I could tell he was used to issuing commands that he expected to be obeyed instantly. But there again, that’s royalty for you. Never a thought for what might be inconvenient — or dangerous or even difficult, come to that — for other people. My young lord entertained not the slightest doubt but that I would do as he bade me, in spite of the fact that he had twice tried to kill me. I guessed I was meant to be grateful that he hadn’t quite succeeded.
When I didn’t move from the bed, he gave me an imperious look.
‘We had a bargain,’ I reminded him. ‘I’ll fulfil my part of it when you’ve fulfilled yours.’
He glowered. ‘But if I do, how can I be sure you’ll do as you’ve promised?’
‘Because you have my word.’
He snorted with laughter at that. ‘The word of a pedlar! What guarantee is that?’
I rounded on him. ‘It’s as good as the word of a fugitive prince who can’t even keep friends with his own brother.’ I sprang to my feet. ‘But if you don’t agree, I’m off!’
He held out a placatory hand. ‘No, no! Don’t be so touchy! I’m sorry. Forgive me. That was unpardonably rude. Sit down again, please, and I’ll tell you what I know about Master Avenel’s murder. But, remember, I did warn you that it isn’t much.’ He patted the bed beside him.
I feigned reluctance, but eventually allowed myself to be persuaded. In any case, I had suddenly realized that I didn’t know how to open the secret door from inside the chamber.
‘So? What can you tell me?’ I asked.
He nodded towards the wall where I knew the door to be, although nothing was visible, not even the faintest hairline crack. Albany was right. Its original designer had been an engineer of genius.
‘There’s a small peephole over there, to the left. Not much good for seeing anything — it isn’t really big enough and it’s too dark on the other side — but at least you can occasionally hear things through it. Noises drift in from time to time. People come down here to store unwanted furniture, or they use it as a trysting place. Once, I came out too soon to stretch my legs and you were there, rummaging around.’
‘Yesterday morning,’ I said. ‘You were dressed as a woman. I saw you, but when I couldn’t find any trace of you, I decided you were a figment of my imagination.’
He looked slightly bemused. ‘Was that only yesterday? Time plays strange tricks on a man with no one but himself for company … Yes, yes, I remember now. I thought I’d risk going out for a while, so I put on my woman’s garb. But your presence thwarted my plans. Another time, you saw me in the street and shouted to me. You thought I was Mistress Alefounder’s maid. But I ran down here and hid myself.’ He chuckled to himself before proceeding. ‘So! To Master Avenel’s murder. It must have been … Let me see …’
‘The night before last,’ I prompted. ‘Midsummer Eve.’
He nodded. ‘The lady I was just speaking of, the lovely Rowena — ’ he smiled lasciviously — ‘had brought me my supper. Now there’s a woman ripe for the plucking, but unfortunately, something of a prude.’ He rubbed one cheek reminiscently, and I guessed Rowena had rejected his amorous advances in no uncertain fashion. After another pause he went on, ‘Well, some while after I’d finished my supper — just how long, I’ve no idea — I heard the sound of men’s voices, raised in anger, come floating through the wall. One, I immediately recognized as Robin Avenel’s, but the other I didn’t know. And yet it sounded vaguely familiar, as if I’d heard it a couple of times before. I put my ear to the hole, but I was unable to hear exactly what was being said. There was a lot of shouting and also a noise like scuffling, which suggested to me that the two men were having a fight, a suspicion that was borne out by the fact that the voices got even louder and angrier until, suddenly, they ceased. Then there was silence.’
‘And?’ I was growing impatient.
He chewed his nails for a moment before continuing. I noticed that they were bitten down to the quick.
‘Well, after waiting for what seemed like an age, I opened the secret door — with the greatest caution, I might say — and almost at once saw Robin Avenel lying in the middle of the cellar floor. I knew it was him even though his face was turned away from me, but I fetched a lighted candle just to make sure. He was dead. He’d been stabbed through the heart.’
‘What did you do?’
‘What could I do in my position but wait for Mistress Alefounder to come looking for her brother? Normally, she wouldn’t have visited me again until early the following morning, when she brought me my breakfast, but I guessed that when Master Avenel failed to return home that night, she would grow anxious and begin to look for him immediately. Which, of course, she eventually did. I don’t know what hour it was when her search finally brought her down here, but it was very late. At first, Elizabeth accused me of murdering Master Avenel — me! — and was ready to tear my eyes out. Not, it transpired, because she thought I’d killed her brother, but because I’d jeopardized my chances of remaining hidden and, in due course, of being spirited away to Brittany. By the time I’d managed to convince her of my innocence, the night was even further advanced. It must be nearly midnight, she told me. And the following morning, of course, Robin’s disappearance would become public knowledge. She would have to inform the Sheriff, who would organize an official investigation. Sooner or later, Master Avenel’s body would be found, and the last thing she wanted was for the Sheriff’s men to come nosing about down here.’
Albany stopped to draw breath. ‘Let me guess,’ I interrupted him. ‘You and Mistress Alefounder carried Robin up into the street and left his body in Jewry Lane, where it was found by the Watch patrol, just after midnight.’
The duke shrugged. ‘What else could we do? I’m ignorant of the other details. But, wait a moment!’ He clapped a hand to his forehead in the manner of one who had just recollected something vital. ‘I forgot to tell you that while I was waiting for Mistress Alefounder to arrive, I naturally shut myself in here, out of sight. But, suddenly, I heard a woman’s scream. Naturally, I thought it was Elizabeth, but when no one came to the peephole to speak to me, I grew suspicious and stayed where I was. Which was just as well, as it turned out, because Mistress Alefounder later assured me that, whoever it might have been, it wasn’t her.’
‘And was she worried about this stranger who had accidentally stumbled across her brother’s body?’
Albany frowned.
‘Now you mention it,’ he said slowly, ‘no, she wasn’t. It didn’t strike me at the time, there was too much else to think about … How very odd.’
‘Maybe not,’ I said. ‘Perhaps she knew, or guessed, who it was. How soon after you found Master Avenel’s body did you hear this scream?’
His frown deepened. ‘Not very long.’ He pondered the matter for a moment or so, then glanced sharply in my direction. ‘I can see by your face that that is the answer you wanted. That it means something to you. Am I right?’
‘Maybe,’ I agreed, as pieces of the puzzle began falling into place, and I realized what it was that had been troubling me ever since this morning and my visit to Saint Giles’s. ‘You say the murder took place sometime during the evening, after you’d eaten your supper?’
The duke pursed his lips. ‘Two, maybe three hours afterwards, as far as I was able to judge. Maybe longer. I tell you, time is not itself down here. Now, are you satisfied? Has what I’ve told you helped in any way to disprove the charge of Robin Avenel’s murder that has been laid against your friend?’ I nodded and he again clapped his hands, like a child who had been given a sweetmeat. ‘Then en avant, mon brave! There is nothing more to wait for. Fetch my ring from wherever you have hidden it and take it to this Irish slave master of yours.’ He clicked his tongue mockingly. ‘For a respectable man, Roger, my friend, you know some very strange people.’