‘It is no jest, my lord,’ said Hubert.
‘I do not see it as such, believe me!’
‘You need some rest, Ralph,’ observed Gervase.
‘Stop sounding like my wife.’
‘There is nothing more you can do this evening.’
‘Oh, yes, there is, Gervase. When I have seen Golde and poured a jug of water over my head to wake me up again, I will take another look at that siege tunnel. It worries me. Berold escorted me there earlier but it was bright daylight. I wonder if it takes on a different character by night.’
Hubert was puzzled. ‘What has a siege tunnel to do with the murder of the lord Hervey?’ he said. ‘It is outside the city.’
‘So was he when he was killed. Will you come with me, Gervase?’
‘No,’ said the other, ‘I have a call to make on my own account.’
‘To whom?’
‘The lady Loretta. She perjured herself before us.’
‘Can this be so?’ said Hubert. ‘An honourable woman like that?’
‘According to Engelric.’
‘Is he the source of this slander?’
‘I do not think that it is slander, Canon Hubert.’
‘Well I do, Gervase. If it is a case of Engelric’s word against that of the lady Loretta, I know whose I would believe. She is highly respected in the city and in the cathedral. Her generosity to the foundation is well known.’ He gave a flabby smile. ‘She even sends along her servant to cure a problem that returns to worry them.’
‘What sort of problem?’ asked Ralph.
‘Bats, my lord. Bats in the belfry.’
‘How does the servant help?’
‘He can charm them into a sack, it seems,’ said Hubert, ‘then he takes them to the wood to release them. He must be a rare fellow to have such a skill with bats. The wonder of it is that he is dumb. Dean Jerome tells me that he has a gift from God.
Eldred is able to commune somehow with almost any animal.’
‘Eldred?’ repeated Ralph.
‘The servant who brought the lady Loretta to the shire hall.’
‘I remember the man well.’
Yes,’ said Gervase, mind racing. ‘So do I.’
Loretta was seated at the table, studying the charter in the bright candlelight and envisaging the time when the property would once more be in her possession. Certain of her success, she allowed herself a smile of self-congratulation. Then she put the charter aside and picked up one of the letters that lay beside it. She was reading it again and mocking its sentiments afresh when she heard the distant knock at the front door. The maidservant answered it, asked the caller to wait, then tapped on the door of the parlour before entering.
‘A gentleman has called to see you, my lady,’ said the girl.
‘What is his name?’
‘Master Gervase Bret.’
‘Show him in at once,’ she said with pleasant surprise.
‘He has two companions with him, my lady.’
‘Canon Hubert and Ralph Delchard?’
‘No, my lady. Men-at-arms.’
Loretta’s face hardened but she did not rescind the order.
Gervase was soon stepping into the parlour while the two soldiers waited behind in the hall. She gave him a polite smile.
‘This is an unexpected visit, Master Bret.’
‘We did not only come to see you, my lady,’ he explained. ‘We wish to see your servant as well. Eldred.’
‘He is not here.’
‘Where is he?’
‘I am not sure,’ she said evasively.
‘Will he return tonight?’
‘At some point.’
‘Then the lord Hervey’s knights will wait for him.’
‘I do not want two men-at-arms lurking in my hall,’ she said with disdain. ‘Send them away at once.’
‘If you wish, my lady,’ he agreed. ‘But I will ask them to dispatch six of the sheriff’s men in their stead. Eldred will be taken one way or another.’
‘Taken?’
‘For questioning.’
‘On what grounds do you arrest him?’
‘That is what I have come here to establish.’
Gervase’s eye fell on the table and he saw the letters. Loretta moved the charter on top of them to hide them from view but she was too slow. He had seen enough to spark his interest. He strolled calmly across the room to confront her. ‘I called at Saewin’s house on the way here, my lady.’
‘Indeed?’
‘He was telling me more about this gift of Eldred’s. The way he seems to have of talking to animals even though he is himself mute. When the reeve’s dog was sick, it was Eldred who medicined him. He cured the creature. Saewin says that it was he who recommended Eldred to you.’
‘That is true.’
‘When nobody else would employ him, you took him in.’
‘He is a loyal servant.’
‘That is how Saewin described him as well, my lady. He said that Eldred was so grateful to you that he would do anything you asked.’ Gervase moved in closer. ‘Without hesitation.’
‘I expect obedience from a servant.’
‘You demanded more than that from Eldred. I recall how he sat beside you at the shire hall, aware of what you wanted even before you voiced a request. You and he seemed to have a kind of understanding, a form of speech that did not rely on words.’
‘What are you trying to say, Master Bret?’
‘I believe that your servant may have been responsible for two foul murders, both involving the use of an animal. A fox, perhaps.
Or some kind of dog. Or a wildcat. A man who can charm bats out of the cathedral belfry can tame any creature.’ He watched her face but it betrayed no emotion. ‘I also suspect that he stole a box from the manor house of Nicholas Picard, using his skill with animals to placate the four dogs who were on guard there in the night.’
Loretta gave a laugh of disbelief. ‘What possible reason could a peace-loving man like Eldred have to kill someone? And why should he want to break into someone’s house?’
‘To retrieve something for you, my lady.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes,’ said Gervase, sweeping the charter aside and snatching up the letters with his other hand. ‘Who wrote these? Asa? Or some other woman you are going to persecute?’
Loretta got up and tried to grab them, but he was far too quick for her. Stepping back smartly, he held the letters behind him so that they were well out of her reach. Loretta extended an imperious palm.
‘Those are mine. Please return them.’
‘They are stolen property, my lady,’ he said with a nod at her chair. ‘Sit down again. We have much to discuss.’
‘You have no right to be in my house!’ she snapped.
‘Send for the sheriff and have me evicted. Not that I would advise it, my lady. He is much more likely to invite you to the castle to continue this conversation there. Now — are you going to sit down?’
Seething with controlled anger, she slowly resumed her seat.
‘You have plenty of strange ideas, Master Bret,’ she said, regaining her poise. ‘Strange ideas and wild accusations. Yet no proof whatsoever.’
He held up the letters. ‘Except these.’
‘What do they prove?’
‘That you ordered Eldred to steal the box which contained them.
It also contained some letters from Asa to lord Nicholas. They were sent anonymously to me so that her claim was imperilled.’
‘Her claim!’ sneered Loretta. ‘It was totally worthless. Did she tell you that the lord Nicholas had been nowhere near her for over a year? Asa was discarded. He would hardly bequeath those holdings to a woman he could no longer bear to see.’
‘You seem to know a lot about the lord Nicholas,’ he said quietly.
‘I heard all the gossip.’
‘You do not strike me as a person who listens to gossip.’
‘What do I strike you as, Master Bret?’ she taunted.
‘A woman who would stop at nothing to secure her ends.’
‘All I wanted was my legitimate right.’
‘Achieved by illegitimate means.’
‘Or so you imagine.’
‘You committed perjury before us,’ said Gervase. ‘That was what first made me wonder if the lady Loretta was all that she appeared to be. You told us that you were in Normandy when the first commissioners came, and that was why you made no appeal before them. Yet Engelric saw you at a service in the cathedral during the time they were here. So did Dean Jerome and Saewin. I took the trouble to confirm Engelric’s comments with them.’