Song of a Dark Angel

his hand and tapped the side of his head. 'And it's all in here. I memorized then destroyed the fruits of my searches.'
    He began to walk backwards again, dragging a now unresisting Alice.
    'Where are you taking her?' Corbett asked.
    'Oh, I am taking her nowhere. I want to ask you one question. After that I am going to kill her and I am going to kill you. The treasure? The skull and the triangle? Let's see if we agree!'
    'First, look behind you!'
    The priest smirked. 'Don't be stupid!'
    'Very well,' Corbett snapped. 'Kill him!'
    The smirk faded. Father Augustine turned slightly. As he did, Ranulf fired the crossbow. The bolt smashed into Father Augustine's skull just above the right ear. The priest staggered forward. The knife slipped. Corbett raced forward, pushed him aside and pulled Alice out of his slack grip. The priest stood, a look of stupefaction on his face. He coughed. A trickle of blood spurted out of the corner of his mouth. He sighed, then collapsed to the ground. Corbett laid Alice down gently on a window seat. He felt the side of her neck and the blood beat in her wrist, her hands and face were ice cold. He looked up as Ranulf came padding down the corridor, his face white with fury. He pulled the priest's head back by his hair and Corbett saw the glint of his knife.
    'Leave him!' Corbett snapped. 'The bastard's dead! Open the doors and get Sir Simon.'
    Ranulf threw the priest's head back, re-sheathed his knife and did as Corbett asked. The next hour all was confusion. Alice was taken back to her chamber with Selditch in attendance, though the physician had to ease his own discomfort with a constant supply of wine. Catchpole was despatched to the priest's house to see what he could find. Gurney instructed his servants to remove the corpse, then sat like a man bemused in front of the fire. He gazed bleakly at Corbett.
    'You shouldn't have brought him here. For God's sake, man, why not just arrest him?'
    Corbett looked over his shoulder to where Ranulf was supervising the servants.
    'What could I do, Sir Simon?' he asked, sitting down. 'Confront him in his own church? God knows what weapons are hidden away there. He could have killed me like he did Cerdic or Monck.'
    Corbett described how Father Augustine had murdered Monck. Gurney whistled under his breath.
    'All that for some treasure!'
    'Why condemn him?' Corbett replied. 'You were looking for it as well. How would you feel if you really thought that treasure was yours, paid for by the blood of your ancestor?'
    'But he was priest!'
    'He was mad. Even at the end, all he could think of was the treasure. He could no more have escaped from his dream than a prisoner in the deepest dungeon.'
    'Do you think he knew about the Pastoureaux?' Gurney asked.
    'Possibly. He used them as a shield for his own activities, that's why he mutilated Cerdic's body.' Corbett paused as an ashen-faced Selditch joined them.
    'Lady Alice is resting now. I gave her a sleeping potion.' Selditch shook his head. 'If it hadn't been for your servant, Ranulf…'
    Corbett stared at the flames of the fire, listening as his manservant argued with Maltote over some minor matter.
    'There's not a room,' he said, 'that can hold Ranulf.'
    'He went through the window like a cat,' Gurney murmured. 'One minute he was sitting down, the next he'd collected both crossbow and bolts.' Gurney sighed. 'Hugh, do you really know where the treasure is?'
    'Oh, yes,' Corbett replied. 'And tomorrow morning, as soon as dawn breaks, I'll show you.'
    Fourbour the baker came up. The baker was more shocked from grief than from the revelations about Father Augustine. He grasped Corbett's hand.
    'I thank you,' he muttered. His eyes brimmed with tears. 'You're sure she wouldn't have suffered long?'
    Corbett refused to meet his gaze. 'I don't think so.'
    'If only she had told me!'
    Corbett looked away. The baker was still mumbling the same forlorn regret as he left the hall.
    'Isn't it strange?' Corbett whispered. 'Amelia loved but did not recognize what she was loving?'
    'What's the role of the sisters of the Holy Cross in this?' Gurney asked crossly.
    'Sir Simon, that's a matter between you and the prioress.'
    'And the treasure?' Gurney persisted. 'You say it's near here?'
    'I think so,' Corbett replied. 'And I suspect Father Augustine knew where it was. We have to wait till morning, for the tide to turn. What still concerns me is how Alan of the Marsh could, by himself, hide it all.' Corbett raised his fingers to