Paul Doherty - Song of a Dark Angel

'I loved her!' Fourbour whispered. 'You wicked, evil man! I really loved her!'

Corbett pressed Fourbour back into his seat. He shook his head imperceptibly at Ranulf and Catchpole, both of whom were tense, waiting for his signal. The priest glanced at Selditch, but the physician's trembling and sweat-soaked face showed he was no fighting man.

'Leave the woman!' Corbett pleaded.

'Oh, I will!' The priest smiled. 'We'll go together, Corbett. Perhaps you deserve some of the treasure? Like me, you may have discovered its whereabouts, but I found it first.' His voice sounded like that of a spoilt child. 'Yes, I found it first. Those stupid, fat nuns! One day at Mass I couldn't believe my eyes. I stood at the altar and I saw a chalice from the treasure of King John!' He gazed round-eyed at Corbett as if expecting his approval. 'I knew then that my voices were correct. God was showing me, in His own way, that the treasure was really mine. My fingers itched to take that cup. I began my searches – of graves, of the Hermitage. And then that bastard Monck arrived! He thought he was so perceptive, but it was his servant I feared. The man went to Mass at the convent. He saw the chalice.'

Alice – her eyes becoming glazed, the muscles of her face tense – was motionless with terror.

'Release the woman, please!' Corbett begged.

'I'll soon be finished and then I'll be gone,' Father Augustine told him. 'You see, Cerdic saw the chalice and he babbled like a child. He wanted to please his master, so he came to see me. He wanted to know more about the chalice and the voices told me to do it. I slit his throat. Whish!' The priest drew his finger across his throat. 'And what did I do then, clerk?'

'I suppose you bundled the body on a horse and took it to a cove where there was a small boat and rowed down the coast to the beach beneath Hunstanton. You cut off the head and stuck it on a pole and slung the body on the beach just below the high-tide mark. The rising tide washed away your footprints and any sign that a boat had been beached.'

Father Augustine nodded. 'Ingenious,' he murmured. 'I left the head upon a pole. I thought the Pastoureaux would take the blame. I climbed into the boat and rowed a little way out, watching the incoming sea smooth out the shingle and remove any signs that I had been there – though most of Cerdic's body remained dry.' He pointed at Corbett with his free hand. 'You should have died there. I watched you go out to the Hermitage. I heard how that rogue Master Joseph had taunted you. I took Amelia's perfume.' Father Augustine blinked. 'But we are wasting time. Come here, Sir Hugh, quickly! I'll soon let this bitch go!'

Corbett walked around the table, touching Ranulf gently on the shoulders as a sign to stay still. The priest, however, saw this.

'Stand up!' he ordered.

Ranulf got to his feet.

'And the crossbow!'

Ranulf looked at Corbett, who nodded.

'Very carefully,' the priest snapped, 'put it on the table!'

Ranulf obeyed.

'And the bolts! Come on, you've got more than one!'

Ranulf placed the two squat crossbow bolts on the table.

'Clever, clever boy! Now, take the bolts!'

Ranulf picked them up.

'And throw them down the hall.'

Ranulf obeyed.

Alice whimpered, slumping in a half-swoon. The priest grabbed her by the arm and ordered Corbett nearer. 'Take her other arm!' he ordered.

Corbett obeyed. He and the priest, who still held the knife to Alice's throat, dragged the half-swooning woman down the hall, walking backwards. The priest shouted curses and warnings at the rest to stay seated. Corbett curbed his own panic and resisted the desire to do something stupid, quickly dismissing thoughts of pulling Alice away, for he dare not take the risk. The priest's knife was still digging deeply into Alice's throat. Corbett knew the man was both insane and evil enough to kill her without a second's thought.

At the hall door a group of servants, who had been half-dozing in the passageway, suddenly jumped to their feet. They stared in horror at the macabre procession. The priest ordered them into the hall and they scurried in like frightened children. Father Augustine pulled Alice towards him, circling her neck with one arm, the knife now under her chin.

'Lock the door!' he yelled.

Corbett swung the two great doors closed, pulling down the beam across the iron slats. He turned as the priest backed down the passageway.

'For God's sake!' Corbett hissed. 'What on earth do you think will happen? Gurney will hunt you down and, if he doesn't, I will!'

Father Augustine ignored him.

'My ancestor survived for a year!' He snapped. 'Alan of the Marsh was never caught.'

'How did you kill Monck?' Corbett asked.

'Oh, that was simple. He said he had been examining Cerdic's clothes.' The priest grinned. 'Like you did. What did you find, Sir Hugh?'

'Candle grease.'

'Well, Monck found the same. He said it was from a church candle, beeswax. I, of course, denied it. I blamed those bitches up at the convent. He left in a hurry, believing they were the culprits. I told him that both Cerdic and I had suspicions about their smuggling and the chalice. When he came out of the convent I was waiting for him. Quite easy. A crossbow bolt in his chest. I put him back on his horse. I thrust his boots back into his stirrups and fastened his own belt round the saddle horn to keep him upright. I pricked the horse with my dagger and sent it galloping like a rider from hell through the village. The horse must have raced on to the moor until Monck was shaken loose and fell off. No one would believe that he had already been killed when his horse galloped through the village. Except you, of course!'

Corbett watched the movement behind the priest.

'Yes,' he said. 'I, too, saw the candle grease and the bruise on Monck's belly where the saddle horn had dug deep. I also noticed his belt was rucked and twisted.'

'I should have killed you!' the priest hissed.

He dragged the now unconscious Alice further along the passageway.

'You were very clever,' Corbett flattered, hoping to distract the priest. 'I suppose you told Monck to go to the convent but not to voice his suspicions to Dame Cecily.'

'Oh, yes.' Father Augustine smirked. 'Of course, once he visited that fat bitch, Monck would know Cerdic had been to see me.' The priest yanked Alice closer to him. 'You, of course, were different. There were three of you. I immediately recognized you, Corbett, for what you are, the king's hunting dog.' The priest smirked. 'I heard about your visit to Bishop's Lynn and changed round the signpost. You wouldn't have been the first travellers to die in some Godforsaken Norfolk marsh.'

'That's when I began to wonder how Monck may have died,' Corbett said. 'Maltote freed me. He threw me a rope to put round the horse's neck so as to pull it from the mire. I widened it to loop round my saddle horn.' Corbett took a step nearer, watching the shadow behind the priest, further down the passageway. 'I really have a lot to thank you for, Father Augustine. After all, only when I raced for my life along the beach did I see the skull etched in the cliffs.'

'Oh, so you know about that?' Father Augustine stared in surprise.

'Yes, and how did you?'

'Now that's my secret,' Father Augustine hissed. He raised his hand and tapped the side of his head. 'And it's all in here. I memorized then destroyed the fruits of my searches.'

He began to walk backwards again, dragging a now unresisting Alice.

'Where are you taking her?' Corbett asked.

'Oh, I am taking her nowhere. I want to ask you one question. After that I am going to kill her and I am going to kill you. The treasure? The skull and the triangle? Let's see if we agree!'

'First, look behind you!'

The priest smirked. 'Don't be stupid!'