01 - Murder in the Holy City by Simon Beaufort

Author:Simon Beaufort [Beaufort, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Good morning, Sir Geoffrey,” bubbled Maria Akira, flouncing up to him. “I did not know you were partial to cakes, or I would have brought you some.”

“I like cakes,” announced Roger loudly.

Maria looked up at him and giggled. “Then I shall see you have some next time.”

“Next time?” queried Melisende, finding her voice. “What is going on? Maria?”

Maria smiled prettily, while Geoffrey watched the exchange with interest.

“Maria is a favourite of all the knights at the citadel,” said Roger, making Maria blush modestly. “She works at Abdul’s Pleasure Palace on Friday nights.”

“And every other Saturday,” added Maria helpfully. “When I have time off from working for Mistress Melisende.”

Melisende’s jaw dropped, and Geoffrey began to laugh. Maria, ever fun-loving, laughed too, but Roger was unsure where the humour lay.

“Maria is very good,” he protested valiantly. “One of Abdul’s best. All the knights agree!”

Melisende’s jaw dropped further still, and she gazed at Maria in stupefaction. Geoffrey laughed helplessly, while Roger remained confused.

“How could you?” Melisende managed eventually, although whether her comment was addressed to Maria for being a prostitute, or to Geoffrey for laughing at her discomfiture, was unclear. “I no longer require your services,” she said coldly to Maria, before turning abruptly on her heel and striding away.

“No!” Maria was horrified. “I need this job! Abdul can only keep me two nights a week at most. What will I do?” She watched Melisende’s upright figure striding away down the alley, her dainty hands clasped at her throat. Maria gave Roger a hefty shove in the chest which made no impact at all. “This is your fault!” she wailed, and turned and fled.

“Catch her,” said Geoffrey to Roger, still struggling to bring his laughter under control. “Bring her back. I will talk to Mistress Prickly.”

With long strides, he caught up with Melisende who had made good progress down the alley, away from the market. She was rigid with anger and shock, and ignored him as he fell into step beside her.

“You should not abandon your shop,” he said gently. She stopped and spun round to face him, seeing the laughter still playing about in the depths of his green eyes, although his face was quite serious.

“Leave me alone! Every time you appear, trouble follows!”

“It is not my doing that your servant has other occupations in her spare time,” said Geoffrey reasonably. “As far as I know, she has worked for Abdul for several years. If this has not affected her service to you up until now, where is the problem?”

“Where is the problem?” she echoed in disbelief. She shook her head. “A typical Norman response! I am a respectable widow—or was. Now I have murders committed in my house, and I discover my faithful servant is a harlot in her spare time.” She turned from him, and Geoffrey saw tears glitter in her eyes.

“So that is not what Dunstan was blackmailing you about?”

She tipped back her head and took a deep breath. “No,” she said, once she had regained control of herself. “I was not being blackmailed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.