The Merchant's Mark (24 page)

Kate opened her mouth to deny the imputation, closed it again, and looked down. Behind her Babb said, with a warmth equalling the sudden warmth of Kate’s face, ‘Who’d want to
see a man brought to his end by a spiteful creature like Billy Walker? No wonder she’s taking an interest, Maister David!’

‘Aye,’ said Kate. ‘Babb’s right, sir.’

‘Aye,’ said her uncle, with that legal lack of expression, and rose. ‘Well, I had best be up the road. I have a case to look over for the morn. Gang warily, my lassies,’
he added, looking from one to the other. ‘You’ll keep me informed, won’t you?’

‘We’ll report to you, sir,’ agreed Kate. His mouth twitched, but he only raised his hand for the blessing.

By the time the two men selected by Andy for the task came home from their expedition to the Hog, the house was relatively quiet. The hall, swept and polished, bright with fire
and candlelight, was strewn with cut pieces of linen, and more was stretched out on the great board which had been set on its trestles for the purpose. Round it, under the branches of light, the
women were sewing, with the support of small cups of a reviving herbal cordial which Ursel had produced from her stillroom. When Andy stepped into the house with the two cheerful men behind him, he
looked round approvingly.

‘Where’s the new one?’ he asked. ‘The nourice?’

‘She didny want to leave them,’ said Ursel. ‘Wynliane’s no right yet. Here, Jennet, that’s a sleeve to that shift, and I think Babb has the other.’

‘Aye, well, I tellt you how it would be,’ said Andy.

Kate grimaced, and Alys nodded. ‘You did indeed, Andy,’ she agreed, ‘but we had to try to bath them. I wonder if there is a better way to approach it,’ she said
thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps if an adult got in with them?’

‘We’d be better to wash the bairn standing in a basin,’ said Kate. ‘It can’t be good for her, upsetting her so she screams like that.’ She looked past Andy.
‘Jamesie, William. What did you learn?’

They came forward, dispensing fumes of ale and the greasy cooking smells which clung to their clothes. Ursel sniffed, and primmed up her mouth.

‘No a lot, my leddy.’ This was Jamesie, lanky and dark-haired, turning his bonnet in his hands. ‘Mattha Hog says he’d be right glad to take the coals off our hands, my
leddy, but I never discussed the price, since you never tellt me to.’ Kate nodded approvingly. ‘And then we sat down, like Andy tellt us, and took a stoup of ale, and listened a bit,
and talked a bit. They were wanting to hear how Billy dee’d.’

‘What did you say?’ asked Alys.

‘What we saw,’ said William. ‘How he was cut to pieces like wi an axe.’ He looked at his colleague. ‘I thought one or two folk looked sideways at that. As if maybe
they were feart the fellow wi the axe was in the place the night.’

‘Aye, but he wasny,’ said Jamesie.

‘Naw. So then,’ pursued William, ‘one fellow asked what Billy was after when we took him redhand last night, so we tellt them what he said about the maister’s kist, and
how a’body kens the maister keeps his coin up at the castle. And we tellt them how it was you and Babb that catched him,’ he added, ‘and how Babb wanted to put skelfs under his
fingernails and set light to them –’

‘That wasny me, it was Jamesie that wanted to set light to them!’ said Babb indignantly, needle poised over a scrap of linen.

‘I never!’ said Jamesie, equally indignant. ‘It was your brother Ecky, William Soutar.’

‘Whoever it was,’ said Kate, ‘we never took up the idea. What did the Hog have to say to that?’

‘Well, I think they’ll no come calling uninvited,’ said Jamesie, grinning.

‘It was so you,’ muttered William.

‘Did you learn anything more?’ said Kate, seeing the way the discussion was heading.

‘No in the Hog, no,’ admitted Jamesie. ‘But when we left –’

‘Calling me a liar –’

‘This fellow came out after us, casual-like, and had a wee word as we cam along the Gallowgait.’

‘What fellow was this?’ asked Alys.

Jamesie shrugged. ‘He never said his name. What he did say was, he’d heard Billy and this fellow wi the axe talking in the Hog yestreen. Afore you were there yourself, my
leddy.’

‘Yes?’ said Kate.

‘Our Ecky never said such a thing in his life.’

‘He said there was something about a barrel, and a yett, and a key. And he said the fellow said Billy had cheated him.’

‘It was a’ havers,’ said William, suddenly abandoning his brother’s reputation. ‘You don’t need a key to seal a barrel.’

‘Did Billy seal the barrel?’ asked Alys hopefully.

Jamesie shrugged again. ‘He never said. He said Billy was feart for the Axeman.’

‘We kenned that,’ said Andy. ‘Is this all you’ve got, you pair of useless loons?’

‘Naw,’ said William unexpectedly. ‘Other thing he said, he’d seen the fellow wi the axe in the Hog afore. Wi two other men.’

‘Men? Not a girl?’ said Alys. ‘We still need to look for this Maidie.’

William shook his head. ‘He just said men.’

‘When?’ Kate asked. ‘Did he know the other men? Or describe them?’

‘He didny ken them, for we asked him that. He said one had a hat wi a feather in it.’

‘Like half the householders in Glasgow,’ said Andy in disgust. ‘You’re a useless –’

‘When was this?’ Kate asked.

‘No yesterday but the day afore. Wednesday,’ said William, counting on his fingers.

‘Did he hear what they were saying?’ asked Alys.

‘Naw.’

‘They stayed in a wee corner, by theirsels,’ elucidated Jamesie.

‘But,’ said William, ‘he reckoned Mattha Hog knew them, for they got the good ale without asking for it.’

‘A pity they never got the fellow’s name,’ said Kate, once the men had been thanked and sent out to the bothy.

‘I said the man with the axe was not acting alone,’ said Alys. ‘But why was he in Glasgow on Wednesday? That was before the cart ever came home with the barrel on
it.’

‘Maybe they’d missed it on the road,’ suggested Babb, running her thread across the beeswax.

‘It still makes little sense,’ said Alys, and frowned down at her seam.

‘I think we only have half the picture,’ said Kate. ‘We’ve no more than we can learn here in Glasgow. Gil may have the other half.’

‘True,’ agreed Alys, and sighed. ‘I wonder when he will be home?’

And when he comes home, thought Kate, will he set Augie Morison free?

The inquest on Billy Walker was an altogether more expeditious affair than the one on the unknown head in the barrel. This probably had something to do with the imminent
arrival of the King and half the court; most of the supporting column had already arrived and the outer yard was full of men shouting over laden mules and oxcarts full of cushions, folding
furniture and half of the Master Cook’s
batterie de cuisine.
French curses floated over the chaos; as Kate was hoisted by Babb up the fore-stair into Sir Thomas’s own lodging she
heard Alys giggle.

The corpse lay on a hurdle propped on trestles in the midst of the hall. In deference to Mall’s feelings, and possibly those of the other women present, someone had spread a length of
canvas over it. Mall herself was stationed near the bier, dry-eyed and apprehensive, her beads in her hand and a clean apron over her worn blue gown. The woman beside her was so like her she could
only be the sister from Greyfriars Wynd.

‘He’s done better wi the assizers this time,’ muttered Andy as one of the men-at-arms set a chair for Kate. ‘There’s Mattha Hog again, but the rest’s no so
close wi him as Thursday’s lot was. Just the same, I should ha sent our men to find some of our own friends. And you stand here, Ecky Soutar, where I can keep my eye on you.’

The serjeant bore in the burgh mace, and Sir Thomas made an entrance, took his seat on the dais and dealt briskly with the business of choosing the assizers, ignoring any suggested names of
which he did not approve and ending with a group of sheepish citizens being sworn in by the clerk in batches of five.

‘Right, neighbours,’ said the Provost when this was complete. ‘We’ve the body of a man here, and this court is convened to establish who he is, how he died and if we can
tell who was responsible.’

‘If ye dare,’ said someone from behind Kate.

Alys twisted round to look, and Sir Thomas stretched himself up, glaring. ‘Who said that? Andro, see who it was. Another word and you’re out of this chamber, whoever you
are.’

‘Jemmy Walker, was it no, maister?’ muttered Ecky Soutar to Andy, who gave him a look that silenced him. Sir Thomas was speaking again.

‘Now, neighbours, the first thing is to determine who the dead man is. Has any of you looked on him?’

With some shuffling of feet, the assize admitted that the most of their number had keeked under the canvas, and that those who had done so were agreed that the corp was Billy Walker, that had
been carter to Maister Augustine Morison of Morison’s Yard in the High Street. Sir Thomas nodded, and his clerk wrote the name down.

‘And who found him dead?’ he asked.

‘That was me,’ said Andy with reluctance.

After her recent experience of questioning witnesses, Kate admired the economy with which Sir Thomas extracted what Andy had seen when he opened the coalhouse door, and had it confirmed by the
serjeant, who was more subdued than Kate had seen him. Then it was her turn; Sir Thomas very courteously bade her stay where she was, and came down into the hall to take her evidence, followed by
his clerk. The assize were let out of their pen to come closer, so that they could hear her, and she described how Billy had broken into the house, how she and Babb had trapped him, and how they
had questioned him and shut him in the coalhouse.

‘We thought he’d be safe there till the morning,’ she said, and was surprised to find her voice shaking.

Alys, beside her, put a hand on her shoulder, and Sir Thomas said gruffly, ‘There, now, you wereny to ken. Is there any questions?’ he demanded fiercely of the assize.

‘Aye,’ said someone. ‘Ask the leddy what Billy Walker was after, breaking in like that.’

‘He said he was looking for treasure,’ said Kate. They keep coming back to that, she thought. We can’t deny it forever.

‘Which is daft,’ said Andy at her other side. ‘When it’s well kent my maister keeps his coin up here wi you, Provost, and there’s never been treasure in
Morison’s Yard.’

‘And what was the leddy doing in Morison’s Yard anyway?’ said another voice. ‘It’s nane o your house, is it?’

‘I’m there to keep an eye on the bairns,’ said Kate, raising her chin.

‘Oh, aye,’ said the serjeant. ‘These bairns I never saw. I didny see them yesterday either.’

‘They’re six and four year old, a bit big to miss. Maister Morison fetched a barrel of spectacles last week to the pothecary’s,’ said Kate rather tartly. ‘Maybe you
should go and try some, serjeant.’

There was laughter, and Serjeant Anderson scowled. Sir Thomas looked round.

‘Is there any more questions for Lady Kate?’ he demanded. ‘Right. Thank you, my leddy. Now who was it heard a noise in the yard?’

Ecky Soutar stood forward and admitted to having heard a noise, thought it was a cat knocking something down, and gone back to sleep.

‘Hmph,’ said the Provost. ‘I’ll wager your master’s steward had a word to say about that.’ Ecky’s eyes slid sideways to Andy, and he gave a shamefaced
nod. ‘Well, and what time was this?’

‘I don’t know, maister,’ said Ecky. ‘It was still dark, that’s all I can say, sir.’

With some evidence from the serjeant about the amount of blood on the coal, at which Mattha Hog looked smug and Mall looked as if she might faint, and about the absence of blood on any of
Morison’s household, Sir Thomas wound up the questioning. The assize was led off to the refreshment presumably waiting in an inner chamber, and Sir Thomas stepped down from the dais again and
came to speak to Kate.

‘A bad business, my lady,’ he said. ‘It must have been a shock to you.’

‘A shock to the whole household,’ said Kate. ‘Andy, here, found him, as he just tellt you, sir, and the other men were working wi him the day before.’

‘And why were you in the house, anyway?’ Sir Thomas went on in a low voice.

‘As I said,’ said Kate, ‘I’m there to mind the bairns till we sort out this charge against their faither. He’s an old friend, sir, and a friend of my
brother’s. I knew his wife, I’ve known Maister Morison since I was the age his bairns are.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Sir Thomas nodded. ‘You’re acting for your brother, are you?’

‘What about the man wi the axe?’ said a voice behind Sir Thomas before she had to answer this. The Provost turned sharply, and Mall came into Kate’s view, dry-eyed and pinched
with grief, her sister beside her. ‘You never mentioned him,’ she went on, looking at Kate, ‘you never named the weapon that killed my Billy. Is he to get off wi it?’

‘Speak respectful to my leddy, you,’ said Babb over Kate’s shoulder.

‘What’s this? What’s this?’ demanded Sir Thomas.

‘It’s Billy’s sweetheart, Mall Anderson,’ said Kate. ‘Mall, did you not speak to the Provost before?’

‘I tried,’ she said, ‘but my uncle wouldny let me.’ She jerked her head towards Serjeant Anderson, who had just reappeared leading the assize from the inner room.

‘Oh, he wouldny?’ said Sir Thomas a little grimly. ‘What’s this about a man with an axe, lassie? Tell me quick.’

‘There was a m-man wi an axe at the back yett to our yard,’ said Mall, stumbling over her words, ‘I heard him talking to my Billy, and he threatened him to d-do what he wanted,
to break into his maister’s house and steal for him, and it must ha been him that slew him, sir, and is he to get off free?’

‘It’s no right, maister,’ said her sister at her elbow.

‘Do you ken this man’s name, lassie?’ asked the Provost severely. Mall stared at him, and shook her head. ‘If we canny name him, we canny put him to the horn. Still I
wish it had come out afore this, for someone in the room might ken him.’ He turned as the men of the assize were herded behind their rope again. ‘Aye, neighbours,’ he said, making
for his chair on the dais. ‘Have you reached a verdict, then? And are you minded o the penalties for a false assize?’