Free Season of the Raven (A Servant of the Crown Mystery Book 1) by Denise Domning Page B

to undress the miller when he was dead, could all this have been accomplished by one man alone?"
    Faucon's gaze flew to what he could see of the miller's cottage. In that oversized house lived the wife Halbert had abused and a son who did not grieve for him. Who else had cause to wish Halbert dead? Who else had the tool that opened the brake on the wheel so it could be used to conceal what had really happened here?
    Almost as swiftly, certainty faded. That made no sense. If Halbert were declared drowned by his millwheel, the wheel would be named deodand and confiscated. As Stephen had said, the cost of replacing the millwheel might well drive him to the brink of poverty, if not completely ruin him.
    As for Agnes, while her bruises certainly gave her cause to wish her husband dead, it was clear her new freedom had come at a price. By Stephen's words, she was now without hearth and home. Faucon doubted her stepson would let her leave Priors Holston with a farthing more than she'd brought with her into her marriage, no matter what dower Halbert might have endowed upon her in their marriage contract. Indeed, he suspected she'd have to bring a plea for her dower to the royal court before Stephen gave it to her.
    But most importantly, according to the fuller, neither Agnes nor Stephen had been at the mill last night to do the deed.
    If not the miller's family, then who? Whoever it was must hate the miller and his kin with all his heart, for he'd concocted an elaborate scheme calculated to not only kill Halbert but destroy his family's livelihood.
    "I need to find the place where Halbert bled his last," Faucon said, the huntsman in him demanding it. "I think it must be close by, but I guarantee it won't seem instantly obvious that a man died there." The care taken by the one who killed Halbert assured Faucon of that.
    As he spoke, Alf and three others walked around the corner of the mill to stop across the race from them. The miller's servant looked at Brother Colin. "Will you speak for me, Brother? Please tell the knight that his clerk sends us to bring my master's body to the courtyard so the viewing may begin."

Chapter 7

    Faucon clenched his teeth, biting off the urge to shout in rage. Once more, Edmund trod where he had no right to step. This had to stop.
    "Go as you must," Drue said to him, "leaving your search to me and my apprentice. We've already viewed Halbert and give our oaths that, before God, we hereby render the verdict of murder, with you as our witness. Oh, and if Stephen complains about his father's tunic, pay him no heed. Don't tell him, but I've a mind to repair it at no charge, given the importance of what lay hidden beneath the cloth. Perhaps with a little haggling, I can convince him my work is worth his grinding at least half of my grain at no cost," he added with a wink.
    Faucon offered the tailor his thanks, then turned to Brother Colin. "Will you come with the miller's body for the viewing, to offer your explanations if required?"
    "I will," the monk replied.
    With that, Faucon looked at Alf, a man strong enough to lift Halbert without the aid of those he'd brought to help him this time. It remained to be seen if Alf was a man capable of carrying the besotted miller to the place of his death, then putting a dead Halbert into the race.
    "Take up your master and bring him to the mill yard," Faucon commanded the workman.
    Then, stepping across the race to make room for Alf and the others to do what they must, Faucon turned his back to the wheel and entered the mill's courtyard.
    A makeshift catafalque, nothing more than a few planks of wood atop four barrels, now stood at the center of the yard near the entry gate. The mill towered over it, built as it was on a stone foundation half as tall as Faucon. Perhaps the additional height was needed to protect the building and its precious machinery from flood. Whatever the reason, the result was that the door to the mill stood high enough over the yard that three