The hangman's first love

17 From lies and other telltales

Zane's face reminded Cole of marble. White, stone cold and kind of motionless. But nevertheless, the priest had his familiar smile on his lips. It didn't even seem fake. It was just ... just kind of hard to tell what was going on between his ears.

"So, pater," Lord Garmadons dark eyes seemed to search for any treacherous signs. "Where have you been when you saw Nardakhan for the last time?"

"I've seen him near the river. At the forest."

"Did you two speak?"

Jay's cold hand squeezed Cole's and he knew immediately that she not only felt anxious. She trembled with nervousness. The pater had taken an oath to tell the truth. How should they manage to escape that complicated situation? He already told them he wouldn't lie.

"No, we didn't", the pater answered.

"Why not?"

Zane's lips were thin but he still smiled. The truth would have been that he had been murdered, so Nardakhan couldn't have said a single word to him.

"That's it", Jay murmured and Cole hold his breath.

"Nardakhan was not really a religious man," the pater stated. "We barely ever spoke more than an obligatory hello here and there."

"So he didn't tell you where he was going to?" Zane seemed to think about the question and finally shook his head. "No, I'm afraid he hadn't talked to me at all. I'm pretty sure he hadn't even seen us. The hangman and I were on an other path so we only saw him from afar."

Cole released his breath and took a glimpse at Jay. She was pale and the strong violet black eye seemed so much darker now in the shadows of the courtroom. She noticed him staring so she looked up and smiled a bit. It wasn't over yet, but the pater extended the truth like a true master. He didn't even lie. He answered every question correctly. Although he didn't tell everything he knew and that was still a sin and somehow debatable.

"Mhm. So and in which direction did he go?"

"Downstream."

Technically even that wasn't a lie. After they had thrown him into the river, the water had taken him with it. So again: no lies. Cole was still very impressed how easy the pater masked his answers.

"And Nardakhan didn't realize any of you?"

The priest shrugged. "Looks like that. He wasn't really near us and he faced the other direction."

"I see. But, what I don't understand," the Lord scratched his chin and his dark eyes scrutinized the Priest. "What did you and the hangman do there in the forest?"

Zane's lips parted for a perfectly innocent smile. "Oh I was on my way to Dareth's farm and the hangman was about to look for his wife. We met and exchanged a few sentences while we were looking for her."

"Mhm," Lord Garmadons dark brown eyes were narrow. He seemed to reek that there was something odd but fortunately he didn't seem to understand what really was going on there. "Is there anything else you want us to know, pater?"

"No, Lord Garmadon. There's nothing."

"Thank you for the time you invested pater! You may leave now. So let me talk to the hangman. Master Hence?"

Jay let out a little whimper and Cole gently squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, honey, I'll be back in no time", he promised.

The priest got up and made room for Cole. When he sat down, Lord Garmadon made him swear on the bible to tell the truth before he started the investigation.

"So you were on your way to find your wife? Why?"

Cole tried to relax. He had been in court for so many times due to his profession, so he mustn't be nervous. But the difference today was, that he was an potential suspect since he was one of the last persons that had seen Nardakhan alive. And indeed, he was guilty. Normally he was just the coroner, a tool for justice, not the criminal. But since there had been an ruckus after a farmer some miles away from the city had found the mercenary's dead body, hanging on some branches of a tree that had fallen into the river, they had to investigate. And somehow they knew that he and the pater had been in the forest and near the river when Nardakhan potentially had drowned. Damn, why did this asshole even make trouble when he was dead?