‘Hugh?’ John murmured. ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘I don’t know what I can do. What if I’m wrong?’ Hugh explained what he had remembered about Constance’s seeing Matthew outside his house all those days ago.
‘You don’t have to kill the priest, Hugh. Just make sure you understand what he was doing there. And who was with him,’ John added thoughtfully.
‘You won’t stop me if I find the murderer and kill him?’ Hugh asked suddenly.
John looked at him, then glanced westwards towards his sister’s manor of Meeth. ‘I swear I won’t. If you fail, I shall strike for you, Hugh.’
Chapter Thirty-Six
They had made their way along the road back into Iddesleigh, and now took the southern road to Monkleigh. Baldwin had been reluctant to take the direct route straight to the sergeant’s house in case their horses led Sir Geoffrey’s men to expect an attack. Easier and safer to avoid the place entirely and make their way to Sir Geoffrey’s seat of power.
The hall’s grounds were very quiet. Servants walked about nervously, throwing anxious looks at the three bulky men on their horses as they rode up the pathway to the hall.
‘We’re here to see Sir Geoffrey,’ Baldwin said as a servant came through the door.
‘He’s not here, master. He’s …’
‘Over at Robert Crokers’s house. Very well. We’ll go and speak to him there.’
Baldwin was about to wheel away when he saw the other face in the doorway. ‘Ah, Sir Coroner! You weren’t with him to see him execute his justice, then?’
‘I don’t understand what you mean,’ Sir Edward said silkily. ‘He has gone to one of his outlying farms to handle some little local argument, I believe.’
‘He has killed one man already, Sir Coroner, and I shall have great pleasure in reporting your part in that murder.’
‘You speak too loudly, Sir Baldwin. This is none of your affair!’
‘Murder and felony are both my affair, sir!’ Baldwin said forcefully. ‘Do not presume to tell me where my duty or responsibility lies!’
‘Although you feel justified in telling me off? What have I done?’
‘I am not sure yet. But you come from Barnstaple, do you not?’
‘What of it?’
‘Was it not most convenient that you were so near when Sir Geoffrey had need of a coroner when the woman’s body was discovered? His favourite coroner, the one man from his lord’s household, the one man upon whom he could count, and you just happened to be less than a half-day’s ride away?’
‘It was fortunate. I had decided to stay there after another death.’
‘And then rode here urgently to hold your inquest. So urgently, indeed, that there was no time even to invite the local Keeper of the King’s Peace.’
‘If I had known you would like to …’
Baldwin’s horse lurched beneath him as he roared, ‘Do not take me for a fool, man! You know the rules under which we serve as well as I do. I should have been there to see if I could do more to find the murderer. And I shall discover him, believe me!’
His evident anger spurred Sir Edward to step outside. ‘Sir Baldwin, do you really think it would be in your interests to learn the truth? It could be that you would be plunged into the midst of disputes you would prefer to know nothing about.’
‘I want to know the truth when a man has been killed. I want to know why and how and who did it,’ Baldwin spat. ‘And when I have a coroner who has seen two women, a child and now three men dead, and who yet does nothing to seek the guilty, I have to wonder why he is so reluctant.’
‘You’re mad! Look, you know who my master is. Do you really want him as an enemy? You think your post as Keeper would protect you?’
Baldwin smiled and leaned down towards Sir Edward. In a quiet voice he hissed, ‘And do you really want him to learn that you are helping protect his steward here, even though Sir Geoffrey has been systematically robbing him?’
‘You are joking!’
‘This land that he has invaded today? It was a part of the whole which he acquired for the Despenser. He merely left aside the most profitable lump. That he was keeping for himself, sharing all the profits with Sir Odo.’
‘That’s nonsense!’ Sir Edward scoffed. ‘He couldn’t have. He and Sir Odo never got on.’
‘Not in public, no. But they have known each other for longer than you have yet lived,’ Baldwin said. ‘Still, if you won’t help but instead are set on obstructing us, there is nothing more to be said.’
‘Wait!’ Sir Edward snapped as Baldwin began to pull the reins to turn his beast.
‘What? Be quick, man. We have to get there before your incompetence leads to still more deaths.’
‘What do you want to know?’
‘Why were you so close when Sir Geoffrey sent for you to view Lady Lucy’s body?’
‘Sir Geoffrey had told me that he expected a fight soon over this extra piece of land. He said that it might become a cruel one.’
‘And this fight was over the land where he is now?’
‘I believe so. I cannot be sure. When I had a call from a messenger to come here to view the body of Lady Lucy, I assumed he’d actually decided to take over another manor. I was shocked. It never occurred to me that I’d be called back here to a woman’s body. It made me think I should be seeking some sort of bribe from him.’
‘What of the man Hugh and his family at Iddesleigh?’
‘Them? They were only peasants.’
Baldwin saw a movement from the corner of his eye, but when he flicked a glance at Simon, Edgar had already snatched his reins, and was pulling Simon away from the discussion. ‘Were you told to speed the inquest and find that it was an unknown killer?’
‘Yes. Sir Geoffrey didn’t want any dispute about that. He felt sure that the jury must decide that it had been one of his men who was responsible, and he wanted to ensure that any such speculation was nipped in the bud.’
‘What of today’s action? Did he not ask you to join him? That would have been normal in an entirely legal reoccupation of stolen lands, wouldn’t it?’
‘Perhaps — but I didn’t feel that it lay fully within my responsibilities. Come, Sir Baldwin, I have to ensure that my master is happy with me and my work, but going to behave as an observer …’
‘Especially when you were not aware that there was a fully legitimate excuse for the invasion,’ Baldwin noted coldly. ‘I wonder why he never explained that to you.’
‘I do not know. He is a very secretive man.’
‘Murderers often are!’ Simon burst out, and he snatched his reins back and whipped his rounsey away, down the path to the road.
There was shouting. Blearily Nicholas le Poter looked up through eyes misted with tears. He had dozed for a while, and now, peering up at the door, he saw men bringing in another body.
The first, that of Isaac, was already set out on trestles in front of the altar, and now the shape of a woman was set alongside his on a fresh pair of stands. ‘Who is that?’ Nicholas asked.
‘Lady Lucy. You killed her, you can rest here with her until it’s time for both of you to be buried,’ came the reply from a hulking peasant with a rough laugh that made Nicholas shake.
The candles at the altar were snuffed, but there was a bright ray of sunshine that lanced in through the open window at the south, and sparkled from the clean cross and all the metalwork in the church.
‘You slept a long time, my son,’ Matthew said.
‘I could sleep much longer.’
‘But if you do, you will be escaping your problems for only a short while. Better to plan what you wish to achieve.’
Nicholas wiped a grubby sleeve over his brow. Realizing he had let the altar cloth slip from his hand, he snatched at it eagerly, like an insecure horseman grabbing at a dropped rein. Only when he had it in his hand again could he breathe more easily.
‘I have brought you some wine and water, a pair of good apples, and some meats. They will keep you going for a little,’ Matthew said gently.