The Canterbury Murders by Maureen Ash

round and deep indentations there which could have been made by the washerwoman’s knees as she bent to add oil to the bathwater. He next picked up the soap and examined it, before turning to the tub itself and, pushing up his sleeve, scooping out some items that lay on the bottom, underneath the end of a board that rested half in and half out of the water. A cup, a pair of scissors and a sodden square of linen all emerged from the gory depths. After a moment’s consideration he also removed the board and then placed it across the tub and laid the items he had retrieved along the top of it.
    â€œThat is how everything would have been laid out in preparation for the king’s bath,” Miles opined, and Gianni gave him a nod before picking up the soap and holding it in his hand.
    With a glance at Miles, the lad then knelt in the indentations left by the victim’s knees and bowed his head, moving his free hand in simulation of a swirling gesture over the blood-tinged water.
    â€œYou think she was kneeling with her back to the door, busily engaged in carrying out her duties when the murderer came upon her,” Miles interpreted.
    Gianni nodded at the knight’s correct understanding of his gestures, and then, without warning, opened his eyes wide in surprise and threw out his arms, dropping the soap on the floor and upsetting the board across the tub so that it, and the objects on its surface, fell into the water. He then, using his finger in imitation of a knife, drew it across his throat and slumped forward, allowing his upper torso to rest on the edge of the tub.
    Miles nodded in agreement. “That is the way it must have happened. She would have been unaware that anyone was behind her until it was too late to raise an alarm. It would have been the work of a moment to kill her. Well done, lad,” he added appreciatively. “What is our next step?”
    Gianni removed his wooden tablet from his belt. It had two wooden leaves infilled with soft wax and laced together with leather thongs. The right-hand side he used when Lady Nicolaa gave him dictation, which he took down in an abbreviated form using a method taught to him by an older clerk in the Lincoln scriptorium. The left-hand surface was normally left blank unless he needed to note additional instructions from his mistress or to compute figures associated with his clerical duties. Today he would use this side to communicate with Miles, and the other for recording details. In response to the knight’s question, he quickly wrote down a few phrases, explaining that they must now search the room thoroughly, looking for any trace that the murderer might have left. Miles willingly complied but, by the time an hour had passed, they had found nothing untoward except a clump of mud that must have been left by the passage of a boot, and could have been made by anyone, including the king. They then went into the bedchamber where the royal couple had been ensconced while the murder had taken place.
    It was sumptuously furnished; in the middle of the room was a great feather bed laid with woollen blankets and a wolfskin coverlet and, alongside it, an ornate commode with a decorated lid. Set at various places about the chamber were small tables and padded chairs, and on the walls were richly embroidered tapestries depicting hunting scenes. On the outer wall was a large casement, the shutters closed and securely fastened.
    â€œI doubt we will find anything of use in here,” Miles said, unbolting the coverings over the window and throwing them open so that light shone into the room through the horn panes. “According to what we have been told, the murderer fled immediately after the killing and never entered this room.”
    Nonetheless, Gianni insisted they inspect it, wiping his wax slate clean and then explaining via another note that after the corpse was discovered and the alarm raised, it was entirely possible