Late for the Wedding by Amanda Quick Page A

years
    ago had obviously been very personal for him. Her intuition flared.
      Tobias, were you acquainted with this person before you learned
    that he murdered people for money? Did you consider him a friend?"
      There was a time when I would have trusted Zachary Elland
    with my life. In fact, there were occasions when I did precisely that."
    The stark admission told her everything she needed to know.
      I am so sorry." She touched his shoulder.   How terrible it must
    have been for you to discover the truth."
      It was our bloody friendship that kept me from seeing the truth
    for so long." The hand resting on his thigh tightened in a gesture of
    self-disgust.   He counted on that connection. He used it in the
    vicious game he played with me. He even pretended to help me
    investigate the killings."
      Tobias, you must not talk as if you failed. You solved the case."
    He paid no attention to her. Instead, he gazed out over the moon
    lit woods beyond the gardens.   Crackenburne introduced us. He had
    been watching Zachary at the gaming tables because he knew that
    we needed someone skilled at cards for a particular investigation.
    He also sensed that Elland had the sort of temperament that would
    make him useful as a spy. Zachary enjoyed taking risks."
      I see." She kept her hand on his shoulder, trying to give him some
    wordless comfort.   I still do not understand why all this concerns
    you so intimately, Tobias."
      I regret to say that I may have been the one who was responsible for setting him on the path that led him to become a murderer
    for hire."
      Sir, that is outrageous." Shocked, she gripped his shoulder very
    tightly. You cannot possibly mean that you are to blame for the fact
    that your friend became a killer. That is utter nonsense."
      I only wish that were true. But the fact of the matter is, the first
    entries in his journal were dated shortly after he and I began to
    work together."
      Tell me what made you conclude that you had a hand in turning
    him into a killer."
      I was his mentor. I taught him his craft as a spy. I was the one
    who gave him his assignments." Tobias exhaled deeply.   He certainly
    had an aptitude for the work."
      Go on."
      On his second assignment, there was an incident. I should have
    paid more heed."
      Describe this incident," she said crisply.
      I had set him to follow a man we suspected of having a direct link
    to a ring of traitors. According to Zachary, his quarry spotted him
    and pulled out a knife, intending to murder him. Zachary told me
    later that he was forced to defend himself. He killed the man and got
    rid of the body in the river. At the time there was no reason to question his version of events."
      Pray continue."
      Zachary acquitted himself well in that investigation and was
    eager for more of the same sort of work," Tobias said.
      Crackenburne's highly placed friends in the government were
    extremely pleased. The death of the traitor certainly did not bother
    them. I was told to give Elland other tasks."
      Were there more such deaths?"
      One more that I was aware of. Again, Crackenburne's friends in
    the government agreed that it was a clear case of self-defense, and
    since the man who died was a killer himself, no one shed any tears.
    There may have been two other such incidents. I will never know for
    certain. Zachary did not admit to them, and no one wished to
    conduct an investigation."
      Because the deaths were convenient for the government?"
      Not only that, they resulted in the acquisition of vital French
    military and shipping intelligence." Tobias hesitated.   I have often
    wondered if Zachary acquired a taste for the business of murder
    during that time when he served as a spy."
      But what happened after Napoleon was defeated the first time?"
      Zachary went back to the gaming tables. He seemed to be doing
    rather well for himself. Our paths separated. We met on occasion in
    the clubs, but for the most part we saw