Michael JECKS - The Sticklepath Strangler

Simon cleared his throat. ‘Perhaps because you wanted the money? You were alone with the Reeve to bury the man, yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you had men with you when you found him?’

‘Peter and Adam, yes.’

Simon’s eyes narrowed. ‘What of the other man in your team? Vincent – where were you?’

Vincent blinked in genuine surprise. ‘Me? I was off at my own bailiwick, I suppose. It’s a long time ago.’

‘So you weren’t there with Drogo. The other members of the team were, but not you.’

‘So what?’ Adam rasped. He had stepped forward, and now he glowered from one to another. ‘What are you suggesting?’

‘This: that Vincent didn’t know where the body was buried; because he wasn’t there. Peter and you were sent away, but you could have been interested enough to return and watch what the Reeve and Drogo were doing, couldn’t you? And then later, perhaps, you killed a girl and buried her in the same place.’

Adam’s mouth moved, but then he shook his head slowly. ‘It could as easily have been the Forester here or the Reeve who killed the girl and buried her there. Anyway, I didn’t go and watch them. I went to the inn with Peter, and a short while later Vin turned up as well.’

‘Did you ask where he’d been?’ Baldwin pressed.

‘I had other things on my mind,’ Adam sneered. ‘Christ! Me and Peter had just found a body.’

‘Did you tell Vin? Did he leave you? Could he have gone to watch?’ Simon asked with some excitement.

‘No, Bailiff. Peter left not long after, though.’

‘Perhaps Peter went up there to watch,’ Simon said. ‘He could have sneaked up there and seen the two men digging, and later he might have realised it would be a perfect hiding place for Aline.’

‘But what of his own daughter? She was the first girl to be found,’ Reeve Alexander said.

‘It is not unknown for a child to be murdered by her father,’ Baldwin said.

‘Why should he kill Ansel?’

‘For the same reason anyone else in the vill could have,’ Simon pointed out. ‘None of you would have been keen to have had a man like him demanding bribes. And Peter was hungry, just like the rest of you. Hatred and hunger are powerful motives.’

‘Christ Jesus! Will those hounds never be silent?’ Coroner Roger muttered under his breath.

Baldwin knew how he felt. The atmosphere was thick, as though there was a thunderstorm on the way, and the hall was charged with emotion and fear. Drogo looked anxious, but then so did all of the vill’s men. Sticklepath was like a place under siege, rather like Acre just before the collapse. Yet there were no armies at the gates, only the ghosts of victims.

He decided to change tack. Picking up the fragment of arrow, he stood turning it in his hands. There was little which could be learned from so old a weapon. It had been used some six years ago, if the story told by Meg and Serlo was to be believed. Looking up, he saw Drogo’s eyes were on it. ‘Who uses peacock’s feathers in his arrows?’

‘I do,’ Drogo admitted.

‘Do you recognise this?’

‘It could be one of mine. I can’t be certain.’

‘This was one of the arrows used to murder Athelhard, Meg’s brother.’

Drogo bit at his lip.

‘You and your Foresters helped to kill him, didn’t you?’

There was silence. Drogo stared down at the arrow with a face that whitened visibly. ‘This is the devil’s own work,’ he muttered, but there was a thick, husky note in his voice.

‘What does that mean?’ Simon demanded.

‘Come on, man!’ Coroner Roger rasped. ‘We don’t have all day to stand here like women washing clothes!’

‘It was the vampire,’ Reeve Alexander said quietly. ‘Gervase told us that vampires killed people, ate them and drank their blood. The killings all started when Athelhard returned here.’

‘Only because of a coincidence!’ Baldwin exploded. ‘You slaughtered him for superstition ! The poor man murdered, his sister forced to watch, and all for your intolerable beliefs!’

‘It wasn’t just that,’ Drogo said. ‘His sister told the priest that her brother had given her a large portion of meat, of pork, Keeper, only the day before. What would you have thought? We only did what any God-fearing, sane men would do; we struck at him to destroy him.’

‘Ansel died before Athelhard arrived, didn’t he?’

‘No. Athelhard was just returned when Ansel died,’ the Reeve said. ‘And a short time after Denise was found we heard of this meal given to Meg. It was obvious. Athelhard told her he had bought it from a traveller. Would you have believed him?’

‘Yes. Until he was appealed in court, and had had a chance to prove his innocence,’ Baldwin said scornfully.

‘And had a chance to kill others. You know that these sanguisugae can fly through the air like birds?’ Drogo said. ‘And no lock will hold them out.’

‘Nonsense! There are no such things as vampires,’ Baldwin said.

‘The Parson told us. If you want a debate with him on the merits of his case, fine. For us, we wanted to prevent any more deaths. Perhaps you’d feel different if your own child stood the risk of dying for your beliefs, Keeper.’

‘You tied his sister to a tree to force him to come out.’

‘The Parson told us he had demons within him. He was possessed. What else could we do? We had to protect ourselves, and that’s what we did. There was no one to advise us. At least we killed him swiftly, which is more than he did with Denise.’

‘It was murder!’ Simon declared hotly.

‘And what would you have done, Bailiff? Let him carry on? We thought it was just a desperate, starving villager who was responsible at first, when we found Ansel’s corpse, but then, when Peter’s girl turned up, and the priest told us about vampires, we realised it was something worse.’

‘But why think it might be Athelhard?’ Baldwin interrupted.

‘It seemed so obvious!’ Drogo burst out. ‘We had the shock of Denise’s murder, then we heard that Athelhard had been cooking meat. And Athelhard was a stranger. If anyone had brought evil into the vill, surely it was him!’

‘But others have died since his death, so it wasn’t him,’ Simon pointed out.

Drogo was silent, but the Reeve put his head in his hands again. ‘You are right. I know it, and I regret it. But what else could we have done?’

‘And who was the real guilty man?’ Simon asked, and then wondered for the first time whether it might not be a woman. Meg had plenty to avenge, after all.

Sir Laurence smiled. ‘This is all beyond me. All I know is, I have two men here who appear to be suspects.’

Sir Roger returned his smile. ‘Yes, you do. But I am the Coroner, and when I hold my inquest, I shall decide what to fine them for their misdemeanours as well as amercing them to be present at the next court.’

‘I think you’ll find you should have them thrown into gaol,’ Sir Laurence said, his amusement becoming more brittle. He weighed his war hammer in his hand again.

‘You think so? I disagree,’ the Coroner said cheerfully. ‘And right now, this meeting is concluded. Reeve, don’t try to leave the vill. Forester, get out of here and make sure that you don’t tempt me to regret my actions!’

In his room, Swetricus sat on his stool facing the door, a pole slotted into the handle of a sharpened billhook. It was his only weapon, but it was enough. Or so he prayed.

Thomas and Nicole had walked here to fetch their daughter, both so taken up with their own relief that Swetricus had not seen fit to remind them that their problems weren’t gone. While Reeve Alexander and Forester Drogo wished to blame someone, Thomas remained the ideal target. He may have survived this accusation, but there would be more.