Part 11 (1/2)

*Thank you,' said the monk, shaking off his melancholy. He held up a letter. *But this is why I'm so pleased to see you. I have something for you.'

*For me?' Alys said in surprise.

*It's addressed to both of you.'

*Who could be writing to us?' wondered Golde, taking the missive.

*The servant belonged to the lady Adelaide's household.'

*The lady Adelaide?'

*Open it, Golde,' urged Alys.

*No, you take it,' said the other, pa.s.sing it to her. *You spoke to the lady Adelaide last night. I didn't.' She gave a wry smile. *Though I heard a great deal about her from my husband. Ralph sat next to her.'

Alys broke the seal. *I'll see what she says.'

*I'm sorry that you missed the banquet, Brother Daniel,' said Golde.

*So am I,' he replied. *But I hear you had an uninvited guest.'

*Richard de Fontenel. It was his steward whose corpse you found.' She saw the astonishment on Alys's face. *Good news or bad?'

*Excellent news,' said Alys. *We've been invited to visit the lady Adelaide.'

*Alone or with our husbands?'

*Oh, alone. She makes that quite clear.'

Eustace Coureton had no intention of being excluded from the investigation of the two crimes. He plied Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret with searching questions about their visit to the manor house of Mauger Livarot. *What sort of man is the lord Mauger?'

*The kind that no sensible person would trust,' said Ralph. *Behind that leering smile of his was a selfish, cunning, deceitful man who'd stop at nothing to gain the upper hand over a rival.'

*Not even at murder?'

*No, my lord.'

*Then he could be the culprit?'

*I didn't say that. The lord Mauger is certainly capable of stabbing a man to death, though he'd be more likely to thrust the blade into his back than his chest. But I don't think he's guilty of this murder. He looked too surprised when he was told about it. Too surprised and too peeved.'

*Why was that?'

*He felt cheated out of the pleasure of killing Hermer himself.'

*Is that what he told you?'

*I read it in his eyes.' Ralph told Coureton in detail about the interrogation of Livarot and the old soldier took it all in, nodding sagely throughout. When the recital was over, he turned to Gervase.

*Do you have anything to add to that?'

*Only that I'm also convinced that the lord Mauger didn't commit or instigate the murder. It came as a welcome bonus to him. We could see that. As for the theft of the gold elephants, however,' reflected Gervase, *I'm not so sure. The lord Mauger may well be implicated there. So might Drogo.'

*Drogo?'

*His steward.'

Ralph gave a snort of disgust. *A wizened little weasel of a man.'

*He was too knowing,' said Gervase. *Too s.h.i.+fty, artful, sure of himself. He and the lord Mauger are well matched. They'll be subtle advocates when they appear before us to ratify their claim to the disputed property. We'll have to watch them like hawks.'

*We will,' vowed Ralph.

*I look forward to meeting them,' said Coureton. *But I'm glad you mentioned the theft of those elephants, Gervase. In pursuing a killer, the sheriff has rather lost sight of the earlier crime. His efforts are concentrated on solving a murder.'

*He believes that the two crimes are linked,' said Gervase.

*All the more reason to look more closely into the first because that may lead directly to the second. I thought that the sheriff's deputy was investigating the theft,' Coureton went on, *but when I spoke to Olivier Romain earlier, he told me he was riding out to the lord Richard's estate again to look for clues relating to the murder.'

*That won't please the lord Richard,' commented Ralph. *Nothing is more important to him than the return of his precious elephants. And we all know why. They're the bait for the lady Adelaide. What a hideous choice confronts her!' he said, pulling a face. *Richard de Fontenel or Mauger Livarot. She wouldn't be selecting a husband. She'd be choosing between death and d.a.m.nation.'

*The lady Adelaide may reject both,' said Gervase.

*That's her business,' said Coureton. *Ours is to do what we can to solve two crimes that are holding us back from the work that brought us here in the first place. To that end, I think that we should go hunting.'

*For what, my lord?'

*Elephants.' He leaned forward to explain. The three men were sitting at a table in the hall over a light meal. Ralph had a cup of wine in front of him; Gervase and Coureton had opted for ale. The latter's voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper.

*I had a long talk with Olivier Romain,' he said. *He admitted that he'd made little progress in solving the theft of those gold elephants. But he had stumbled on one promising fact.'

*What was that?' said Ralph.

*A year ago, the lord Richard employed a man who worked hand in hand with Hermer as his a.s.sistant. They got on well at first. Then they fell out. Hermer had the man dismissed and he went off swearing that he'd get his own back.'

*On the steward or on the lord Richard?'

*On both.'

*Who is the fellow?'

*His name is Starculf.'

*Then why hasn't he been questioned?'

*Because there's no sign of him,' said Coureton, frowning. *Starculf left the area months ago and hasn't been seen since. The sheriff's deputy looked everywhere and the search will continue. Starculf not only had a reason to steal, he had a motive to kill.'

*Also,' said Gervase, thinking it through, *he'd be familiar with the estate. He'd know his way around extremely well. If he was Hermer's a.s.sistant, he might even have had keys to the house.'

*Apparently, the lord Richard spoke very harshly of him. He flew into a temper at the very mention of Starculf's name.'