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

pushing him toward death. Instead, as the miller clutched the wheel rim, it would have torn through his grasp, mostly likely tearing his flesh as well, as it moved.
    In either event, if Halbert had battled to save himself, that fight should have left some sort of mark upon his skin. There was nothing on Halbert's palm, no cuts, stains, splinters or blisters, not even smut beneath his fingernails.
    "He didn't claw at the wheel. He didn't try to save himself," he said. "Then again, the fuller says he was besotted. In that state he might not have been alert enough to try."
    Brother Colin nodded in agreement. "True enough. What we see on the miller's hand doesn't prove he was dead when he went under the wheel. All it tells us is that he was either senseless when he entered the race or gave up to death without a fight. If either is true, then Brother Edmund will still have his deodand. However, this is not the only sign that dooms my brother to disappointment."
    "If Brother Edmund is doomed to anything, it is that someday someone will murder him because he speaks with an 'honest' tongue," Faucon retorted quietly. "And the someone who does it might well be me."
    The monk choked on a laugh, then cleared the humor from his throat. "I beg your pardon and our Lord's. It's not meet that I find amusement at my brother's expense.
    "Now, look," he said and opened the miller's mouth.
    Faucon did as commanded and looked. All he saw was a man's mouth filled with a tongue and a surprising number of fine, strong teeth, although they were a little snaggled in their arrangement. "What should I see?" he asked.
    "A bit of foam. Those who drown often have a bit of foam in their mouths or noses, even after being in the water far longer than Halbert was."
    Closing the miller's mouth, Colin placed his hands at the center of Halbert's chest and pushed gently, then opened the man's mouth again. "Sometimes doing this will bring up more foam," he said in explanation, "but as you can see, there is nothing. That leaves us one step closer to satisfying the notion that our miller did not drown. Now, we must examine his eyes. What do you see?"
    Again Faucon shrugged, this time feeling a little at odds because he had no idea what the monk wished him to see. "That they are half-open, and even though they are cloudy in death, I can see they are the same green color as his son's?"
    Brother Colin once more pried up one of Halbert's eyelids. "Now what do you see?"
    Once again Faucon noticed the edge to the milkiness that affected the lower portion of Halbert's eye. "The cloudiness ends where the lid was. Why is it like that?"
    "When a man ceases to blink, his eyes dry where they are not covered by their lids. That is what happened here. Halbert's eyes began to dry the moment he ceased to breathe and blink. It's this more than anything else that convinces me he could not have drowned. You see, eyes cannot dry while under the water," he finished in satisfaction.
    "How can you know all this?" Faucon demanded quietly. "Do men drown so often at your priory that you've learned these signs and can pronounce this without doubt? Perhaps I am wrong, but I somehow took the impression that St. Radegund's is a small place. I cannot think it sees tragedy of just one sort on so regular a basis."
    Colin grinned. "For shame, you assuming such about me. Although you're right about St. Radegund's. It is small, with but a dozen men in residence. But neither is it my home," he said. "I work under the infirmarer at St. Michael's Abbey in Stanrudde. During the growing season, I visit all of our daughter and brother houses, helping them to collect and store the herbs needed to heal their sick."
    Here, he paused to run his fingers through the feathery fronds that extended out of the top of the pack he'd laid upon the race edge. "There is never enough Mare's Tail, an herb good for treating any ailment, and no place better to find it than along the water's edge.
    "As for my lack of doubt over