‘He couldn’t have killed the steward then,’ argued Ralph. ‘There’d have been too much blood. According to the lord sheriff, there were no signs of a struggle in that strong room.’
‘That’s because the murder didn’t take place there,’ said Gervase, piecing it together in his mind. ‘Skalp must have knocked him unconscious at first. We saw how strong he was. It wouldn’t have been difficult to take Hermer unawares. The strong room was at the back of the house. Skalp could have carried the body out into the garden. He used the trees as cover to get far enough away to kill the steward and conceal the body.’
‘Then he came back at night to retrieve it.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Tying a rope around Hermer’s ankles and dragging him off the estate.’
‘We all know what happened next, Ralph.’
‘I’d rather you didn’t mention any details,’ said Brother Daniel, putting a hand to his stomach. ‘I feel sick at the very thought.’
‘It was only the man’s hands that were cut off,’ said Ralph breezily.
‘My lord!’ Clapping a hand over his mouth, the monk rose up from the table and hurried out with his satchel over his shoulder. Coureton shot a look of reproof at his colleague.
‘That was unkind.’
‘It was not meant to be, Eustace.’
‘Brother Daniel is a sensitive soul.’
‘I’ll apologise to him this evening,’ said Ralph, penitently. ‘But let’s go back to Gervase’s theory of what happened. There’s one thing he missed out.’
‘Yes,’ admitted Gervase. ‘The two gold elephants.’
‘Skalp couldn’t possibly have known that they even existed, still less that they’d be in the house on the very day that he chose to get his revenge on Hermer.’
‘The murder was premeditated, Ralph. The theft arose out of opportunity.’
‘You mean that he just saw them and took them?’
‘He must have done. The steward went into that room to put those elephants back into their strong box. Skalp saw them, two pieces of solid gold worth more than he would earn in a lifetime. The temptation was too much.’ Gervase paused. ‘It was also one more way to inflict pain on Richard de Fontenel. Stealing something of great value from him. When he knocked Hermer senseless, I believe that Skalp grabbed the elephants and took them with him.’
‘Starting off a search that’s taken us all over the county.’
‘With compensations,’ said Coureton.
Ralph was dubious. ‘Compensations?’
‘How else would we have got to meet Jocelyn the Anchorite?’
‘That was a pleasure I’d happily have forgone.’
‘But he was such an interesting man, Ralph. I can’t help admiring what he’s doing. And it was he, after all, who helped us to track down Starculf.’
‘He also duped the lord Mauger,’ observed Gervase. ‘That showed bravery and guile. He sacrificed his own wooden elephants to save the real ones.’
‘He’ll have plenty of time to carve himself another pair now,’ said Ralph.
They got up from the table and gathered up their documents. Coureton sighed. ‘I suppose the person we should feel sorry for is the lady Adelaide,’ he said.
‘Never!’ exclaimed Ralph.
‘But one of her suitors died and the other is now in the castle dungeon.’
‘Both got their just deserts. The lord Mauger was going to kill Jocelyn and the lord Richard is as brazen a rogue as any in the whole county. As for the lady Adelaide,’ Ralph said, tartly, ‘spare no tears for her. She was the person who told Starculf when the lord Richard would be in France and when his steward would also be absent from the house.’
‘Be fair to her, Ralph,’ counselled Gervase. ‘The lady Adelaide didn’t know that Starculf intended to steal those keys as part of his plan. She knew and liked Starculf. That’s why he turned to her for help. All that she gave him was information. She’d never have countenanced murder.’
‘I’ll wager she’d have provoked theft.’
‘Surely not.’
‘She wanted those gold elephants so much. Gervase.’
‘She’s lost them for good now,’ said Coureton. ‘Along with her two suitors. It’s been a very chastening experience for the lady Adelaide.’
‘She’ll be even more chastened when Roger Bigot has spoken to her,’ commented Ralph with a smile. ‘He knows that her hands are not entirely clean in this business and means to roast her ears a little with some hot words.’
Ralph led them out of the shire hall and into the street where four of his men had been acting as sentries. The commissioners were in a contented mood. The murder investigation into which they had been drawn was satisfactorily terminated and their load had been lightened in consequence.
‘In some ways,’ said Coureton, ‘it’s a pity. The major dispute we came to settle has vanished into thin air now. I was rather looking forward to watching Richard de Fontenel and Mauger Livarot battle it out in front of us.’ A thought made him turn to Gervase. ‘Where will this leave Olova?’
‘In a strong position, my lord.’
‘She’ll regain some of her land?’
‘Most probably.’
‘I have reservations about that,’ said Ralph. ‘Her grandson was a killer.’
‘Olova isn’t,’ said Gervase, ‘and she’s the person on whom we must pass judgement, not Skalp. Olova had no part whatsoever in what went on.’
Ralph was about to reply when he saw his wife riding towards him, accompanied by one of the guards from the castle. Thinking that she had come to greet him after his work in the shire hall he gave her a welcoming wave, but it was Gervase to whom she spoke.
‘Alys is unwell,’ she told him. ‘A doctor has been summoned.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’ he asked in alarm.
‘I don’t know. But you’d better come.’
‘We all will,’ said Ralph.
Gervase did not wait for the others. Mounting his horse, he set off at a gallop that scattered people in the narrow street. By the time the rest reached the castle, he was running up the stairs to the keep. Ralph and Golde dismounted to hurry after him. When they reached the apartment that he and Alys shared there was no sign of Gervase, but they could hear voices from inside the chamber, and waited anxiously for news.
The doctor eventually emerged, a small, fussy man who waved away their questions. ‘It’s for Master Bret to tell you,’ he said. ‘Wait until he is ready.’ He went off down the steps and left them even more worried.
‘What can it be, Golde?’ Ralph asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘Alys has not been well since we arrived here. In the bailey yesterday, she seemed to have a spasm of pain.’
‘Why wasn’t the doctor called then?’
‘Alys denied that there was anything wrong with her.’
After a further delay, the door finally opened and Gervase came out. His face was so pale that they feared the worst. Golde reached out a comforting hand. But then a ghost of a smile touched his lips. There was an air of disbelief about his announcement.
‘Alys is with child,’ he said.
‘That’s wonderful!’ exclaimed Golde, embracing him. ‘May I go to her?’
‘Please do.’
‘Congratulations!’ said Ralph as his wife slipped into the room. ‘This is the best news possible, Gervase.’
‘It’s so unexpected, Ralph,’ said the other, still dazed. ‘I’m not sure that I’m ready to be a father just yet.’
‘Of course you are. And think how proud the child will be of you.’
‘Proud?’
‘Yes,’ said Ralph, slapping him on the back. ‘You’ve been a royal commissioner and you’ve had glorious adventures in the service of the King. Look at what happened here in Norfolk, for instance. You’ll be able to boast that you saw a pair of elephants.’ Ralph cocked an eyebrow. ‘How many people can say that?’
Gervase thought about all the problems that the two gold elephants had created. ‘Far too many,’ he said.