The Wildcats of Exeter Page 23

  ‘With regard to the dispute?’ .

  ‘Yes, Engelric. Someone sent me letters in order to discredit one of the claimants, trying to secure unfair advantage over that person. And there have been other indications of conspiracy.’ .

  ‘None point to me,’ returned the other firmly. ‘Justice is the one thing I seek. That is what my claim stands or falls upon. To pervert the course of justice would be folly on my part.’ .

  ‘I accept that.’ .

  ‘Then accept this as well, Master Bret. We may be poor, and resentful at what happened to us, but we are not criminals. We abide by the law of the land even when it goes against us.’ He straightened himself on his stool. ‘Though we shed no tears over the lord Nicholas's death, we want his killer to be caught and punished.’ .

  ‘So do we all,’ said Gervase, ‘but let us not forget that there is a second murder here. That is the one which weighs most heavily on my mind.’ .

  ‘Quite rightly. The lord Hervey was your colleague. I did not know him but he questioned me fairly at the shire hall and I took him for an upright man.’ .

  ‘That is a good assessment of him.’ .

  ‘I work on instinct, Master Bret.’ .

  ‘It is very sound.’ Gervase changed his tack. ‘Tell me about Saewin. How well do you know him?’ .

  ‘Fairly well. I have lived in these parts a long time.’ .

  ‘Would you call him a personal friend?’ .

  ‘I would.’ .

  ‘Have you had many dealings with him in the past?’ .

  ‘Yes, I have.’ .

  ‘And would you describe him as an honourable man?’ .

  ‘Extremely honourable,’ said the other defensively. ‘Saewin is very single-minded. He works hard and is always ready to offer free advice to his friends.’

  ‘Did he offer you advice concerning this dispute?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘He has high principles, Master Bret. I suspect that you do as well, so you will understand. Saewin showed me no favour at the shire hall, but he has advised me on another matter.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I have been thinking of moving to the city.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘My bones are too old to withstand another cold winter in the depths of the country. A dwelling in Exeter would be far more suitable, something akin to this house. Small, humble but snug.’ His smile sent new waves of wrinkles over his face. ‘Saewin promised to let me know when a property fell vacant. He has been very helpful.’

  ‘Have you ever been to his own house?’

  ‘Many times.’

  ‘He has a dog, I believe.’

  ‘It is more like a human than an animal, Master Bret. The reeve has taught that dog things which a child could not learn. Saewin has a way with dogs. I prefer pigs and cattle myself.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You can eat them.’

  Gervase waited until his cackle died away. ‘When you went before the first commissioners who visited the county, how were you received?’

  ‘Justly but unsuccessfully.’

  ‘You and the lord Nicholas were pitted against each other.’

  ‘He called many witnesses in his support. I had none.’

  ‘Yet you must have impressed our predecessors,’ said Gervase, ‘or they would not have asked us to take a second look at the holdings in Upton Pyne. This time, of course, we have five claimants instead of two. I wonder why some of them did not come forward earlier.’

  ‘Did you tax them with that question?’

  ‘Yes, Engelric. According to the abbot of Tavistock, he was cunningly misinformed about the date of the session here and arrived to find that the commissioners had moved on to Totnes.’

  The old man cackled again. ‘Do not expect me to feel sorry for the abbot. It was he who seized my land in the first place by means of a fraudulent exchange. Who else failed to come forward?’

  ‘The lady Loretta.’

  ‘What was her excuse?’

  ‘That she was away in Normandy when the returns for this county were being taken.’

  ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘The lady Loretta herself.’

  ‘Then either she is deceiving you or she has a very poor memory.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘When the first commissioners visited this county, she was at her home in Exeter. I remember seeing her when she attended a service at the cathedral. The lady Loretta is a handsome woman,’ he said with grudging admiration. ‘Even I am not too old to notice that.’

  ‘But she swore under oath that she was in Normandy.’

  Engelric was unequivocal. ‘Then she lied to you.’

  Geoffrey, abbot of Tavistock was not deterred by the presence of the sheriff. His voice was loud, his tone acerbic. He was alone in the hall at the castle with Baldwin and Ralph Delchard, but so large were his gestures and so passionate his rhetoric that he might have been addressing a vast asssembly.

  ‘This is one of the most shameful acts that I have ever had the misfortune to encounter,’ he said with rising fury. ‘I have never had such disrespect shown to me before. You, my lord Ralph, went off behind my back to speak to one of my knights in Tavistock. And you, my lord sheriff, much to my dismay and, I may say, astonishment, condoned this rash conduct. Walter Baderon is my man. My permission should have been sought before he was dragged from his bed to answer any questions.’

  ‘Would you have given your permission?’ said Ralph.

  ‘No!’

  ‘That is why I did not bother to seek it.’

  ‘You had no right to ride off to Tavistock like that.’

  ‘I had every right, my lord abbot,’ said Ralph unrepentantly. ‘I am searching for the man who murdered the lord Hervey and I will go wherever I wish in pursuit of the villain.’

  ‘I support the lord Ralph to the hilt,’ said the sheriff.

  ‘Then you are not the man I took you for, Baldwin,’ retorted the abbot. ‘I provide fifteen knights for the defence of Exeter. They perform their duties well. They do not deserve to be treated like suspects in a murder investigation. I demand an apology from both of you.’

  ‘You will not get one from me,’ vowed Ralph.

  ‘No apology is needed, Geoffrey,’ said the sheriff, trying to calm him down. ‘We took what action we felt was needed at the time.’

  ‘Walter Baderon is an innocent man!’ insisted the abbot.

  ‘Innocent but dishonest,’ said Ralph. ‘He had valuable information to give and it took me time to wrest it from him. Had you left the fellow here in Exeter, I would not have been put to the trouble of galloping all the way to Tavistock. You are to blame here, my lord abbot.’

  Geoffrey simmered. ‘I have sole authority over my men.’

  ‘Until they commit a crime.’

  ‘Walter Baderon did not do that, my lord Ralph.’

  ‘He withheld vital evidence and that is a crime in itself.’

  ‘There is no point in bickering about it,’ said the sheriff wearily. ‘I suggest that we put the matter aside.’

  ‘I will not do that,’ yelled the abbot. ‘If I do not have an abject apology from both of you, I will take my complaint to Bishop Osbern.’

  Ralph was scornful. ‘Take it to the Archangel Gabriel for all I care!’

  ‘That is blasphemy!’

  ‘It is the closest you will get to an apology.’

  ‘Report this to Osbern, if you wish,’ said Baldwin levelly, ‘but I think you will find him more worldly than you. When murder takes place, I am entitled to take any steps I deem fit even if that means upsetting an abbot. Be grateful that my lord Ralph did not haul you out of bed in the middle of the night to face his interrogation.’

  ‘That is a monstrous suggestion!’

  ‘We bid you farewell, Geoffrey.’

  ‘I'll not be dismissed before I am ready to go!’

  ‘Depart now while I still have a hold on my temper,’ caut
ioned the sheriff, ‘or I will summon my men to assist you out of my castle.’

  ‘You would lay violent hands upon an abbot!’

  Ralph beamed at him. ‘Given the opportunity.’

  The prelate rid himself of another torrent of denunciation, then he stalked out of the hall with his arms waving like the sails of a windmill. They could hear his imprecations as he was crossing the courtyard.

  Ralph chuckled. ‘The abbot is a more comical jester than Berold.’

  ‘I would sooner my own fool than that one.’

  ‘I will happily dispense with both. Berold and I fell out when I learned that he might have saved my wife from being injured in an accident.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘He took her to view the siege tunnel by the East Gate but omitted to warn her about all the strange things which had happened there in the past. He should have kept her away.’

  ‘I agree. The lady Golde's injury could have been far worse.’

  ‘Indeed it could, my lord sheriff. But he is an odd fellow.’

  ‘Berold?’

  ‘He seems to flit between misery and elation.’

  ‘He is a creature of moods.’

  ‘I caught him in a bad one today,’ recalled Ralph. ‘It was almost as if he would do anything rather than help me. It was perverse.’

  ‘Yet you did see what you wanted.’

  ‘Saw and smelled. A vile place.’

  ‘It is like an open sewer at times.’

  ‘Yet that is where the lord Hervey was heading. I am certain of it. Walter Baderon admitted that he watched him go, turning out of the North Gate and walking along in the lee of the wall towards the East Gate. He must have been going to inspect that siege tunnel,’ insisted Ralph. ‘He talked of it on our ride to Exeter.’

  ‘Someone must have intercepted him on the way.’

  ‘Or when he left the tunnel. If he left, that is.’

  ‘How did he finish up so far down the river?’ wondered the sheriff. ‘You would have expected him to leave a trail of blood but my men searched every inch of the bank and found none.’

  ‘Perhaps the body was wrapped in something.’

  ‘The man who did the wrapping would have been smeared in gore.’

  ‘He will be when I catch up with him.’

  ‘Or them,’ said the other. ‘Confederates may be at work here. On the other hand, maybe the rumours about that siege tunnel are well founded. Maybe it is haunted. Perhaps the lord Hervey was the victim of a Saxon ghost.’

  ‘This ghost is made of flesh and blood,’ decided Ralph. ‘He does not only lurk around the siege tunnel, remember. He was waiting in that wood to ambush the lord Nicholas. No, he is here somewhere, my lord sheriff. We just have to look a little harder before we find him.’

  Asa had never seen the reeve in such a state. There was no sign of his characteristic ease and calmness. Saewin was pale and drawn. When he was shown into her parlour, Asa saw that his hands were trembling. ‘What is wrong?’ she asked with concern. ’

  ‘I had to see you at once, Asa.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To urge you to withdraw your claim.’

  ‘Withdraw it?’ she echoed. ’

  ‘It is no longer valid.’

  ‘It is as valid as it was when I first advanced it, Saewin. Those holdings are mine. I earned them and I'll not be cheated out of them. Nothing on earth will persuade me to drop my claim.’

  ‘You must,’ he pleaded.

  ‘For what possible reason?’

  ‘There are several, Asa. To begin with, you have little chance of success. A letter from the lord Nicholas can hardly compete with his last will and testament. You are nowhere mentioned in that.’

  ‘He promised that I would be.’

  ‘He promised many things to many women.’

  ‘No,’ she said, leaping up from her seat. ‘I was the only one, Saewin. I loved him truly. That was why he was so eager to show me the strength of his own love. By bequeathing those holdings to me.’

  ‘Renounce your claim, Asa!’

  ‘Never!’

  ‘You will have compensation,’ he said wildly. ‘I will pay you.’

  ‘Why should you do that?’

  ‘Because I am involved here.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘If you appear at the shire hall again, I stand to lose my office.’ He gave a hopeless shrug. ‘I was seen, Asa. When I came here last night, I was seen coming and going. Even the light in your bedchamber was noted.’

  ‘What does that prove?’

  ‘Enough to see me disgraced.’

  ‘Deny it,’ she said boldly. ‘Deny that you ever came here and I will swear that you speak the truth. Goda will support our story.’

  ‘It is too late for that, I fear. The truth is out. I have been given an ultimatum. Persuade you to withdraw or lose my place when this is reported to the commissioners. They are bound to think the worst.’ He ran a worried hand across his throat. ‘Master Bret asked me if I had been to your house and I told him I had not. He will know me as a liar. That in itself will be enough for him to push for my removal.’

  Asa paced up and down the parlour as she tried to take in the enormity of what had happened. Still confident that she had a chance of influencing the commissioners to take a favourable view of her claim, she was mortified at the thought that it should now be withdrawn unconditionally. All her hopes would founder. She turned on Saewin with a savagery that made him back away a few paces. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ she demanded.

  ‘It is not my fault, Asa.’

  ‘Is this the reward I get for granting you my favours? I endured it in order to get your help yet you now tell me that I must abandon all interest in the dispute. Is this some cruel game, Saewin?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Did you take me in order to cast me contemptuously aside?’

  ‘You know that is not true!’ he said with quivering sincerity. ‘I have waited so long for you, Asa. I have put up with all your rebuffs and all your excuses. You are the one who played games. Did you not send Goda to tell me how grateful you were to me? And what happened when I called here to receive gratitude in person? I was spurned, Asa. I was sent away with my tail between my legs.’

  ‘I wish I had spurned you again last night.’

  ‘But you did not and we will both suffer as a result.’

  ‘Who saw you?’ she asked.

  ‘It does not matter.’

  ‘Of course it matters. If someone is trying to rob me of my inheritance, I want to know who they are. Tell me, Saewin! I insist.’

  ‘I have sworn to keep the name secret.’

  ‘Who was it?’

  ‘I cannot say.’

  ‘Why have they put such fear into you?’

  ‘Because I am in danger of losing my place and my reputation,’ he said with desperation. ‘You are the only person who can save me, Asa. Do you not see that? I am begging you!’

  ‘Then you are wasting your breath.’

  ‘Abandon your claim and I am safe.’

  ‘What do I care about your safety?’

  ‘You will suffer also,’ he warned. ‘I will be displaced but blame will also attach to you. It will blight what little hope of success you have.’

  Asa struck a pose. ‘I will take that chance.’

  ‘This will ruin me!’

  ‘You should have thought of that before you came here last night.’

  ‘I had to see you, Asa. You know that.’

  ‘Goda will show you out.’

  ‘Please. Reconsider for a moment. We both stand to lose here.’

  ‘No, Saewin,’ she said with studied coldness. ‘You are the only person at risk. People know what I am. I do not hide it. Men are seen to visit my house from time to time. There will be neither surprise nor condemnation when the commissioners learn that I entertained someone last night. You are finished, Saewin. Resign your office and avoid the scandal.’ She gave a laugh of triumph. ‘I do not nee
d you. I will fight this battle on my own and be victorious.’

  Gervase Bret returned to the castle and searched for Ralph Delchard. Unable to find him, he went up to the apartment at the top of the keep, but Golde was there alone and had no idea where her husband might be. Gervase was about to leave when she reached out on impulse. ‘Wait a while,’ she said, hand on his wrist. ‘I would value your advice.’

  ‘On what subject?’

  ‘Marriage.’

  Gervase smiled. ‘You know far more about that than I, Golde.’

  ‘I know about it from the woman's point of view, it is true. But I can only guess how a man sees it.’ She indicated the chair. ‘Sit down. I would like to describe a situation to you to see your reaction.’

  ‘But I am not even married.’

  ‘You soon will be.’

  ‘Not if our work here moves at such a lethargic pace.’

  ‘You will be back in Winchester in time to marry Alys. I am sure of it. Besides, you have been betrothed to her for so long. What is betrothal but a form of marriage with certain restrictions?’

  ‘I know all about those restrictions!’ he said, sitting down. ‘I look forward to the day when they can be cast away.’

  ‘It is at hand, Gervase.’

  ‘What is this situation you mentioned?’

  ‘Let us suppose – for the sake of argument – that Alys had another admirer before she had the good fortune to meet you.’

  ‘She had many admirers.’

  ‘I am talking about a special person in her life. Someone she loved.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Not in the physical sense,’ explained Golde delicately. ‘This would be a man who worshipped her from afar and accepted that she was for ever unattainable.’

  ‘It would still be a profound betrayal,’ he said seriously. ‘A love that is confined to the heart can still threaten and wound. I know that Alys would never harbour such feelings.’

  ‘I only ask you to pretend that she might, Gervase.’

  ‘Very well.’

  ‘Now,’ she continued, moving to the window. ‘Supposing that you and she then get married in Winchester.’

  ‘If only we could!’ he sighed.

  ‘You live happily together without anything to cause the slightest ripple in the pond of domestic life. Until one day. When you become aware of a letter she once wrote to her admirer, couched in the warmest of terms and suggesting a closer relationship than in fact existed. How do you think you would feel?’