Candace Robb - The Lady Chapel

"I have enough to do with the shop."

"Just ask any customers about the boy, Jasper de Melton. Find out how his mother is, what will happen to Jasper if his mother dies. I take it he has no father."

"You think Will Crounce was her lover?"

"It seems likely. Will you ask about him for me?"

Lucie gave Owen another kiss. "Of course."

"Just ask customers to the shop. I don't want you hunting the streets for him."

"I won't have time to get into trouble, Owen."

"Thank God for that."

Ridley shifted on the low rock wall on which he had seated himself once he was convinced that Owen had come from the Archbishop. The merchant's face was reddening with the sun. He shielded his eyes with his right hand to look up at Owen. The gems on his fingers twinkled in the sunlight. "I know why you've come. Bess Merchet found the-" Ridley swallowed. "Why would someone put that hand in my room?"

Owen noted the rings. Travelers were attacked on the road for far less. Ridley risked his own life and the lives of the two servants who accompanied him. No doubt he considered his servants little better than pack horses. What an arrogant half-wit to flaunt his wealth so recklessly.

Owen opened his mouth, closed it. Some of his irritation stemmed from having to blink his good eye against the reflections. He detested being so blinded. But he must curb his tongue and get to the point. "One of your business partners was murdered last night. Near the minster."

"One of my-" Ridley shaded his eyes with both hands and peered at Owen. "Not Will Crounce?"

Blinded again, Owen suggested that they move into the shade. "Your face is reddening at an alarming rate."

Ridley obliged, then repeated his question. "Was it Will Crounce?"

"Yes. Did you realize that was his hand?"

"Will's?" Ridley choked. "I-Dear Lord, no. I did not look closely. But even if I had, how would one recognize-? I do not think I would know my own hand lying severed." Ridley shivered.

"Why did you leave without a word to anyone about it? At least a warning to the Merchets?"

Ridley bobbed his head and averted his eyes, embarrassed. "It was cowardly and thoughtless, and they have been good to me. But I could not think what to do. All I wanted was to get far away."

"What did you think it meant?"

"I wondered who would play such a hideous trick on me." Ridley made the sign of the cross with a trembling hand.

Owen stared out across the summer meadows. This road paralleled the Ouse, though they were far enough north that the river was not visible. Still, it was the rich soil of a floodplain, quite different from the moors and dales to the north and west. A gentle landscape. Besides Owen, Ridley, and Ridley's two servants, there was no one in sight, though Owen could see cultivated fields. It must be midday, and all the laborers off in some shady spot, eating. A breeze stirred the wildflowers. It was so quiet Owen could hear the bees humming. Occasionally one of the horses whinnied or a bird sang out. Such an inappropriate setting for talk of murder.

"You thought of nothing more sinister than that someone was playing a trick on you?" Owen asked.

"That was as horrible as I cared to imagine. And my mind was muddled. I had much too much ale last night. Will and I-" Ridley shook his head. "This must mean he was murdered?"

"It would seem so."

Ridley took a deep, shuddering breath. "No doubt you have heard from Bess Merchet that I spent the evening with Will at the York Tavern and he left in a temper." Ridley rose and went to his horse, drew a leather bottle out of his pack. "Sweet Mary and all the saints," he breathed and took a drink. "I meant to make it up to him today. I did not like his going away angry." He took another swig and looked up at Owen. "Does Archbishop Thoresby think I murdered Will?"

"And left the evidence in your room? No, His Grace says you are no such fool. But he hopes you can help us find the murderer. That you might know why someone would want Crounce dead. And who that might be."

Ridley ran a dimpled hand over his forehead where the band of his felt hat was already dark with sweat. He took another drink. "Want Will dead?" He shook his head, looking down at his boots. "I cannot say. Will had prospered, though you'd never guess it to see him. He dressed humbly, as he always had. But he did carry a money pouch. He always did, old Will. Prepared for the unexpected bargain, he would say." Ridley smiled sadly and took another swig.

"You'd best go easy on your drink. You've a way to go to Beverley."

Ridley straightened and returned the bottle to the pack.

"Your friend had no money pouch on him when we found him," Owen said.

"So he was killed for the money. Greed. The deadliest sin, to my mind, coveting thy neighbor's goods."

Owen fought a smile at those words coming from such a tempter of thieves. "Crounce met a woman outside the tavern. Did he have a lady friend?"

"He said nothing of meeting a woman," Ridley said.

"I understand Crounce was a widower. . "

Ridley nodded. "And popular with the ladies, Will was."

"Anyone in particular?"

Ridley took off his hat, wiped his brow, frowned down at the stained brim. "Last night was our first chance to talk in a long while.

But I would guess his current favorite was Kristine de Melton, a widow with a bright young boy Will meant to sponsor in the guild. It's not the sort of thing one does for a mere acquaintance."

Owen found that an interesting connection. "The boy's name is Jasper?"

Ridley squinted at Owen as he put his hat back on. "How do you know his name?"

"Jasper de Melton witnessed the murder. It was Jasper who told the Archbishop of the hooded woman who waited for Crounce outside the York Tavern."

"So it was Mistress de Melton?"

"Not likely. Archbishop Thoresby says the boy was sent to fetch Crounce to Mistress de Melton's sickbed."

Ridley sighed. "A mystery woman, then." He shook his head, then looked Owen square in the eye. "How was Will killed? Was it only the hand they hacked off? They did not dismember him, did they?"

"His throat was slit."

Ridley crossed himself and bowed his head to murmur a prayer. Owen waited in silence. He knew the rush of bile that choked a man when he learned the details of a friend's death. Ridley's eyes were wet when he looked up. "He did not deserve such an end, not Will. He was a good man. No saint, but a good man."

"The hand was something the murderer did afterward," Owen said. "Can you think why?"

Ridley shook his head.

"Someone noticed that he wore a signet ring on that hand. Was it on the hand when you found it?"

Ridley winced, thinking back to the hand on the floor. "God grant him rest." He shook his head slowly. "I think if the ring had been on the hand, I would have noticed it. Might even have guessed it was Will's-" He dropped his head, covering his eyes with his jeweled fingers.

"They cut off the right hands of thieves," Owen said. "Could someone have felt Crounce had robbed him?"

Ridley made no sign that he heard the question.

Owen repeated it.

Ridley shook himself. "Sorry." He wiped his eyes sheepishly. "1 never heard Will called a thief."

"You can think of no one who might have believed himself cheated by Crounce? No business venture gone sour? Someone who thought Crounce had gotten what was his-or hers-by trickery?"

Ridley shrugged. "I have worked in London and Calais for many years. Will was my man here. As long as he carried out my wishes, and those of Goldbetter's, I did not ask about his methods."

"What did you argue about last night?"

Ridley flinched. "Nothing of import."

"Perhaps it will prove important."

"It was a private matter. Drink loosened our tongues, and we tripped over them. It can have no bearing on Will's death."