The oak boards creaked open and the maid looked out timidly.
'Alice, I'm here again to see your mistress!' he announced almost gaily, putting one foot over the threshold.
The young girl stared at him, this great man dressed in black and grey. 'But she's not here, sir. She's gone to Holcombe to stay with her family for a week.'
Deflated and feeling slightly foolish, de Wolfe backed down the steps and trudged moodily back to the waiting Odin.
The next ten days seemed to pass unusually quickly for John. There were a number of new deaths that needed investigation, one in Totnes which occupied two of those days, much of it in travelling. There were no more arrows fired at him, and with no possible means of investigating the failed assassination he had to write it off to experience. He was convinced that, like the killing of the Keeper, it was an attempt to extinguish his interest in Axmouth.
The false 'treasure' was duly brought to Rougemont by an armed party and locked in the sheriff's inner room. Both Gwyn and Thomas reported that the city was rife with gossip about the thousands of silver pennies destined for the king's troops in Normandy.
It was not the first such happening, as genuine exports from the Exeter mint had been made at intervals, albeit recently debased by the covert addition of tin. However, the large amount involved in this new consignment and the fact that it had been brought down from the Bristol mint made it a talking point in the taverns and churches of the city. John's two spies also confirmed that the place and date of its departure were widely known amongst the populace.
'If this doesn't reach the ears of those who would like to steal it, then we'll have to admit defeat,' said the sheriff resignedly as he bumped his shins on the six boxes of stones that cluttered his quarters.
During those days de Wolfe's relations with Nesta had improved, and he had spent several nights with her in the Bush, though he still felt awkward knowing that Owain ap Gronow was lying only a few paces away.
One day he again went down to Dawlish, as he felt he could not commandeer a ship and her crew that used to belong to Hilda without the courtesy of getting her approval. If nothing else, the potential danger to the master and crew made it imperative that Hilda was brought into the secret, as he knew that the welfare of their families was close to her heart. Following the rapprochement with Nesta, he decided to take Hugh de Relaga down to Dawlish with him, as the gaudy portreeve was not only the third member of their wool exporting consortium but would serve as an effective chaperone, as John felt that he might not be able to trust himself to behave if temptation became too great! The meeting was decorous and friendly, and John had no opportunity to be alone with Hilda, much as he chafed against his own decision to avoid temptation. Hilda readily agreed to using the cog as a decoy, as since Thorgils had been killed her anger still burnt against those who so treacherously slew shipmen on the high seas.
The circle of people made privy to the ambush plot was widening, but John felt that he could trust all of them not to divulge the secret until the moment that the St Radegund actually sailed. The troop of men-at-arms that would hide on the ship would not march aboard until the very last minute, when it would be too late for any spy to get a message to Axmouth to prevent a privateer from leaving to intercept the treasure ship. John still did not exclude the owner of The Tiger from being party to the murderous trade, and his servants in Exeter would be well aware of the departure of the vessel.
It was Gwyn, with his knowledge of the sea, who pointed out that any pirate ship would have to leave Axmouth at about the same time as the St Radegund sailed from Topsham, otherwise it would have to wait twelve hours for the next tide to be able to float off and leave the estuary of the Axe, by which time the treasure ship would have vanished over the horizon.
A few days before Angerus de Wile was due to take his ship to sea, John asked Thomas to scribe another short letter to his wife. He decided that though his wife's continued absence was something that he was getting used to — and which he was now quite content to be a permanent situation — he was bound as an honourable knight to try all means to persuade her either to return to him or at least to give some clue as to her intentions.
'I have to let her know that I have been called to London,' he growled to his clerk. 'Perhaps the knowledge that the king himself wants me to become coroner to the royal court will change her mind about staying in Polsloe.'
Thomas was quite ready to believe that Matilda's snobbery and ambitions of social elevation would entice her away from the desire to take her vows of chastity and obedience. His master's thoughts were similar, but John felt that his duty as a husband and a Norman gentleman obliged him to take the risk. The letter was duly delivered to Dame Madge but, contrary to John's fearful expectations, no reply had materialised by the time he left on the St Radegund.
On the evening before the departure from Topsham, he went down to the tavern in Idle Lane to tell Nesta that all was set for the following day. He waited until one of Nesta's maids had brought him a thick trencher of bread carrying a meaty pork knuckle surrounded by fried onions — and Edwin had refilled his quart pot with best ale. With the auburn-haired Welshwoman sitting opposite to make sure he ate every morsel, he gave all the details of the trap they were hoping to set for the pirates. She had done well in carefully seeding the news of the 'treasure ship' amongst her patrons. As many of these were merchants or carters who travelled the roads of Devon and the nearby counties, he knew that the gossip machine would have spread the news from the Bush far and wide.
When he had finished his meal, they talked for a time and he found her in a pensive, reminiscent mood. She spoke of the stressful times of the past two years, of the burning of the inn when she had almost lost her life and of the miscarriage she had suffered. John knew from her mood that there would be no climbing the ladder to the loft that night. Before he left, she had a caution, born out of her regard for him.
'Be careful tomorrow, John. You can be too reckless sometimes — you are not indestructible!'
She bent and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then walked quickly to the ladder and climbed it without a backward glance.
Soon after dawn next day a cavalcade left Rougemont and proceeded through the city to the South Gate, drawing a lot of attention from the people clustered around the food stalls lining the main streets. The statuesque figure of Ralph Morin led the procession, erect on his big horse, followed by the coroner and his officer riding side by side on a pair of rounseys from the castle stables. Three packhorses came next, each with a pair of money chests hung over their backs, flanked by ten mounted soldiers. The rear was brought up by Sergeant Gabriel and another man-at-arms. All the escort wore round iron helmets with a nose-guard and jerkins of thick boiled leather. The only exception was the constable, who had a full-length hauberk of chain mail. All carried swords hanging from their belts, supported by diagonal baldrics over their right shoulders, and long sheathed daggers at their backs. This formidable group took the road south alongside the river, which led to Topsham, five miles away. They reached the port where the river became a wider estuary an hour before high water, and the boxes were quickly unloaded from the pack animals and stowed in the hold of the St Radegund, watched by a curious crowd on the quayside. Though the inhabitants of Topsham were used to ships and cargo coming and going every day of their lives, to see such a strong escort of armed soldiers was a novelty — and the novelty was increased when they saw the troop filing aboard the vessel, instead of going back to Exeter once the chests had been safely delivered. The crew of the cog were also mystified, as for the sake of secrecy Angerus de Wile had not yet told them the true purpose of this voyage.