Out of the corner of his eye, Roger saw the apprentice curl his lip as his master spoke. The rector was convinced that the “us” was not necessarily indicative of an equal share in effort. He restrained a smile with difficulty as Simon continued, “Were you here yesterday—last afternoon?”
“Yes, sir.”
Baldwin tried to control his excitement as Simon casually asked, “Here in the street?”
“Yes, right here. My boy there,” he jerked a thumb at the assistant, “was inside with some chickens and capons, but I had to take a rest. The noise they make goes right through my head.”
“Did you see anyone up there, by the windows to the inn?”
“What, there?” Adam asked, pointing and squinting a little.
“Yes, outside the living quarters to this side of the hall.”
“No. People keep away when there’s bits of offal in the road. I wasn’t here all day, but no, I didn’t.”
“Were you here for the early part of the afternoon, then?”
“I was here from about…”he glanced blankly at his apprentice as if for inspiration “…a couple of hours after noon, I suppose, until maybe four hours after. I got too hot then, and went in to the cool.”
“What about you—did you notice anyone round here? Anybody who shouldn’t have been here, or who was hanging around for some time?” Baldwin said to the apprentice.
“Me, sir? No, I was working in the room all afternoon.”
“It doesn’t look out over this street?”
The boy pointed to the window near Adam’s shoulder. “Yes, sir, but I was working. I didn’t have time to look out.”
Adam was nodding contentedly as he spoke, and Simon had the impression that he would, for all his easy smiles and cheerfully rotund features, be a hard taskmaster. “Very well,” he said with disappointment. “Thank you for your help.”
“Wait!” Adam said, and both turned to face him once more. The butcher smiled and went into his shop, returning with a short string. “You’ll try some of my sausages, gentlemen, won’t you?”
Tanner answered the door quickly, a disgruntled, unshaven figure in dirty russet tunic and hose. A strong and stolid man, he had dark hair and a square jaw, which now jutted with irritation as the visitors pushed past him. He walked with them to the curtain at the back of the room.
Beyond was the trapdoor in the floor. It was held in place by a large iron clasp, and locked by a wooden peg. Tanner wandered over to it and kicked the peg free before bending and lifting the trap. He slid the ladder over and lowered it into the depths.
Roger winced at the stench coming up from the cell below. It was not only the cold, dank air, it was the scent of unwashed and fearful bodies. The town jail usually held people who were waiting for punishment, and all too often there was only the one punishment available. It smelled as if the fear of hundreds of prisoners over the centuries had impregnated the walls of the jail with their expectation and dread.
Philip Cole was different. In the past, when Simon had waited here and watched as a prisoner clambered up the ladder, he had felt sympathy wash over him. Philip Cole needed none. He hopped from the ladder with a degree of agility that surprised Simon, then stood silent and still beside it, staring at his interrogators.
Baldwin had learned over time to be wary of first impressions: in his experience people were rarely either as simple or as complex as they appeared, and yet…
This man was suspected of murder and robbery, two of the most heinous crimes possible, and if he was guilty, he should be betraying some of the symptoms of his conscience: nervousness, an inability to meet an official’s eye, twitching and biting his lips. Baldwin had known some criminals who were practiced in their craft and who could keep their anxiety hidden, but they were rare and usually a great deal older than this man.
Philip Cole stood defiantly, his arms behind him, and met their stares with what looked like near-anger. He displayed none of the signs of contrition which were to be expected of a man who had murdered a young woman like Sarra. If he was a knave who had killed to hide a robbery, Baldwin mused, he was a very good actor. His forehead was unlined, giving him an air of probity, his eyes had a guilelessness which fitted well with his simple clothing, marking him out as a farmer, and the way he stared back at his three jailers held more contempt than remorse.
The knight had to remind himself that this man, even if not a murderer, was at best a willing mercenary; he had joined a band of men who were little better than outlaws who held legitimacy purely by the force of their arms.
“Well? Have you come here to release me?”
Simon moved over to join Roger by a wall. Tanner leaned against the doorframe in case the lad attempted to escape. The bailiff of Lydford had no authority here; this was Baldwin’s area, and he must conduct the enquiry.
“You know why you are here?” Baldwin asked.
“Two men have accused me of stealing. It’s stupid! Where is all this silver I’m supposed to have taken? Search my bags; look through all my things. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“The thief was well-prepared, even had an accomplice. Such a man would find it easy to conceal what he had taken.”
“Oh? And where, then, am I supposed to have put all this silver?” Philip exploded. “I don’t even know anyone here.”
Studying his face, Baldwin still could not discern a trace of nervousness. He paused a moment. “Yesterday you were at the inn all day?”
“Yes.” He sounded irritable, as if such questions were foolish.
“Yet last night you were found some miles from the town, on a road heading south. What were you doing there?”
“Nothing. I was attacked here, in the town.”
“What?”
“I was attacked. Knocked on the head.”
“Where?”
“At the inn, in the yard behind it. I was sitting near the rear door when I heard something out at the stables. The horses were making a racket, and I went out to see what was upsetting them. That’s all I know.”
“What happened?”
He shrugged, and for the first time looked a little ill-at-ease. “I remember crossing the yard. No one else was about, and I didn’t hurry, there seemed no point. There’s the one big door and separate boxes set out on the left, and I think I just got inside the door when something caught me. I fell, and I can remember being dazzled; it was dark in the stable, and I’d been trying to get used to it when I was struck. When I fell, I rolled, and the sun was in my eyes.”
“Did you see who had struck you?”
Cole reached up and touched the hair above his left ear. “No,” he admitted wryly. “I wish I had.”
“Let me see.” Baldwin walked over to him and peered at the man’s head. He was not lying about being hit, that much was evident. Just over his ear was a tangled mess where the greasy hair had become matted. Baldwin probed, making Cole wince and hiss. There was a crust, Baldwin saw, and a little broke off in tiny clumps which he studied closely. In the dark of the jail it was hard to be certain, but it looked and felt like dried blood. He glanced back at the man’s face. “Was there anyone else there who might have seen this happen?”
“I don’t know.” His impatience was reasserting itself. “I was unconscious. Someone must have seen me go in, I imagine.”
Simon broke in. “When did all this happen?”
“Sometime in the late afternoon.”
“We found you late at night. Do you expect us to believe you could have been out cold for that long?”
“All I know is, I went to see what was happening to the horses, and when I came to loads of men were staring at me like I was something that’d just crawled out of the sewer.”
The bailiff subsided, looking at Baldwin, who recognized the other’s expression: baffled confusion. The knight ventured, “If what you say is true, do you have any idea why someone could have tried to make you look like the guilty one?”
Cole glowered at the ground. “Yes.”
“Could you tell us, then?” Baldwin prompted smoothly.
Cole hesitated. “I want to get him myself. It’s me he’s hurt—I want to have my own revenge.”
“Do you realize the position you are in?” asked Baldwin in disbelief. “Your captain has had all his silver stolen—some of it was found on you—and a murder has been committed, probably during the robbery. Why should we listen to you when—”
“Murder?” His face had paled, his shock so palpable, Baldwin was convinced he had no idea that Sarra had been killed, though whether that was because he thought she had merely been injured and would recover, or because he knew nothing of the attack on her, was another matter. “What murder? Who’s dead? This is a trick—you’re trying to get me to confess to the robbery by threatening me with—”
“Shut up!” Tanner snapped curtly, but Baldwin held up a restraining hand. He surveyed the prisoner.
“This is no trick; we’re not trying to trap you. All we want to do is clear up a particularly nasty murder, and right now you are the main—well, the only—suspect.”
“But I know nothing of this. Who’s dead? Is it one of the soldiers?” His face was ashen, and he reminded Roger of a sack which has suddenly lost its contents. The cheeks seemed to draw in, the eyes to stare with the dreadful realization of his danger.
“Tell us who might have put this on to you. You were only there with Sir Hector for a day or so—did you anger someone? Or was it somebody from your home?”
Cole took a deep breath and met the knight’s gaze steadily. “It was someone in the band. I’ve no idea who, but it must have been one of them.” Baldwin nodded encouragingly, and the youth carried on haltingly, his voice betraying his emotion.
“Sir Hector’s men came through this way some five years ago. Back then I was only fourteen, but my brother Thomas was nearly twenty, and a strong, hard man. He was a good brother, and he looked after the family, four brothers and a sister, after our father died when he was eleven, working for any farmer who needed help. When my sister decided to marry, he slaved to earn enough to make her a dowry. But then our mother died, and my youngest brother with her, and Thomas had had enough. He wanted to marry, but the girl he loved was already betrothed, and the day she wed he told me he was going to go away.”
“This is all very interesting, but—” Baldwin murmured.
“It’s important, sir. Thomas left me in the care of John, my remaining brother, and went off. We didn’t know where, all we knew was, he’d gone. Then—oh, it must have been a year later—we had a message. Someone came past our place and visited us. He told us my brother had joined Sir Hector’s band, but he had died in Gascony, during a fight.”
“There are lots of wars in Gascony, especially on the border with France,” Baldwin said, and Cole nodded.
“Yes, sir, and I’d have thought no more about it, except this man said Thomas had been killed while fighting as an archer for Sir Hector. Now Thomas was a good fighter; known for it. But archer? He couldn’t hit a barn if he was stood inside it: he was awful. No one would let him near a bow in battle. He was the sort to stand with a pike and protect the bowmen, but not ever get near a bow himself. It made us wonder.”
“Many messages like that get confused, especially after a battle,” Baldwin noted thoughtfully.
“I know, sir, but it still seemed strange. The messenger was very definite. When I pressed him, he insisted that he had been told Thomas had been an archer. Anyway, John was killed two months ago, crushed by a wagon at the farm. There was nothing to keep me there anymore, and when I heard Sir Hector’s band were passing by again, I felt I had to come and see them to find out what happened to Thomas.”
“It hardly required you to join them,” said Simon dryly.
“No, sir,” Cole agreed. “But when I saw them all at the inn, I guessed they might not tell me much. I thought the best way to find out the truth was to join them. Otherwise they’d just close their mouths and keep their silence, and I want to know what really did happen.”
“What did you find out?” Baldwin had become interested despite himself.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I asked after Tom with a few people, but they all seemed never to have heard of him. And then this happened.”
9
Simon heaved a sigh of relief at being out of the jail. It was too small, too dark, and he had felt claustrophobic in there. The air might not be any better outside, with the stench from the street worsening as the sun warmed the waste in the sewer, but at least here there was sunlight and the noise of free people rushing about trying to earn a living. It was infinitely better than the atmosphere of the jail.
“We’d better get to the inn and rescue Edgar and Hugh,” Baldwin said, glancing up at the sun. It was rising in the sky: it must be midmorning.
They crossed the street, dodging a horse and cart. To their left, the tripod still stood outside the shop, but the bailiff saw that the butcher had disappeared. Simon happened to glance in through a window, and there he caught a glimpse of the young apprentice. Grasping a massive cleaver, he was hacking at a pig’s carcass dangling from a hook in the wall, splitting it in half down the spine. Every now and then the lad paused to wipe his forehead, clearing the sweat as the flies danced. Simon smiled. He could understand how tiring it must be to lift the massive axe-like tool and swing it in this heat. The apprentice would have several bodies to joint, and if he did not complete his work, his master would surely leave him in no doubt of his incapacity as a trainee. He looked young to be hefting a weapon like that, at maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, and the bailiff could not help glancing at the solemn face of the young rector, wondering whether Roger de Grosse realized how lucky he was.
It was dark in the alley inside the market entrance, which was a comfort after the furnace heat of the street where the shining cobbles seemed hotter than the sun itself. There was no breeze, and even in the shade he could feel the fresh sweat prickling under his armpits and all down his back, but he had to smile. He was calm, with no shadow of fear to darken his brow, and the fact made him proud.
So the bailiff was interested in a butcher’s apprentice? What a keen mind he must have! Either keen or vacant. Better than his friend, though. Sir Baldwin de Furnshill was thought to be quick and intelligent, a cautious but tenacious inquisitor, much more of a threat than the Exeter Coroner who hardly ever bothered to travel to Crediton nowadays; with the teaming hordes of seamen at the docks, he was kept busy enough closer to home. There was no need to journey far to see death in all its forms. This Baldwin, though, was considered clever. The man in the shadows sneered at the idea. Clever! And yet now he was going from the jail back to the inn, no doubt intending to question the captain in his lair, seeing whether he might have any idea why the girl had been killed.
The two men disappeared through the doorway, and their watcher smiled again. His mind was clear once more, just as it had been the night before when he felt the knife slip so smoothly into her body; it was like pushing the weapon into an oiled leather scabbard—one especially shaped to take the thick single-edged blade. The way that his brain had suddenly been so calm, the thoughts so crystal-bright, had surprised him at first, but then he’d realized it was because he was so clever. It was impossible that the others would discover him.
A slow grin spread over his face. And now they were off to seek the man who had robbed the captain. They were bound to find suspects: only men who had something to hide would join a mercenary band.
Yes, he thought. There should be plenty of suspicious characters in a band like that. It was good to keep the King’s man busy.
“Hugh, would you please stop that!” Edgar usually displayed the tolerance of an older brother toward a younger in his dealings with Simon’s servant, but when the man had pulled his dagger out of its scabbard for the seventh time and scrutinized its edge as if suspicious that it had developed a fault, his temper began to fray. When Simon’s servant was not studying his blade, he was whistling—a ho
llow, deathly sound that reminded Edgar of the wind in the branches of trees over a churchyard at the dead of night. Even when the man was sitting, his fingers would keep drumming on any convenient surface near to hand. “What is it?” he asked irritably. “Can’t you just be quiet?”
“No,” Hugh scowled. “I’m not used to guarding a dead body.” His face reflected his mood. It was not only that he was missing Peter Clifford’s hospitality, which had lived up to expectation in the excellence of his ale and the fullness of his board; Hugh had grown up on the moors, a little to the south in the old forest of Dartmoor, and his superstitious soul cringed at having to share a room with a murdered woman. The only thing that could make it worse, from his point of view, would be if she was a suicide, but even a murder victim was full of terrors. He had stayed awake all night less from a sense of duty than from a terror of the Devil coming to take an unshriven soul. Hugh might not be learned, but he knew what the priests said: if a man or woman were to die without having been given the chance to confess their sins, they could not be buried on hallowed ground. They could not go to Heaven, they belonged to the Devil, and all night Hugh had fretted, thinking that every sound he heard was Old Nick coming to take her away. Now, in the warm sunlight of a fresh morning, he had a feeling of anticlimax.
“You’re a farmer’s son. Surely you’ve had to sit up with a corpse before.”
Hugh stared at him for a moment. “Of course I have! But I’ve never been told by my master to guard a room with a corpse in it, in case some mad bugger comes in trying to move things around.” He stood and went to the chest again, looking down at Sarra where she lay on the floor.
His master and Baldwin had covered her with a bolt of cloth they had found in the chest, thus her face was hidden, but she held a fascination for Hugh. It was sad to see her dead. He was used to death in all its forms, from starvation during the appalling famines of 1315 and 1316, to those killed by swords and axes during the attacks of the trail bastons four years ago, but this little figure, whose hair tumbled silkily from beneath the cloth, seemed still more sad than all those.
Crediton Killings Page 10
