The Hidden Dead by David Penny

Author:David Penny [Penny, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-TWO

Tref-y-Clawdd nestled between rounded hills, a small town with a church set beside the glistening waters of the Teme, narrow and shallower here than at Ludlow.

“The burial ground is next to the church,” said Will, who had replaced Jack Pook at Thomas’s side.

“We should speak with the priest first. Show him my letter of authority.”

“If you can find him,” said Will. “When we came here he was nowhere to be seen. The gravediggers said he spends a great deal of his time absent. They told me lay preachers often have to take the daily service. But I agree, it would be politic to see if he is at home. He has a house set close to the church.”

They made their way through narrow streets clustered around a small market square. People buying produce, and the stallholders selling it, watched them pass without comment. When they reached the priest’s house, Thomas dismounted while the others continued on to the graveyard. He knocked on the door but there was no response. He peeked through the window of one room and saw it sparsely furnished. An open grate showed no fire laid, but it was June and one might not be needed. Even so, the house had an air of abandonment.

“If you be looking for the priest, he be gone to Hindwell Abbey. Always goes there this time of year. Some special midsummer celebration. Not that I asked him, but he told me all the same.” The speaker stood beyond the gate to the house. He was short, bow-legged, the top half of his face obscured with a wide-brimmed hat pulled low, the bottom half by a thick beard.

“My thanks,” Thomas said.

“Who be you?”

“I am Justice of the Peace for the district and wanted to speak with the priest on a matter of law.” Thomas was unsure if his jurisdiction extended this far west but suspected the man would not know that, either.

“Does not surprise me he has done summat wrong.”

“He has done nothing, as far as I know. I am looking into the opening of graves.”

The man coughed, then spat. “There were folks here not long since digging into graves. Blasphemy, I calls it.”

“Are you one of the gravediggers?” Thomas asked.

“Not me, but my brother is. It was him told me about it. Big lad, they said, white hair.” He grinned. “And a girl they would both have liked to tup, but she had eyes only for the tall one. Said they found summat that should not be there.”

“I heard the gravediggers told the man and woman where the disturbed grave lay.”

“I never heard that, but it is likely. Who knows a graveyard better than those who put people in it?”

Thomas reached into his jacket and removed his authorisation. “I have permission to open the grave if you wish to see it.”

“Would do me no good, nor my brother, but you look like an honest man.”

The man turned and walked away swaying, not from ale but from the wear on his body over many years.

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