Fortune's Fools by Paul Tomlinson

Author:Paul Tomlinson [Tomlinson, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paul Tomlinson
Published: 2017-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Lieutenant Walcott strode through the marketplace. Behind him, two Guardsmen marched with Lord Eòghan’s murderer between them, holding his arms, urging him to keep pace. A second pair of Guards brought up the rear, armed with sword and crossbow: their uniforms were still wet.

It was almost a week since Eòghan’s body had been found. Every day, the town crier had stood in the market place and announced that a reward was offered for information that would lead to the assassin’s capture. And every evening, Walcott and his men moved through the dockside bars questioning known thieves and informants. But despite all this, there had been no word about the fool’s whereabouts. Until this morning, when a boy came pounding on the Guard House door.

The boy had been given a silver coin to deliver a message to the Guard, giving the name of Lord Eòghan’s murderer, and telling them where he could be found. Who sent you here? the boy was asked, but he had been promised another silver piece if he did not say who sent him. And a sound thrashing if he did. Neither veiled threats nor bribery would loosen the boy’s tongue.

Lieutenant Walcott had been annoyed at having been called from the bed he was sharing with one of the tavern wenches. Dressing quickly, he had called together a dozen of his men. Four were sent to search the murderer’s rooms; and the rest went with him to the spot where they had been told Anton Leyander himself would be found. Walcott had suspected there would be an ambush waiting, so he and his men had walked with swords in hand. But the courtyard behind the Siren’s Head and its new-built theatre had been all but deserted.

The boy had assured them that Leyander would appear soon after sunup, but there had been no sign of him. Walcott questioned one of the other actors, determined to learn the killer’s whereabouts. When the boy had named Anton Leyander as the murderer, Lieutenant Walcott had been agitated: the last thing he needed was for Captain Sheldrake to discover he had questioned Leyander previously and allowed him to go free. He must be found and arrested, and quickly.

Walcott had sent men to Leyander’s lodgings, and given orders for Varian to be found and arrested: he would be questioned as brutally as necessary to get him to give up Leyander’s whereabouts. As it had turned out, Anton Leyander had delivered himself into their hands. More or less. The chase along the dockside was something else that Sheldrake did not need to know the detail of.

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