A Secret and Unlawful Killing Read Online Free PDF Page B

said, holding her tightly in his arms for a few minutes. Then he climbed back onto his horse and, followed closely by his bodyguards, made his way down the road towards the east.
    Mara stood quietly, her thoughts lingering on Turlough and the complications, as well as the pleasures, that had resulted from his love for her. Her mind strayed back to her first husband; she had sworn never to marry again. Should she remain firm or accept Turlough’s offer of marriage? Then she dismissed the matter from her mind. This was not the time or place for speculations of this nature. Now she had to banish them from her thoughts and put all her energies and intelligence into solving this unexpected death.
     
     
    Niall was the first to arrive. He was mounted on a heavily built workhorse and he thundered along the road from Rusheen well ahead of Diarmuid on his slow-moving cob. Niall had obviously been told that something was amiss and his young, thin face was drawn and apprehensive as he swung his leg over the broad back of the horse and then came slowly across to her. He did not show any shock at the sight of the dead body of the steward, but his lips tightened. Mara noticed that he did not mutter the customary prayer either. She found that strange.
    ‘As you can see, Ragnall MacNamara has been killed,’ she said quietly.

    Niall moistened his lips and opened them as if he were about to say something and then shut them again.
    ‘When did you leave him last night?’ Mara asked. She had thought to postpone questioning until after Garrett had been called and the body removed to the church before being decently buried, but often a question when someone is shocked could provoke the truth while time for thought produced only silence. However, she was surprised and puzzled to note how shaken Niall looked. True, he was only in his early twenties, but he must have seen many dead people in his time: the Gaelic custom was to hold night-long wakes after every death and young children were routinely brought to these events.
    He raised troubled eyes from the corpse at their feet and looked at her. ‘I didn’t see him after I left him at the market square, Brehon,’ he said. ‘You were there yourself. You probably saw me go. I never saw him after that until this very second.’
    She frowned. ‘But what about the cart?’
    ‘Well, I was a bit late coming back for the cart. A cousin of mine was at my house. He had come all the way from Tuamgréine to see me so I didn’t want to rush away. I thought Ragnall would stay until the end of the market. He always likes to make sure that he gets the last ounce …’ His voice trailed away and his eyes went once more to the silent body on the ground.
    ‘So what time did you come back?’ asked Mara.
    ‘The sun was still up … well, I suppose it was setting … but it was before sundown … I remember my shadow being very large on the ground ahead of me as I walked towards
the fair,’ said Niall defensively. ‘There were plenty of people still there. I passed the merchant from Corcomroe, Guaire, on the road when I was leaving Rusheen.’
    ‘And Ragnall had already gone?’
    ‘The cart was there and no one was with it.’
    ‘And his horse?’
    ‘That was gone, too.’
    ‘And what did you do then?’
    ‘Well, I waited for a while and then I crossed over and had a word with Liam O’Lochlainn, the O‘Lochlainn steward. He was still on that box of his, collecting the Michaelmas tribute from all the O’Lochlainns. He said that Ragnall had gone some time ago. So I took the cart back to my own place at Rusheen. That had been the arrangement: I would keep it overnight, and then drive it over to the tower house this morning.’
    ‘So it’s in your barn now?’ Mara asked thoughtfully. ‘Did you check it before you stored it?’
    Niall shook his head. ‘No, Brehon, I just put it in the barn, locked the door, released the dog and then went back indoors. That dog of mine is a great barker; no one