The Saint by C.J. Archer

Author:C.J. Archer [Archer, C.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2014-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

The three bodies were laid out on the floor in the barn. They were dirty, having been buried in a shallow grave in one of the fields, and covered in dried blood. Their throats had been cut.

"Looks clean," Cole said, inspecting Paxton's wound. "I'd say a—"

"What are you doing?" Lynden cried from the entrance.

So he'd finally decided to join them. Edward had begun to think he wouldn't show at all. Lynden might have been the Justice of the Peace for the valley, but he didn't seem too eager to see dead bodies. Indeed, he looked quite horrified. So much so, he'd forgotten to cover his nose and mouth with his handkerchief.

"We need to determine how he was killed," Edward explained.

"That's a matter for the coroner."

"The coroner won't be here for days, Cousin," Elizabeth said. "There's no harm in having a look in the meantime."

Edward eyed her as she bent over one of Paxton's men. Despite ordering her to remain behind, she'd followed Edward's example and untied one of the roaming horses. She'd ridden astride all the way to the barn, easily keeping apace with Edward and Cole. The ferocious pace they'd set hadn't deterred her. From the way she peeled back the bloodied cloth around the dead man's neck, she didn't seem particularly deterred by blood and violent death either. Edward had to admit that he was impressed with her mettle. Most women would recoil at the sight, and some men too. He looked to Lynden.

"No harm!" the baron gasped, incredulous. "Elizabeth, don't touch him! It's disgusting."

"On the contrary. It's interesting," she said. "I've never seen such a deep cut before. There is quite a lot of blood too." She indicated the splattered clothing.

"There'll be even more on the ground where they died," Cole told her. "Wounds in the throat tend to spurt rather than flow."

Lynden gurgled and pressed his handkerchief to his mouth once more.

Edward was about to tell his friend to shut his mouth about the particulars, but Elizabeth wasn't the least bit pale. She seemed intrigued. She asked several questions about the stiffness of the body, the size of the wound and the possible weapon that could have caused it.

Cole's answers had Lynden running from the barn, his face as green as pond slime.

"I'd say a dagger rather than a sword," Edward said, taking another look at Paxton's injury. "The wounds aren't so much gashes as stabs."

"So whoever did it would have blood over their clothing," Elizabeth said. At Edward's raised brow, she came up to him, imaginary dagger raised, and stabbed him in the throat with it. "If a wound in the neck spurts blood, I would be covered too."

Edward tapped the right side of his neck. "The wounds are here, not on the left. You're right handed, as are most people. Standing in front of me would mean you stab my left side, but standing behind me, you'd stab me on the right." He took her shoulders and turned her round. He swept the silky wisps of hair off her neck and placed his palm on her throat over the imaginary wound.

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.