Read Online The Renegade Merchant by Sarah Woodbury - Free Book Online

that Master Carter was an important man in the
town complicates matters.”
    “Has the family been notified?”
    “Gareth and John Fletcher are doing it now,”
Gwen said. “Gareth sent me to you instead.”
    Radulfus bowed his head, pursing his lips
and staring at the ground.
    “I’m sorry,” Gwen said. “Did you know Roger
well?”
    Radulfus looked up. “No. Not personally, but
his family has had enough troubles this year, what with Adeline’s
death—” He gestured to Gwen.
    “I know. I look like her.”
    “I’m glad you came to me. I agree that it
would be best if Roger awaited burial here. His family will want to
see him and to see to him, of course.”
    “Gareth will be discreet, I promise you,”
Gwen said. “His family won’t have any objections to his treatment,
though—” Gwen found herself pausing again.
    Radulfus canted his head, waiting for her to
continue
    “Roger’s neck is bruised,” Gwen said.
“Strangling is an ugly way to die, and it isn’t possible to hide
it.”
    “I will speak to Martin and his wife when
they arrive and make sure they understand the severity of Roger’s
wounds. Perhaps a few of the brothers could take from them the
burden of washing the body for burial.” Radulfus’ gaze was
piercing. “It is kind of you to think of Roger’s family. Meanwhile,
I will see that a room is set aside for the body.”
    “Thank you,” Gwen said.
    Radulfus made a motion as if to suggest that
the interview was over and that he intended to return to his other
duties, but then he hesitated too. “Didn’t you say there were two
deaths?”
    “The possibility of the first is what
brought John Fletcher looking for Gareth this morning—except, all
that we’ve found so far is a pool of blood and no body,” Gwen
said.
    Radulfus studied her. “Your
news grows more disturbing by the moment. I am also concerned about
your continued use of the word we . Don’t tell me that you have been a
party to these events?”
    “Not a party so much as an assistant to my
husband in his investigation,” Gwen said, and at Radulfus’
continued stare, she added. “I have served Prince Hywel in that
capacity for several years, alongside Gareth, of course.”
    Radulfus blinked, but he didn’t object
further, merely straightened his shoulders. “Prayers will be said
for these poor souls—and those who sent them to an early
grave—beginning immediately.”
    Gwen would have expected no less, and she
was glad that Radulfus wasn’t openly objecting to her
participation, for now anyway. “Thank you, Father.” She reached
into her purse and pulled out the string of rosary beads she’d
found. “Do you recognize these as belonging to one of your
people?”
    Radulfus took the rosary in both hands and
inspected it before glancing up at Gwen. “We, as an order, decry
individual possessions, but that doesn’t extend to rosaries, and
every monk possesses one. This is roughly made, which I would
expect from a monk’s rosary. Though I don’t recognize it
specifically, I wouldn’t deny that it could belong to a member of
my order. Where did you find it?”
    “We discovered it in the alley where the
pool of blood was found,” Gwen said. “As you can see from the
smoothness of the ends, if the victim lost it as he was running, it
wasn’t because it broke but rather because it became untied. It
could also have been there for some time and wouldn’t necessarily
have belonged to the victim.”
    “Did you clean the beads before you put them
in your purse?” Abbot Radulfus asked.
    “Not beyond picking a few leaf scraps from
between them,” Gwen said, somewhat warily. “Why?”
    “If the rosary had lain in the alley for
some time, as you suggest, the wood and leather would have become
stained, don’t you think?” Radulfus gestured to Gwen herself. “You
wear a gold cross on a chain. How long could it have lain in the
street before dirt would have adhered to it?”
    “Not long. I see now that what