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“I’ve no idea. The matters of Gaius’s sheep did not concern me.”
“Didn’t Leonie being here concern you given what you’ve said about Steffane’s… erm… appetites? Did you want Leonie gone?”
“It mattered little to me if she was here or not. I barely noticed her. The child stayed in her room most of the time. A loner, where Steffane was the life and soul of every party. A silly insipid thing. She had been with us for nearly three years by the time Steffane returned home. They only knew each other a few months and she was not at all to Steffane’s liking, I had thought. Had I known what would happen, I would have insisted she live elsewhere.”
I stifled a sigh. I needed suspects other than Steffane. Someone else who would have wanted Leonie dead. Or someone who wanted Steffane out of the way and had not cared how they did it.
“Rodrigge doesn’t seem to like Steffane much,” I commented.
She smiled as if this was amusing. “Rodrigge was always jealous of his brother. Rodrigge was the elder, desirous of his father’s good-will and attention, but Gaius favored Steffane. One doesn’t like to speak ill of one’s child but Rodrigge always lacking in… well… everything.”
“Like what?”
She gave a snort of contempt. “Strength, charisma, intelligence, looks, women. When he finally got that Marielle interested in him, he was desperate to keep her. She comes from the powerful Zamas line of vampires. He was so proud, flaunting her at Steffane to make him jealous. Steffane had his fun flirting with Marielle but he wasn’t interested really. He just liked to goad his brother. But Rodrigue was so afraid he would lose her that he begged for Gaius to turn him into a vampire. He thought it would solve all his problems. He thought it would make him like Steffane, poor thing. It did not.”
I frowned. “You mean that Rodrigge was still a sanguith back then?”
“Yes.” She seemed irritated, like I ought to have known this. “That night was Rodrigge’s turning ceremony. Did you not read your case file notes?”
“Apologies,” I said smoothly. “I should have recalled. Can you tell me your recollections of that night?”
She waved a careless hand. “Things fade in the memory. We had soirees all the time back then. Gaius loved to entertain. This was just another one of those.”
“But you said it was Rodrigge’s turning ceremony. Wasn’t this one special?”
She gave a contemptuous little smile. “I suppose for Rodrigge it was. Steffane spent the whole evening baiting his brother. There was much drinking and dancing. I am afraid that Steffane may have indulged a little in his magically enhanced narcotics. Otherwise I am sure he would have never have lost control of himself.”
That was interesting. That must have been why Steffane had insisted that he could not remember much of the latter parts of night’s events, including Leonie’s murder. To the investigators and court it must have seemed like he was lying. I would have liked to ask Storm about that, but I had no intention of mentioning this interview to Storm.
“Do you remember what Leonie was up to that night?”
Audriett shrugged carelessly. “She was helping the caterers as she always did during the soirees. We had human guests to keep fed, and the girl was keen to earn a little pocket money before she left for university.”
“Did you see her alive after the rest of the guests had left?”
“I don’t recall, but someone must have. The guests had definitely all gone before Leonie was murdered. Our sheep always made sure the house was emptied of guests and securely locked up at the end of our soiree events.”
“Were your family’s humans — your sheep — at the party?” It grossed me out to address people as their sheep.
“Of course not,” she said. “That would have been dis
tasteful for our other human guests.”
“Was Marielle still there at the end of that night?”
“Yes, she was staying with us for the summer ever since she and Rodrigge got engaged the month before.”
“And how did Marielle get along with Steffane and Leonie?”
Audriett pursed her lips as if remembering something irksome. “Marielle was friendly with Steffane at first but turned against him quite suddenly. Rodrigge always tried so hard but women don’t like over-eagerness in a man. Steffane was so much more desirable. I believed that Marielle might have tried to catch Steffane and he spurned her advances. He would flirt with her only to goad his brother. She turned sour on him after that. She was never good enough for either of my sons, but Rodrigge wouldn’t hear of it. I never thought they would last, but here they are, still together six years later.”
It looked like Marielle had been right about her mother-in-law not liking her much.
“Do you think Marielle might have killed Leonie?” I asked.
“Impossible,” said Audriett. “How I wish it were true that Steffane was innocent and that he could come home, but the boy always was good at playing his games with people and now he is playing one with you. Nobody else could have gotten into his chamber that night. Nobody else killed Leonie. It was him.”
Chapter 12
