The Canterbury Murders Read Online Free

scurrying for refreshment, while Gilles de Laubrec and Miles de Laxton, following behind them, directed the men-at-arms to help themselves from the ale barrels situated at the back of the room, and then accompanied Clare and Gianni to seats at a table near a capacious fireplace filled with blazing logs.
    The hall had a Spartan atmosphere, bare of any ornamentation, and a staff consisting entirely of menservants. Rushes covered the floor and a couple of large mastiffs sat by the door with ears pricked and watchful eyes. Nicolaa noticed that there were extra men-at-arms on duty here in the hall, one standing at the entrance to each of the corner towers, and two more at the door.
    â€œI presume, since you are here, that the king landed safely,” she remarked to the earl, “but it would seem that the garrison has been placed on alert. Did you have some trouble from the French during the crossing?”
    â€œNo, we made a safe passage from Rouen to Barfleur with no sight of them at all, and our departure from the port went as planned,” he replied. “The weather was a little rough; a winter storm arose that drove one of the two ships in our company off course in the direction of Plymouth, but our vessel and the other one made a safe landfall at Dover.” He paused for a moment before adding, “It was only after the king arrived in Canterbury that an incident occurred to give cause for alarm.”
    Nicolaa waited for him to explain. “I do not have all of the details of the happening,” he continued, “for I am staying at the guesthouse in the cathedral priory and did not learn of it until I arrived here this morning, but was told that one of John’s servants, a washerwoman, was murdered last night, and in a room adjacent to the chamber that John and Isabella were occupying.”
    â€œSweet Jesu,” Nicolaa exclaimed. “Did this happen here in the castle?”
    â€œNo, the king and queen took up residence in the royal townhouse on Stour Street when we arrived two days ago,” Marshal said. “It was there that the woman was killed.”
    Nicolaa knew of the building of which the earl spoke from a time, many years before, when she had come to Canterbury in the company of her father and they had visited the townhouse when it had been occupied by John’s late father, King Henry II. It was a large three-storied building situated on the banks of the Stour, the river which spanned the western side of the city.
    â€œIt was a brutal killing,” Marshal said grimly. “The woman’s throat was cut, and so severely that it nearly decapitated her. She was, apparently, in the midst of preparing the king’s bath when the attack took place.”
    â€œAnd was the murderer apprehended?”
    â€œUnfortunately not,” the earl replied. “There have been guards on watch at the townhouse since John and Isabella arrived—men from the mercenary contingent that accompanied us from Normandy—and they are most insistent that it was not possible for an intruder to have slipped past them. This would imply that the culprit must be someone in the household but, of course, if any of the guards were slacking while on duty, they are not going to admit it, especially as their captain had already felt the full brunt of the king’s wrath for failing to keep a secure watch. So the possibility of an intruder remains.”
    â€œIs there any indication of the motive for the crime?” Nicolaa asked.
    â€œThe king believes that the washerwoman forestalled an attack on himself and the queen. Fearful for Isabella, he has taken her, and her two attendants, back to Dover, and will leave them there until he feels it is safe for her to return. He told me to expect him back in Canterbury sometime this afternoon.”
    Nicolaa digested the information and then said, “Do you believe John’s premise is