Michael Jecks - The Tolls of Death

‘Foreigners,’ came the gruff whisper. ‘I think they only got here this morning, an’ soon as they came here, they found her. Do you think they murdered her? Might have. Can’t tell with foreigners. They talk funny, too,’ he added as an afterthought.

Muriel was about to comment when Nicholas came marching up with two men-at-arms. The three men stopped at the sight of the trio in front of the cottage, then made their way to join them.

From where Muriel stood, she thought that Nicholas looked wary, like a man who feared sudden attack. He stood slightly distant from the two strangers, his hand near his belt.

‘Lordings, Godspeed. I am the castellan, Nicholas of Bodmin. What is this about Athelina?’

Adam began talking quickly and in a high-pitched voice like a man who was close to tears but daren’t shed them, the words falling over one another. ‘She’s in there, Nicholas; she hanged herself and slit the throats of her boys! It’s awful in there. It’s a slaughterhouse! How could she?’

Muriel shook her head. It was appalling! Those poor boys! Unknowingly, she pushed her way through the crowds until she was at the front and could hear more clearly.

One of the strangers was taller and, although his hair was showing silver at the temples and he wore a beard that just followed the line of his jaw, he looked quite young. His movements were as precise and assured as a man in his early twenties, but somehow Muriel knew that he was a great deal older than that. He spoke now, waving a hand at the open cottage door.

‘Sir, my friend and I were with the good priest here when he was called to see this woman. My name is Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, and this is my good friend Bailiff Simon Puttock from the Stannary of Lydford. He is appointed Bailiff by Abbot Robert of Tavistock, and has helped the Devonshire Coroners in many murders. I myself am Keeper of the King’s Peace in Crediton. We have both some experience of murders, so we came as soon as we heard of this sad case, and we cut the woman’s body down.’

His companion had flesh that looked as though it had been bronzed by the sun, but now he was pale, his features stretched and haggard. It was an expression of anguish and horror, Muriel could see. When Aumery suffered from a nightmare, he often woke with that same look set upon his face, his eyes wild like this man’s. It made her realise just how hideous the scene must be in the cottage.

Sir Baldwin continued, ‘If you would care to follow me, I can show you the bodies. The woman is here, but her sons are still inside, covered by their palliasse. They should be left where they are for now, so that the Coroner can see them in situ , but that is no reason why you shouldn’t satisfy yourself about their situation.’

‘I have no need to see her or them.’

‘She must have been truly evil,’ one of Nicholas’s men commented, staring at the cottage with a curled lip.

At his side, Muriel saw her husband’s terrible enemy, Richer. He was pale and fretful. ‘She was a saint, you fucking cretin!’

Nicholas glanced behind him at the men of his party. ‘Silence, both of you! Richer: be still!’

‘She was a woman who had lost all hope,’ Sir Baldwin said with cold deliberation. ‘A woman who kills her children is one who has learned true despair. She saw no life for them. That was why she slaughtered them before hanging herself. You should pity her, not scorn her.’

Muriel looked at him sharply. She almost expected to see him draw steel, his voice was so harsh. It made her heart go to him, this odd knight, because he obviously felt compassion for poor Athelina. It was rare enough for anyone to feel something for a beggar like her, other than distaste.

‘Sir Knight, I am sure he didn’t mean anything by his words,’ Nicholas said, meanwhile giving his man a look of chilling contempt, ‘although a man may believe that a woman who murders her child must be particularly foul.’

‘I have seen too many real murders to believe that. If a woman has done this, it is because of desperation or lunacy, not innate evil,’ Baldwin said. He stared at the man-at-arms.

‘Do you think that this woman was lunatic?’ Nicholas asked.

‘It is possible. There are some diseases which can affect a person’s mind,’ Baldwin said. ‘You need only think of the rage which affects men after they have been bitten by a dog. It makes a man crave water, but when it is provided, he is driven insane. Perhaps this poor woman had a disease which made her lose her mind.’

‘Some sicknesses are terrible,’ Nicholas agreed thoughtfully. ‘Sir, I have sent a man to fetch the Coroner. Is there anything you observed in there which could be useful?’

‘She has grown stiff already, as have her children, so I should think that she was dead yesterday, or even before that. Perhaps Saturday — perhaps Friday. Only God knows. The smell is repellent, so it is possible that the blood has been upon the walls and floor for some days. Do you know when she was last seen?’

‘No. We can ask, though,’ Nicholas said, glancing at the silent, listening crowd. ‘Has anyone seen Alexander? Where is that Constable?’

The men had all gone, and Gervase saw Lady Anne at the door to the hall. She turned away as soon as she saw his eyes on her, the bitch!

He could have loved her — that was part of his problem. She was adorable. If unattached at that time, he would have tried his luck. Jesus! He would have considered marrying her, if he hadn’t realised that she was stale. That much was obvious as soon as he had seen her reactions to poor Nick. She’d been experienced beyond her years, and Gervase, with a punter’s knowledge of whores, had been able to see it, whereas poor Nick was so infatuated that he couldn’t see it. And it wouldn’t serve to save him. No, he was bound to be made miserable by her.

Christ Jesus — wasn’t Gervase the man to prove it?

When a boy had been sent to fetch the Constable, Nicholas spoke quietly. ‘We’d best set a guard about these bodies until the Coroner arrives. Who actually found them?’

‘Me, sir.’

Muriel saw young Hob step forward. He was a close friend of Ben, Athelina’s oldest son.

‘What were you doing here?’ Sir Baldwin asked in friendly fashion. He appeared to lose the aura of authority which Muriel had detected before, and in its place was a curious youthfulness, as though he was actually nearer to Hob’s own age than his advanced years.

‘Sir, I was trying to get Ben to come with me. I had to go and scare the birds from the gleanings, and I thought he’d like to come too. I didn’t expect …’ The boy faltered. Tears shone in his eyes.

‘No, of course not,’ Sir Baldwin said kindly. ‘Was the door open?’

‘I … yes, I think so. A little. It never closed well.’

‘And you walked straight in?’

‘Well, I called out first. Then I went in.’

‘And saw them?’

‘I only saw her. Didn’t see them.’ He shuddered violently.

‘When did you last see Ben?’

‘Saturday.’

‘Two days ago. That would make sense,’ Baldwin said.

Nicholas was frowning, as was Muriel herself. What did the knight mean by that?

‘Why do you say that?’ Nicholas asked.

‘Because of the way that the bodies are lying. The two boys were killed on their palliasse in the corner. As I said, they died some little while ago. It was dark in there because the shutter is pulled across the window, so I think it could be that this woman killed them at night. That would explain why the two boys died together. She slit their throats when they were asleep. Then she covered them with blankets, horrified with what she had done, and hanged herself, dropping her knife as she died. Both lads were asleep, so neither could give the alarm to the other. She must have planned this. Poor woman.’