Free A Mortal Bane by Roberta Gellis Page A

coming to search. He must have realized, she reasoned, that after his announcement of the murder, they would have looked for and disposed of any evidence they discovered. Nonetheless, the pouch had to be found and must not be found in their house, so—using obscure terms so that Ella would not understand—they discussed what to do with it, until their clients began to arrive.
    Perhaps putting the problem out of their minds while they made merry with their guests did some good, because it was soon after the last client had left them that a solution to the problem was discovered. Letice went to lock the front gate and the front and back doors of the house after Vespers and as she drew the key from the back lock, she looked at it and her mouth opened in a large O. She ran to where Magdalene was lighting torchettes and shook the key in her face.
    “Not more trouble.” Magdalene sighed. “The door will not lock?”
    Letice shook her head, dragged Magdalene to the front door, unlocked and then relocked it, dragged Magdalene to the back door, unlocked and relocked that, and again shook the key in Magdalene’s face.
    “I see you used the key to lock the doors, but—
    Letice again shook the key, pointed to the back door, pointed down the hall to the front door, shook the key, and finally held up one finger and shook that in Magdalene’s face. Magdalene frowned. Letice repeated the process. Magdalene’s eyes went wide. Locks were expensive, partly because the locking wards had to be reinvented for each lock. If two locks could be identical and use the same key, the locksmith could charge less, not to mention the convenience of needing fewer keys.
    “One key,” she breathed. “One key for both doors.”
    Even as she spoke, Letice held up another, even larger key, her eyes wide with hope.
    “The key to the front gate! Oh, hurry, Letice. Unlock the door and we will go and try it.”
    They were so excited that they nearly stuck in the doorway once the door was opened. Then they rushed down the path, with Dulcie, who had been watching Letice lock and unlock the door, following behind.
    “Do it. Do it,” Magdalene urged and then held her breath as Letice inserted the front-gate key into the lock.
    It turned with only a little difficulty. The latch clicked as Dulcie lifted it. The gate swung open.
     

Chapter Four
     
    20 April 1139
    St. Mary Overy Church
     
    Although it was not easy, Magdalene waited long enough after Compline for the sky to be completely dark and, she hoped, all the monks to be sound asleep. Then she and Dulcie slipped through the unlocked gate, latching it after them carefully, and around the apse to the north entrance. She shivered as she walked up the stairs, wondering whether the monks had cleaned off the blood. Even if they had not, she told herself, it would be dry now and there would be no danger of carrying a stain if she stepped on it. But it was not that fear that made her shiver, and tears pricked her eyes when she thought of the agreeable man who was now dead.
    Before they could even gather in her lids, a new fear sent them back to their source. Had Brother Paulinus ordered that the church itself be locked as well as the gate? She began to think frantically of a new place to hide the pouch concealed under her cloak, perhaps in the graveyard, but Dulcie had lifted the latch and swung the door open a little way before any sensible idea had a chance to form. Apparently the sacristan felt he had shut out the contamination by locking the gate between the Old Priory Guesthouse and the church and had either not dared or not felt the need to lock the church itself.
    When Dulcie shut the door, it was much blacker inside than outdoors, where even during the dark of the moon, starlight brightened the sky. Fortunately, once they had moved out into the chancel, the tiny lamp flickering on the altar gave Dulcie a sense of where she was. Taking Magdalene’s hand, she led her down along the wall and stopped.