For the Love of Old Bones - and other stories (Templar Series) Read Online Free Page A

water, and I swallowed and retreated before the accusing finger Edward pointed at me. He had been waiting with Sir Baldwin’s sergeant; obviously the knight had sent his man to fetch the tranter so that he could accuse me in this way. In the middle of the street, mark you!
    ‘What do you mean by pointing at me? Do you dare to suggest —’ I blustered, but the man leaned forward and spat at me.
    ‘ Look at him, Sir Baldwin, a noble knight he’d have you believe, but he’s a murderer of women! He has his wife at home, but he desired this young girl, so he swore his vows to her and enjoyed her nuptial bed, and then deserted her. And now he’s murdered her to stop her spreading word of his faithlessness and deceit!’

    The Dean was kind. He refused to allow the inquest to continue until I had drunk a full pint of wine, and I gratefully swallowed the jug in two draughts. I hadn’t expected my secret to be so speedily discovered. When I had drunk, the Dean sat on a bench and Sir Baldwin motioned to his servant, who walked from the room - I thought to fetch more wine - before speaking.
    ‘Now, Edward, perhaps you could tell us why you made your accusation?’ Sir Baldwin was seated in the Dean’s own chair across the table from me, the purse and ring before him, and I could almost feel his look, as if his eyes were shooting flames at me.
    ‘I knew the girl. Her name was Emily, daughter of Reginald, a merchant in Tiverton. I used to have dealings with her father, and met her at the inn yesterday afternoon. She was tired, but thrilled to be here in Crediton, and I asked her if her father was with her. She went quiet at that, and said he wasn’t. I pressed her, but she wouldn’t say much, only soon she admitted she’d married a man by exchanging vows, but her father wanted her to wed someone of his choosing, and she left home rather than tell him what she’d done.’
    The Dean nodded. ‘If the two exchanged vows, the marriage was legal and valid, even if they did not have the banns read or have a priest witness their nuptials.’
    ‘Yes, it was valid, sir, except she confessed that her lover was the Coroner, and this Coroner of ours is married, with a daughter. I realised immediately what had happened. Emily was a beautiful girl, Sir Baldwin. Any man would be proud to possess her, and this one wanted her all the more because she wouldn’t satisfy his lust without a legal marriage. So he swore to her, and took her, and left her. And yesterday I had to tell poor Emily that he was married. She was desolate. Can you imagine it? Her lover had lied; she had lost her maidenhead to a man who could never be hers. For him she had forsaken her father and her family.’
    ‘What do you say to this, Coroner?’ Sir Baldwin demanded.
    ‘It’s rubbish! How can you trust to the word of a man like this? I . . .’
    The blasted tranter cut me short. ‘Sir, another thing is, this Coroner met her while he was in Tiverton performing the inquest on a girl who’d been stabbed in the market.’
    ‘You cannot suggest that I had anything to do with that,’ I cried. ‘Christ’s pain! It was two days after the murder that I arrived in town!’
    ‘You were there all the time,’ he countered, ‘staying with the de Courtenay family at the castle.’
    It was true, and there was no way I could deny it with conviction, but I still appealed to Sir Baldwin. ‘Sir, you must believe me when I say that I had nothing to do with this murder! I couldn’t have killed the poor girl. I loved her!’
    That brought a chilly comment from the Dean. ‘And what of your wife, Coroner? What of her whom you should have loved before you ever perjured yourself to this poor child?’
    ‘Dean, I loved her! My wife and I have been married for years . . . You can’t understand, your vow of chastity has emasculated you, but a man like me can love many women and . . .’
    ‘Enough!’ Sir Baldwin snapped. ‘There is no need for you to say more, it is clear