Page 46 of Raven's Rise
“I believe you.” Still he didn’t budge.
Finally Angelet put her hand in his. “If you insist.”
“I do insist, my lady.”
She allowed Rafe to escort her all the way from the second floor, rather enjoying the attention. She’d been so used to being ignored at Dryton, where she was expected to fend for herself.
The innkeeper’s wife gave them bread and cheese, and even some sausage. Angelet smiled when she smelled the loaf, still steaming from where it had been resting in a warming oven.
“We should eat now,” she told Rafe. “It’s a shame to let this get cold.”
He glanced at the door, obviously tense. “No more than a quarter hour,” he said. His nose twitched a little. Even he was susceptible to the aroma.
It took less than ten minutes to devour all they had in front of them. Rafe paid for another two loaves before they left. Angelet also saw him mutter a few words to the innkeeper’s wife as he offered her a coin. The woman nodded vehemently.
“What did you tell her?” Angelet asked, once they stepped outside.
“I suggested that she forget what we looked like, should anyone come asking.”
“Will that work? She’d probably make just as much profit again to remember.”
He shrugged. “Hard to say. Some people only need a little aid for their sympathy. Either way, I can afford it.”
“Can you? How much money have you got? We hardly got anything away from the cortège.”
“I always keep my money on me,” he said. “And I have some supplies in Philon’s saddlebags. A lesson learned long ago. And as for how much I’ve got, Lord Otto paid well to see you safely to your destination.”
“Speaking of which, what is our destination now? I don’t even know where we are!”
“Nor do I, exactly. Somewhere south of Glossopdale, evidently. But the innkeeper’s wife said we’re already on the best road in this part of the shire. I think we can follow it till we reach a town of decent size. Then we’ll decide.”
He helped her onto the white horse. Not for the first time, Angelet considered the puzzle of Rafe’s personality. He was such an odd combination, deferential yet arrogant. He claimed he was only out for himself, yet he noticed the instant she showed any sign of distress and was ready to help her.
They followed the road, which ran roughly southwest, though with many twists and turns due to the increasingly hilly landscape. They rode in silence, each intent on their own thoughts. For her part, Angelet couldn’t stop thinking of how someone had spirited away a lifetime’s worth of precious coin with no one the wiser.
“Here’s an idea,” Angelet said suddenly. “Someone drilled into the chest from the bottom, and got the gold out that way. You didn’t notice a hole in the chest because it all happened in the middle of a fight, but it’s possible.”
He shook his head. “Even if someone had the tools for that—an awl? A saw?—he would have made too much noise. One of us would have seen or heard something. There was a man to guard it at all hours.” From how quickly Rafe responded, she realized his mind had been on exactly the same subject.
“But what…” she started to say.
“What?”
“What if one of the other guards was an accomplice? Or was promised payment to keep his mouth shut?”
“If it was a guard,” he asked, “who? Who would you suspect?”
“Not Simon!” she said instantly. “Nor Laurence or Marcus.”
“So quick to absolve.”
“I just know you and your friends wouldn’t have done this.”
He smiled at her confidence. “Thank you. But that puts the blame on Otto’s very own men. Does that make sense?”
“Gold makes men strange,” Angelet said. “Still, I don’t know which of them might have been the culprit, or how they might have done it.”
“I was trying to remember all the shifts the men took. On the second night, Dobson and Tad also shared a watch. Perhaps they did steal it then, and hid the gold somewhere nearby.”
