Without a Trace

by Mel Starr

  Kate’s rooster woke me at dawn on Saturday, as he does each morn, competing for the honor with the Angelus Bell ringing from the tower of St. Beornwald’s Church. Had he not, the pounding upon Galen House’s door moments later would have. I crawled from our warm bed, my joints complaining – they never used to – drew on chauces and cotehardie, and stumbled down the stairs.

  ’Twas Father Thomas who had bruised his knuckles upon my door. When I opened it he said abruptly, without a greeting, “Odo’s gone missing. We’ve searched the church, but he’s not to be found.”

  “Your clerk?” I said stupidly. So far as I know no other Odo resides in Bampton or the Weald.

  “Aye… Odo.”

  “Was he not one of the watchers at the Easter Sepulcher?”

  “Aye. He was to attend to the duty after John.”

  “He did not do so?”

  “He did. Peter said Odo arrived to take up his post in good time, but when Ernaud went to ring the dawn Angelus and replace Odo, my clerk was not there.”

  “Perhaps he left his duty early, when he heard Ernaud ring the Angelus Bell. He would know that his replacement was present within the church.”

  “Nay. Ernaud saw from the base of the tower that Odo was not where he should be before he rang for the Angelus devotional. Father Simon arrived moments later to conduct the Angelus devotional and together they called out for him, Ernaud said, but there was no reply.”

  “’Twas a cold night,” I said. “Perhaps he became chilled and sought his bed.”

  “So I thought, and went to his chamber to reprimand him. If the Lord Christ could die for Odo’s sins the fellow could withstand a cold night for but a few hours to do honor to his savior. But he was not there. His bed was cold.”

  Here was a puzzle. ’Tis an honor to stand guard at the Easter Sepulcher, and one that John Younge and Peter Bouchard, Ernaud le Tourneur, and Odo Fuller – sexton and clerks – defend vigorously. Others of Bampton, good men and true, have volunteered to watch, but these four will not share the honor.

  “You have begun to search for Odo?” I said.

  “Aye. Ernaud and Father Simon came to me and Father Ralph. I combed the church and when ’twas light enough examined the churchyard. He is not there. Where might he be?”

  “Where indeed?” I replied.

  My wits were gradually returning after being roused from my bed so precipitously, but not so much that I could devise a response to Father Thomas’s question.

  I stood in the doorway, scratching my head, which was empty of intelligent thought, when Kate came down the stairs behind me.

  “Might he have visited the tithe barn?” she said. She had heard our conversation and offered a solution. “Did he need to replenish stores at your vicarage?”

  Father Thomas stroked his beard and spoke. “Mayhap. Alan, my cook, cares for that usually. But I will question him. He may have asked Odo to do an errand for him.”

  “But you think not,” I said.

  Alan had not done so, and as with all others we spoke to that morning had no thought as to where Odo might be.

  By the third hour the church, churchyard, tithe barn, and vicarages had been searched over and again. Odo was not found. I told Father Thomas that I intended to return to Galen House, break my fast with a loaf and ale, then seek the castle and bring back with me some of Lord Gilbert’s grooms so as to widen the search.

  I am Hugh de Singleton – Sir Hugh, since Prince Edward saw fit to offer me a knighthood for services I rendered to him – surgeon and bailiff to Lord Gilbert, Third Baron Talbot. Lord Gilbert had returned to Bampton Castle but a fortnight past, after spending the winter at Godrich, another of his possessions.

  When I walked under the castle portcullis I saw Lord Gilbert striding toward the castle marshalsea. He has skilled pages, grooms, and farriers to care for his horses, but as with most of his class considers himself an expert judge of beasts, their care, and their ailments. No doubt he intended to peer over some stable groom’s shoulder.

  I hailed my employer and hastened to where he stood awaiting me. If I intended to take half a dozen or so of his grooms from the castle to seek Odo Fuller I should tell him why.

  “Father Thomas’s clerk, you say?” Lord Gilbert said when I told him of the missing man. “Has he ever shirked his duty in the past?”

  “Not that I’ve heard. Father Thomas is a friend, and has confided in me in the past, but has never complained of Odo’s work or his loyalty. Indeed, if the clerk had given him reason to do so the priest would have sent him packing and Odo would be seeking other employment.”

  “True enough. Father Thomas is not one to suffer incompetence,” Lord Gilbert agreed. “Well, take whom you need, and inform me when you find the fellow. Must be somewhere near.”

  With that conclusion he bade me “Good day” and continued toward the stables. I sought Arthur Wagge, a groom in Lord Gilbert’s service who had proven himself useful to me in seeking felons and suchlike rogues in the past, and Uctred, another groom who had also been of assistance. I found Arthur with two other grooms at the castle sawpit where the three of them were sawing planks for an addition to the castle larder. No doubt they were pleased to be released from this arduous labor. I told Arthur to find Uctred and two more grooms, then the six of them were to proceed posthaste to St. Beornwald’s Church. And I told him why. Arthur tugged a forelock and set off to find Uctred. I hastened from the castle, crossed the bridge over Shill Brook without stopping to gaze into the stream – a thing I often do – and went to the church.

  Priests, clerks, and sexton were milling about the porch, exchanging suggestions as to where Odo might be and why he would be there. When I came near I told them that six of Lord Gilbert’s grooms would soon arrive and we must organize a search which would see the entire village examined.

  When Arthur, Uctred, and four others appeared, I sent the searchers out in pairs – what one man might disregard the other might see. With Father Thomas I divided Bampton amongst the searchers so that no place would be overlooked while some other street or house or barn might be examined twice. The searchers were told to assemble at the church with their reports when the noon Angelus sounded.

  Peter rang the noon Angelus as Arthur and I walked under the lych gate. Father Simon and Father Ralph and their clerks had preceded us, and Uctred and the other three of Lord Gilbert’s grooms soon appeared. No trace of Odo had been found, no inhabitants of Bampton or the Weald had seen the clerk since Friday.

  “Has Odo enemies?” I asked Father Thomas. “Mayhap he has not gone away, but some other has done him harm.”

  “What enemies would a clerk make?” the priest replied, shaking his head. “Odo was honest with me and, so far as I know, with all men.”

  “Honesty is known to cause trouble,” I replied. “There are men who prefer deceit. Has Odo had reason to consort with deceitful folk, either willingly or unwillingly, so that they might despise his truthfulness?”

  “Not that I know of. He’d have spoken of it to me, I think, had he done so. His life was this church and service to it, and to me. How would such a life bring Odo into conflict with evil men? That is your thinking, is it not? That Odo has not gone off of his own choice, but some other man has done away with him? Was it so, would we, or some other of Bampton folk, not have found his corpse?”

  “Unless it was well hid,” I said.

  “And if some rogue did injure or slay Odo, would there not be some sign of the evil in the chancel? He was there, we know, when he took Peter’s place at the Easter Sepulcher. He would not have departed the chancel and ignored his duty for some light reason.”

  “We have not sought any sign that harm came to Odo while he stood guard,” I said. “Such a thought did not occur to me, or to you, I think. Why should it? What mischief could come to a lowly clerk as he stood watch at the Easter Sepulcher? Mayhap it is time we considered that possibility.”

  Father Thomas span on his heels and entered the porch, but I gra
sped his arm and said, “Wait. Many men have already stood about the chancel and before the Easter Sepulcher. If more of us do so, whatever sign of evil done to Odo may be obscured, if ’tis not already.”

  “What do you intend?” Father Thomas said.

  “I would like to examine the chancel alone. The sky is beginning to lighten, and the candles also provide light. Windows and flames may permit discovery of things not seen or expected this morning.”

  “Very well. I see your point. I and Father Ralph and Father Simon will observe from the rood screen while you search the chancel.”

  They did, as did Arthur, Uctred, and the other grooms. These fellows felt themselves a part of the mystery and were interested now in seeing the matter to its conclusion.

  I walked past the rood screen and cautiously peered at the flags before my feet. Stone does not preserve footprints. I cannot say what I thought I might discover there on the floor of the chancel, but whatever it might have been I did not at first find it.

  As I slowly walked past the Easter Sepulcher I saw, between the sepulcher and the high altar, a tiny dark dot upon the flags before the altar. The speck was about the size of the nail upon my little finger. ’Twas no wonder neither I nor any other had taken note of it in the dim light of early morn. Even the flames of a dozen or so candles would not make the spot plain to a casual observer.

  I kneeled for a closer look and from the rood screen Father Thomas said, “What have you found?”

  “I am unsure,” I replied. As I spoke I remembered that in Galen House I had a tool which might allow me to better examine the spot before my eyes. I stood, walked to the rood screen, and spoke to those who stood near it.

  “I must go to Galen House, but will return anon. Please allow no man to enter the chancel. There is a mark upon the flags which is suspicious and I have at Galen House an instrument which may help me learn what is there.”

  The speck was dark brown and I feared it was a dried drop of blood. The past summer I had seen Master John Wycliffe and Abbot Gerleys of Eynsham Abbey using a glass which enlarged the letters upon a page. I had purchased one of these lenses, and now it occurred to me that the instrument might allow me to better identify the stain I had found.

  “Have you found the clerk?” Kate asked as I entered my home.

  “Nay, and I fear we may not.”

  “You may not? Why so?”

  “I may have found a drop of dried blood near to where Odo would have stood while watching over the Easter Sepulcher last night.”

  “You may have? How will you know?”

  “I have come for the glass I bought last summer. It may tell me what my eyes alone cannot.”

  The glass was within my chest in our chamber. I hurried up the stairs, withdrew the glass, and clattered back down again. Kate was where I had left her, at the door, a worried expression upon her face. Perhaps she was anxious that I would do myself some injury if I did not take more care upon the stairs.

  “Will you return soon for your dinner?” Kate asked. “I have prepared stewed herring and rice moyle.”

  Until Kate spoke of it I had not thought of my empty stomach, being too much involved with the matter of Odo Fuller’s disappearance.

  “I will not be long,” I said, and I wasn’t.

  At the church I produced my glass and Father Thomas spoke. “I’ve heard of such things, but I’ve never seen one before.”

  “The work of the devil,” Father Ralph said. “Making of things what they are not.”

  “Nonsense,” Father Thomas replied. “The words on a page are not made other than what they are by being enlarged so that men of great years may yet read them. I wear shoes so as to protect my feet and make them more useful. Are shoes the devil’s work also? I warm myself at the fire. Shoes and fire are man’s creation. God did not light these candles the better that we may see. Men did. You suggest that what men can create is the work of Satan?”

  Father Ralph sniffed in reply but said no more.

  I passed the rood screen and bent to find the speck upon the flags. ’Twas not readily visible, but after a moment’s searching I saw it, dropped to my knees, and held the glass over the spot. With a fingernail I cautiously scratched at the dried matter and watched through the glass as some of it flaked away. Here was a reddish-brown drop of dried blood, I was sure of it. The glass helped make clear what I had suspected.

  One drop of blood. If Odo was slain here, why so little gore? Certainly he was not stabbed. Had this been so he would have left his blood spattered about. Strangled? Then there would have been no bloodstain at all. Struck upon his head? Aye, that would answer. A blow upon a man’s skull might slay him and cause little bleeding. If Odo was knocked upon his head, what was the weapon? A felon might take his club with him after his evil deed, and that would likely mean he had entered the church intent upon striking Odo down, and so brought the weapon to the church with him. I glanced about the chancel and high altar, peering into dim recesses, and even opened the door to the vestry. But that chamber had already been searched in the morning and I found nothing new.

  My eyes were drawn to the altar, and the two great candlesticks there. They were silver, heavy, and costly, a gift to the Church of St. Beornwald by Sir Aymer de Valence many years past. The candles upon these candlesticks were lit, providing light as I approached them. A blow from one of these could propel a man into the next world. They were as long and thick through as my arm.

  “What do you see?” Father Thomas asked.

  “There is a speck of blood upon the chancel flags.”

  “Then some evil has happened here.”

  A glance at the candlesticks told me nothing. To more closely examine them I must extinguish the candles so that I could handle and turn the candlesticks in the light of the windows and other candles illuminating the chancel. I did so, and at the base of the first candlestick I lifted I found another brown smudge, and a hair.

  “Come,” I said to Father Thomas. “Odo has been struck down.”

  The priest hurried to where I stood at the high altar. “Look here.” I pointed to the base of the candlestick. This is blood. And Odo is fair-haired, is he not?”

  “Aye, he is.”

  “Do you see the hair caught in the blood? ’Tis not dark.”

  “It is difficult to know,” Father Thomas said, “from just one hair. But it does seem the hue of Odo’s hair. What has happened here?”

  “Some man struck Odo down whilst he stood watch at the Easter Sepulcher,” I said.

  “But where then is he? Did his assailant drag him away? Was he not smitten unconscious, but forced to accompany his attacker? Or was he slain? If so, where is his corpse?”

  These were all laudable questions, for which I had no answers.

  “Here is another question,” I said. “How would some man enter the chancel, filled with light as it is from the candles, and seize a heavy candlestick with which he could then strike Odo? The clerk would surely have seen the man enter.”

  Father Thomas glanced about him, as if to reassure himself that what I said was so.

  “It must be,” the priest finally said, “that whoso attacked Odo – if this is truly what happened – was known to him.”

  “I agree, unless Odo was dozing and did not see or hear his attacker enter. Odo is a small man, and not accustomed to labor or combat. A large man might overwhelm him, I think.”

  “Aye,” Father Thomas agreed. “And even if Odo thought himself in danger he would not forsake his duty to stand guard at the Easter Sepulcher. He was not a man to shirk an obligation, especially an obligation to the Lord Christ.”

  “Was not a man? Already we speak of him in the past,” I said.

  “The blood upon the floor and candlestick cause me to believe his life is ended,” the priest said. “If I am wrong, why can we not find him? If he lives, why has he not shown himself? Would some man bludgeon him over the head, then drag him away and keep him hidden, but alive?”

  “I can th
ink of no reason for doing so,” I said.

  “Neither can I,” Father Thomas agreed.

  We spent the remainder of the day – but for the two other clerks and John Younge, who returned to watching over the Easter Sepulcher and occasionally glancing over their shoulders – searching for Odo Fuller. I did not expect to find him, and we did not. We might have not troubled ourselves. Odo was found the next day, Easter. But unlike the Lord Christ he had not risen from the dead.