The Pardoner's Crime: A historical crime thriller featuring Robin Hood (Sandal Castle Medieval Thrillers Book 1) by Keith Moray

Author:Keith Moray [Moray, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2020-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

The journey to Kirklees Priory was uneventful, and they did not meet anyone on the road except for a couple of drovers and a meagre herd of cattle, and a group of what seemed to be professional beggars. They were able to travel quickly on their fresh mounts, yet warily in case of outlaws.

Eventually they came to a small valley. It was a fair sized Priory of the Benedictine order, consisting of the usual buildings: a chapterhouse, church and bell tower, dormitory, hospital and cloisters. They were met at the gatehouse by a young novice, who immediately arranged for an ostler to take their horses while she scuttled ahead to take them to Lady Katherine’s office, where she and Father Daniel were waiting.

‘This is an evil business, Sir Richard,’ the prioress said, wringing her hands, from which her rosary dangled. ‘Can I offer you refreshments after your journey?’

Richard declined for all three of them. ‘Murder is always evil, Lady Katherine. Pray let me see the body in the first instance, then we shall talk.’

Without further ado, Father Daniel led the way out along the cloister towards the far end of the quadrangle where the hospital block was sited. He opened the door of an outhouse and stood aside for Richard to enter.

The body of Albin of Rouncivale had been laid on the floor and covered with a blanket. Richard knelt and gingerly lifted the blanket to reveal the corpse, lying on its side with a bloodstained arrow through the throat.

‘We left the arrow in him,’ Constable Burkin explained, as he took the blanket from Richard. ‘I thought you might want to see how he had been killed.’

Richard nodded approval. Ned Burkin had seemed to him a hard-drinking sot, yet he felt that he showed potential. He returned his attention to the body.

Hubert leaned closer and scrutinized the dead man’s purple-mottled face. ‘He almost seems to be smiling,’ he observed drily.

‘But the poor fellow hardly had anything to be happy about, did he?’ Father Daniel queried.

‘The sardonic smile of death is common enough,’ Richard commented. ‘The muscles go rigid after death and pull the mouth into this leering grin.’

‘You don’t think that he could have been smiling at the moment of death, do you, Sir Richard?’ Hubert asked. ‘Could he have recognized his killer?’

Richard shook his head and straightened up. He turned to Father Daniel.

‘Why did you just say that he had nothing to be happy about?’

The nun’s priest shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. ‘I … I merely meant that he was in a quandary. He was accused of rape and on his way to an ecclesiastical court. And now look at him. Murdered like that.’

‘The constable here says that he claimed that he was innocent just moments before he was shot. He said that he called out to you and that he was explaining what the Pardoner had told him when it happened. Is that correct?’

‘Just so. But I never heard him, for the killer struck at that moment.

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.