Michael JECKS - The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

Baldwin fleetingly reflected that it was fortunate that his wife was not present to hear the Coroner’s views, but then he was considering the issue again. ‘This is too serious for us to worry about upsetting her or her friends. I only wonder whether she herself may have been persuaded to keep Elias with her.’

‘What, you think someone tried to keep him back?’ Roger exclaimed, watching Simon pour their wine.

Simon had heated his dagger’s blade in the fire. Now he used it to stir his wine. It sizzled as it touched the liquor and he watched the steam rising. ‘It’s an interesting thought. The one day that Elias happens to be really late is the same day that a random thief happens to find his way clear. Too much of a coincidence. It’s more rational to assume that the boy was delayed intentionally – which means that Mary was involved in it somehow. She was bribed or blackmailed into chatting to Elias and keeping him back for longer than usual, so that the assassin had plenty of time.’

‘No. I can’t swallow that. Mary is many things, I don’t doubt, but this is implicating her in two deaths – that of poor Ralph Glover, and the possible execution of Elias, an innocent man.’

‘Last night she danced for Vincent le Berwe,’ Simon said. ‘And in the evening I saw her rutting enthusiastically with one of the musicians. She didn’t seem very concerned about Elias then.’

The Coroner looked appalled. His brows came down and he glowered into his pot of wine. ‘The young bitch!’

Baldwin sighed. ‘Let us consider the two clerks who visited the glover early in December. They were together for that delivery, as they were in their rooms, and yet one is now dead.’

‘Yes?’

‘Does it not seem suspicious to you? One specific fact leaps out at me.’

Roger shook his head in bafflement.

Baldwin continued patiently, ‘Coroner, if someone knew that the money was there, it is reasonable to assume he might have known where it came from : he knew it was Cathedral money. If somebody heard about it, did he hear about it before it was delivered, or did he only hear about it after it had been delivered?’

‘Do you believe in dissecting every enquiry in the same manner?’ Coroner Roger asked dryly.

Simon shrugged. ‘Two clerks could be robbed easily. A couple of taps with a stick and they would be unconscious. Then the thief could have helped himself to the money. Why wait until they had delivered the stuff?’

‘He probably thought it would be easier to break into a place where there was only one man, rather than knocking over two youngsters. So would I,’ Roger added with emphasis, knocking back his wine and smacking his lips appreciatively.

‘Perhaps. But most felons would prefer to take their chances in the open. Except,’ Simon added musingly, ‘we don’t know how he could have known what the two carried.’

‘There you are. He saw two clerical types walking about the city. So? Not much new in that. Then Ralph shot his mouth off in a tavern and people got to hear about his fortune in winning so lucrative a contract. A short while after someone decides to take a little of it for himself. He breaks in and steals it all, killing poor Ralph at the same time. Problem solved.’

‘Nearly. But not quite. Did Ralph often frequent taverns?’

‘Not very often, but so what? A man can decide to visit one if he wants.’

‘True,’ Baldwin breathed. ‘Very well. What of others? For example, how much do you know about Nicholas Karvinel and his wife?’

‘Karvinel? He’s a lousy businessman from what I’ve heard. Can’t make money to save his life. And he has managed to amass huge debts. You heard about the attack on him? Set upon by a gang of thieves in broad daylight, for God’s sake? It’s getting so you can hardly leave your front door nowadays. Crime is increasing all the time.’

‘What exactly happened?’ Simon asked.

‘I was in the Guildhall when a messenger arrived saying that there’d been a robbery. Apparently that fool Karvinel had been down to the port to check on a cargo. He had a load of wine and iron arriving, and he went there with the Cathedral’s steward to check it all…’

‘Why with the Cathedral’s steward?’ Simon interjected.

‘The wine was for the Dean and the iron was for the Cathedral works. Karvinel went down there, and as soon as the goods were checked out of the port, straight onto the Cathedral wagons, Karvinel took his payment and set off back. He was also carrying money back to the Dean, but when–’

Baldwin interrupted him with a sharp gesture. ‘You say he was carrying other money, not only his own?’

‘Yes. Is it important?’

‘It might be nothing,’ Baldwin said, but with a smile of calm satisfaction. ‘But if I am right, this could be the explanation of much.’

‘I see… you mean that someone within the Cathedral could have advised the thieves and arranged for the robberies?’

‘All I will say is, consider the curious similarities between the two events. One robbery was out in the open, some distance from the city; the thieves must have been ready warned. At Ralph’s place likewise there was clearly a lot of planning, making sure of the household’s routine, speaking to Mary, perhaps, and ensuring that the scapegoat would be delayed.’

‘If Karvinel was robbed on his way back to Exeter,’ said Simon. ‘How many others were robbed that day?’

‘Nobody I know of.’

‘So,’ Baldwin summed up, ‘we have one man who was robbed of his money and the Cathedral’s when his goods had been sold – and another who was murdered and robbed in his own house when there was Cathedral money in his strong box.’

‘You seriously think that is relevant? Sir Baldwin, if you spoke to any man in the city, you would find that the Cathedral held some place in their lives. It reaches into every aspect of the city. Everyone here has something to do with it.’

‘All the Freeman of the City, you mean?’ Baldwin asked.

‘Certainly all the merchants. And many of the others too. We all profit from the presence of the Cathedral.’

‘Let us return to the day of the robbery. You heard about it in the Guildhall, you say?’

‘Yes,’ Roger grunted, pouring himself more wine. ‘I was there with Vincent le Berwe and Ralph to witness some documents when a messenger from Karvinel came and hammered on the doors. He told us about the robbery and wanted me to join Karvinel at an alehouse near the South Gate. Said Karvinel had recognised one of his attackers sitting drinking.

‘Obviously I went with him immediately. The fellow was beaten, but what do you expect when an angry crowd grabs hold of a wrong-doer? He was lucky that most men had joined the posse to catch the other members of the gang. Then Peter arrived and…’

‘Where had he been? Surely he should have arrived at the same time as Karvinel,’ Simon frowned.

‘Yes. Well, he said he’d been so shocked he’d had to go and get some wine down his neck,’ the Coroner said dismissively.

‘Someone told me that the leader of this band goes under a knightly title,’ Baldwin recalled. Who had told him that, he wondered. Was it Karvinel again?

‘That’s right. Sir Thomas of Exmouth. Miserable sinner that he is! The man we caught wouldn’t tell us anything, sadly. He denied having anything to do with the robbery, but he was known as a disreputable character. He’d been found out of doors at night a couple of times when people had been knocked on the head, so his guilt seemed pretty obvious. Anyway, they decided he was guilty on the proof of Karvinel’s evidence and that of his clerk. Who would disprove a cleric?’

‘Did the posse catch any other members of the gang?’ Baldwin enquired.