Free Hugh Corbett 15 - The Waxman Murders by Paul Doherty Page A

places the snow was at least a foot deep. Corbett found that a help, because it made it plain that there was no evidence of intruders approaching or leaving by any window; the only noticeable disturbances were along the pathways leading up to the main and rear doors. During their walk Corbett was diverted by Desroches, who proved a genial companion, chatting about some of the mysterious deaths he’d examined in Canterbury as well as what he had seen during his military service in Gascony under Lord Bearn.
    ‘You are Canterbury born?’ Corbett asked as they went back to the stables.
    ‘Yes and no,’ Desroches replied. ‘My family originally came from Ospring to settle here. My father was a wine trader so he moved us all to Bordeaux. The years passed, and my parents returned to Canterbury, where they died. I was not the sharpest of scholars, but I managed to gain entrance to the medical schools and halls at Montpellier and Salerno. I journeyed around Europe, then returned to Gascony about ten years ago, when Philip of France was beginning to threaten the duchy. I did my military service, and really imagined myself as a soldier, but,’ he shook his head and shrugged, ‘so much death,’ he whispered, ‘the futility of it all!’ He paused, staring out across the snow-locked fields of Maubisson. ‘No one came here.’ He sighed. ‘If they had broken in, Paulents and his son would have resisted, the alarm would have been raised. And if the assassin was hiding here, sooner or later he would have to reveal himself. Again, the alarm would have been raised.’ He turned, rubbing his face to restore the warmth. ‘Sir Hugh, do you agree?’
    Corbett shook his head. ‘Nothing,’ he confessed. ‘I can find nothing!’
    ‘And Castledene?’ Desroches asked.
    ‘He is as mystified as I am. I think he’s told me the truth. Paulents brought something very special here, yet it wasn’t stolen. So the motive for the murder was pure revenge. You are a physician, Master Desroches; do you know anything about Blackstock, the privateer?’
    The physician pulled a face and shook his head. ‘I’ve heard chatter about him and his half-brother Hubert, the former Benedictine. People claim Hubert is a truly evil man, someone who’s in love with death. Castledene has told me about what happened. You do know Sir Walter has been threatened by him, the Man with the Far-Seeing Gaze?’
    ‘And I wonder why?’ Corbett murmured. He paused and stared at the physician. ‘Do we have the full truth?’
    Desroches simply shrugged. They made their way back to the stables. Desroches collected his palfrey and sumpter pony, which, as he joked, was his assistant, for it carried his pannier bag and small coffers full of the mysteries of physic.
    ‘You take no weapons?’ Corbett asked.
    ‘Never.’ Desroches swung himself into his saddle. ‘In the past I have; now I never will. The best treatment for disease, Master Corbett, is good health. If there are no wounds, there is no need for cures. I have seen enough violence, but if I’m attacked,’ Desroches stroked his horse’s neck, ‘I am a good rider on a fleet horse.’ He grinned. ‘Everything else I leave to chance. Moreover, I am well known in Canterbury. I treat the poor as well as the rich, and both in the main leave me well alone.’
    They organised themselves and made their way out along the trackway between the trees down to the main gateway, past the guards and on to the road leading back to St Augustine’s. The thoroughfare was now busy with carts laden with produce making for the city markets. Progress was slow as carts became stuck or draught horses, their hogged manes frozen, skittered and slithered on the ice. Conversation was impossible. The freezing cold clung like a veil around them. The tips of Corbett’s ears were like ice and frost formed on his face, biting at the tip of his nose and stinging his lips. He thought of Leighton Hall, of a roaring fire, cups of posset, and