Kate Sedley - The Plymouth Cloak

Emerging into the courtyard, I learned that Jeremiah Fletcher, bound hand and foot, was securely locked in a small room in the chapel, with James, Luke and John Groom taking it in turns to guard him. Alwyn, who imparted this information, asked me to tell him all I knew about the prisoner; so, deciding that nothing would do now but the truth, I gave him the history of our ill-fated journey from my meeting with the Duke of Gloucester in Exeter to the present moment. Two things only I omitted; Silas Bywater's part in the story and any mention of the knotgrass.

I could see that Alwyn was impressed by the added stature which my version of events had given me. So, taking advantage of the fact, I asked if I might be allowed to see Jeremiah Fletcher alone for a few minutes.

'There are a few things which I have to ask him,' I said, managing to convey by my manner that these questions were of vital importance to the safety of the realm.

'We-ell…' The Steward considered my request, then nodded briskly. 'You have my permission, but make sure that Luke, who is standing watch at the moment, remains outside the door.'

'If Fletcher is bound by wrist and ankle, as you tell me, he can hardly be any danger to anyone.'

'Nevertheless, I am not prepared to take chances. Please ~ do as I ask.' And the steward flung up an admonishing hand.

I gave my promise and was conducted into the gloom of the chapel which stood in one comer of the courtyard. The room where the prisoner was held was to the left of the altar, and was used by the chaplain to put on his vestments and say his prayers before Mass. A heavy oak door ensured his privacy at such times, and was equipped, for no good reason that I could see, with a stout lock and key. They were, however, proving useful at the moment, the key turned and removed from its resting-place, safely held in one of Luke's large brown hands. The other held a stout cudgel of only slightly smaller proportions than my own 'Plymouth Cloak',! which I recalled leaving propped up against one wall of the kitchen this morning, before sitting down to breakfast. The arrival of the sawyer's cart and the rest of the day's happenings had made me forget it was there. I must remember to move it out of Janet Overy's way.

The steward instructed Luke to let me into the robing-room and added sharply: 'Leave the door unlocked while Master Chapman is inside and be alert to go to his assistance should he need you. After his departure, mind you lock the door again.' Then he hurried fussily away.

Luke surveyed me curiously but asked no questions, merely doing as he was bidden. The key grated rustily in the lock as it was turned: obviously Sir Peveril's chaplain felt no need to secure himself against prying eyes. The door creaked a little on its hinges as Luke held it half open. I stepped inside.

The room was sparsely furnished, with a stone bench running the length of one wall and a chest in one comer. daylight struggled to enter through a small window with leaded panes made of horn, and there was the customary bag, hanging from a nail, containing flint and tinder. A candle and candlestick, the former not yet lit, stood atop the chest.

Jeremiah Fletcher, hands and feet tied together and a large bruise forming on his left cheek, was huddled at one end of the bench. I sat down at the other end and twisted round to face him. He eyed me balefully in return.

'And what do you want?'

'The truth, if that's not too much to ask.' My voice was still hoarse and he grinned malevolently, plainly wishing that he could have finished his handiwork.

After a moment or two's consideration, he shrugged.

'Why not? I'm a condemned man anyway, and have nothing more to lose. I've killed many men in my time, but ironically I shall be hanged for the murder I did not commit. Oh, I don't deny that I intended to take Philip Underdown's life — it's what I was being paid for — nor that I made two attempts to do so which went awry, once at the Abbey and again at the inn in Plymouth. But his death, when it came, was not by my hand. You can believe me or not as you please.'

'I think I believe you,' I answered. 'But if you did not kill him, you might have seen who did.'

He looked at me in astonishment, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hair. 'Why in heaven's name should you think that? When Master Underdown was murdered late last night — and that information I had from the landlord — I was asleep in my flea-infested bed in that equally flea-infested inn. Why should I be wandering the woods in the middle of the night?'

'For the same reason that you wandered Buckfast Abbey and the Plymouth streets. To do the bidding of your masters and prevent the King's messenger from reaching Brittany. You see, I am being perfectly frank. You followed Philip and me from Plymouth, arriving in Trenowth, according to Father Anselm, not long after us yesterday morning. And again according to the good father, you kept to your room at the inn all day, not even going downstairs for meals. You therefore had to spy out the land at night. I think you were abroad after dark and could have seen murder done.'

Jeremiah Fletcher smiled thinly. 'Very well, as you have guessed so much, I'll tell you that you are right, but only partly so. I was abroad last night with the intent, as you surmised, of spying out the land. But not until long after the murder had been committed. As I mounted the path towards the house, something, what exactly I cannot now say, but something attracted my attention to the river bank, where I found Philip Underdown's body, already stiffening and cold.

It was a shock to discover that someone else had done my work for me, and so thoroughly. But to stab him, and then be forced to beat in the back of his head in order to kill him suggested that this obliging person was a novice at the task of murder.'

Did you search the body for the letter?' I asked.

His face clouded. 'Ah, that letter! That has been the undoing of me.' He shifted, trying to ease the constraint of his bonds. 'Or perhaps I should rather say that you have been my nemesis. My masters certainly enjoined me to find and destroy the letter to Duke Francis if I could, but they did not know that Philip Underdown would be protected by a second man travelling with him. And indeed, until his arrival at Exeter, he was on his own, as is customary with royal messengers, who prefer to travel fast and unencumbered. But to have attacked him before his meeting with Duke Richard would have been useless. He did not then have the letter.'

I frowned. 'But how did your masters, as you call them, know that?'

He laughed. 'Who are you? What are you that you can ask such a question? Don't you know that the court of any country or state is riddled with spies? Even friends and allies spy upon each other. No noble lord worth his salt can afford but to have his paid informer in every other nobleman's household. Brother spies upon brother, father upon son. It's the way of the world. Wherever you go, France, Italy, Spain, you will find that to be the truth. The man whom Master Chaucer called the smiler with the knife under the cloak is everywhere.'

He was right. I was still very innocent in those days, unversed in man's cupidity, but I was learning fast. I repeated my question. 'Did you search the body?'

'Yes, of course I searched the body!' He was growing tired of my interrogation and was in great discomfort. 'Later, as you know, I searched the bedchamber, but, as you also know, I was out of luck.'

'And how did you know which room to search?'

Jeremiah Fletcher groaned and leaned back heavily against the wall behind him. 'You have persistence, I'll grant you that! I didn't know. I saw a shutter and a window both open and a vine asking to be climbed. It was not until I was safely inside that I realized, by the articles of baggage strewn about, that it was yours and Master Underdown's. And now,' he added wearily, 'if you have finished with me, leave me to my misery. I don't ask how you knew of my ruse to make a further search. The carter is a garrulous as well as a gullible fool, and you fell in with him. Let us leave it at that.' And he closed his eyes, his thin mouth set firmly, obviously determined to answer no more questions.