Free Roberta Gellis by A Personal Devil Page B

knife and killed her? And just left her lying there and gone in again to futter Sabina? Nonsense! Could Mainard have got out of the house without waking his journeyman or apprentices? Probably not. Would they lie for him? Bell sighed. From what everyone said about him, probably yes.
    Other questions: Was there anything of enough value in the yard to make worthwhile the danger of needing to drive off a thief? Had Bertrild brought someone with her? Or had she agreed to meet someone? In the middle of the night in the yard of Mainard’s shop rather than in comfort in her own house in Lime Street? Ridiculous. But say there was a reason for a meeting there, why should the person she agreed to meet at such a time and place—which must mean she did not fear that person—suddenly pull a knife and stab her?
    Bell could think of any number of people who might have stuck a knife into Bertrild in a rage, but it was impossible for any argument to have taken place in Mainard’s yard without waking someone in the house. That meant that whoever had come with Bertrild or agreed to meet her intended to stab her. Possible, but it was still more likely that she had been killed elsewhere and dumped in Mainard’s yard. After dark it would only take moderate care to avoid the Watch and no one would have seen the body moved.
    While Bell’s mind was busy, they had turned right at Gracechurch, passed the cordwainer’s shop on the corner, and come to the front of Mainard’s saddlery. The counter was missing, the door closed. Bell was about to pound on the door, when Haesel came alongside, simply lifted the latch, and led Sabina in. Magdalene followed with Bell on her heels.
    “The shop is closed—” Henry began and then sighed. “Oh, Mistress Sabina, we wondered where you had gone.”
    There was something in his voice that made Sabina bristle. “You mean you thoughtI had deserted Master Mainard as soon as he was in trouble. Well, I did not. Since I have more brains than an overcooked pease porridge, even if I cannot see, I went to get help. I have brought Mistress Magdalene, who has powerful friends, and Sir Bellamy of Itchen, who is the bishop of Winchester’s knight and is accustomed to unraveling mysteries.”
    “I thought no such thing,” Codi said, getting to his feet.
    To right and left a boy rose with him, clinging to him. The younger had a tear-smeared face, and the elder still looked pale and sick. Codi himself was a hulking young man, almost as tall and thick as his master but without Mainard’s grace of movement. He had a shock of brown curls and a thick, neatly trimmed brown beard. His eyes, which were small and deeply set, were also brown and, had his expression been less lugubrious, he would have looked like a friendly bear.
    “Well, whatever you thought,” Bell said firmly, “Mistress Magdalene and I are here to discover what we can to help Master Mainard. Now, who found the body?”
    The older apprentice grew even paler, but he swallowed hard and said, “I did, sir.”
    “And you are?
    “Gisel, sir.”
    “Now I see that you are still very upset, Gisel, but do you think you can show me the exact place where Mistress Bertrild was lying?”
    The boy began to tremble, and Codi put an arm around him. “I saw it, too, sir,” he said. “In fact, it will be easier for me, because when Gisel ran in screaming that Mistress Bertrild was lying in the yard covered with blood, I told him to go wake Master Mainard, and I went myself to see if she had perhaps fallen and hurt herself and I could help.”
    “Then Mistress Bertrild was often in the yard?”
    “Oh, no, sir. I never saw her in the yard before. She often came into the workroom. She liked to snoop around and pick out specially fine pieces of leather and insist we give them to her for shoes. But she never went out back. I really thought that Gisel was mistaken, that some other poor woman had been hurt and wandered in from the alley. But Master Mainard would have had