They had reached Blakemoor’s door. Baldwin pointed to one of the men with them, who drew his dagger and hammered on it with the hilt, but there was no reply.
While they waited, Simon caught his breath. ‘Baldwin, do you remember what that Swiss said about the house he saw Wally and the lad jumping from?’
‘Yes, he said it was built of limed wood, and that there was a blue shield painted over the doorway.’ Baldwin followed Simon’s pointing finger. ‘So Wally and his accomplice were robbing Joce.’
‘You lot stay here, two at this door, two at the back. Wait here until I send word you can go,’ Coroner Roger said.
Simon looked about him. Seeing Nob’s shop, he recalled his conversation with the innkeeper on the day when he was helping the Arrayer select his men. ‘Baldwin, that pie-shop there. It’s owned by Nob, the man who spoke to us last night and took us to Hamelin’s corpse. Wally used to stay there. Let’s go and have a look. We might learn something.’
When the three marched inside Nob’s shop, they found it deserted. Simon strode to the table and thumped upon it with his fist, while the Coroner eyed the pies with an interest that was not in the least professional. He reached out with a finger and experimentally poked at one.
‘Hoy! Don’t bugger about wi’ me pies’
The stertorian voice came from the open doorway at the back of the shop, and soon Nob came through, using his towel to wipe his head and face with one hand, while the other gripped a large drinking horn.
‘That’s meat. You want meat, fowl or fish? It’s Friday, so you should be eating fish.’
Simon said, ‘You spoke to us yesterday about Hamelin. Did Walwynus come here to sleep when he visited Tavistock for the coining?’
‘Yes. He always came to stay here when he was in Tavistock.’
‘Do you mean that he came here often?’ Baldwin enquired.
‘Yes. Every few weeks, whenever he needed supplies. We sort of took pity on him. Well, my Cissy did. She’s always like that, looking after the waifs and strays. Daft cow. Why do you ask?’
‘Did he stay in this room?’ Simon asked.
‘No, he’d be out in the back.’
‘Show us.’
‘Why? I don’t see why I…’ His protestations were ignored as the three barged past him and out into the room behind. ‘Come on! What’s all this about?’
It was a small room, with a second door that opened out to the garden space behind, sparsely furnished. There was only one small table and a couple of stools. A barrel was standing on the table-top. Apart from that, the room appeared to be a storeroom for a small quantity of flour to make the baker’s paste for pies, and for the charcoal which he needed to fire his oven.
‘Where do you buy your coals?’ Baldwin asked, picking up a small sack.
‘Up the way. Look, what is all this?’
Simon had found a balled lump of black material, and he opened it out to find it was a man-sized tunic, but there was nothing in it, so he let it fall back on the floor. Nob strode over to him and kicked it aside angrily.
‘I’ve had enough of this. I want an explanation.’
‘We’re investigating Walwynus’ death,’ the Coroner said curtly. ‘So shut up and answer our questions.’
‘Old Wally? What does this place have to do with him?’
Simon took the sack from Baldwin. Like the one which had contained the pewter, this was impregnated with charcoal dust. ‘Nob, I think you have been a very foolish man.’
‘Me?’ Nob squeaked. ‘I’ve done nothing!’
‘But you allowed a felon into your home. Someone stole pewter from the Abbey and passed it out to Wally, and Wally hid it. Now we have more stolen pewter, and it’s in a sack – one of these ones you keep your coals in.’
Nob dropped with a thump on to one of the stools. ‘Oh God, no, not Wally,’ he said. ‘Oh, my God! You mean things have been stolen from the Abbey and stored here? My heavens! That is terrible.’
‘Did you know anything about this, Nob?’ Simon asked keenly. He moved to the cook’s side and stood over him threateningly.
‘No, of course not. What do you take me for, eh?
‘Is there anywhere here Wally could have hidden a sack this size?’ Coroner Roger pressed him.
‘Where else would he have taken stolen things?’ Baldwin demanded of the anxious Nob. ‘There can’t have been too many people whom he would have visited.’
‘I never saw him carry a sack, sir. Never. Sometimes he had his small bag, but never one of those sacks.’
Simon gasped with understanding. ‘Baldwin, the sack we got must have been a whole collection. Wally had an accomplice outside the Abbey, and when he had collected enough, he filled his sack and sold it.’
‘But the Swiss told us that he found Wally jumping from Joce’s window. Shit! I don’t understand what this is all about! Wally knew Blakemoor,’ Coroner Roger’s belly grumbled; he wanted to reach into the cook’s shop and take a pie.
‘Suppose so. Blakemoor’s the Receiver. We all know him,’ Nob said.
Simon asked, ‘What did Walwynus say about him? We’ve heard that they were close, that they might have been comrades.’
‘I suppose it’s possible,’ Nob said thoughtfully, ‘but something changed on the day of the coining.’
Simon peered at him. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘He came in here partway through the day, bought a pie, but he was very quiet. Not himself. Swore about Joce for some reason, but wouldn’t explain why. Then he ran out as soon as he saw some young monk.’
‘A novice?’ Baldwin asked.
‘That’s right,’ Nob said more slowly.
‘Do you know his name?’
‘Oh, er, he was just a lad, you know. The red-haired one.’
Simon shot Baldwin a look. ‘Gerard has red hair.’
‘So now we have a connection between Wally and Gerard, and between Wally and Joce,’ Baldwin said. ‘And we know that they robbed Joce. I’d think that was a good enough motive for him to murder Wally, if he learned Wally was involved.’
‘If – yes.’ Simon was frowning. ‘But why should Wally go and steal that pewter from Joce?’
‘Because as this estimable cook has told us, Joce and Wally fell out. Wally came here and took back all the pewter at a time when he knew the Receiver would be held up at the coining.’
‘Why should they fall out?’ Simon wondered. ‘That’s what I want to know.’ Something was nagging at his mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
‘Well, we’d best track down Joce, then,’ said Coroner Roger impatiently. ‘He’s the man who needs to answer questions now.’
‘In a moment,’ Simon said. He was studying Nob with a certain intensity. ‘What of Hamelin? You told us he had come into some money, which he brought here for his wife. Do you still believe he sold an old debt? It sounds odd, if Wally knew he couldn’t recover that debt.’
‘You need to ask Emma about that.’
‘Where is she?’
‘At Hamelin’s place.’
Chapter Twenty-Five
Joce pushed Gerard along in front of him, the knife in his hand pricking the lad whenever he slowed. He shoved him through brambles and gorse, on and on, until Joce felt sure that they were safe from immediate discovery.
They were up the hill which led to the moors. From here, Joce could look back and see the smoke rising from the fires of Tavistock, and the Abbey itself. The road along the eastern riverbank was hidden by the lie of the hillside, but that was little concern, he thought, panting after the exertion.
Gerard’s hands were bound with Joce’s belt, and Joce had firm hold of it. Now he jerked on it viciously, and kicked Gerard’s shin, knocking the boy to the ground.