Old Gao thought long and hard before he gathered up the slurry, wrapped it loosely in cloth, and put it in a pot, which he filled with water. He heated the water on the brazier, but did not let it boil. Soon enough the wax floated to the surface, leaving the dead bees and the dirt and the pollen and the propolis inside the cloth.
He let it cool.
Then he walked outside, and he stared up at the moon. It was almost full.
He wondered how many villagers knew that his son had died as a baby. He remembered his wife, but her face was distant, and he had no portraits or photographs of her. He thought that there was nothing he was so suited for on the face of the earth as to keep the black, bullet-like bees on the side of this high, high hill. There was no other man who knew their temperament as he did.
The water had cooled. He lifted the now solid block of beeswax out of the water, placed it on the boards of the bed to finish cooling. He took the cloth filled with dirt and impurities out of the pot. And then, because he too was, in his way, a detective, and once you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth, he drank the sweet water in the pot. There is a lot of honey in slurry, after all, even after the majority of it has dripped through a cloth and been purified. The water tasted of honey, but not a honey that Gao had ever tasted before. It tasted of smoke, and metal, and strange flowers, and odd perfumes. It tasted, Gao thought, a little like sex.
He drank it all down, and then he slept, with his head on the ceramic pillow.
When he woke, he thought, he would decide how to deal with his cousin, who would expect to inherit the twelve hives on the hill when Old Gao went missing.
He would be an illegitimate son, perhaps, the young man who would return in the days to come. Or perhaps a son. Young Gao. Who would remember, now? It did not matter. He would go to the city and then he would return, and he would keep the black bees on the side of the mountain for as long as days and circumstances would allow.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“The Bone-Headed League” © 2011 Lee Child. First appeared in A STUDY IN SHERLOCK, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger. Reprinted by permission of the Darley Anderson Literary Agency.
“This Thing of Darkness” © 2011 Peter Tremayne. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of A. M. Heath.
“Big Guy” © 2012 Paul Johnston. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Broo Doherty Literary Agency.
“The Conspirators” © 2010 Christopher Fowler. First appeared in CRIMEWAVE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Squeaky” © 2011 Martin Edwards. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Fists of Destiny” © 2011 Col Bury. First appeared in MANCHESTER 6. Reprinted by permission of the author
“Nain Rouge” © 2012 Barbara Nadel. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The King of Oudh’s Curry” © 2011 Amy Myers. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“London Calling” © 2011 Ian Ayris and Nick Quantrill. First appeared in CAFFEINE NIGHTS. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
“The Curious Affair of the Deodand” © 2011 Lisa Tuttle. First appeared in DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS, edited by
George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” © 2011 Steve Mosby. First appeared in OFF THE RECORD, edited by Luca Veste. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Stardust” © 2011 Phil Lovesey. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“He Did Not Always See Her” © 2011 Claire Seeber. First appeared in GUILTY CONSCIENCES, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Method Murder” © 2011 Simon Brett. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent, Michael Motley.
“The Man Who Took Off His Hat to the Driver of the Train” © 2011 Peter Turnbull. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Together in Electric Dreams” © 2011 Carol Anne Davis. First appeared in GUILTY CONSCIENCES, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Last Train from Desprit” © 2011 Richard Godwin. First appeared in MEDIA VIRUS. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Message” © 2011 Margaret Murphy. First appeared in GUILTY CONSCIENCES, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Tea for Two” © 2011 Sally Spedding. First appeared in RADGE-PACKET. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Safe and Sound” © 2011 Edward Marston. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Confession” © 2011 Paula Williams. First appeared in WOMAN’S WEEKLY. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Ten Bells at Robbie’s” © 2011 Tony Black. First appeared in CRIME FACTORY. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Wilkolak” © 2010 Nina Allan. First appeared in CRIMEWAVE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Who Killed Skippy?” © 2011 Paul D. Brazill. First appeared in NOIR NATION. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Inheritance” © 2011 Jane Casey. First appeared in DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS, edited by Declan Burke. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“A Memorable Day” © 2012 L. C. Tyler. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Laptop” © 2011 Cath Staincliffe. First appeared in BEST EATEN COLD, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Blood on the Ghat” © 2011 Barry Maitland. First appeared in THE CANBERRA TIMES. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Vanishing Act” © 2011 Christine Poulson. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Betrayed” © 2011 Roger Busby. First appeared in eBook format. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Turning the Tables” © 2011 Judith Cutler. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Handy Man” © 2011 John Harvey. First appeared in AMBIT. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Invisible Gunman” © 2011 Keith McCarthy. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Golden Hour” © 2011 Bernie Crosthwaite. First appeared in GUILTY CONSCIENCES, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Habit of Silence” © 2011 Ann Cleeves. First appeared in BEST EATEN COLD, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Unknown Crime” © 2011 Sarah Rayne. First published in GUILTY CONSCIENCES, edited by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Ladder” © 2011 Adrian McKinty. First appeared in CRIME FACTORY:THE FIRST SHIFT, edited by Keith Rawson, Cameron Ashley and Jimmy Callaway. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Hostess” © 2011 Joel Lane. First appeared in CRIMEWAVE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Come Away with Me” © 2012 Stella Duffy. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Bedlam” © 2011 Ken Bruen. First appeared in CRIME FACTORY:THE FIRST SHIFT, edited by Keith Rawson, Cameron Ashley and Jimmy Callaway. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“4 a.m., When the Walls Are Thinner” © 2010 Alison Littlewood. First appeared in CRIMEWAVE. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Case of Death and Honey” © 2011 Neil Gaiman. First appeared in A STUDY IN SHERLOCK, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent, Merrillee Heifetz at Writers House.