Paul Doherty - The Treason of the Ghosts

‘Well, they were wrong. But,’ Corbett touched the man’s arm, ‘if God gives me strength, I shall be right and your daughter’s death will be avenged. Now, come in!’

He made the wheelwright sit down next to him in one of the strange carved sedilia. The wheelwright now became aware of his surroundings and looked nervously about.

‘How many children do you have?’

‘Elizabeth and two boys; she was the eldest.’

‘And the day she died?’

Corbett waited patiently. The wheelwright’s shoulders hunched and he began to sob again. At last he coughed and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand.

‘I have a house and yard on the edge of Melford. Elizabeth was a pretty young thing. It was market day. She wanted to go into town to buy something. It was her birthday last Michaelmas. She had two pennies. You know the way it is with young women? A ribbon, some gewgaw or perhaps to meet a local swain?’

‘Did she have one?’ Corbett asked.

‘No.’ The wheelwright smiled. ‘She was fifteen, but flighty in her fancy. She went to market.’

‘And?’

‘I made enquiries. She met the other young men and women on the edge of the square where the maypole is set up. Her good friend, Adela, who works as a slattern in the Golden Fleece, saw her last. She said Elizabeth was, well, rosy-cheeked with excitement. “Where are you off to?” Adela asked. “I must hurry home,” Elizabeth replied. This was between four and five o’clock. She wasn’t seen afterwards.’

‘And did Adela know where Elizabeth was going?’

‘She crossed the square in the direction of a lane out of Melford.’

‘Did this Adela say Elizabeth was rosy-cheeked, happy, as if she had some secret assignation?’

The wheelwright looked puzzled.

‘A lovers’ meeting,’ Corbett explained. ‘Was she a secretive girl?’

The wheelwright closed his eyes. ‘No. She had her airs and graces. She wanted to make a good marriage. “I don’t want to be a farmer’s wife,” she would often say, “but marry a man with a skill or trade.”

‘And the days before her death? Did she change?’

‘At first, when Blidscote asked me,’ the wheelwright flicked his fingers contemptuously at the bailiff, ‘I said no but, now, yes there was something.’ He paused. ‘I wouldn’t say sly but as if she had a secret, something she treasured. There again, she was always falling in and out of love.’ The wheelwright fought to keep his voice steady. ‘I never thought it would come to this.’

‘Master Blidscote,’ Corbett turned to the bailiff, ‘when the young woman’s corpse was found, you went out?’

‘I took the cart. I put the corpse in, brought it back and sent one of my men for the wheelwright.’

‘And the corpse?’ Corbett insisted. He patted the wheelwright gently on the shoulder as the man began to sob. ‘There was no sign of the killer, or the garrotte he used?’

Blidscote shook his head.

‘And did you see anything untoward around the corpse?’

Corbett hid his anger: Blidscote’s bleary glance told him he hadn’t even looked.

‘Where is this spot?’ Corbett demanded testily.

‘At Devil’s Oak. It’s a big, ancient tree on Falmer Lane.’

‘But that doesn’t lead to her father’s house?’

‘No, it doesn’t.’

‘So, Elizabeth was found in a place she shouldn’t have been. Out in the countryside?’

‘Yes, yes, that’s right.’

‘In which case,’ Corbett concluded, ‘either she went out to meet somebody or was taken there, either before she was killed or after. Correct?’

Blidscote burped and nodded.

‘And the corpse itself?’ the clerk continued.

‘The young woman’s kirtle and smock were pushed well above her stomach,’ the bailiff mumbled. ‘I think she was killed very near where her corpse was found.’

‘And the other murder?’ Corbett asked.

‘Down near Brackham Mere.’

‘And her killing?’

‘The same.’

Blidscote was now wiping his sweaty palms on his thick, stained hose. He felt distinctly uncomfortable sitting in a cold crypt before this royal clerk with his remorseless list of questions. All he found were corpses: he’d brought them back but now he realised he had made mistakes: he should have been more careful.

‘And that victim?’ Ranulf asked.

‘Her name was Johanna,’ Blidscote declared. ‘She was the same age as Elizabeth. They were friends. She was on an errand for her mother to buy something in the market. People saw her, talked to her, then she disappeared until her corpse was found near Brackham Mere.’

Corbett patted the wheelwright on the shoulder and slipped another coin into his hand.

‘Go back into the church,’ he urged. ‘Light a candle for yourself and Elizabeth in the Lady Chapel. When you wish, you may go.’

The wheelwright shuffled out. Corbett stared down at his hands. He waited until the door at the top of the steps closed.

‘Parson Grimstone, these two young women — they were decent girls?’

‘Yes, of good families. Oh, they flirted and they laughed, but they came to church. Minds full of dreams, of falling in love with some handsome knight. Ever ready to dance and celebrate, whisper secrets to each other. Even,’ the parson smiled to himself, ‘when they should have been listening to me.’

Corbett got to his feet and stretched. ‘Both of these last victims,’ he declared, ‘were found in places they did not usually go. I suspect they knew their killer. But what would lure a woman out to some desolate spot?’

‘Money,’ Ranulf replied.

‘Are you saying they were strumpets?’ Burghesh asked sharply.

‘No, sir, they were like you and I, greedy! Acquisitive! They were good country lasses, red-cheeked wenches.’ Ranulf tapped his fingers on the hilt of his dagger.

‘But they were poor. You heard the wheelwright. To buy a ribbon or a gewgaw. .’

‘And they were prepared to sell their favours.’ The curate’s thin, pallid face flushed, red spots of anger appeared high on his cheeks.

‘I don’t mean to insult their memory,’ Ranulf retorted, ‘but they were country girls. Such as they share the same bedchamber as their parents and their brothers. They know what pleasure the love act gives. It doesn’t mean they are strumpets. God forgive us all. It only means they could be easily gulled or tricked.’

‘I don’t believe this!’ The curate sprang to his feet.

‘Don’t you?’ Ranulf snapped. ‘You’re a priest, aren’t you? You should know your own people.’

‘Sit down! Sit down!’ Grimstone got up, tugging at his curate’s robe. ‘Our guest ,’ Grimstone emphasised the word sardonically, ‘speaks the truth.’

‘Just what are you saying, Ranulf?’ Corbett asked.

‘Here we have two young women, Master. They come from poor families; their little noddles are stuffed with dreams and fancies. They go round the market buying bread and cheese, the necessities of life. Then they pass some chapman’s tray or pedlar’s stall, with blue and red ribbons, perhaps a brooch, a ring, a bracelet? To us they are trifles, but to them, more precious than the King’s jewels. Perhaps the killer lured the bait? A free gift? Buy this, buy that. In return for a kiss? The token is given. The young woman, of course, is sworn to secrecy and so the second trap is laid. Only this time in some lonely, desolate place. The young woman thinks why not? She has never earned such money so easily and so lightly, so off she goes to meet her death.’

Corbett stared at his manservant. ‘But where is this money?’

‘If our master bailiff,’ Ranulf went over and squeezed Blidscote’s shoulders, ‘went to the houses of both victims and searched from floor to ceiling, I wager a silver coin to a silver coin, that the girls’ hiding places would be found as well as the money they were given or what they bought with it.’