The Traitor of St. Giles (32 page)

Across the yard two boys were dragging a friend, who was seated upon a wheeled wooden horse and gripped a lance, across the cobbles towards a quintain. When he hit his mark, they all crowed with delight, but their pleasure only served to increase Wat’s gloom. He would never know such simple happiness. His was to be a peasant’s life.

Head down, he kicked a pebble and scuffed away towards the hall’s door, wondering who might be inside. At the door was Sir Peregrine of Barnstaple. He didn’t seem to notice Wat, but Wat was used to being invisible in this castle. Men tended not to notice him; he was merely one of several brats about the place. The only time, Wat had discovered, he was likely to be seen was when he didn’t want to be, such as when he had just dropped a bowl of wine and splashed the stuff all up a wall, or when he was caught in the kitchen filching biscuits.

Idly he watched as Sir Peregrine walked across the yard to the gatehouse and entered. Wat wondered whether he could slip into the buttery and serve himself a pot or two of wine.

Harlewin le Poter felt good as he left his house. With an expansive gesture he stretched, reaching his arms up to the sky, and groaned with pleasure as he felt bones crack and muscles slip over each other. It felt good to be alive.

The Fair was still on, and so far he’d seen hardly any of it, so he set off, sauntering cheerily towards the noise, considering what he could buy his wife as a present. Probably a pleasant little necklace or ring, he thought. Nothing too expensive, but a trinket such as she would like. Luckily he and Cecily had agreed a while ago that they would never purchase anything for each other. There was no point when nothing they received could be put on show. It wasn’t as if she was going to be able to fasten on a new necklace in front of her husband and say, ‘Nice, isn’t it? Harlewin gave it me.’

With that thought the Coroner gave a broad smile. It was the attractive aspect of a lover: this simplicity. A wife would complain, ‘You never buy me presents, you can’t love me,’ whereas a lover was grateful for a more basic, no less sincere, proof of adoration.

He had to cross several poorer areas, and he moved down the alleys and along streets with no urgency, but a constant caution, a man always on his guard and aware of his surroundings. At fairtime even a small town like Tiverton could attract petty thieves prepared to knock a man on the head for what he carried in his purse – and a friend of Earl Thomas should always be on guard in these troubled times.

At the end of the last alley he came into bright sunlight and stood a moment sniffing the air. Over the way he saw the tavern, Simon and Baldwin in the doorway.

Toker pushed himself away from the wall as Sir Baldwin stepped out into the street. Resting a hand on his dagger, Toker tested it in its sheath – it moved easily enough, as it should after the amount of grease he had rubbed over it from the kitchen’s pots. There was no need for a sword for a quick assassination like this, he knew. One swift stab upwards into the knight’s heart and lungs and he would be gone. No more trouble.

Sir Baldwin and Simon were walking away, their backs to him. He made to walk over the cobbles but a horse passed, slowing him. Once it had gone he moved forward and gave a significant look at his men in front. They walked into the street lazily, and paused as if to chatter. When Toker glanced left he saw Perkin coming level with him. Soon the men in front would pull out their knives and the sight would make the knight and his friend pause in surprise, then in anger, and before they could pull their blades free, they would be dead, stabbed in the back. Toker and his men had done it all before.

But as he placed his hand on his dagger’s hilt, there was a shout from behind him.

Harlewin was dubious about joining the knight. Sir Baldwin could be an unsettling companion, and the Coroner was of a mind to leave him. He was about to turn away and walk up a sidestreet when he noticed the two men just in front pushing their way through the crowds and gaining on Sir Baldwin. Every nerve in his body screamed caution at the sight.

‘Sir Baldwin and Bailiff Puttock! How good to see you again!’ he bellowed, and stepped forward, nudging Perkin heavily and shoving him from his path as he went, then faced Toker, his hand already on his sword, shaking his head.

Toker took his hand away from his dagger slowly registering his confusion, but then he smiled and marched back the way he had come.

Simon had turned at the first call, and was just in time to see a man go flying. Nearby was the Coroner, a massive figure, and before him was a scruffy, nondescript figure with his back to Simon. ‘What the . . .’

Baldwin reacted faster. He took in the scene, but then whirled around to face forwards again, and now his sword was free of its sheath, and the bright blue blade glistened and shone wickedly in the sun. Its colour was a dismal threat to any man who wished to threaten him.

A woman screamed, another took up the cry, and in a moment the street was almost empty.

Now he knew there was danger, Baldwin could see that two men were acting oddly. Both were tattily clothed, both large men, with faces that betrayed their dismay at the loss of surprise. One had his hand on a dagger, but under Baldwin’s intent stare, his hand fell from it. The two ambushers exchanged a glance before backing away carefully. Both had knives, but a knife was no defence against a man trained from his youth in sword-play. They retreated, then darted up an alley, and Baldwin heard their footsteps hurrying away.

When those two had disappeared, Baldwin turned just in time to see the last of the other men scampering away while a roaring, furious Simon aimed a weighty kick at his arse, making him scream with pain. Simon walked with a faint limp as he returned to his friend, although his beaming face showed that he did not regret the mild pain.

‘We owe you a great debt of thanks,’ Baldwin said to Harlewin.

‘They shouldn’t be allowed to escape,’ Harlewin muttered grimly. ‘The bastards could attack someone else.’

‘I think they have likely lost their taste for waylaying men in town,’ Baldwin noted. ‘And they didn’t actually do anything.’

‘They were going to rob you,’ Harlewin growled.

‘And thanks to your vigilance they failed.’

‘It was my pleasure. Well, and my duty, I suppose. I am the Coroner, so my job is to see to it that felons fail and are arrested.’

‘Did you recognise them?’ Simon enquired.

‘I have seen them before,’ Harlewin admitted. ‘Didn’t you know them? They are from Sir Peregrine’s entourage.’

‘Good Lord!’ Baldwin breathed.

‘God’s Bollocks!’ Simon declared. ‘The shit set his men on us? Why, for Christ’s sake?’

Baldwin scowled thoughtfully. ‘We should ask
him
that. Perhaps he didn’t? They could be freebooters.’

‘Well, there’s little point in hurrying to him,’ Simon considered. ‘Those buggers of his will get there before us and explain their failure, so he’ll be briefed with an alibi before we get to the castle.’

‘They are staying in the castle, Simon,’ Baldwin said urgently. ‘They could have grabbed William and executed him.’

‘Why should they do that?’

‘Maybe it was a brawl – or perhaps there was another reason. I find it hard to believe that William’s death was not somehow related to his master’s.’

Harlewin smiled thinly. ‘I have declared the good Sir Gilbert’s death to have been caused by the felon.’

‘Ah, yes,’ Baldwin said. ‘I am sure you are correct.’

‘But you’re treating it as a suspicious death?’

Baldwin smiled innocently. ‘Would you care to join us in a celebratory drink, Coroner? You may have saved our lives, after all.’

John Sherman broke off a profitable conversation as the priest came closer, chewing on a pie with an expression that would have soured milk.

‘It was good of you to bring my wife back, Father. The streets can be dangerous during the Fair.’

‘It was a pleasure.’

His voice hardly expressed enthusiasm, Sherman noted. ‘She was with you early, she said.’

‘Yes. A little after dawn,’ the priest said with conviction.

‘And you listened to her confession?’

Father Abraham looked at Sherman unblinkingly. ‘I can’t discuss that, of course.’

‘Of course, Father. I wouldn’t dream . . . No, I was just worried about her. When she wasn’t in her room this morning.’

‘Then you shouldn’t be. A woman needs to attend church as often as possible.’ The priest’s gaze flitted over to where Cecily Sherman stood talking and laughing with a group of three men about her. In a lull, she looked over the room and her eyes met Father Abraham’s. She smiled and lifted her cup in a toast, and he turned away guiltily.

‘Do you mean my wife in particular?’ Sherman asked.

‘No.’

Sherman shook his head.

Taking pity on him, Father Abraham gave him a smile. ‘Sherman, God has given you health and wealth. You must concentrate on how to improve the lot of those poorer than yourself rather than worrying about things which do not matter. Give alms to the poor, help the Church to look after peasants who have a vocation for the religious life, and share your money with schools to help men to spread God’s goodness with the rest of mankind.’ Sherman smiled, but as he walked away to talk to another man, Father Abraham saw his expression, and it was grim and forbidding.

‘No more than the whoring bitch deserves,’ the priest muttered to himself.

‘We have been talking to Nicholas,’ Baldwin said, leaning back as the serving maid set jugs and pots before them.

‘He told you about Sir Gilbert meeting him in town?’ Harlewin asked shrewdly.

‘Yes. It seems to have been innocent from Nicholas’s point of view.’

‘That was what I thought when he mentioned it. And of course the knight got back to his camp. If Nicholas wanted him dead, he’d have stabbed him here in the town. Why let him escape and have to go through the charade of executing Dyne nearby?’

‘He was able to tell us a bit more about how Dyne was caught as well,’ Simon said pointedly.

‘Aha?’ Harlewin’s expression implied that he was fighting manfully to show interest.

‘He told us he paid for Dyne’s release.’

‘Bollocks.’

Baldwin blinked. ‘But he told us he and Andrew Carter paid to ensure that Dyne was allowed to escape so that they could go after him and execute him.’

‘He lied. No one bribed me: no one ever has. I only let go those who I think deserve to be freed or those who the law says I must.’

‘So Nicholas never paid you?’

‘No.’

Simon chewed his lip. ‘Baldwin, didn’t he say that they paid Father Abraham, and he agreed so as to ensure the release of Dyne?’

‘Yes . . . But the priest told them the money would go to the Coroner.’

‘More fool them. If they wanted to know how to influence me, they should have asked me, not sought to buy me through a con man. So, you are still enquiring about Sir Gilbert’s death?’

Baldwin was evasive. ‘We did want to follow up a couple of points.’

‘When you know I’ve already closed the matter?’ Harlewin demanded testily. ‘I am the Coroner here, you know. On what grounds do you claim the right to investigate the affair?’

Baldwin and Simon exchanged a look. The Coroner was quite right. They had no jurisdiction – Harlewin had full authority in this matter unless they could appeal him for incompetence or corruption.

Simon smiled soothingly. ‘We don’t want to step on your toes, but—’

‘
Balls
, Bailiff, if you’ll pardon the expression. You want to look into it because you think I took someone’s money.’ Harlewin scowled, but then gave a short sigh. ‘Oh, very well. I daresay an order to you both to leave the matter would have as much impact as telling Father Abraham to leave wine alone.’

Baldwin smiled and ran a finger round the rim of his pot. ‘Did you mean the good Father Abraham was taking bribes?’

‘Can you call it a bribe when he never intended to do anything for the money? I suppose if I hadn’t agreed to release Dyne, he would have told them that I had behaved dishonourably, but what could he do? I had taken the money and then failed to comply with their wishes. Disgraceful!’ He laughed. ‘I can hear the old hypocrite saying it!’

Simon still looked doubtful. ‘You mean you never take bribes?’

‘Bailiff, I know all Coroners are tarred with the brush that says they are corrupt as hell, but I seem to recall hearing that all bailiffs are thieves as well. Does that make you a felon?’

‘A good point,’ Baldwin grinned. ‘So the worthy priest is taking money. That puts an interesting slant on things. Tell me, how do you find him?’

‘He’s a fool. Full of himself, and likes the chink of coins in his purse, but he’s a good clerk. Keeps the Coroner’s Rolls neatly. What more can I say? He charges too much from people for writing up his notes, but many clerks do. Beyond that, he doesn’t like little boys, which is good in a priest, and doesn’t go whoring after any wench in a skirt, which makes him rare. But he will go on at people who fail in his eyes, which can be tedious.’

‘He often rails at you? Baldwin guessed.

Harlewin raised a pot and smiled.

‘What for? Women?’

‘How did you guess?’

‘How many obvious failings are there?’ Baldwin wondered aloud. He had not altered his original opinion of the Coroner as fat and foolish, but he had to admit to himself that Harlewin had a certain charm about him. Baldwin could see how some women could be attracted to the man.

Harlewin finished his pot and topped it up.

‘How was your corpse last night?’ Simon enquired.

‘Bailiff, the man effected a wonderful recovery. He had been bruised badly on his forehead and everyone thought he’d been hit by a club, but it happens he came to and declared he’d walked into a door while drunk. Clumsy, but no need for a Coroner.’

‘So you returned immediately?’ Baldwin pressed him.

‘No, Sir Knight. It was out on my lands towards Withleigh, and I thought I’d rest there the night. There seemed little point making the journey back here in the dark.’

Baldwin had to smile at the man’s confidence. It was plain as the nose on his face that he was lying, for only the death of an important man would justify the Coroner’s leaving his lord’s feast. The corpse would still be there in the morning, and yet Harlewin had jumped up from the table as soon as the message had arrived. Only an obvious corpse would justify sending a messenger in the middle of the night, and yet this man had apparently leaped to his feet as soon as Harlewin arrived. There was no point in sending to verify the tale – Harlewin had said as much by letting them know the fellow was from his own estate. ‘I am glad he recovered. Naturally if someone was to go and check his wound they would find him badly bruised?’