Death at King Arthur's Court by Richard; Forrest

said.
    â€˜That’s not right!’ Garth said in a strangled voice. ‘Thomas is a deconstructionist!’
    â€˜I can’t believe what I’m hearing,’ Ernest Harnell said.
    â€˜You two forced me into this position with your constant bickering,’ Morgan said. ‘If I appoint either one of you, the other would be most unhappy and even more disruptive than you are now. And besides, you are both traditional. It’s about time we joined the twenty-first century, and took a modern approach to literary criticism. Both of you are fighting age-old battles that were abandoned long ago. In Thomas we get a strong man from an excellent university with a voluminous publication history. Actually, you should both be grateful that the department has taken this stance.’
    â€˜You’re a sadistic son-of-a-bitch, Morgan,’ Ernest said.
    â€˜You’ve set us both up,’ Garth added; ‘You played one against the other while never intending to make it a true contest. You didn’t play fair with us.’
    Morgan smiled. ‘Is that right? Fair is what I say it is. You two seem to have forgotten that I’m the one who makes up the rules.’

Five
    â€˜Where did you find the sword?’ Rocco asked as they entered the stand of pine trees.
    Lyon pointed to a spot a dozen feet back from the cliff. ‘Over there. I woke up just about where I’m standing now.’
    â€˜I don’t see any blood on the ground,’ Rocco said. ‘Strange.’
    Lyon shivered as if a cold wind that reeked of must and decay had blown in from a distant place.
    Halfway back to the house, Rocco abruptly halted. He pointed at his patrol car parked in front of the main entrance. ‘Wasn’t Morgan’s RV about where the police cruiser is now?’
    â€˜That’s right. And Ernest Harnell’s Ford was next.’
    â€˜The other cars that arrived later were parked in a line down the drive directly behind the RV?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Lyon answered.
    â€˜Which means that Morgan’s vehicle could not have been moved in any direction during the evening without extracting it from that minor traffic jam.’ It was a statement and not an assumption. ‘And you’re sure you saw Morgan close the RV’s door and punch numbers into the door’s combination box before he came to the patio?’
    â€˜Yes, we all saw him do that.’
    â€˜An action that would have relocked the door,’ Rocco mused. ‘Which means that, while you were all on the patio, no one could have sneaked into the RV to wait for Morgan’s return. Any intruder would have to posses the combination.’
    â€˜Yes,’ Lyon agreed as they continued toward the house.
    â€˜If we assume that possibly you didn’t knock Morgan off with Excalibur, we seem to already have at least two other suspects.’
    â€˜Garth and Ernest?’
    â€˜Yes, although it’s difficult to believe that someone who could write The Gentle Americans could murder someone with a cleaver that size. I’d put Garth down for poison, Derringer or stiletto, but it boggles the mind to picture him waving around an instrument as destructive and bloody as a broadsword.’
    â€˜Garth can turn his personality around according to the way he reads the circumstances. I’ve seen him do it countless times. He’ll exhibit a certain behavior with me or in a classroom, and then he pushes some sort of mental button to turn himself “on” when he wants to provoke Ernest. I wouldn’t make that sort of generalization about the man, Rocco. The appearances are deceiving. During the last war, Garth served as a platoon leader in a rifle company for the First Cav. He won a Purple Heart and Bronze Star and finished his tour as a first lieutenant commanding his company.’
    â€˜And Ernest was leader of an A team in the Green Berets?’
    â€˜Actually, Ernest was a corporal who taught