A Mortal Bane(154)

“Stand still and be silent,” Guiscard hissed. “I assure you one more death will not trouble me at all. One move, one shout for help, and the bishop dies. And you need not think I do not know that if I kill him, I will free you to kill me. I will die anyway if I cannot use him to help me escape, so I will either be free or take him with me.”

“My son—” Father Benin whispered, stretching out a hand.

“Shut your mouth and stand perfectly still,” Guiscard snarled and shifted his eyes to Bell, who was scarlet with rage and frustration, frozen with his sword half drawn.

“You” —his lips curled down in bitter distaste— “strutting peacock, go out and order the bishop’s litter to be brought to the door. When it comes, you will raise the curtain on the side facing this door, I will get in with the bishop. You will lower the curtain and then walk with the litter to my lodging. There you will go in and get from the chest at the foot of my bed the bags of coin and—”

[page]“I will need the key,” Bell said, sliding his sword fully back into its sheath and placing both empty hands on the table. “And do you want any other valuables? The candlesticks? The golden pyx?”

“They are not in the chest. I am not such a fool as to keep them….” Guiscard’s voice faded and his hand tensed so that a small bead of red blossomed on the bishop’s neck where the knife pricked him. “Oh, you think you are so clever, that you have tricked me into admitting that I stole those things.” He laughed. “Why should I deny it? I will either be safe and far out of your reach…or dead…very soon. Neither way will lying be of any benefit to me.” He laughed, but not hard enough to move the knife from its position. “Half the pleasure of taking the things was doing it under all your noses. And all of you cared so little for me that you did not bother to discover that my mother had died, so I had a perfect place to dispose of my gleanings.”

“It must have been…amusing.” Bell’s eyes flicked to Magdalene, but not for long enough for Guiscard, whose attention was mostly on Winchester, to notice. “I suppose the whore let you in and out through her gates so you could enter the priory in secret anytime you liked.”

Magdalene bit her lip in mingled hurt and fury, but she had sense enough to be silent. She was entirely too close to Guiscard to want to attract his attention. One thing she was sure of, he would be as happy to kill her as to leave her standing. Then she realized he had discovered he enjoyed killing, and even if he escaped safely, he would not let Winchester live. Her hands tightened on the scarf she held and she twisted it, tears misting her eyes.

“I would not trust a whore!” Guiscard had spat. “Not that one, who will cheat an agent out of his just fee and whine to the bishop about it. She would have run to Winchester the moment I asked.” He laughed again, a little more heartily. “You are all such fools, even the so-wise, so-powerful Bishop of Winchester. I had copies made of all the keys to the Old Priory Guesthouse when I showed her the place.”

The bishop twitched, and Guiscard gripped his head tighter.

“Of course,” Bell said, very quickly. “I forgot you held the keys to that place. But it could not have been so easy to get the key to the priory safe box.”

“But it was.” Guiscard raised his brows superciliously. “It only took a little planning. Brother Knud was a priest, but he has a little secret; he is a bit too fond of little boys. When he was sent to the bishop for punishment, I received the charges against him and offered him the alternative punishment of being the sacristan’s lay brother in St. Mary Overy. Naturally, I came now and again to make sure he was doing well. We talked about his duties, so I knew the days and times when he cleaned the plate. Once I came when he had just begun to clean. The key was on the table. I said I saw he was busy and went away—with the key. When I returned, he was almost finished with his work and I had a copy. If he suspected” —Guiscard smiled across the room at Knud, who had fallen to his knees with his hands over his face— “I knew he would never mention it to anyone.”