Michael JECKS - The Devil's Acolyte

Simon hurriedly introduced his friends to Sir Tristram. ‘The King’s Arrayer,’ he added. ‘Sir Tristram is here to recruit for the King’s war in Scotland.’

‘I wish you Godspeed, then,’ Coroner Roger said. His eyes were moving beyond the knight already, to the bar in the tavern, and, joy! to the serving girl who caught his eye even as he lifted his brows hopefully. She smiled and held up four fingers. The Coroner hesitated, then gave a faint shake of his head and held up three.

Sir Tristram didn’t see his glance or movement. ‘I thank you. With some of these oafs, I’ll need it.’

‘Will you see more tomorrow?’ Simon asked.

‘There would seem to be little point. I have found forty men and two who could function as vintenars , so I am ready enough to fulfil the King’s requirements. I shall leave tomorrow or the next day, when I have provisions, and hope their feet will survive the journey. God knows but that I am doubtful. In the meantime, I shall stay at the inn, rather than abusing the Abbot’s generosity,’ he added with a harsher tone. ‘I can collect my horse tomorrow.’

He left them, graciously taking his leave and bowing, and the three men watched him in silence as he passed off along the street.

‘What an arrogant…’

‘Master Coroner, there is no need to use language which could embarrass the serving maid,’ Baldwin said with mock severity.

‘Embarrass you? Could I?’ Coroner Roger asked archly as the girl appeared.

She giggled as his hand quested the length of her thigh. ‘If you worked hard at it, Master.’

‘I may just do that, my dear,’ he drawled as she walked away. Then his face fell and he took a long draught of his wine. ‘Trouble is, she’s the right age to be my daughter.’

‘Grand-daughter,’ Simon corrected.

‘Don’t rub it in. My wife does that often enough.’

‘How is the lovely Lady de Gidleigh?’ Baldwin asked.

‘The same as usual,’ Roger said glumly. ‘I think if I were to give her poison, it’d only make her stronger. She’s built like a mule, there’s nothing can knock her down. Even a simple disease gives up at the sight of her. She never loses her balance. Her humours seem as steady as a lump of moorstone. It’s not fair. Hah! No, if I were to find some poison, I’d be better off drinking it myself. It would,’ he added with a slow shake of his head as though in deep gloom, ‘at least end my suffering,’

‘My heart bleeds for you. You’d be terrified if the girl agreed to bed you,’ Simon said with a smile. He and Baldwin knew that for all his harsh words, the Coroner was devoted to his wife.

‘You think so? I tell you, I’d take her tonight, except it’s hardly respectful to the Abbot to take a wench back to his own guest room and use it for a bulling shop, and it would be a rude rejection of his hospitality to stay here the night with her.’

‘You are so thoughtful,’ Baldwin said with a straight face.

‘Some of us are. It is a hard cross to bear, though, old friend,’ Roger sighed.

Simon was desperate to find out what the Abbot had wanted to see Baldwin about, but Baldwin avoided the subject. There was something about his manner which sent a tingle down Simon’s back. Baldwin would not hold his gaze. His eyes seemed to touch on Simon fleetingly, then move on as though he was ashamed or nervous about something, and his fingers drummed on the table-top like a man waiting to be interrogated, rather than a man who was used to questioning others.

‘Tell us what you know about this murdered man,’ Baldwin said, apparently considering the barrels racked at the far end of the room.

Simon told them all he knew about Walwynus, and then spoke about the weapon, and how it had disappeared when he visited the second time.

‘Interesting,’ Baldwin murmured, his eyes narrowed.

‘Could the guard have fallen asleep?’ Roger said. ‘I’ve heard of animals getting up really close to a man to steal a lump of meat. Look at rats. They’ll take food from your hand while you sleep. Maybe a wildcat or wolf took this thing because it smelled of blood?’

‘Roger, please!’ Baldwin scoffed. ‘A balk of timber? You honestly think a wolf would be stupid enough to carry that away when there was an easy meal within reach? No, that cudgel was removed by a human. The question is, was it taken away by the killer, which would be worrying, or was it grabbed by someone else?’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Simon said quickly. If the Abbot had suggested that his mind was fogged or stupid, Simon wanted to prove to his two friends that the Abbot was wrong. ‘If the killer went back to take it, then he might intend to kill again. A weapon like that is impossible to trace to a particular man.’ He decided not to mention the marks, or Augerus’ words. Perhaps he could raise that later, to impress the Abbot.

Coroner Roger stirred and snorted. ‘What if it’s not the murderer?’

‘Why then,’ Simon finished, ‘it might well be someone who knows who the killer is and intends to avenge Wally with the very same weapon that was used to murder him .’

‘There is another possibility, of course,’ Baldwin said mildly.

‘What?’ asked Simon.

‘That the club was taken purely in order to conceal it more effectively. Perhaps there was some way to identify it that you couldn’t see, Simon, and someone took it in order to stop us finding the killer.’

‘So he could himself kill the murderer,’ Simon nodded.

Baldwin shot him a look from narrowed eyes. ‘Perhaps… but perhaps the murderer was well thought of. Maybe this Walwynus was not liked and the miners about him were not distressed by his execution. It is a thought.’

‘I don’t see it would make much sense,’ Simon protested.

‘There is another thing, too,’ Baldwin said. ‘The killer need not have been a man. A woman could wield a morning star as easily as a man.’

‘Surely few women could so devastatingly crush a man’s skull?’

‘No, I daresay you are right. I am merely speculating. But I shall look forward to seeing this corpse again and considering the wounds. I hope it hasn’t disintegrated too badly before we get to it.’

Simon shrugged. Baldwin’s smooth summary of the position had made him feel his own inadequacy compared with the knight’s, reminding him of his incompetence before the Abbot. It was a terrible thing to recognise it in himself, this stupidity that could cost him his job.

Baldwin could see that Simon was upset, so he smiled and patted his friend’s arm. It was always the case that Simon felt sick at the sight of a dead body. ‘You do not have to come with us to the inquest if you do not want to,’ he said kindly.

Simon’s eyes hardened, and Baldwin withdrew his hand in surprise at the Bailiff’s sharp tone. ‘Why? Don’t you think I can help you? Am I too stupid?’

Baldwin was too astonished to answer immediately. He could see that he had insulted or offended the man, but he had no idea how. When a scruffy messenger appeared, he was glad of the diversion.

‘Sir Baldwin, the Abbot wants to see you again, sir. As soon as you can, please.’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘No need for you two to leave your wine. I shall see you later.’

To his dismay, he saw that his words seemed only to increase Simon’s gloom.

Hamelin approached the door of his house in Tavistock with dread curling in his belly like a worm. Again, there was no noise, no wailing or weeping, but he stood outside for a moment or two, listening, wondering how Joel, his infant son, fared.

He had been back at the mine since Friday, trying to concentrate on digging and keeping the flow of water at the right level, while Hal busied himself looking for a fresh source of metal. This area was all but mined out, but Hal had a nose for tin, and he said he thought that there was a new spot which others had missed – but if it was there, they had yet to find it. Still, it had taken Hamelin’s mind off his sick son.