The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr Read Free Book Online Page A

speak of.
    Wilfred was a tall man, who could walk quickly without appearing to do so. Moments after he entered the inner gatehouse, he reappeared. “Lord Gilbert will see you,” he puffed, “in the solar. The chamberlain awaits you and will take you there.”
    I told Lord Gilbert what I had learned. “You have no doubt of murder?” he queried.
    “None. She was killed, and put in your cesspit to hide the crime.”
    “Would it not have been easier,” Lord Gilbert wondered aloud, “for her slayer to have buried her in the country hereabouts? There is much uncultivated land now, since the plague. This place was once called Bampton in the Bush for its wild situation. The bushes are reclaiming what was once theirs, I have so few tenants and villeins to work the land.”
    “I have considered that,” I replied. “Were I the killer, I would seek the easiest, most secure place to dispose of the body. Why would your castle be more convenient, or more secure than, let us say, the nearby forest?”
    Lord Gilbert scratched the stubble on his chin. It was an affectation I had seen before when he was lost in thought. “Perhaps whoever did this evil was more familiar with my castle than with the surrounding country.”
    “Perhaps,” I agreed.
    “Or,” he scratched again, “she was killed here and to remove the body would risk discovery.”
    “Do folk enter the castle grounds without someone, Wilfred or Arthur or John, or you, knowing of it?” I asked.
    “No. Except, perhaps, at market time. The town is overrun at the Feast of the Assumption. We sometimes find folk wandering through the gate, usually so drunk they think themselves at the inn. And, of course, some poor reside in the forecourt huts.”
    “But such as these,” I asked, “do not pass the inner gate?”
    “Not any more! Wilfred is scrupulous about his duties, as well he might be. He fears yet I will put him in the fields for his defective horsemanship.” Lord Gilbert chuckled: “Wilfred will be a loyal servant for all that.”
    “So if she was killed inside the castle, the deed was done by someone who did not arouse suspicion for being here.”
    “I do not like to think of that,” Lord Gilbert admitted. “I fear she was done to death in my castle.”
    “I agree.”
    We remained silent with our thoughts for a moment, then Lord Gilbert put voice to my reflection.
    “She was smuggled in, then?”
    “Aye. But could that happen if she was unwilling?”
    “If she was given a potion?” Lord Gilbert mused aloud.
    “Possible. But would it be easier to enter the grounds with a supine body, or with one awake and alive?”
    “I see your point,” Lord Gilbert attacked his chin once again. I began to fear he would draw blood. “Someone connived with this girl to get her past the porter.” He pursed his lips. “There is likely but one reason for that.”
    “I think so,” I agreed. “An assignation gone wrong. Will you commission your bailiff to find the killer?”
    “I cannot. He died the week after Rogation Sunday. I have not yet appointed his replacement. John expects to receive the position, but I mistrust his ability in that post.
    “This death is a stain on my name,” he continued. “For such an evil to befall a lass under my roof! Master Hugh, I would have you search out the assassin.”
    I was speechless. “But m’lord…I have no skill in such work. I do not seek out the unseen. I deal with things visible. I am but a surgeon, not even a physician.”
    “Who brought the girl to my castle?” he asked. “John Holcutt, perhaps?”
    “You think so?” I was surprised at the suggestion.
    “No. The reeve is a good man. But do not even good men sometimes shelter malignant thoughts?”
    “They do,” I agreed. “Even our Lord Jesus was tempted, as the apostle tells us.”
    “May not evil thoughts become deeds if unchecked?” Lord Gilbert asked.
    “They may.”
    “Then you must seek out a murderer for me. We are agreed, I think, that one