Peter frowned. ‘But Father Pierre was with us all the way from the coast, near enough. Why didn’t the boy recognise him before?’
‘I saw him once that I remember, on the day I had an argument with Comte de Foix. I scarcely remember seeing you at all.’
‘I was busy. There was a portable altar, and I spent much of my time with it,’ Peter said ruefully.
‘And I have no doubt that the priest managed to lose himself as well. The boy simply didn’t see him then. But he certainly did this morning.’
‘So what now?’ Simon asked, rubbing his hands together. ‘Do you want to walk to the Louvre and explain what this deeply unpleasant little prick has been getting up to?’
Baldwin toyed with his wine cup.
‘Baldwin?’ Simon said, suddenly anxious.
‘I do not think I can, Simon. If I do, I think I shall upset the King. He did not want the truth to come out, and only reluctantly allowed me to question his little priest.’
‘You think it could be hazardous?’ Simon asked more quietly, thinking about the Templar cross on Baldwin’s sword.
‘Yes — but not for me!’ Baldwin leaned down, beckoning the others to do the same. When their heads were close, he whispered, ‘The boy himself is the target. That is what Mortimer told me, Simon, that there is a little treasure. The boy!’
‘What makes him so valuable?’
‘Think, man! We’ve heard about how the King’s first wife was so cruelly treated. Installed in a cold dungeon and left there for years. And then, in order to provide evidence for the annulment of the marriage, he gave orders that men should be gathered together and told to rape his wife. He wanted her to be shown to be a lewd woman without decency.’
‘She was an adulterer,’ Peter said.
‘How many married men can claim never to have touched another woman in their lives?’ Baldwin demanded.
‘From the confessions I hear …’ Peter began, but then he shook his head.
‘Precisely,’ Baldwin said. What happened was, she was raped several times, but only by this repellent creature Arnaud. Whether he was to her taste or not, I do not know. All I do know is, she fell pregnant. Arnaud was sure that the child was his own, I dare say. So he wanted to see it protected. But others had different ideas. The boy must die, so that there was no possibility later of a supposititious child arriving to confuse the next coronation. But somehow, the woman Thomassia and her husband took the child and fled. Not only the town, but the country. They went all the way to London, and took Master Charlie with them.’
‘This is all guesswork,’ Simon said.
‘No. It is mostly gleaned from the people we have questioned, and some of it is deduced.’
‘Then why?’ Simon asked. ‘What would a priest be doing trying to kill all these people?’
‘Perhaps he happens to be close to his king?’ Baldwin guessed. ‘If Charles knows him well, maybe that’s why he chose to ask him to help?’
‘That horse won’t ride,’ Peter said with a firm shake of his head. ‘No. I think Père Pierre is not of that temper. If a king told a priest to go and commit murder, he would refuse.’
‘But we can be sure that this man is guilty of many murders,’ Baldwin said. ‘Your intervention in the chapel showed that.’
‘Yes. Well. I was not going to have a man blaspheme by lying about his offences — especially since he was attempting to have the blame put entirely on the shoulders of a dead man who had confessed while in the proximity of his own death. A man in that position doesn’t lie.’
‘Which crimes did he confess to?’ Baldwin asked innocently.
‘A good try, Sir Baldwin. I am not so gullible that I can fall for that. His confession is between him and God.’
‘If that priest is as guilty as we think,’ Simon said, ‘is there any way we could bring him to justice?’
‘I think that to be able to do that, we’d need the full support of the King. And I have no authority here, as he pointed out. Nor do you!’
‘So he escapes? After so many deaths, he just walks away?’
‘I fear that may well be the case,’ Baldwin said heavily.
‘It is not right,’ Simon said.
‘No. But in a foreign country, there is little else we can do but accept its customs.’
‘I still wonder what would lead a man of God into such actions,’ Peter said.
‘He was staying with you during the journey here — did he give you no indication of what sort of man he is? No clues as to his thinking or anything?’
‘The only thing I picked up from him was his hatred of heresy. He does detest those from his old home who profess the Christian faith, and then go and hold their own heretical services afterwards, considering the Catholic religion to be a perverted form of Jesus’s. Apparently it’s common down in the south.’
‘And this Jean came from the south. It is part of the comté, too,’ Baldwin noted. ‘So the Comte was responsible for that area. Perhaps the priest thought that these men were responsible for the heresy? He was eradicating it and doing a service for God.’
‘I have known religious madmen, but that would be stretching the point,’ Peter said.
‘I agree,’ Simon said. ‘I would think his motive was simpler. He wanted either money or power. If it was money, he would be sure of a reward if he was capable of providing this service to the King; if power, no doubt the King would petition his bishop for his advancement.’
‘Advancement …’ Baldwin wondered. ‘Surely a priest would gain all the worldly wealth he could desire as he clambered up the ladder from novice to clerk to deacon and so on. A man like Pierre would have gained all he wanted as he rose through the ranks, and if he were to rise but a little farther, he would command much influence and money.’
‘Oh, I shouldn’t think he’d ever have enough to justify so many deaths on his conscience,’ Peter said.
‘There are some men who do not think of other men. Sir Hugh le Despenser is one of them. Perhaps this priest is in the same mould?’ Baldwin wondered. Then he stood. ‘Simon, come! We have more work to do.’
Chapter Forty-Four
They found Sir John de Sapy sitting disconsolate in the little yard near the Queen’s chambers.
‘Sir Peter and Sir Charles will have little to do with me since they heard of my efforts,’ he said. ‘But I swear, all I wanted was to be sure of my post at court.’
‘Others are always jealous when someone manages to ingratiate himself with the man they would also like to be close to,’ Baldwin said.
‘I just don’t want to be outlawed again.’
‘Tell me, then, the priest. Père Pierre. How did you come to meet him?’
‘My brother introduced me in a tavern. He said that if I wanted to get into Sir Hugh’s favour, I should help the priest. All I had to do was lead him to that house in London, nothing more, and then keep guard outside. I heard some noises … but I didn’t think he was going to kill anyone. He was a priest! Later I was taken to Despenser’s hall. You know the Temple? He thanked me there. Despenser told me that aiding this little priest had shown I was trustworthy enough for his household. That was when he offered me this embassy.’
‘Knowing that all the loose ends would be snipped away,’ Baldwin noted. ‘He was planning to kill you, Sir John.’
‘Sweet Jesus! Does that mean my brother …?’
‘I think he will be safe enough. And when you yourself return home, you can tell him what happened over here, which will itself be of use to him.’
‘Yes. Yes, I suppose so,’ he said, looking anything but confident.
‘Now, Sir John, is there anything that could tell us what made the priest want to kill the family?’
‘There was one thing he said: that they were guilty of a heresy. He seemed quite warm on the matter.’
‘Heretics,’ Baldwin murmured. And then he gave a little smile. ‘I wonder if we could use that against him?’