Michael Jecks - The Tolls of Death

‘ Father! ’ Baldwin called, and this time Adam stopped. There was a depth of tone that brooked no argument.

‘What?’ he snapped.

Baldwin walked slowly up to Adam, a frown on his face as he approached to within a pace. Adam recoiled, but he gripped his cross and held it tight in his fist. ‘Don’t hurt me, Knight!’

‘I should hardly dare do so,’ Baldwin said. ‘You are a man of God and I trust you to do your best by the people here. My good friend Bishop Walter of Exeter would not be thankful to me for breaking the head of one of his priests, would he?’

‘Then what do you want with me?’

‘The truth! This maid is dead, and we believe that she was murdered. Imagine, Adam, a man throwing a cord about your neck. He’s behind you as you walk into your house, and as you fumble for a spark from your steel, the rope is over your head and you’re being throttled. Imagine being lifted by that intolerable bond, slowly dying as your breath rattles in a throat that is so constricted you can’t fill your lungs, and imagine the sense leaving your body. The little spots bursting out on your flesh, your eyes bulging, your tongue filling your whole mouth, and all the while, perhaps, you can see your children lying before you, both murdered. All you can do is try to haul that cord from your neck, but although you tear your own flesh, there is no escape from encroaching death. And then you die. Imagine all that, Adam, and tell me — dare to tell me — that you won’t help us.’

Adam held his stare without flinching. ‘A nice story. One to scare the children perhaps, but not me. I’m a priest, damn you! You accuse me of molesting my own maid and then ask my help?’

Simon stepped over to Baldwin’s side. ‘Tell us about her, then. Whose child does she raise if not yours?’

‘I will not talk to you!’ Adam blurted out angrily. ‘How could you suggest that I, a man of God, could do such a thing? I am sworn to celibacy.’

‘Such things are not unknown,’ Baldwin pointed out.

‘They may not be unknown where you come from, but for me it is entirely unknown. In God’s name, I swear I am innocent.’

‘Then help us! Supposing we are right, who could have wished her harm?’

Adam held his gaze for some moments, but then he had to look away. There was a depth of intensity about this knight’s stare that made him uncomfortable. It was as though the fellow was stripping away all of the skins with which he had covered himself until only the bare soul remained, and he was still too ashamed about that to be able to talk about it. Looking down, he shook his head, but as the silence grew intolerable, he spoke quietly.

‘Sadly, some could have wished to harm her. The man who owned her cottage, Serlo, wanted money. Since his apprentice died last year, he’s been in financial trouble. Then there were men who desired her body, I have no doubt, and sometimes wives of such men can do murder in jealousy and anger, protecting their family by destroying the woman who threatens their stability.’

‘Serlo?’ Baldwin mused. ‘Why should he wish to kill her if he knew he could evict her?’

Adam grunted. ‘Perhaps he thought he might persuade her to give herself to him so that he might have an alternative rent from her?’

Baldwin glanced at Simon. ‘Perhaps. Yet why should he then kill her?’

‘Some men do not enjoy rejection.’

‘More likely that he would rape her. For a woman to prove rape is all but impossible normally,’ Baldwin said.

‘True enough — in fact, the Constable is Serlo’s brother Alex, so it would be still more difficult for a woman to win a case of rape in this vill.’

‘Could there be another man who loathed her for some reason?’

‘I do not know.’

Baldwin eyed him. There was something Father Adam was keeping back, he felt sure. ‘Did you know this woman well yourself?’

‘Are you suggesting again that …’

‘No. I am trying to understand her, and through her, her murderer. Was she incontinent?’

‘No. I believe she was honourable. I never heard that she was the sort of woman to take many lovers.’

‘So another man could have been jealous of her affection?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘How did she afford that house?’ Simon asked. ‘If she had to rent it, did her husband leave her a lot of money?’

‘No,’ Adam said before thinking, and then scowled at the ground by his feet.

‘So how did she pay?’ Simon demanded.

‘Her lover paid.’

At this moment, Sir Jules and Nicholas appeared in the doorway to the hall in the church house. Baldwin beckoned for them to join him. Sir Jules’s face, Baldwin saw, had lost its greenish hue, and now he looked simply anxious. Nicholas did not join them, but set off towards the castle as Simon continued questioning Adam.

‘Athelina was not made pregnant by her lover.’ Adam said. ‘She was a widow, and both boys had a legitimate father. Athelina was a good wife, and it was her misfortune that her husband died young.’

‘What of your maid?’

‘She was persuaded by a man that he would marry her, but then he left her some months after she came with child. I took her and the baby in to protect her from endless censure. At least as my maid, she would always have food and drink.’

‘A kind thought,’ Simon said flatly. He disliked this priest; he also disliked the reminder of his earlier thoughts at the beginning of the inquest: what would happen to his own wife, were he to die? ‘Why didn’t you do the same for the poor widow?’

‘I can’t take in every woman with no man,’ Adam huffed.

‘No,’ Simon agreed. ‘But Athelina had at least been married, and she had two boys to protect. You could have done more good perhaps by taking her into your home.’

‘She had a home already. Julia came to me because she was thrown from her vill by the priest.’

‘Hardly the most charitable behaviour from a man of God,’ Baldwin commented.

‘Father John is an exemplary priest,’ Adam said hotly, ‘but he saw no reason to support another parish’s son. I took her in when I heard of her plight.’ It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was adequate for these two.

‘Does that mean you thought that the father might be here in your parish?’ Baldwin asked shrewdly.

‘Whoever the father may be, I am sure he’s confessed his sins to God,’ Adam said.

Baldwin nodded thoughtfully. ‘Thank you. I suppose we should ask Serlo about the woman. He may know more about her and her death than he has so far confessed.’

‘You cannot!’ Adam burst out. ‘I expect he is in my church even now, praying for his dead son. I am going there myself, and I shall attempt to soothe his soul. I will not have you interrupting a man in his grief.’

‘Father,’ Baldwin said coolly, ‘we have a triple murder to investigate. We may upset some folks, but I will not stop because of other men’s feelings — including your own.’

Adam nodded stiffly, gave Simon a withering look, and then made his way across the green of the yard to the church itself.

Once within the safety of the nave, he kneeled and offered a quick prayer in thanks that the two had not learned the real reason for having Julia in his house; at least that secret was secure. If ever the truth came out, the rural dean would be here in no time, and on him like a ton of rock.

‘Oh God,’ he breathed, and suddenly he felt the weight of his personal guilt sitting upon his soul. ‘I am sorry, so sorry …’

He should have taken in Athelina and protected her and her sons. Her death was incomprehensible, but the last thing Adam wanted was an investigation here. Tongues would wag, and the result must be his own ruin.