Dread Murder by Gwendoline Butler Read Free Book Online

‘I have something I want you to look after.’ Carefully, he handed over to Tosser the basket and a bundle – two bundles, in fact, bound together into one – they were the limbs that had been sent to the Major.
    â€˜To bury?’ Tosser had performed this service before. Always charging, of course. Nothing came for free in Tosser’s world.
    Except death. That very often came when you were not expecting it, in Tosser’s experience.
    â€˜No, not yet; just to keep somewhere chill and quiet.’
    â€˜It’s dead then.’ Tosser spoke with gloomy foreboding. ‘What is it then? A baby?’
    â€˜Not exactly. No need to go into that. Just keep it safe for now.’ The Major turned to leave.
    â€˜Not a baby, then,’ thought Tosser, meaning to open up the bundle and take a look inside as soon as he was alone with it.
    â€˜Don’t dig into them, Tosser!’ called out Mearns over his shoulder as he left. ‘I shall know!’
    Tosser was silent – and cross.
    â€˜And if you do feel you must look, then wash your hands afterwards.’ Mearns warned.
    â€˜You’re in a mood,’ said Tosser. ‘In love again, are you?’
    â€˜I’m never in love.’
    â€˜Saw Mindy with Felix down by the river.’ Tosser, no
longer able to stay silent, was still cross.
    Major Mearns marched off with a straight back.
    Tosser summed up the situation. ‘He’s jealous of Felix and Mindy. Know the signs,’ he said to Willy Wish. ‘Seen it before. Makes him bad tempered.’ He gave Willy a slap on the shoulder. ‘Let’s eat the stew, then have a look at what Mearns has left us.’
    â€˜He won’t like it.’
    â€˜Shan’t tell him. Thinks he can give orders, Mearns does.’
    They ate quickly, both of them hungry and both curious to see what the Major had left with them.
    â€˜Do you trust him?’ Willy Wish had his mouth full, but he got the words out.
    Tosser thought about it. Finally he decided, ‘Well, you have to.’
    â€˜You don’t think he’s killed someone?’
    Tosser thought again. ‘He could have.’ He knew something of the Major’s military career (gossip passed freely inside and then out of the Castle), and guessed what he would do to defend the King. ‘He’s a soldier.’
    â€˜It’s his job? But not all the time and everywhere, Tosser.’ Willy was earnest. ‘Even soldiers can’t just kill.’
    â€˜He works for the King in his Castle,’ said Tosser with the air of one explaining much.
    Willy gave a nod. ‘Have you ever killed anyone, Tosser?’
    Tosser considered what to say. ‘Not sure. Might have done. A fight. But I think he got over it. Think I saw him in the market.’

    â€˜It was a man?’
    â€˜You don’t kill women,’ Tosser said simply.
    â€˜Oh.’ Willy considered again. He thought he could have killed a woman if he felt obliged to. ‘I think you are a nicer man than I am.’
    Silently, the pair went outside to the courtyard where the parcels lay.
    â€˜He wanted us to have them,’ said Tosser.
    â€˜You do look after the dead.’
    â€˜Only till they are buried …and not in bits. It’s been years since we’ve looked after oddments. And then it was a suicide in the Great Park that the foxes got at.’
    â€˜Let’s see what we’ve got.’
    Silently and with some care, the two men unwrapped the bundles.
    The legs came first; by this time the flesh was blue and swollen – decay had set in.
    They stared, then passed on. You cannot, after all, identify a dead leg. One of the stray dogs that hung about the mortuary, forever in hope, began to howl.
    Without a word between them, they went on to the round object in the basket, which proved not hard to undo.
    The face stared back at them, swollen, stained with decomposition, the lips twisted. Willy did not