Lucifer's Crown by Lillian Stewart Carl

shows no drugs and only a trace of alcohol in Vivian Morgan's body. There are, however, petechia, broken blood vessels, in her eyes, and very faint bruising about her mouth and nose."
    "She was suffocated?” asked Maggie.
    "It seems likely.” Jivan cradled the warm cup between his hands. “The pathologist also found signs of sexual activity, whilst the forensics chaps turned up three sets of footprints entering the Abbey grounds from Chilkwell Street."
    "Three sets?” Thomas asked.
    "One set matching Morgan's slippers crossed a muddy patch in the choir. That was overlaid by the prints of a shoe or boot in a larger size, which was overlaid in turn by the prints of a man's heavy shoes. They—he—stood there for a time."
    "So even if the man Rose saw was Calum Dewar,” said Maggie, “someone else was there, too. A voyeur? Maybe a jealous one?"
    Thomas bit his lip. Even though he was quite sure who Rose had seen, offering that intelligence would change the topic of conversation from “who did it?” to “how do you know?” Neither would it explain Dewar's role, about which he had only implications of guesses.
    "Morgan was seen at Baltonsborough Sunday night,” Jivan went on. “The Willow Band, a neo-pagan group that meets here to celebrate the old Celtic holidays—law-abiding citizens one and all—were interrupted by a dozen or so members of the Freedom of Faith Foundation. A respectable organization, Maggie. You have similar ones in America."
    "Oh yeah,” she said dryly. “We do."
    "Neither side will admit to starting off the violence. Some of the Foundations were carrying cricket bats and the like, but only to defend themselves from the ‘unbelievers,’ as they say."
    "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,” Thomas murmured, and caught Maggie's caustic glance. “Was anyone injured?"
    "Bumps and bruises. The Willows say the Foundations were after bashing their vases of flowers and such like. The Foundations say the row wouldn't have happened at all if the Willows had listened to reason.” Jivan drained his cup. “Vivian Morgan was there at the start of the Willow ceremony but no one remembers seeing her after the row began. Two people have tentatively identified Calum Dewar amongst the Foundations, but no one remembers seeing him during the row, either."
    "I overheard him trying to talk her out of going,” said Maggie. “Maybe he took her away before things went downhill, to protect her."
    Thomas refilled Jivan's cup. “Speaking of protection, have you considered the implications of Vivian's knife, Jivan? Assuming she had one, of course."
    "Maggie said something about iron protecting one from evil spirits."
    "The iron-working Celtic invaders,” she replied, “called the indigenous bronze-working population of Britain the little people, the ancient ones. They were conquered by iron, so iron fended off their magic. The tradition survived Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman invasions well into Christian times."
    Jivan nodded. “Some of those old Celtic stories are similar to the ancient Sanskrit texts of India."
    "Both being survivors of the original Indo-European culture,” Thomas added. “You're thinking Vivian tried to defend herself with the missing knife, either literally or symbolically."
    "There's no way of knowing. Not yet."
    "Not yet,” Thomas repeated, and went on, “Alf tells me the Dewar lad is coming here. Good—I'd like to speak with him."
    "The Salisbury force wants to take his statement, as well. Calum and Morgan were there Saturday, touring the area. Calum booked his hotel room for Sunday as well, but never turned up. We found a guidebook from Old Sarum amongst Morgan's possessions, with a brochure for the Foundation tucked inside. The tour guide says several Foundation members were there warning the tourists off pagan festivals."
    "Old Sarum,” said Maggie. “That's one of the places I'll be taking the kids. But it's only open on the weekends this