Perilous Pranks (Renaissance Faire Mystery) by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene

went on.
    Chase had started in the Village as a knight and gained his reputation fighting for the queen’s honor. I’d heard rumors about him, too, after we’d met. I made sure I knew what he was doing, even though we weren’t together for years after that.
    “No, Sir Marcus. I’m not looking for a fling. But I assume you have more than one lady you dance attendance upon. I’m not a stranger as to how knights live.”
    He shrugged and put one leg up on a bale of hay, knee bent as though he was posing for a photo. “Of course. Most knights aren’t exclusive. There are so few of us to go around.”
    “ What ?” Wanda stopped trying to touch him. “What are you saying, Marcus? You never told me there was someone else. How could you betray me that way?”
    I’d never seen Wanda cry, at least not while she was alive. Big fat tears rolled down her blue cheeks and her lips quivered. I felt sorry for her. Obviously she’d thought the young knight was hers. It was too late now to do anything about it.
    She couldn’t make the knight feel her presence, but she could whip up an errant breeze that moaned through the stable rafters, shaking pigeons from their perches and rattling the windows. Hay flew everywhere in small whirling devils that blew up dust on the knight’s armor.
    “What’s going on?” He spun around as the swirling hay pelted him.
    “Who else were you seeing?” I raised my voice to be heard over the gust of wind.
    “I don’t know.” He slapped at the hay. “A few others.”
    “Last night,” I persisted. “Where did you go after you left Wanda’s cottage last night?”
    “Ginny Stewart at the Lady of the Lake invited me over for a drink.” He was fighting off the hay as it began striking at him like small arrows. “I went over there. Then I went home. What’s happening? Why isn’t the hay hitting you ?”
     

Chapter Nine
     
    I curtsied and left him there with Wanda haunting him. Ginny was a likely candidate for an affair with the knight. She’d always flirted with Chase. She wasn’t as obnoxious as Wanda, but she was annoying.
    Walking away from the Field of Honor, Wanda finally joined me again.
    “Ginny Stewart?” she fumed. “ Really ? He was seeing that cow behind my back. I can’t believe it. I thought he loved me. It never occurred to me that he was cheating. I’ll get him for that.”
    “Is that how you plan to spend your afterlife—tormenting your ex-husband and making Sir Marcus pay for being with other women? Don’t you have something important you should take care of? Shouldn’t this be a spiritual time for you?”
    “Don’t be stupid. I’m dead. Spiritual things are all I have. That, and revenge for anyone who has ever wronged me. We have to go talk to Ginny. I think I need to throw a few pewter mugs at her. I can’t believe Marcus spent time with her. The woman must be sixty years old or better. What was he thinking ?”
    “You know how the knights are, Wanda.” I stopped to admire some jewelry being sold out of a handcart on the side of the cobblestone walkway. I hoped that would obscure what would be viewed as me talking to myself. “They go after anyone who shows them any attention. Do you feel any better about those two young girls being with him?”
    “Oddly enough, I do feel a bit better about them. Thinking Marcus left me to go to Ginny makes me feel dirty.” She stared at me. “Do you think he killed me?”
    “Did he have a reason to kill you?”
    “No. I was as good as gold with him, gave him everything he wanted.”
    “Well then, let’s not consider him.”
    “He has a sword,” she whispered. “He could have killed me and taken my enchanted bracelet. Perhaps you should alert the police so they can take a peek at him.”
    “Okay. I’ll call Detective Almond.”
    “And what would you be calling me about?” Detective Almond’s familiar voice—speaking around a roasted turkey leg—said from behind me.
    I turned around quickly and smiled.