Free The Fourth Crow by Pat McIntosh Page A

truth.’
    ‘Austin knew the corp, or thought he did,’ Lowrie agreed, ‘he was struck wi horror at first sight. It could have been her bruises, but it seemed to me he recognised her.’
    ‘Henry was very quick to silence him.’
    ‘I liked his suggestion of the Gallowgate.’
    ‘A nice piece of misdirection. It could even be true.’
    Gil extracted the cheese from between the remainder of his bread and ate it. Lowrie was watching him intently and chewing hard, and after a moment swallowed and said,
    ‘I had another word wi the servants here, both the guests’ household and the hostel folk, now it’s known Annie’s missing.’ Gil made an interrogatory noise. ‘The two that guarded her kept a good eye on her till about midnight, it seems, because there were folk about till that hour. The man Sawney says she spoke to him then, asking him to set her free, addressed him by name, so I think we can assume she was there and unharmed at that point. I’ve a note of who slept where here in the hostel, which should help if we’re checking movements, and that pair in the chapel the now, Will and Bessie, are man and wife and dwell by the gate here, and they mentioned there were comings and goings in the night.’
    ‘Oh, there were, were there?’ Gil gave his crusts to the expectant dog and took another hunk of bread from the linen wrapping. ‘Did they name anyone?’
    ‘No, it seems the door was left unbarred a-purpose, in case they brought Mistress Gibb back earlier than the dawn. The woman, Bessie, heard the door go an hour or so afore midnight, so she reckoned, and looked out assuming she’d be needed to help Annie back to the women’s hall, but the courtyard was empty.’ Lowrie dug in his purse for his tablets, found the right leaf and scrutinised his notes. ‘And twice more after that she heard footsteps and the door closing, and voices in the courtyard. Seems it shuts wi a thump that shakes their bed, no matter the care that’s taken. She never looked out the later times, she said she took it if she was needed they’d bang on the lodging door. Likely she was too warm to move by then,’ he added in faint amusement.
    ‘Three times the door went,’ said Gil thoughtfully.
    ‘Three times after they were in bed,’ Lowrie qualified.
    ‘A good point. And yet none of the folk we’ve spoken to referred to being out of the hostel. You’d think they might have mentioned it.’ He considered the final portion of bread and cheese, then broke it carefully into two large pieces and a small one, handed the small one to the dog and gestured to Lowrie to take one of the others. ‘Did her man hear anything?’
    ‘He says he heard the door go but never roused enough to take note of how often.’
    ‘Hm,’ said Gil. ‘Did you get anything from the others? From the Shaw servants?’
    ‘No more than I’ve told you already. So do we need to start asking who was about in the night?’
    ‘That can wait.’ Gil brushed breadcrumbs from his person, gathered up the linen cloth and shook it out. Several chaffinches flew down onto the cobbles, keeping a wary distance from the dog, but flew up again when the two men rose. ‘I want to get another look at the Cross, and the ground about it, if Andro and his men haveny trampled it into dust. The amount of movement there must have been, they’d surely have left some trace.’
    ‘Who?’ Lowrie followed him across the outer yard. ‘Whose traces are you thinking we might find?’
    Gil nodded to Sir Simon at his chamber window and strode on, out of the gate, before finally saying,
    ‘At the very least, Annie herself and whoever released her from her bonds. Depending on what came after that, it could be as many as five or six people we’re trying to track.’
    ‘Do you think she went willingly?’ Lowrie asked after a moment.
    ‘A lot turns on that,’ agreed Gil. ‘And on precisely why she was released.’
    Lowrie was silent while they skirted the high sandstone walls of the