The body of Hervey de Marigny had been hauled from the water and laid on the bank. A soldier was bending over him to shield the horror from the gaze of the people behind him. When Ralph first saw his friend, he felt as if he had taken a violent blow between the eyes. He reeled back and needed a moment to steady himself. The sheriff, too, was appalled by the sight. Hervey de Marigny was almost unrecognisable. His face was hideously scored with lacerations and his throat was comprehensively cut. His lower lip had been bitten off. The body was sodden and limp, the limbs stretched at an unnatural angle. Water had washed most of the blood away, making the jagged wound on his neck look raw and livid. Ralph could still see the agony in his sightless eyes.
‘Who found him?’ he asked, kneeling beside the soldier.
‘I did, my lord,’ said the man.
‘Like this?’
‘No, he was half in the water. I pulled him out.’
‘Had he drifted downstream?’
‘I think not, my lord. It looks as if the body was dumped here.
There was no attempt to weight it so that it would sink. It was almost as if the killer wanted it to be found.’
‘As a warning!’ said Baldwin, standing over them.
‘To whom?’ said Ralph.
‘All of us. This is some Saxon outrage.’
‘The killer will pay dearly, I know that.’
‘We will hunt him down, my lord. Have no fear.’
‘But I do, my lord sheriff,’ said Ralph, standing up. ‘I will track down the villain myself because I cannot trust you to do it.’
The sheriff bristled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Look at his injuries. They are similar to those found on the body of Nicholas Picard. I believe that he and Hervey de Marigny were butchered by the same man.’
‘You may well be right,’ conceded the other.
‘Then you will understand why I have no faith in your ability to catch the man. A prisoner lies in your dungeon, charged with the murder of Nicholas Picard. Answer me this, my lord sheriff,’ said Ralph with sarcasm. ‘How did he get out in order to kill his second victim?’
Chapter Eleven
The murder of Hervey de Marigny threw the whole castle into turmoil. Soldiers were put on the alert and extra guards placed at the gate and on the battlements. Patrols were mounted in the city. The show of strength was impressive, but achieved little beyond the intimidation of the citizenry. Golde was horrified at the news and insisted on struggling down to the chapel with the aid of a stick in order to pray for the soul of the dead man. Gervase Bret was rocked and it gave him no consolation that his own judgement of the imprisoned robber had therefore been vindicated.
Someone had slaughtered both Picard and the commissioner in the most savage way. The culprit was still at liberty.
That thought sent Brother Simon and Canon Hubert into a state of shock. While the former fled to the cathedral for sanctuary, the latter made his way to the castle to find out what he could about the murder and to have the immediate comfort of stout fortifications all round him. Overcoming his profound shock at the discovery of the body, Ralph Delchard was impelled by a quiet rage. When the three commissioners met in the hall, he let Gervase and Hubert do most of the talking, preferring instead to brood and speculate. A veteran soldier with shared memories of combat, Hervey de Marigny had been much closer to him than to any of the others. Ralph did not relish the task of having to send word of the murder to his widow.
‘This is dreadful!’ said a quivering Hubert. ‘We are all at risk!’
‘I think not,’ said Gervase.
‘The lord Hervey was a royal commissioner. Now that he is dead, which one of us will be the next target?’
‘I am not sure that he was a target, Canon Hubert.’
‘You’ve seen his corpse in the mortuary.’
‘Yes,’ said Gervase, ‘and I viewed that of Nicholas Picard as well. Both are clearly victims of one man, but there is a substantial difference in the way that they died.’
‘Each was patently killed by the same means.’
‘But not necessarily from the same motives.’
‘I do not follow you, Gervase.’
‘The lord Nicholas was ambushed,’ said the other. ‘Someone knew exactly where and when to attack him. Premeditation was involved. That was not the case with the lord Hervey. He is barely known in the city and his movements follow no definite pattern.
It would be impossible to lay an ambush for him. No,’ he affirmed,
‘I think that he went to his death almost by accident.’
‘Accident!’ gulped Hubert.
‘Yes. He may unwittingly have stumbled on something or someone and paid the ultimate penalty. This was a crime of opportunity.’
‘It still robs the world of a fine man,’ said Ralph solemnly.
‘And an able judge,’ added Hubert. ‘I had my doubts about the lord Hervey at first but they were ill founded. One thing is now obvious. We must suspend our proceedings until after the funeral.
And until after this dangerous man is caught.’
‘That will not be long,’ vowed Ralph. ‘I will find him.’
‘How, my lord?’
‘Leave it to me, Hubert.’
‘Take care. You are dealing with a fiend.’
‘That is why he needs to be caught quickly,’ said Gervase. ‘The sheriff seems to think that it is the work of a vengeful Saxon and that suspicion has soured relations with the city. There have been a few brawls already, I hear, and the lord Hervey’s own men are threatening to wreak some havoc in Exeter by way of reprisal.’
‘They answer to me now,’ said Ralph curtly. ‘There will be no reprisals against the city itself. We are searching for one man.’
‘Unless he has confederates,’ said Hubert. ‘The lord Hervey would not have been easily killed by a solitary attacker. What puzzles me is why he was walking by the river so far from the city.’
‘He was not,’ said Ralph.
‘How do you know, my lord?’
‘Because there was no sign of a struggle at the spot where he was found. I believe that he was killed elsewhere and carried downriver so that it would take time for us to find the body.’ He sighed ruefully. ‘What a hazardous county this is! We have been in Devon barely a week and there have already been two murders.
Not to mention a robbery.’
‘Robbery?’ said Hubert.
‘You mean the two men who stole from the lord Nicholas as he lay in the wood?’ said Gervase.
‘No,’ said Ralph, ‘though that was another crime to record. The robbery I talk of is one that was reported to the sheriff by that oily steward, Tetbald. Apparently, an intruder broke in during the night and stole a box belonging to the lord Nicholas.’
Gervase started. ‘What was in the box, Ralph?’
‘They did not know. It was locked. When it was later found on the estate, the lid was open and the box was empty. The crime has unsettled them. The lady Catherine was deeply upset at the thought of someone creeping around her house in the dark while she was in bed.’
‘She has cause to be alarmed,’ said Hubert.
‘Was anything else taken?’ asked Gervase.
‘Just the box,’ said Ralph.
‘So the thief knew exactly what he was looking for?’
‘Yes, Gervase. And exactly where to find it. He must have been in the house before. Tetbald wonders if it might have been someone who once worked there as a servant.
‘Or lived there,’ said Hubert.
‘Lived there?’
‘Yes, my lord. Many years ago.’
‘You sound as if you have someone in mind.’
‘I do. One of our claimants once owned that manor house.’