"However! Ysel Laverty discovered in the photographic record a figure sitting in the Old Arbor. It turned out to be Aries, wearing a primordial costume. It seemed certain that we had discovered the murderer. Aries admitted falsifying the record. Kirdy admitted that he had tolerated the falsification, on the grounds that he and Aries were both Bold Lions and so could do no wrong. Aries admitted going to the Mummers' wardrobe, which is in a warehouse close by the compound. He dressed in his primordial costume, then hurried to the Old Arbor to keep his appointment with Drusilla.

Kirdy was left to walk the patrol alone.

"Drusilla corroborated Aries' statement, more or less, though with out any firm conviction; in fact, she was drunk.

Still, they apparently watched the Phantasmagoria together, and it seems unlikely that Aries would have rushed from Drusilla's fascinating company to perform a set of outrages upon Sessily.

"As I checked the photographic record again, I saw Namour in his satyr costume stop outside the Arbor, look in through one of the arches and talk a few moments with someone sitting just inside. Namour, do you remember this episode?"

"No. I can't say that I do. It's a long time ago, and I had been drinking wine."

"I remember very well," said Aries with feeling.

"He laughed at my headpiece, which was not proper Bold Lion equipment.

He told me I looked like a toad in a fright wig. I explained that it was the best I could do at the moment, but he wouldn't listen; he was too busy cajoling Drusilla."

Namour chuckled.

"True. It all comes back to me. I remember well; it went just as Aries describes it."

"The time of this episode is shortly after the Phantasmagoria. Aries, like Namour, is removed from the list of suspects.

"So: what do we have? Bold Lions are here and there. Kirdy bravely marches his solitary patrol along the fence. Namour, after leaving the arbor, dances the pavane with Spanchetta.

Aries sits sulking in the Old Arbor. And there the situation has rested for years, while sweet innocent Sessily drifts away into memory.

"But in two minds, at least, the recollection stays fresh.

The murderer thinks of her often and so do I. For two months I sat in Zab Zonk's tomb, and I thought of many things. One special idea seemed interesting and surprising. We had searched the camera record carefully. When we found Aries we looked no further. At the time it seemed enough.

"That was the first crack in the case, because to make a long story short I looked further ahead in time. I discovered another skulking shape, and this one is the guilty skulking shape, beyond all doubt. He comes hurrying from behind the Orpheum a few minutes before midnight, and goes off half running down Wansey Way. He must be back on patrol before the next shift arrives.

"Floreste also jogged my memory, while he reminisced about the Mummers. He mentioned that Kirdy yearned greatly for Sessily, but in vain. Sessily would have nothing to do with either him or Aries. What of the patrol? Another idea clicked into place.- Kirdy once told me that he never obeyed orders which he thought foolish or useless. Kirdy had a grandiose vision of himself: he was unique, and set apart from ordinary rules and regulations. The order to patrol outside the Yip compound in Kirdy's mind was pointless and foolish. As soon as Aries left, Kirdy decided to go too. He followed Aries to the Mummers' wardrobe, dressed in the other primordial costume, and now he was free! He could do as he liked, unhampered by inhibition. And most of all he wanted to impinge himself upon Sessily--to acquaint her with his mighty lust and to punish her severely for what she had done!

"This seemed a good idea and he acted upon it. It was the most glorious moment of his life."

Glawen paused. Everyone looked askance at Kirdy, who sat like a stone.

Namour said abruptly: "All very well, and it's none of my affair, but where is your evidence?"

"He appears in the camera record," said Glawen.

"He is in a hurry to get back to the patrol and he is careless. So there we see him lumbering down Wansey Way in his primordial costume, and there is no mistaking him."

It is all a lie," said Kirdy.

"Every word is false."

"You admit nothing, then?" asked Bodwyn Wook.

"I cannot admit to a lie."

"And you performed the full stint of your patrol?"

"Certainly. Glawen has always been jealous of me, because I am who I am--a Wook of pedigree--while he is a born mongrel."

Bodwyn Wook spoke without intonation: "Larke Diffin, step forward if you please."

Namour spoke in a long-suffering voice: "If you are finished with me, I will now excuse myself."

Bodwyn Wook looked at Glawen: "Have you any further questions to put to Namour?"

"At this particular moment, no."

"You may go."

Without a word Namour departed the chamber. Ysel Laverty waited a brief period, then followed. Meanwhile Larke Diffin had come from the corner of the room where he had been sitting:

a blond young man of good address, tall and a few comfortable pounds overweight, with bristling mustaches and an air of confident affability.

Bodwyn Wook spoke to the chamber at large: "Everyone here, surely, is acquainted with Larke Diffin, who is a lieutenant of the militia. Larke came on duty at the Yip compound immediately after the shift which should have been kept by Kirdy and Aries. Lieutenant, repeat what you have already told me."

Larke Diffin pulled at his mustache and cast a troubled gaze toward Kirdy.

"I will report facts because they are as they are, and my telling will not alter them. On the occasion in question, the last night of Parilia, I came on duty ten minutes early, to make sure that I would not be late. I found neither Kirdy nor Aries at the patrol station;

however, to my surprise, I found that all the patrols had been signed and countersigned, which of course is strictly against regulations. The signatures certify that the patrols have been performed and clearly the last patrol had not yet been completed.

"A few minutes later Kirdy appeared, out of breath and seriously out of uniform; in fact he wore what I now know to be a primordial costume. He was taken aback to find me early, and embarrassed by my evident disapproval. He said that he had just stepped over to the Mummers' wardrobe for the costume, in order to save time. Aries, he said, had done the same.

"I found it impossible to be harsh during those last few hours of Parilia. I pointed out, as sternly as I could, that both he and Aries had falsified patrol certifications, which was most irregular. I remarked that I should properly report the occurrence, but since all was peaceful and no harm had been done, I would overlook the offense. That is where the matter stood, and I never thought of it again until Glawen questioned me. As I think back, Kirdy came in not from the direction of the warehouse, but from Wansey Way."

Glawen looked at Kirdy.

"Well, what of that, Kirdy? More lies?"

"I will say no more. I must go my way alone. It has always been me against the world."

Bodwyn Wook said abruptly: "That is all for today. This is not a formal hearing and you have not been arraigned. Still, do not attempt to leave the station. I will consult my associates and we will decide upon our procedures. I suggest that you find counsel to help you represent yourself."

Glawen lunched alone at the Old Arbor, then, with nothing better to do, sat quietly drinking what remained in the decanter of the wine, while Syrene moved across the sky.

The time became middle afternoon. Glawen could wait no longer. He took himself to the jail, where, without comment, Marcus Diffin admitted him to the cell.

Floreste sat at the table writing across sheets of orange paper, using black ink. He looked up and gave Gtawen a curt nod.

"I am just finishing." He inserted the papers into a heavy envelope, upon which he wrote: "Not to be examined until sunset!"