Michael Jecks - The Death Ship of Dartmouth

While the two had been talking, Baldwin and Sir Richard had completed their initial view of the bodies. Now Sir Richard stood at Simon’s shoulder. ‘We are all done here, I think, Bailiff. Could you arrange for someone to have these bodies brought back to the market hall? We can hold the inquest there. Right — I’d best speak to that fool of a sergeant and see when he can call the juries together. I’d like to get it all finished as soon as possible, though. How about this time tomorrow? Could he cope with that, do you think?’

Simon looked at Hamo, who shrugged. ‘Ivo isn’t good at doing things in a hurry,’ he said.

‘He’d best learn, then,’ Sir Richard growled. ‘I’ll tell him so, if he doesn’t believe it. I find that men often discover new talents when I tell them to get something done!’

‘And now,’ Baldwin said, ‘I think we should go and speak to Sir Andrew and ask what he means by committing piracy. The man is a damned fool if he thought he could get away when his hands were covered in the blood of innocents!’

As he cocked a leg over the wale, ready to descend, he glanced back at the ship and caught sight of the figure of Cynegils. He frowned. The man was sober, but he had spent his life pickling his brain in ale. The dead sailor, Ed, was more than likely a product of his imagination than anything else. Cynegils was simply petrified of dying at sea, as were most sailors, as few or none of them could swim.

There was nothing more to his story than that.

Simon and Baldwin arrived back at the inn with the Coroner just as Sir Andrew was about to leave.

‘Good morrow, lordings,’ he said courteously, bowing to them all.

Simon was impressed. The man possessed all the trappings of prosperity, and had impeccable manners. Not that wealth was any indicator of a man’s personal value, for Simon tended to hold to the Devon attitude that a man’s worth was more in how he behaved than in his purse. A successful thief could, after all, appear prosperous.

Baldwin’s own instinctive reaction was: ‘Beware! This fellow has the look of a killer.’

‘Sir Andrew?’ the Coroner boomed. ‘Remember me? Saw you at the last Parlement at York.’

‘Ah, yes, of course. You are Sir Richard de Welles? I am glad to make your acquaintance again,’ Sir Andrew said with apparent pleasure. ‘And your friends are?’

‘I am Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, the Keeper of the King’s Peace. This is my friend Simon Puttock. I am afraid I have some news for you.’

‘News concerning me? Intriguing. However, I am in a hurry, gentles.’

‘First: the man you had arrested and thrown into the gaol is released on my orders,’ Baldwin said flatly.

‘May I ask why?’

‘Perhaps you could explain why he was arrested in the first place?’

‘He robbed a corpse.’

‘No — I think he took some money which was owed to him.’

‘If you say so, my friend.’ Sir Andrew’s eyes glittered as though with merriment. ‘I hope he doesn’t try robbing a live man next time, though.’

‘I am sure he will attempt no such thing. He had already confessed this offence to me, and I would not have him believe that I would betray that trust by having another arrest and punish him.’

‘Hmm. You have a curious attitude for a man who is supposed to be maintaining the law. Justice demands that a man who admits to guilt should be punished.’

‘Perhaps. And now I would like to ask you what you are doing here.’

‘Me? I am here to find a rapist.’

‘What is his name?’

‘Pierre de Caen. He is a very dangerous man, Sir Baldwin. He raped a lady in Queen Isabella’s household. Can you imagine such effrontery? To actually violate a woman in the Queen’s entourage! And then he hurried here to escape the justice that pursues him. But perhaps you think that he too should go free?’

‘A rapist?’ Baldwin refused to rise to the bait. ‘Whom did he attack?’

‘I do not think that she would like her name to be bruited about. It will be enough to catch him and take him back to the household where she rests, so that she can see him punished for his crime.’

‘If you wish to arrest him here, you will need to give me more evidence than the word of a lady whom you refuse to name,’ Baldwin said with quiet conviction.

‘I think I may arrest him whether you wish it or not,’ Sir Andrew said with a broad smile.

Baldwin studied him. ‘Have you heard of the attack on a ship? Just recently, a great cog, the Saint John , was attacked at sea and her crew taken, the vessel burned.’

‘Should I know of this?’

‘You would if you had seen anything of the attack.’

‘But of course,’ Sir Andrew said. Now he yawned and looked about him. ‘This is most fascinating, Sir Baldwin, but I fear I should leave you and get on with my work. It was good of you to advise me that the scruffy fellow has been released from gaol. I shall have to keep an eye open for him.’

‘I will not have you walking about the town taking whomsoever you wish,’ Baldwin said. ‘If you have evidence against a man, let me know, or the Bailiff here.’

‘You are most kind to offer your help,’ Sir Andrew said with a short bow.

‘Perhaps you would like to explain what you were doing, seeking the Frenchman on the Saint Denis in the haven?’ Baldwin continued.

‘I do not think I need trouble you with this matter any further,’ Sir Andrew smiled.

‘Then your men shall remain in the gaol until you decide to explain,’ Baldwin said blandly, picking his tone of voice carefully. There was no threat in it, only a flat certainty.

‘What men, Sir Knight?’

‘Those whom you sent to take the cog this day. They are all in custody and shall remain there until I hear a satisfactory explanation of their behaviour.’

Sir Andrew’s manner stiffened noticeably. ‘Those men are mine. I wish them released immediately.’

‘And I wish to know what they were doing on the Saint Denis .’

‘That is my business, not yours,’ Sir Andrew said, with steel in his tone.

‘You have no authority in this town.’

‘Do I not?’ Sir Andrew considered Baldwin for a long moment, and then he pulled a parchment from inside his cote-hardie. He opened it and passed it to the knight. ‘Here is my authority, Keeper. Do you agree I have the power to stop ships and arrest any whom I suspect?’

Baldwin read with a frown, holding the writing near to his nose and up to the light as he made sense of it. ‘It would seem so.’

‘Then you will please leave me alone while I continue to carry out the wishes of our King?’

‘I will be happy to leave you alone. In the meantime, your men caused an affray on the cog in this haven. This order does not exempt your men from penalty of law when they break the King’s Peace here in Dartmouth. They will be held until I deem that they pose no more threat to the peace of this town.’

‘You will release them now!’ Sir Andrew snarled. He took a half-step forward as though to attack Baldwin, but when the older knight stood his ground, he hissed: ‘This will be brought to the attention of Lord Hugh Despenser! I shall personally demand your punishment, Keeper.’

Baldwin shrugged, but felt anger rising in his breast. Here he was, despite all his best intentions, thrown headlong into a dispute with a man who was a loyal supporter of Despenser.

‘Rural knights like you are more danger to the work of the realm than all the outlaws in the land,’ Sir Andrew said with cold certainty. ‘We try to keep the country working, and it is men like you — old men — who prevent us. England is in danger, and you would have us ignore it because it upsets your sensibilities.’