A Lethal Shade of Blue by priscilla abbott

Author:priscilla abbott [abbott, priscilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

In spite of her own previous suspicions, Emma was still shocked. "You mean the sheriff was the murderer? The person chosen to enforce the King’s law is the person who broke it?"

The abbot laughed bitterly. "How do you think he came to be sheriff?" he said. "I will guarantee you that it was not through obeying the law. It was through learning how to find information about people in power and persuade them to grant him positions of authority in return for keeping silent. However, I will have to allow him his patience. He never asked for a favor until he needed it. Meanwhile he would make it clear that he was willing to offer assistance in any other type of endeavor that might further place you in his debt."

“What did he know about you that got you into his debt to start with?” asked DuLac.

Julian merely looked at DuLac. “You of all people should know the answer to that question.”

But DuLac wanted the details and the abbot, too tired to argue any longer, told the old, old story about a young neophyte from a good family that the abbot seduced. The young man told his family who in turn told the sheriff.

As the abbot continued to talk, Emma drifted off to her own thoughts. "I have been such a fool,” she thought. "All those kindly but authoritative conversations with the sheriff where he told me to stop investigating the murder because I was embarrassing my family! He even implied I was putting them at risk!"

Suddenly she was back in Joan’s home holding her head and watching the expression on her face as the sheriff came into the room. “No wonder she looked like she recognized him!” Emma thought. “He was the murderer! And no surprise that he got there as fast as he did that day she lay dying. When Giles told him about the shoe, the sheriff must have been in the worst panic of his life trying to get to her before she told people anything.”

Emma again felt saddened by how her clumsy handling of the situation had resulted in Joan’s death. And now, sitting in the abbot’s parlor, she was doubly resolved to bring the sheriff to justice.

She was still upset when Brother Thomas returned with the message and handed it silently to the abbot. As expected the broken seal was that of the Bishop of Durham. As silently as Brother Thomas had handed it to him, the abbot handed it to DuLac. Inside was a cryptic message saying “Cursor occidere nolite timere bonum est". Emma reading over his shoulder translated the Latin to herself, "Do not fear to kill the messenger; it is good."

"What a message!" she said. “I understand why you chose to keep it. Even though it is not signed, it is clearly the seal of the Bishop."

The abbot nodded. "You are correct" he said. "If ever the murder was traced back to me, I planned to have a way out. While

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