Michael JECKS - The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

The boy had been pushed headfirst into a gutter, which was filled with horse manure and dung from the animals which had passed through there today. Luke’s face was a grimace of revulsion and hatred as he tried to keep the tears at bay. ‘Someone picked me up and threw me into that,’ he declared with a sob.

‘Was it Henry?’

‘I haven’t done anything, I was in the hall!’ Henry stated emphatically.

Gervase’s anger burst. ‘You and Luke have always had this silly dispute, haven’t you? And now you’ve made him suffer like this, you little heathen. Your behaviour is a disgrace to the Cathedral and to the robes you wear, you devil. My God, I am tempted to rip the robe from you and throw you from the precinct at once!’

‘I didn’t do anything! I came out to help him when I heard him cry out!’

‘I saw you there, pushing at him, you devil! Get back inside and go to your room. I’ll not have you trying any more tricks on this poor child. Go on! Go!’

Henry turned and shuffled away, snivelling. Luke was still weeping as he was wiped and cleaned as best he could be by the Succentor before being led away to have his face washed.

When they had all gone, Adam slipped out from his hiding-place, collected his empty candle box, and then, after a moment’s thought, picked up the loaf, which had fallen on the grass and had missed following Luke into the sewer. With a skip to his steps, Adam made his way back to his own little chamber in the Close, chortling as he remembered Luke’s panicked squeak. He wouldn’t forget that for many a long month.

On the day after Christmas, Simon woke in the early hours to find Baldwin in the hall with him. The knight was squatting by the side of the fire, ruminatively prodding at the coals with a stick, sipping every now and again from a pot of ale at his side.

‘Baldwin! Are you all right?’

‘Oh, Simon, I am sorry to have woken you. I thought I was being quiet. Ah well, I shall leave you. My apologies.’ He stood and collected up his pot.

‘No, sit down again. What’s the matter?’

Nothing loath, the knight dropped onto a stool beside the fire again. ‘I cannot help but feel that something bad is going on here, Simon, and the feeling is growing stronger. Someone is going to suffer unnecessarily and unfairly, I think, unless we do something to help him.’

‘Obviously you mean the poor devil in gaol.’

‘Yes,’ Baldwin sighed. ‘That poor apprentice. I can see no reason why he should be confined, and if we do nothing he may well be executed for something he didn’t do. The only motive we have been given is that the lad might have robbed his master – and yet there is no money or jewels to prove that he did. They say he could have run away and hidden them – but no one can show where he might have put them. No, it is more likely that he had nothing to do with the murder or the theft. They came as a complete surprise to him.’

‘Then who did have a reason to kill the glover?’

‘That is the all-important question,’ Baldwin said heavily. ‘Jolinde had bought the arsenic, but what would be his motive? Although I am intrigued by Jolinde and Peter delivering the money and gemstones to Ralph. It is significant, too, that Peter also contributed to the death of the felon.’

‘You think one of the outlaws might have decided to kill him?’

‘It is possible. Unlikely but possible.’

‘And the Dean asked us to look into the Secondary’s death as well,’ Simon pointed out, yawning.

‘Yes. That in itself is odd. Why should he ask us to enquire into that when he had the Coroner there to investigate?’ He scowled at the fire, trying to make sense of it all.

Simon leaned across to take Baldwin’s pot from him. Sipping from it he said, ‘There is one obvious conclusion: the Dean and Chapter don’t trust the Coroner.’

‘Possibly – and yet I find it hard to believe. Coroner Roger is transparently innocent, especially now he has suggested other courses for us to look into. He didn’t need to introduce us to the City Bailiff.’

‘Fine, so if we assume he is straight, perhaps there was another motive behind the Dean’s suggestion that we should help. Maybe he feared that the Coroner himself could get into deep water.’

‘Or was it something to do with the suspects?’ Baldwin mused.

Simon took another gulp and considered. ‘It’s feasible. What if he was concerned like you that the wrong man could be accused? You are worried about the apprentice, and maybe he’s worried about someone else?’

‘Who?’ Baldwin scoffed.

‘Don’t be stupid! There’s only one real suspect in Peter’s death, and you know it as well as I do: Jolinde. He’s the only man who had the chance. God’s bollocks! He even told us about his delivery of food. How easy it would have been for him to have slipped poison into Peter’s food. And he told us that he didn’t eat it.’

‘But what could lead Jolinde to kill Peter now when he had had opportunities for the last few years?’ Baldwin demanded. ‘There’s nothing to suggest that they had a row about anything.’

‘Jolinde’s girl said that they were a bit odd in the tavern.’

‘I think Claricia was more struck with the way that Peter snubbed Karvinel later on.’

Simon said slowly, ‘If the Dean realised that the evidence pointed to Jolinde, wouldn’t that be reason enough to get another pair of heads in to help the Coroner?’

‘I don’t see why.’

‘Baldwin, you’ve left your brains in bed with Jeanne. Think! The Cathedral survives on the money it wins from the city and the people living here. There are a number of wealthy men, but one in particular stands out in terms of potential income.’

‘The Receiver!’

‘Vincent le Berwe,’ Simon nodded. ‘The father of Jolinde, if our informer was correct. I think we have the Dean’s motive right there. He didn’t want to upset one of his major financiers by being responsible for having his son arrested, not unless there was absolutely no alternative.’

‘Vincent would be upset if his son was taken, presumably, although I’ve seen nothing to suggest that he is particularly fond of the boy.’

‘Just because he doesn’t have the boy in his house with him and with his wife, don’t hold that against him,’ Simon warned. ‘Just imagine that you had an illegitimate son twenty-odd years ago – then imagine that your only child with Jeanne had died. Would you inflict upon Jeanne the presence of your child out of marriage? It would be a dreadful reminder to her that she herself hadn’t provided you with your heir when a village slut could manage it perfectly happily. If Jolinde is his son, he must have some feelings for the lad.’

Baldwin nodded. ‘True, but there is the other aspect, which is that if Vincent was concerned, surely he’d have paid the Sheriff to see to it that the matter never reached the court with his boy. In the best courts in the land there is normally someone who can be persuaded by cash.’

‘Maybe Vincent would try that if his boy was actually arrested. But the Dean would still have the embarrassment of being involved with that arrest – and I doubt he wants that to happen to the man with possibly the biggest purse in the parish.’

‘The trouble is, we have no idea why Peter Golloc should have been killed. Unless he killed himself, as we said. And Jolinde had every opportunity.’

‘He had several with the very fair Claricia,’ Simon added with a leer.

‘Yes, yes. Vincent le Berwe surely fits into all this somehow, but I cannot see how. And there was something about Karvinel: he appeared very jittery when I asked him about the robbery. I suppose the attack could have unsettled him, but he didn’t seem to want to discuss the affair at all. That seems odd. Most people want to talk about their misfortune. He had all his money taken, but was reticent on the details. And I have to say that so much bad luck itself looks suspicious, when you add it all together.’