Bernard Knight - Figure of Hate

'That's right, then they made sure that the harness vanished soon afterwards, not knowing that Reginald de Charterai had already noticed the damage to the stitching,' confirmed John.

The sheriff shook his head in sad amazement. 'Killing his father! That's a terrible crime. I'm glad the bastard got his reward at the end of a knife,'

'Which was also wielded by Robert Longus!' snorted John.

'I'm not clear why that had to happen,' said the constable, doubtfully.

'How was it connected with the death of that silversmith, miles away?'

'Not so fast!' complained the sheriff. 'Hugo killed his father to succeed to the manor, right? But what about Odo, the eldest brother — he was already there, as the sitting heir, so to speak?'

'Hugo must have worked all that out beforehand, trusting that he would win any legal contest on the grounds of Odo's falling sickness. It was a gamble, but it paid off.'

'And August Scrope, the silversmith?' asked Gwyn, 'I didn't follow all that Longus said about that — he was gabbling too fast.'

Thomas, scanning his parchment version of the confession, explained what had happened.

'Scrope was staying at the New Inn, as were the Peverels. It so happened that Longus came to the inn to get some instructions from Hugo about preparing his armour for the tournament. Longus stopped for some ale in the taproom and overheard the silversmith, his tongue loosened by ale, unwisely telling some drinking companion, of his trip to Topsham the next morning with his valuable jewellery. The armourer decided to take Alexander Crues and rob the man, as a profitable sideline. It seems that they had occasionally indulged in armed robbery before this and found it easy pickings,'

'And the callous bastards also decided to kill him, to avoid being recognised,' growled Henry. 'It's fortunate that the silversmith's servant survived. They deserve to be hanged twice over.'

'So how did it come about that Hugo later gave him a false alibi when Terrus spotted Longus as one of the robbers?' asked Rufus.

John shrugged. 'Longus was very close to his master and was valuable to Hugo as his armourer, so he wouldn't want to lose him to the gallows.'

'And Longus already had a hold over him, knowing that he had deliberately run down his father,' added de Furnellis.

'He must have gabbled this out to Hugo when he ran ahead of me outside the New Inn that day, when I made him take me to his master,' said John thoughtfully. 'That's almost certainly another reason why Hugo decided to give Longus an alibi — just to spite me.'

'What do you mean by that?' asked Henry. '

'Well, I was on the point of arresting his armourer, so it must have given Hugo great delight to frustrate me! He was paying me back for humiliating him over his behaviour with de Charterai, both on the tourney field and at that banquet.'

'So why then should this Robert later want to slay Hugo?' asked a puzzled Rufus. 'It seems that they were literally as thick as thieves.'

The coroner took up the story again, 'Longus claims that when Hugo discovered not only that his stepmother Avelina had been left a substantial life interest in the manor's income but was likely to go off with it with his arch-enemy Reginald de Charterai, he tried to get him to produce a fatal accident for her as well! But evil as he is, Longus baulked at killing such a high-born woman, partly because of the risk, but also because of her past kindness to him.'

'The business of her paying for an apothecary for him?' asked the sheriff,

'Yes, he says he was taken with a severe bloody flux last year and claims Avelina saved his life by getting a leech out from Tiverton to treat him.'

'So why kill Hugo?' persisted the sheriff,

'Because Hugo threatened to withdraw his alibi for the killing of the silversmith if he refused to arrange some lethal mishap for Avelina. Longus claims he wouldn't go along With that and the only way out, if he wanted to avoid the risk of Hugo betraying him, was to get rid of him. So he and Crues followed Hugo on one of his night-time adventures with a village girl and stabbed him as he lay sleeping in the ox byre.'

'And poor Agnes remembered hearing their voices?' said Rufus.

The coroner shrugged. 'She wasn't sure of that, poor girl. And she didn't know who they were, anyway, But once the rumour got around the village, Longus couldn't risk it and she had to go. Probably unnecessarily, as it happens.'

There was silence as they all reflected on this sad catalogue of violence. It was broken by Henry, who picked at his big nose and flicked the harvest on to the rushes.

'How do the other Peverel men come out of this? Have we got anything against them?'

John scowled ferociously, 'I certainly have! I owe that arrogant bastard Ralph something, but there's nothing that we can arrest him for!'

'Joel is just a selfish young fool and Odo seems in the clear,' observed the sheriff. 'I feel sorry for him, with that affliction that hinders him taking his rightful place as manor-lord,'

'And that swine Ralph will probably defeat his claim again, when it comes to court,' added de Wolfe, with feeling.

'Where does our late unlamented sheriff fit into the picture?' queried the castle constable. 'De Revelle soon made himself scarce when we burst in to arrest those two men.'

The coroner gave a sardonic laugh. 'There's only one thing, apart from whores, that interests Richard, and that's increasing his wealth. He desperately wanted that land which old William Peverel refused him, so he was buttering up the sons to get hold of it, as they seemed more amenable to the idea.'

'I wouldn't put it past him to have planted the idea of getting rid of the old man in Hugo's head,' grunted Henry. 'But we can never prove it.'

John rose from his bench and beckoned to his officer and clerks,

'There will be inquests to arrange, now that we know what happened,' he declared. 'At least the families of August Scrope and Agnes will have the satisfaction of knowing that justice has been done — or will be when the next visit of the judges is due, for those armourers will surely hang.'

'If they survive Stigand's hospitality,' said Ralph Morin. 'Lately, we've had a few dying down below of the yellow ague, I think it's from all those rats that infest those cells.'

Thomas shivered as he made for the door — he had spent a few days in that awful place some months ago when falsely accused of a series of murders and the memory lingered. The rest of the group filed out, with de Wolfe following them. Henry de Furnellis came to the door with him, and put a hand on his shoulder.

'Try to forget yesterday's episode, John! I know you feel shamed by what happened, but you must put it behind you, That Ralph is not worth your continued anger — I feel there is something evil about him, and no doubt God will repay him sooner or later.'

As de Wolfe departed, he thought to himself that perhaps he was not prepared to wait that long.

The official tournament ground between Salisbury and Wilton was once again busy, to the gratification of the treasury clerk who oversaw the collection of the entry fees, At the rates that the Curia Regis had set for the benefit of King Richard's exchequer, he would be taking many hundreds of marks back to Winchester at the end of the three-day event. As usual, this first day was for the grand melee, before the jousting began on the morrow.

Two hours after dawn, on a blustery day in early November, the Red and Blue teams assembled on their respective hillocks. As it was one of the main meetings of the year before winter set in, there were more hopeful contenders than usual, from all over England ar;td the Continent. The number of spectators was also larger, both high-born and those commoners who came in the hope of enjoying blood and maiming, as well as those whose main interest was gambling on the winners.