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

who frequents the castle has done this. I might choose that man, unwittingly, to seek out the murderer. I believe all my servants incapable of such a crime, yet I am certainly wrong.”
    “I will do as you ask,” I sighed. “I held the girl’s bones in my hands and felt sorrow, and anger, too. Who was this lass? And what did she do to merit such a death? Did she laugh, and love? Was she a wife and mother? I think not, for I believe she was too young, but would she have become such? I would know the answers to these questions, as you would, m’lord. But I will tell you straight, I fear my ignorance of such probing as will be required will undermine my endeavor. And perhaps a clumsy question may give warning to the killer.”
    “Perhaps. But I have observed you at your work this past month. It may be you underestimate your abilities. Where, then, will you begin?”
    I thought for a moment: “I think the first work must be to discover who the victim is…was.”
    “Sensible. How will you do this?”
    “I must think on it. She was not from Bampton, you are certain of that?”
    “Aye,” he nodded agreement, pulling again at his chin.
    “My guess is that she came from a village close by. She did not arrive here alone, I think, and if she came from some great distance, why?”
    “You will need a horse,” Lord Gilbert declared. “I will direct John to have the marshalsea keep a horse ready for you. Whenever you are free to visit another town in your search, call here for the beast. When will you begin?”
    “Today,” I shrugged. “No one has done anything foolish or dangerous recently, so my skills are not presently required.”
    “You could visit Aston, and Cote, today, and return before nightfall.”
    “I know Aston,” I remarked. “A reasonable place to begin.”
    “A horse will be ready within the hour. I shall notify Thomas de Bowlegh. We will bury the remains tomorrow.”
    “I would not,” I answered.
    “Oh?”
    “If God grants grace to my labor, and I find the girl’s family, they will want her close by. And perhaps further study will yield another clue to this mystery.”
    “Hmmm…yes. As you wish. And Hugh,” he said as I turned to go, “do keep me acquainted with the progress of your search.”
    “And if there is no progress, must I inform you of that, as well?”
    “You are wrong to disparage your competency.”
    “I esteem your opinion. I will return for the horse when I have dined and viewed the bones again.”

Chapter 4
     
    I returned to Galen House and took a maslin loaf and a cold capon breast to the toft where I had, perhaps unwisely as I think back on it now, left my table and its bony burden. I worked my way about the table while I ate, seeking some new knowledge. None readily appeared. I washed down my meal with ale purchased from the baker’s wife, who brewed tolerably well.
    After several loops of the table I was no wiser. I set my cup on the cobbles and decided to make one more thorough inspection of the bones before I set off for Aston and Cote. I began with the skull. Had I started at the feet, I might have been home before dark.
    I will explain. The skull told me nothing but what I already knew. This was a young person, surely female, who had yet no wisdom teeth, although on close inspection, the rear of the jaw showed just the beginning of a tooth erupting. The long bones and the scarred rib yielded no further clues. At last I reached the feet, and the few small bones which were recovered. There I found what I sought. This girl had broken her foot. Which foot I could not know. One of the metatarses showed sure evidence of a fracture, now poorly healed. This was not much of a clue, but how many maids have broken a foot?
    My outlook improved with the discovery. I returned to the castle with more optimism than when I had left it two hours earlier. I exchanged greetings with Wilfred and set off across the yard to the marshalsea. I did not get there; not straight away.
    As I