The Chapel of Bones: (Knights Templar 18) by Michael Jecks Read Free Book Online Page A

twisting and rocking the metal until it slipped sideways and sat in the narrower recess. Pulling on it, he said, ‘The space at the top of the hole is too small to allow the base of this iron bar to be pulled out. While it stays in the hole, the rock is secured to this piece of metal.’
    ‘And how would you – um – retain it there?’ the Dean enquired.
    ‘A two-inch thick wedge. It fits into the wider slot and prevents the bar from sliding sideways, which would allow the rock to fall. Except some fool today forgot to put the wedge into its hole.’
    ‘Are you sure? That is a – ah – serious allegation, Brother.’
    ‘If it wasn’t there, the iron could move, and then the rock would fall,’ Stephen said, folding his arms. ‘As it did.’
    ‘It was an accident, I say,’ the Master Mason repeated. ‘I saw my man setting the rock ready, and he’d already taken off the first three courses from this wall. He knows his job.’
    ‘You weren’t there to watch?’ Stephen asked.
    ‘No, but I know Tom. He’s no fool.’
    ‘Who else did see him?’ Stephen demanded.
    The Master Mason stared at him from lowered brows for a moment, then he glanced over his shoulder. ‘Your vicar there,’ he said at last. ‘He saw it. He was up there with Tom.’
    ‘Matthew, come here, please,’ the Dean called.
    The Clerk of the Fabric Roll looked as though he was still suffering from shock, but that was only to be expected.
    ‘I was up on the scaffold, Dean,’ Matthew began. ‘It was terrifying. I thought we must all die when it fell …’
    ‘Why did this wedge of iron move in its slot? Did you see?’
    ‘Yes. The rock was ready to be hoisted just as the others were, and it seemed solid enough. But I think that the iron block you’re holding there, Treasurer, is so heavy that it dropped and slackened in its slot. The hole in the rock, perhaps, was not the right size? For whatever reason, I think that the wooden wedge holding it in place got loose. Then, when we were about to lift the stone and swing it from the wall, the wedge was squeezed out. Instantly, the iron block moved sideways and the rock was released. When that happened, all that restrained it was the rope about it, and that wasn’t strong enough.’
    ‘There – ah – Stephen,’ the Dean said. ‘It was an accident. Very sad, I am sure. We must do something to honour this poor fallen hero. He was here to help us complete our great work, and has died trying to see our vision realised. It is a terrible thing to have another death on our hands.’
    The Master Mason Robert rubbed his forehead. There was something about these canons that raised his hackles. The Dean seemed to walk about in a daze most of the time, while the Treasurer watched Robert as though expecting him to take off with the church plate. ‘Dean, we’ve been very lucky so far. We’ve had very few deaths,’ he said tiredly.
    ‘Which is how I want it to continue,’ the Dean shot back, and the Master Mason was surprised to hear how sharp his voice suddenly grew.
    ‘Now – ah – Stephen. Please see to it that this poor fellow is cleaned up and made a little more presentable. We shall – ah – hold a service for him,’ Dean Alfred said, his affable manner returning. Then, with a quick look down at the ruined body. ‘Perhaps we should buy a small coffin.’
    ‘Certainly won’t need a big one,’ Robert muttered under his breath with a look at the half-sized corpse before him.
    Thomas was relieved to be able to settle the woman in her hut with her children and three of her female neighbours to look after her.
    There was nothing he could say. His only consolation was, he had done all he could. At least poor Sara had been informed now. It would have been cruel to leave her unsuspecting. Thomas had seen that before on other building sites where the Master Mason was less caring than Robert, and widows had been left without even the courtesy of a message to tell them of their husband’s