Cast in Time 05 - Earl of the Marches by Ed Nelson

Author:Ed Nelson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Count Arne wanted to arrest Neilsen immediately.

"What we have is circumstantial evidence. While it points strongly by logic at Neilsen, we have nothing like an eyewitness or hard evidence like finding him at the scene of a murder with a bloody axe in his hand."

I continued, "Now is the time to talk to the young man with the telescope."

Arne replied, "I will send for Anker Pederson."

It only took fifteen minutes for the young man to appear. He was tall for his reported age, medium build with blue eyes and blonde hair. Your typical Jutlander or Viking. He appeared nervous, so I spent a few minutes asking why he had a telescope. It wasn't the normal item for a teenager in this time period.

"My Uncle gave it to me when he stopped sailing. He said he no longer had a use for it, and I might find some amusement. I do like to look at the moon and stars."

"Why were you looking in the direction of the tower that night?"

"I saw a flash of light from a lantern, and it irritated me as it hurt my night vision. Nothing is ever over there in the dark, so I wondered what was going on."

I turned to Count Arne, "Do we know why Bjarne was up on that tower in the middle of the night?"

"No one seems to know."

Turning to the young man.

"I would like you to picture in your mind what you saw that evening."

"Count Bjarne had the lantern in his hand and was starting down the steps when a man rushed behind him and shoved him over the edge."

"Can you describe this man?

"That is easy. He is one of the priests who just arrived from Rome. I saw them come through the village when they arrived two months ago and almost daily in the town square. Everyone talked about how they never talked to the local priests or tried to reconvert people to their faith."

"You know we are no longer members of the Catholic Church but the Church of Cornwall."

"Yes, My Lord, my father is pleased we are saving two silver a week."

"So, you saw one of the Catholic priests push Count Bjarne off the wall of the watchtower."

"Yes, My Lord."

"Arne, this is why you can't convict on circumstantial evidence. We had a logical theory, but a credible eyewitness had shown it to be false."

"I have some thoughts, but before we discuss them, we need to have Anker dictate it to a scribe, and we will sign it as both hearing what is written is what he said. This becomes part of a deposition, which we can use in court. That way, we don't have to expose Anker in court."

"Where can we put Anker to keep him safe?"

"He will come to Cornwall with me. Also, Eric's widow and her son Hagar will be joining us."

Turning to Anker, "We will bring your parents here in the morning and explain to them what is happening and why."

"Good, they will wonder when they wake up and I'm not there.

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