Michael JECKS - The Traitor of St Giles

Avicia blinked. ‘What, about him and Cecily Sherman? It’s been going on for ages.’

‘And you work for the Coroner?’

‘No, I work for John Sherman. It was the only way that Phil and I could keep together when our parents died. Phil got me the job. At least Sherman doesn’t fondle me when his wife’s not looking.’

‘The Coroner would?’

‘You bet! He’s a right lecherous goat.’

‘But you’ve heard he’s tupping Sherman’s wife?’

‘Yes. I saw them together once when I went into the hall, and heard them talking about meeting.’

‘Where do they meet? In Sherman’s house?’

‘No,’ Avicia laughed, ‘they wouldn’t dare – not with John Sherman’s temper. No, they go to a place he part-owns out beyond Withleigh, a mill. The miller wouldn’t dare complain, not if he wants to keep his post there.’

‘I see,’ Felicity breathed.

‘ He murdered Joan Carter. That’s why he told my Philip to claim sanctuary and abjure, so that he could see to it that Philip was seen to confess, and then had him chased down and killed. That’s what I have to tell Andrew Carter.’

‘How could he admit to believing you? That would make your brother’s death a mortal sin.’

‘It wasn’t his fault – he was lied to. Anyway, Andrew would want to see the man who killed his daughter receive justice!’

‘She wasn’t his daughter.’

‘But…’

‘Oh, I know he described her as his, but she was the daughter of Matilda and her first husband. The husband died, and that’s when Matilda married Andrew, when they came down here from somewhere up north. When she first came back here with Andrew, you could hardly understand a word she said! My, her accent was strong.’

‘So, you think he wouldn’t want to avenge her?’

Avicia’s voice was almost a wail of despair. Felicity put a hand over hers and smiled. ‘I bet we can think of something.’ Her eyes widened. ‘What about speaking to his wife, to Joan Carter’s mother? Maybe she can help persuade him?’

‘Do you think she would listen when he wouldn’t?’ Avicia asked doubtfully.

Felicity ignored her. There was no point going today, not with the feast at the castle. Everyone, including Andrew and Matilda, would be going there. But tomorrow, that was a different matter.

‘Of course she’ll listen. She was Joan’s mother, wasn’t she?’

Baldwin and Simon spoke to an elderly steward at the castle who told them that Nicholas Lovecok was staying with his brother-in-law Andrew Carter and gave them directions on how to get there.

Carter’s house was in a part of the town Simon had never visited before, to the north eastern side. Like many towns, there were large areas of Tiverton which were very poor and shabby, and the two men had to pass through miserable quarters, past hovels which lacked doors and windows, with piles of human excrement lying in the shallow gutter that was the only drain, while in the shadows they saw rats scuttle. Women stood and murmured quietly as the two approached, only to fall silent, watching Simon and Baldwin with glittering eyes as if the men were dangerous killers or representatives from a hated lord.

‘They don’t seem to like us,’ Simon grunted.

‘An obvious comment – but I can’t argue with its accuracy.’

‘The thing that impresses me is how they always appear so clean,’ Simon said, ignoring his friend’s sarcasm.

‘It astonishes me, too. When you look at the state of the road here, or the quality of the houses, I can never understand how they manage to get their shirts white or remove the stains from their skirts.’

Simon dodged a small pile of faeces and winced as a toddler walked through it giggling fruitily. The bailiff turned away and saw gladly that they were almost at the edge of the poor area. Ahead of them the sunlight glinted off clean cobbles and fresh-looking limewashed walls. The maidservants here looked more wholesome than the women in the poor alleys and byways.

To Simon it felt as if they were leaving an area of degradation and sickness. There was a miasma, a foul air, about it which was absent in the more expensive parts. It was a relief to walk along the clean cobbled road, with a goodsized gutter fed by a spring which washed away all muck before it could accumulate.

The odours were better too. Here an occasional dog rose or honeysuckle clung to the wall of a house, while the scent of drying herbs was all about them, as was the smell of cooking meats as people prepared meals. Only a few places held the stench of dried urine where a man had pissed against a house’s wall, or the foul odour of a dog’s defecation in the shadow of a building, and Simon only saw two corpses, one of a dog, quite fresh, and one of a cat, very far gone and disgusting in putrefaction.

They were soon at the merchant’s house and Baldwin rapped smartly on the wooden door. There came a bellow from inside, a pattering of feet, and soon a girl was in the doorway. A pretty maiden, Simon thought; fourteen or fifteen years old, with a hanging head and cap awry, she gave him the impression of shame. Her embarrassment made him assume they had interrupted her in some carnal pursuit, and he peered over her shoulder expecting to see a bottler or steward tying his hose in the background, but there was no one.

Baldwin appeared to notice nothing amiss. ‘Is Master Nicholas Lovecok here? We were told he was staying here with your master.’

‘No, sir,’ she said, and her voice was small and faraway. ‘He’s not here yet; usually he visits a tavern on his way back from the castle.’

‘What of your master? We should speak to him as well.’

There was a call from the hall, and Simon was sure he saw a hunted terror in the girl’s eye as she listened. Then, standing back a little, she let the two men enter.

Sir Peregrine was in the castle’s yard when Jeanne and her small entourage returned. He smiled and bowed, but unenthusiastically. Wherever he looked, he seemed to see women. His eyes followed Petronilla, who cooed with evident delight as she gathered up Stephen. Sir Peregrine felt a stab of jealousy. ‘Was the Fair to your liking, my Lady?’

Jeanne waved a hand at the overladen Edgar and Wat. ‘I think you can tell that for yourself, Sir Peregrine!’

Seeing Petronilla hurry back to save a bolt of cloth tipping from Wat’s arms into the dirt, Sir Peregrine gave a dry chuckle. ‘It looks as though your child is carrying as much as he can.’

‘ Child? ’ Wat demanded, glowering.

Quickly Jeanne moved in front of him to conceal his furious scowl. ‘Yes, I like to make the servants work for their keep, rather than letting them get slack so they have to be beaten.’ This last was spoken directly to Wat, but in a moment she was facing Sir Peregrine once more. ‘Have you seen my husband? Is the inquest over yet?’

‘We have not held the inquest as yet. Too many of the jury are involved in the Fair, and Harlewin thought it would be best to wait until the Fair is over. Your husband went out, I believe. Perhaps he went to seek you?’

‘If he did, he failed,’ Jeanne observed with a faintly caustic tone to her voice. She would have liked Baldwin to have joined her. It was many months since they had attended a fair together. Ah well, she thought, he never liked wandering around stalls. And maybe he’d gone to try to find her and had missed her in the crowds. It would have been all too easy to miss each other in the hectic crush.

‘No doubt he will soon return,’ she said, motioning to her servants to take the stuffs up to her room and watching them closely until they had disappeared through the door to the hall. She would persuade Baldwin to join her at the Fair tomorrow.