01 - Murder in the Holy City Read Online Free Page B

remember that Goodrich Castle is in sore need of stone walls, and there is a fine ram in the next village he would like to own.”
    Hugh laughed softly, while Geoffrey crumpled the letter and thrust it into the fire. It hissed and sizzled, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney. Geoffrey leaned forward to prod at it, while Hugh replenished their goblets with the sour wine that Geoffrey had begged from the citadel’s cellars. Hugh allowed his long, graceful body to recline on the hard bed, and sipped carefully at the wine.
    “Devil’s brew!” he exclaimed, wincing at its sharpness. “Do you have nothing better?” He eyed his friend resentfully and placed the goblet on the floor. Geoffrey’s dog padded over to it with interest, but walked away in disdain after the briefest of sniffs. Hugh watched it, his fair hair flopping over one bright blue eye. “So, what did you do with this woman you arrested this afternoon? You were far from kindly with her!”
    Geoffrey shrugged, still poking the fire. “She seemed too shocked at Courrances’s murderous tactics for further conversation with me. I handed her over to the Advocate’s men. But then the Patriarch asked to question her because apparently two monks were murdered at the same time as Sir Guido three weeks ago. The Patriarch seems to believe that they may be connected. Since the Advocate is away in Jaffa, Melisende Mikelos was transferred to the Patriarch’s palace for questioning, and she will be brought back here to the citadel when the Advocate returns.”
    The Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre was the impressive title adopted by Godfrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who had been the leader of one of the Crusader armies that had left France to reclaim Jerusalem; now he was in overall command of the city. Meanwhile, the Patriarch—an ambitious Italian called Daimbert—was the head of the Latin Church in the Holy Land. There was a constant power struggle between these two men and their supporters, and knights like Geoffrey and Hugh often found themselves drawn into their disputes. Geoffrey’s lord, Tancred, and Hugh’s, Bohemond, both powerful leaders themselves, were firmly allied to the Patriarch, a fact that made the Advocate wary of knights like Geoffrey and Hugh, who lived in his citadel.
    “Why did you arrest this woman at all?” asked Hugh, breaking into Geoffrey’s thoughts as he, too, poked at the fire. “No one arrested the monks at the Dome of the Rock who found the body of Sir Guido of Rimini.”
    “I had the impression she was not telling the truth,” said Geoffrey with a shrug. “And poor John lay dead on the floor in front of her. Would you wish his murderer to go free?”
    “Of course not,” said Hugh soothingly. “You knew John much better than I did. But you must not allow friendship to cloud your judgement. What was he doing in her house anyway?”
    Geoffrey had been wondering the same thing, but said nothing.
    “You may have condemned her to death,” continued Hugh idly. “It is possible she had nothing to do with the death of John, as she claimed, but she may pay the price regardless.”
    “She was holding the murder weapon, Hugh. What woman would stride over to a dead knight—according to her an unexpected and most unwelcome guest on her bedroom floor—hoist the dagger from his back, and run outside with it?” Geoffrey stood abruptly and began to pace in the small room. As he walked, he was aware that his legs were tired and stiff from his exertions on desert patrol, and he knew that he should rest. He was exhausted by the constant need for vigilance and the sheer physical grind of walking in the heat wearing chain mail and surcoat. Most knights rode, but Geoffrey found horses unsuitable for patrolling in the ferocious heat, and so he usually walked with his men.
    “You are too inflexible in your thinking, my friend,” began Hugh. Anticipating a lecture, Geoffrey sat down and closed his eyes wearily.
    Hugh, undaunted by his