Jeri Westerson - Troubled Bones

He trotted down the steps. Alyson sat near the fire, a cup in her hand and a full jug in front of her. When she looked up, she motioned to him to join her.

“Your brow is furrowed for one so young,” she said and poured more wine into her cup and handed it to him.

His fingers brushed hers as he took it and tossed back the cup. She chuckled and poured another. “I’m not so young,” he said.

“You’re fifteen years my junior, I’ll warrant.” She eyed him up and down before raising her chin. “I’m five and two score and proud of it.”

He nodded. “You are a good judge. I am one and thirty.” He took another long swallow.

“I know my men,” she said. He handed the cup back to her and she sipped at it. But by the color rising in her cheeks and nose, he suspected she had the lead of him. When she handed back a full cup, he did his best to catch up.

“I heard about the other murder,” she said, leaning back. She ticked her head. “This pilgrimage has turned to a right nightmare. Ever since Cain brought murder to Mankind, there has been no peace.”

“How fares Dame Marguerite?”

Alyson sighed. “Poor lamb. She tries to bear up. Father Gelfridus is with her often and his presence gives her strength. But I do not know. Such a shock for one so young and innocent. But she will survive because of her faith.” She swirled the jug and smiled. “I strung her rosary for her. She was pleased to have it, but there was a bead missing.”

Crispin reached into his pouch and felt the lost bead at his fingertips. “Alas,” he said.

“It is no matter. She will work it out.”

He shook his head and brought the bowl’s rim to his lips. He drank and set the bowl on his thigh. “I came here to do a simple job. But it has turned to murder. And more.” He tilted his cup again and wiped the spilled wine from the side of his mouth.

“You have a haunted look about you. What more troubles you?”

“I do not wish to burden you.”

She elbowed him and smiled. Her face brightened with it and she leaned toward him, her ample bosom pressing against his arm. He inhaled her earthy scent. He could easily see how she acquired so many husbands. “Burden me. If not me, then whom? ‘When he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate.’” Her smile turned to a sad one. “And I am just as involved. It was I, after all, who dressed Madam Eglantine for her final reward.”

He sighed. The wine warmed his belly and added a soothing buzz to his head. He took another long swallow and allowed Alyson to fill the cup again. “I am weary of deceit. All of my life seems to be woven with it.”

She studied him over the rim of her cup. “I do not see your friend Chaucer here. You don’t mean him, do you?”

He set his mouth. He’d spoken too much already. “I implore you, madam…”

“Now, now. I’m growing quite fond of you. Can’t you see your way to using my Christian name?”

He smiled, weakly at first, then more boldly as she greeted him with her brash grin. “Alyson. And you must call me Crispin.”

“I shall. You were telling me?”

His smile faded. “You must be cautious of Sir Philip,” he said quietly. “He is a very dangerous man.”

She leaned in. “Is he the murderer?” Her words slurred but she didn’t seem to notice.

“He’s a scoundrel,” he said, or at least tried to, but the word “scoundrel” caught on his tongue. He stared at Alyson. “I beg your pardon, but I seem to be getting drunk.”

“There’s no need to beg my pardon, Crispin. I seem to be a bit drunk myself.” Her hand fell to his thigh and stayed there.

He looked down at it. When he glanced up again she had edged closer, so close, in fact, that her soft hip pressed warmly against his. He decided he liked the feel of it. “Alyson, are you trying to seduce me?”

“Bless me,” she said with a sultry chuckle, “if I were better at it you wouldn’t have to ask.”

Jack Tucker walked the longest mile of his life to the door of the Benedictine priory of Christchurch. The ancient door was tall, of dark oak, hewn and carved centuries before. Even its black iron hinges seemed impenetrable. Hanging just to the side was a bell rope and, with a trembling hand, he grasped it. With a murmured prayer to the Almighty and a curse to Crispin, he pulled.

He waited. One moment. Two. He listened to his heartbeat, surely loud enough for anyone to hear. Finally he heard feet approaching. He clenched his hands into fists, forced them down to his sides, and caught his breath just as a smaller door within the larger swung open.

“ Benedicte, ” said the monk in the doorway, eyeing Jack carefully.

“ Deo gratias, ” Jack gasped. He ducked his head in a curt bow but never let his eyes leave the monk. In a rush he said, “My name is Brother John and I come from the south to see the martyr’s shrine.”

The monk looked as if he would burst into tears. His mouth trembled and his eyes were already rimmed with red. “Of course you may enter, Brother John, but I fear you have come a long way for nought.”

He stepped aside, and Jack passed into the cloister. He jumped when the door slammed behind him and the monk locked it. He swallowed, but the hard lump in his throat wouldn’t seem to leave him. I should never have let Master Crispin talk me into this. I’ll foul it up. Aloud he said, “Why do you say that, Brother?”

“A great evil has come to Canterbury Cathedral, Brother John. A great evil. Death, heretics. You would do well to leave this place immediately. I fear God is raining His justice upon us.”

Jack didn’t know what he should say to that and was reprieved from a hasty comment when another monk rushed around the corner. He stopped short when he spied Jack.

“Brother Arthur, you are wanted. Who is this?”

“Father Cyril, this is Brother John. I tried to tell him he has come at a wretched time-”

Cyril grabbed Arthur’s arm and pulled him aside. “What have you told him?” he hissed.

“Only that evil dwells here now,” he sighed miserably.

Cyril frowned and pushed him forward. “Fool. Keep silent.” He stared at Jack while Arthur shuffled away. “Some of our brothers here know no discretion. I hope you are better schooled.”

Jack bowed, not knowing what to add. It seemed to be the right response. Cyril’s lids were drawn low over his eyes, and his aristocratic nose arched over a small pursed mouth. He gestured for him to follow. “I will take you to the prior. Of course we will give you hospitality, Brother, but if you have come to see the shrine … well. I’ll let the prior attend you.”

Jack allowed himself to be led. The cool shadows of the cloister walk enclosed him. In the little square surrounded by the gray stone of the cloister ambulatory, the sun shone brightly. The recently mown green grass and the budding flowers breathed their fresh fragrance into the air. But they offered no comfort to him moving behind the silent monk under the cold stone arches. His eyes darted from carved granite to the peaceful garden and back again. Already he missed the freedom of the sunshine as they ducked through an arch and entered the cooler precincts of the priory.

He followed Cyril up some stone steps, down another corridor, and up to an oaken door. Cyril knocked, heard a reply, and entered, waiting for Jack to pass before he closed the door behind him. An old man, balding, with fluffs of white hair spraying over his ears, looked up from his chair by the fire. “Forgive me, my Lord Prior. But this is Brother John come from far away and wishes the hospitality of Canterbury.”

The prior turned rheumy eyes toward Jack but only fleetingly. “You are welcome, Brother John.” He made a cursory cross in the air in Jack’s general direction. “But alas, you’ve made a futile journey. My heart is heavy on it. Please, Dom, you tell him.”