it didn’t work. I saw the body of Councilor Anhalt lying on the floor. I heard someone trying to close the door to the verandah”

The older woman opened her mouth to speak, but again a glare from the Inquisitor silenced her.

“I went to the door, Madam Else was there. Group Leader Wilmer ordered me to halt at gun point. He ordered me and Madam Else onto the verandah. Then he heard Citizen Beatrice and Citizen Kourinos in the living area. He identified himself and ordered them out onto the verandah. He asked us to identify ourselves. He asked us what we were doing here. A man in powered armor…”

“Stop,” said the Inquisitor. “Sit” The Captain-General sat, the younger of the two women just getting out of the way before becoming sat upon.

Inquisitor Brake could now see that the young blonde man was wearing the uniform of a Group Leader in the Norcross Department of Safety. Norcross III was a backward planet which had rejoined the Imperium of Mankind less than five hundred years ago. The Adeptus Arbites provided security and special services for the Imperial Commander. The remaining security and civil services were provided by the local planetary Department of Safety.

“Explain yourself, Group Leader.” ordered the Inquisitor.

“Sir, I am… was, the commander of Planetary Councilor Anhalt’s security detail. I was in Buford just over an hour ago when he called me and asked me to bring some private documents from his office to the lodge here. I found them and drove here. I parked the ground car and as I was getting out, I heard a shot. I ran toward the lodge and just as I came to the verandah, I heard a second shot. I drew my pistol and entered the side door. There was the smell of gunfire coming from the library, I tried to turn on the light, but it didn’t work. I saw a body lying on the floor, and I caught the Captain-General trying to escape by the doors to the verandah. I gathered everyone together on the verandah and started to interrogate them when you arrived.”

Either in shock, or from the chilly air, the two women has started to shiver. The Inquisitor noticed this.

“It will be easier to finish this inside. All of you please go into the living area.” Two of his guards pushed ahead to check the room out and to make sure that there was no assassin lying in wait inside.

“Captain-General, go into the living area an sit down in a chair.” he said. He knew about Captain-General Huss, he was a political and military ally of the Imperial Commander and had been expected back from an inspection tour of Pleasant Hill to report to the conference tomorrow. From his reputation, the Inquisitor decided to leave him under Command. He could do without the comments of elderly outraged pseudo-aristocrats. If there was a complaint, let him complain to High Inquisitor Sigismondo and let the Captain-General find out what he thought of tin-pot officials on minor worlds. The Captain-General got up and moved inside slowly and stiffly. A seat has been left for him.

Inside the building, the layout seemed to be the same as his own lodge. A large central living area with doors out to the verandah on the lake side and an eating area at the back with a door to the outside in the opposite wall. At the front, on the left, was the library, also with a door out onto the front verandah, and another door opening onto a passageway connecting the living area with the side door. On the other side of the passage were the stairs up to the sleeping level, and the stairs down to the servant’s quarters. To the right front was the chapel. Instead of the usual shrine alcove, the lodge had a full chapel dedicated to the Emperor as Defender of Mankind, or at least the Inquisitor’s lodge did. The chapel also had a door to the right onto the side verandah. The back right corner of the lodge was occupied by a Lavatorium and a store room. The smell of a freshly fired gun hung lightly in the room.

“Proctor Paramedes, take a man and interview the staff.”

“Group Leader, show me the body.”

“The rest of you stay were you are, and don’t talk.” This was delivered in official Inquisitor tones which brooked no discussion or disobedience.

“Inquisitor, sir, the room is dark, you will need light’” the Group Leader offered. The Inquisitor motioned one of the remaining guards to go downstairs and bring up a lamp. The servant’s quarters in the Inquisitor’s lodge didn’t have the luxury of electric light, but instead relied on pressure combustion lamps. Quite efficient, but very primitive. The guard returned and handed the lamp to the Group Leader who then lead the Inquisitor into the library.

The library was very similar to the same room in the Inquisitor’s lodge. The books seemed to be the same, the Ikon of Purity of Thought the same, the desk the same. Over the side window the Inquisitor’s lodge had the head of a Zambuck, some sort of local animal. Here there was a large fish with too many sharp teeth.

From the glow of the lamp, the Inquisitor could now see that the electric light was not working because it has been destroyed by a shot. Then there was the body.

Lying on its side in a very large pool of fresh blood was the body of Planetary Councilor Anhalt. Very dead with a small entry wound in his back. He had been apparently sitting in his wheelchair when someone had shot him, confirmed by the hole in the back of the chair. The blanket over his knees had fallen away and the stumps of his calves were exposed, with the electro-stimulators attached, still working. The Councilor had been badly injured six weeks ago when his ground car was blown up in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. The conference represented his first return to public life since then.

The Inquisitor’s own stumps twinged involuntarily at the sight. He remembered well the pain and operations when his own bio-implants were done. It has taken him painful and laborious weeks to learn to walk again. It was the waste of time that had bothered him the most. The Heretics who were responsible, he had personally tracked down and captured. After he had Examined, Interrogated and Corrected the first one, he realized that he would lose his Soul if he continued, and handed the job over to others. He muttered a brief prayer of Forgiveness for his continuing anger at them. Anger Clouds Judgment.

On the floor beside the body was a bolt pistol, and from the look of the magazine, two bolts were missing. As the Inquisitor moved to get a closer look, he could see the bloody ruin of the body’s chest. Yes, he was very dead. With a nod, the Inquisitor motioned the Group Leader out of the room and back into the living area.

“Who are these others, Group Leader?”

“The peasant Kourinos was the Councilor’s servant.” The young man made to speak, but a glare from the Inquisitor halted the action between his brain and his mouth. Norcross may be a backward world, but the Inquisition was known and feared, at least in the civilized parts. “The two ladies are Citizen Else, Councilor Anhalt’s wife, and Citizen Beatrice his daughter.”

“My sympathies ladies, Councilor Anhalt is dead. He has been murdered.” Both of them muttered a silent prayer which the Inquisitor was unable to recognize.. “Citizen Else, what can you tell me about the last few hours”

“We finished eating about an hour ago, my husband said that he had some work to complete tomorrow so he went into the library. I went out onto the verandah with Captain-General Huss, we talked about his trip to Pleasant Hill, his family, he’s my second cousin, and things in general. He then went inside, and a short time later I heard two shots, they seemed to come from inside the library. I waited a moment, then went over to the door to see if Hermann was all right. I met the Captain-General coming out at pistol point to Group Leader Wilmer. He started to interrogate us. I don’t think that he knew who Captain-General Huss was.”

“And you saw no one else go into the library or leave the library while you were out here?”

“No, no one,” she replied firmly.

“Thank you, you have been very helpful, you have my sympathies. Your husband was a credit to Norcross.” The Inquisitor made a personal note to add another prayer of Forgiveness for this untruth, but the needs of the widow’s soul came before his own. Despair was one of the Eight Evils by which corruption could attack, and the Inquisitor’s duty was to give it no chance. To the daughter he said.” What can you add to this?”

“Nothing, I’m afraid. When the meal was finished Da was wheeled into the library. I went into the chapel to pray for Guidance and Grace. I don’t know how long I was praying. I heard two shots, I waited in the chapel and then I went into the living area. There I met Andros, I mean Citizen Kourinos. We were talking when that man,” she looked that Group Leader Wilmer, “ ordered us all out onto the verandah.”

As she had been speaking, the Inquisitor noted the slight frown which appeared on her mother’s face, and the look of relief given by Citizen Kourinos. It was from such small clues as these that the Truth was revealed.

Proctor Paramedes returned from downstairs, but the look on his face showed that he had no great new information. The joy of success was as visible on him as the grief of failure. And grief it was this time.

“A family, my Lord,” he replied to the Inquisitor’s questioning look, “the cook, the butler, and the maid their daughter. They were cleaning up the dishes after the meal when they heard two shots, separated by a couple of seconds. They stayed downstairs, and no one went downstairs before me. They say that they don’t know anything. I believe them, but I am not an expert.”

“Check upstairs thoroughly Master”, said the Inquisitor, so the Proctor motioned two of the guards to follow him upstairs.

Everyone else in the room, with the exception of the wooden Captain-General turned their attention to Citizen Kourinos. A young and handsome man, who was also very, very afraid. Like an animal at night he was transfixed but the Inquisitor’s gaze.

“What can you tell us about the murder Citizen Kourinos?”

He might have been scared, but his fear was not abject.

“I am not a servant or a peasant, I am a trained healer. I was assigned by the Imperial Commander himself to help Councilor Anhalt recover from his injures.”

“We are all Servants of the Emperor,” admonished the Inquisitor.

“Caused by those filthy Isolationist terrorists, “snarled the Group Leader.

“I had nothing to do with it. My loyalty has been proven. I submitted to a Grade II Examination before I was assigned to the Councilor. The Inquisitor can check his records. I am trained to save life not take it. If I wanted to kill the Councilor, I could easily make it look like natural causes.”

“If he died in your incompetent care, you would have been Examined all right. The Department of Safety would have had you as the first suspect. This way there is more doubt.”

The Inquisitor normally took a very dim view of people interrupting his conversations without good reason, but in this case it served him well to let the Group Leader talk. The more spirit he could extract from Kourinos, the greater the range of emotions he would have and the easier it would be to detect untruths. The Inquisitor ‘s look commanded Citizen Kourinos to continue.

“After the meal, Councilor Anhalt has some work to do to prepare for tomorrow and to incorporate some of the Captain-General’s recommendations. I wheeled him into the library and waited. He sent me upstairs to get some papers and some notes from the control console. Before he started to work properly I checked his stumps and the electro-stimulators and he dismissed me. I then went up to my quarters and completed my notes.”

“You are lying,” spat out Citizen Else. “Your room is beside ours and I could see the window from the verandah. Unless you can read and write in the dark, you were not there. I saw the light to our room go on twice very briefly, so you were not there either. Murderer!!!”

The Inquisitor did not like lies, detested liars, and hated those who wasted his time with a passion. With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he adopted his formal INQUISITOR persona. He seemed to grow in stature, his glance changed from merely transfixing to soul baring. This gaze had killed men before. Citizen Kourinos was brave, but not strong enough. His spirit suffered a heavy blow and he folded in on himself weeping.

“It’s true, I was with him,” sobbed Beatrice. “I love him, I love him” They embraced each other for comfort, but it was difficult to tell who was comforting who.

Love was another thing that the Inquisitor had very little time for. The Ecclesiarchy taught that the love between a man and a woman was one of the small ways in which the Glorious and Ever-living Emperor shared his beneficent sprit with Mankind. From the Inquisitor’s experience, it more often seemed that this love was a trap set by one of the Foul Gods of Temptation, apparently benign, but ready to corrupt and destroy the soul at any time. The Ecclesiarchy had Faith, the Inquisitor had experience.

This explained some of the looks earlier in the questioning. She loved the healer, infinitely below her class. He may well love her. The mother suspects and is against it as would be the father, presumably. Without his permission nothing would be possible.

The Inquisitor turned his attention back to the sobbing girl. His demeanor did not change.

“Yes, I lied.” She gulped, the Inquisitor’s attention fortifying her rather than weakening her. ” After the meal I went into the chapel, but when Andros has finished with Da, we went upstairs to talk.” The snort and look her mother gave spoke volumes, but the Inquisitor believed her. Of course, he had believed her the first time too. “We were up there talking when we heard two shots. We rushed down into the living area. There were some noises from the library. The Group Leader then ordered us out onto the verandah.” The gestures and nods contributed by Citizen Kourinos supported this version of the truth. The looks on the faces of both the Group Leader and the mother suggested the first two suspects should Citizen Kourinos accidentally stab himself several times in the back with a lancet. In fact the burning look of hatred from the Group Leader suggested other possibilities too. The Foul Gods of Temptation at work.

Proctor Paramedes returned from his search of the upstairs. It was fruitless.

The Inquisitor need a little more information. One of the disadvantages of Imperial hypno-conditioning is that the subject is aware at all times, even when under control. It is his free will that is suppressed, not his senses or intelligence. They will answer only the questions asked. The Inquisitor displayed the Mark of Ease, and the Captain-General slumped into his chair his jacket gaping open and his corset showing..

“Captain-General, are you sure you saw no one leave the library after the second shot?” the Inquisitor asked quickly before the Captain-General could muster the full forces of his indignity. The Captain-General was not used to being treated this way and expected more respect. Of course, the Inquisition treated everyone this way. After a brief struggle, Duty overcame Indignity.

“No. No one came into the living area, no one went downstairs, no one went upstairs. I couldn’t see the library door or the side door, someone could have gone that way.”

“Why did you try to go out onto the verandah?”

“I heard someone turning the handle. I thought they were trying to close the door. I wanted to catch them. Else was outside. I was trying to force the doors open when Wilmer told me to stop.”

The Captain-General spoke as if he paid for his words by the second, very quickly and very briefly.

“Force them open?”

“Yes, it seem that they hadn’t been used much and they were jammed.”

“So,” mused Inquisitor Brake,” the killer didn’t go out of the side door.” Group Leader Wilmer nodded, “they didn’t go out onto the verandah,” Else nodded, “ they didn’t go into the living area,” the Captain-General nodded, and we know that they didn’t go upstairs or downstairs.”

“That makes it clear then”

Who is the killer? How does Inquisitor Brake know?

Citizen Beatrice, the smitten daughter

Citizen Else, the grieving wife

Captain-General Huss, the testy old soldier

Citizen Kourinos, the handsome healer

Group Leader Wilmer, the unfortunate bodyguard

Unlike the previous story, there is a butler, but he didn’t do it.