Michael Jecks - The Death Ship of Dartmouth

‘Perhaps,’ Simon said, pushing himself up to a sitting position, ‘but it wouldn’t do anything for my determination to see that druggle Sir Andrew pay for his actions! To murder that gaoler because the man got in his path — that was the action of a coward!’

‘I cannot disagree.’

‘Where is Pierre and his companion? Are they safe?’

‘They are here, in your hayloft. I thought it better that they should remain there than that they should be seen wandering the town.’

‘He saved my life. I would not wish to see him harmed by some political liar and bully,’ Simon mused.

‘We can protect him, I think.’

‘From the damned cur Andrew?’

‘He is in your hall even now, being questioned by the Coroner. I left him to it.’

‘Have you been here all night?’

Baldwin tilted his head slightly. ‘Not all the night, no.’

‘No. He went to wake the Coroner at dawn,’ Rob said, stepping forward to wipe Simon’s face with the cloth.

‘Ouch! Be careful, fool!’

‘You’ve been beat about the head and the arm, and you call me the fool?’ Rob said insolently.

‘Why do I only ever find servants who consider it their duty to bait me?’ Simon grumbled, pushing Rob away and swinging round to set his feet on the ground. He took the cloth and placed it gently over his head, breathing in the fumes, and in a short while he did feel improved. He threw the bunched cloth at Rob and stood. ‘Come, old friend. Let’s go and see what this lying cretin has been telling the good Coroner.’

Simon had been sleeping in his back parlour, for the men could not have carried him up the steep stairs to his bedchamber, so all he need do was walk the short distance to his hall, but even that felt like a great trial, and he slumped onto a stool as soon as he arrived, glowering ferociously at the fair-haired knight.

‘Ah, Bailiff. You appear to have slept late — but well, I trust?’

‘You are clever, Sir Andrew. A most witty guest,’ Simon said. ‘I hope you shall be as witty when they place the hemp about your throat. They have an interesting variation on killing people here — had you heard? Sometimes they’ll take a man out to the river, and hang him from a yard in sight of the town. They’ll release him to fall into the water, so that his first gasps will start his drowning, and then they’ll lift him up again. If they are careful, a murderer like you can be forced to struggle four or five times before he dies. It is good sport, I hear, for the watchers.’

‘This is brave talk, but you should know that the ship in the haven is the property of my lord Despenser, and I am his trusted vassal. Any harm you do to me, you do to him, and my lord Despenser does not suffer people to insult him in this manner. If you further embarrass him by treating me in such a manner, he will visit vengeance on you. Be in no doubt of that!’

‘He would protect even one such as you?’ Baldwin enquired. ‘A murderer, pirate, and ravisher of women?’

‘I am no ravisher,’ Sir Andrew spat.

‘But you are a pirate and murderer,’ Simon declared. ‘You killed all the men on the good ship Saint John .’

‘You have stated so before, and I have denied it before. This is an untrue statement. It is a vile calumny.’

‘You persist in this denial?’ Coroner Richard rumbled.

‘Of course I do! If I and my men had attacked the ship, as you say, would the crew not have defended themselves? Where are the damaged sails, the arrow-marks in the timbers? That ship of mine has been at sea only a short while, and it has no damage so far as I know.’

‘Damage can be mended,’ Simon said. ‘Sailors are most adept at making repairs.’

‘Sailors are also determined thieves. Didn’t I hear that the ship was not despoiled? The whole cargo remained? You have seen my crew at work. Can you believe that they would have allowed me to sail away without taking all they wanted? It is ridiculous to suggest that I could have persuaded such a gathering of doddi-poll joltheads into obeying such a command. They would have emptied her, then fired her, and they would have fired her properly, not leaving a partial wreck to float about — and if I tried to stop them, they would have thrown me on it as it burned!’

That argument held force, Simon knew. He glanced up at the Coroner and Baldwin, and saw that they too were doubtful. ‘Then who could have committed such a crime?’

Baldwin responded, ‘If this is true, and seamen would not leave such a profit to go to waste, then surely we have to assume that someone other than a sailor is responsible.’

‘How could that be?’ Sir Richard scoffed. ‘Only sailors go to sea.’

‘A sailor would have taken the profit, though,’ Simon said. ‘As Sir Andrew said, a sailor wouldn’t have let the cargo be wasted. He would have …’

He stopped, his mouth fallen wide.

‘Simon?’ Baldwin asked apprehensively. ‘Is it your head again? Are you all right?’

The Bailiff waved his hand in denial. ‘Coroner, let’s have this worthless jolt-head returned to the gaol where he belongs. We need time to consider this anew.’

Rob had heated more water over his little fire, and the scent of lavender was filling the room with its delicious odour as the men sipped warm, spiced wine.

‘What occurred to you when we were talking?’ Baldwin demanded. ‘It must have been a good thought, for you looked like the man who’d married a crone, only to learn she was a young virgin under an evil spell!’

Simon smiled at the idea. ‘We know that the ship was not burned severely, do we not?’

‘Of course.’

‘And we agree that sailors would invariably have ransacked the ship — yet there was no need for them to have rushed away, because so far as we can tell, there was no threat to them. If they were near the ship when Hawley appeared, pirates would prefer to attack him as well, rather than flee after setting the ship on fire.’

‘We have been over this,’ Baldwin said. ‘If they were on board, why should they flee and not remain and protect their prize?’

‘Exactly!’ Simon smiled. ‘And the final point is, why on earth would they remove the bodies?’

Coroner Richard looked from one to the other. ‘What are you two on about? Surely a pirate would happily throw all the victims overboard. Pirates are not fastidious about a soul’s protection — they wouldn’t bring a corpse back to land for burial, would they? Hey?’

‘What is your point, Simon?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Just this: what if the whole reason for the ship’s destruction was in order to conceal something else ?’

The Coroner looked at Baldwin and tapped at his head with consternation. He made to move towards Simon, but Baldwin held up his hand. ‘Explain!’

‘What if the crew were not all killed … Sweet Jesus! That is it!’

‘What?’ Sir Richard snapped.

‘Only a few of the crew were killed …’ His face suddenly beamed with understanding. ‘Baldwin! You were right! The young virgin! Pyckard’s wife!’

‘That’s it!’ Sir Richard said, and sprang on Simon. ‘Sir Baldwin, he’s babbling. Best get a physician and tie him down. Seen it before. Bad bash on the head, brain gets scrambled. Poor fellow, but can’t do anything for him.’

‘Get this scurvy lobcock off me!’

‘Sir Richard, Sir Richard, please,’ Baldwin said soothingly. ‘Let us just hear him out.’

After continued persuasion, the Coroner removed himself from the Bailiff’s prostrate figure, although he stood nearby with a doubtful scowl on his face as Simon clambered grunting from the ground.

Holding his damaged elbow carefully, Simon addressed both men. ‘What if the whole affair was made up? The attack on the ship, the death of the crew — all was invented. The cargo wasn’t stolen by pirates because there were none!’