Cruel As the Grave Read Online Free Page B

disappeared behind the bed curtains.
     
    Luke was in need of clothes, too, wearing nothing but a towel hastily snatched up and strategically draped. Fixing Justin with an accusatory gaze, he said, "What are my chances of getting back to bed tonight?"
     
    "Not very good," Justin admitted, and Luke swore, then retreated behind the bed to pull on his discarded tunic and chausses, returning to prowl the chamber in search of his boots, all the while grumbling about a sheriff's lot and how rarely he got to pass a full night in his own bed. Justin paid his harangue no heed, for the deputy's irascibility was more posturing than genuine ill will. Sitting down wearily upon the settle, he closed his eyes.
     
    "Got it," Luke said triumphantly, holding up a boot. "I do hope you have a damned good reason, de Quincy, for making me put these back on."
     
    Justin opened his eyes. "I followed one of John's men from London. He is bearing a message I must see. Can you help me?"
     
    "I assume there is more to this than satisfying your curiosity," Luke said wryly. "Do you know where this messenger is or must we scour the city for him?"
     
    "I trailed him to a bawdy house in Cock's Lane, and since he told their groom to bed down his horse in their stables, it is safe to assume he plans to spend the night there."
     
    Luke had to concede his reasoning. "There are several bawdy houses in Cock's Lane. Can I trust you to find your way back to the right one?"
     
    Justin took no offense at the sarcasm. "Well, there are worse fates than searching one bawdy house after another," he joked, and at once regretted it, for Aldith had emerged in time to hear. She was too well mannered to berate a guest in her home, but the look on her expressive face left no doubt that she was not pleased at the prospect of her lover's taking a tour of the town's brothels. Justin was sorry to cause her any distress, for she was not only good-hearted, but one of the most desirable women he'd ever met. "I know the house," he assured her hastily, "and we'll be able to pluck de Vitry from his soft nest and haul him off to the castle in no time at all."
     
    Aldith's smile was stilted. "I'll wait up for you, Luke," she said pointedly.
     
    Luke shrugged. "Lock the door after us," he instructed Aldith, grazing her cheek with a kiss too casual to give her much reassurance. "Let's go, de Quincy."
     
    Justin bade Aldith farewell and followed Luke out into the night. Although neither man would have admitted it, they were pleased to be working together again, sharing a familiar excitement, one common to hunters everywhere. The chase was on.
     
    ~~
     
     
    Prostitution was illegal as well as immoral, much deplored by the Church but tacitly tolerated by city officials as a necessary evil. The fact that brothels were often owned by respected citizens, even churchmen, made it all the more difficult for the law to close them down. The bawdy houses of Winchester could not compare in size or scope to the more infamous brothels of Londonthe Southwark stews. The one chosen by Giles de Vitry was a two-storey wooden structure, gaudy even in the moonlight, for it had been painted a garish shade of red. Light gleamed through the chinks in the shutters and the door was opened at once by a painfully thin maidservant with huge hollow eyes and a fading bruise upon her cheek. As soon as they were ushered inside, a matronly woman in her forties came bustling over, ready to bid them welcome. Justin guessed correctly that this was the bawd. Her smile faltered as Luke stepped within the glow cast by a smoking rushlight.
     
    "Master de Marston, this is a surprise," she said, her voice flat and toneless. "Surely the neighbors have not been complaining about the noise again? I can assure you that we have taken your warnings to heart. You'll find no drunkards or troublemakers here. We'll take no man's money unless he is sober, civil, and old enough to know what he's about."
     
    Luke played the game,