Michael JECKS - The Leper's Return

“Hold on! You say these men were in Godfrey’s garden?”

“Yes. And it seemed to me then that they were looking for someone – but maybe they weren’t. It’s possible that they were themselves hiding from pursuit.”

Baldwin scratched his beard. “So you went into Godfrey’s back courtyard?”

“Yes, and saw with some delight that it was quiet, and that there were places for me to hide myself.”

“So why go to the open door?”

“Ah, now. It was the crack. It was so loud, I wondered what it could be.”

“A noise like someone striking another over the head?” Simon demanded.

“It’s possible, but Bailiff, I’ve not heard a sound like that for many a long year. It wasn’t as if as soon as I heard this noise, I thought to myself, Oh, so a man’s just been clobbered over the nut! I’m a peaceable fellow, me. I don’t think of such things.”

“You say,” Baldwin continued, “that you were trying to avoid all these men, and yet you went back to Godfrey’s hall, away from your own house, and finally went into the hall. Why go inside?”

“Excuse me for being inquisitive, but if you’re walking past a great hall like Godfrey’s, and you see no one, no stablemen, no maids, nothing, but a great number of torches lighting the place, and a door wide open, and then you hear a loud crack from inside, now wouldn’t you be a bit intrigued? Surely you’d want to glance in at the door, wouldn’t you?”

“So you saw the bodies there, and did nothing?” Simon demanded. “You saw the girl unconscious, and the servant, and left them there? You were the first finder of Godfrey’s body and didn’t raise the Hue and Cry?”

John gave him a very old-fashioned look. “Now let’s just suppose I was in there, and let’s suppose I was about to report I’d found these three people on the floor, when I heard someone’s men running toward me. And let’s suppose I knew there were rumors in the town that I was an adulterer with the neighbor’s wife, and let’s suppose I had every reason to believe this neighbor might want to see exactly how my body fitted together by taking it apart piece by piece. Now, do you suppose I’d sit there politely, waiting for him and his men, with all those bodies lying around me? I know people here don’t have a great respect for the intelligence of my folk, but I can promise you, when men are running my way with swords in their hands, I can be very thoughtful, very quickly.”

Baldwin chuckled. “So you escaped out through the back of the house before Coffyn arrived?”

“As he ran in, I hopped out. There was a window open, and I went through it. It was tight, but I managed it.”

“If this is all true,” Simon asked slowly, “didn’t you hear the scream Godfrey gave as he died? We’ve been told it was very loud. It was what caused Coffyn to rush round.”

“He told you he came immediately? I think he must have been exaggerating,” John replied primly, as if offended that another might try to mislead the Keeper. “I could hear him and his men going through his house as if they were looking for someone as I arrived in Godfrey’s garden. I did hear something, and it might have been Godfrey, for all I know, but at the time Coffyn and his lads were shouting, and I wasn’t concentrating on who was saying what, or where they were. I was mindful of my own affairs.”

“These two men,” Baldwin said, “the two who drove you back to Godfrey’s house. Who were they? Did you get a clear look?”

“Well, now. I did – and I didn’t. I saw them, but I couldn’t swear to their faces.”

“Why not?”

“Sir, it was dark. And I wasn’t going to wait to ask them who they were. Like I say, there was plenty of noise from Coffyn’s place, and it seemed to be getting closer. I wasn’t of a mind to hang around.”

“Did the two you saw in Godfrey’s garden shout?”

“No, sir. From the way they behaved, I thought they were trying to ambush me.”

“Whereabouts were they?” Simon asked.

“Up at this end of the garden, near the wall here,” John said, jerking his head toward it. “There are some bushes, and these chaps were taking cover near them. It looked like they were waiting for someone, and what with the noise behind me, and these two waiting for me, I considered the other direction safer.”

“They weren’t there when you passed by on your way out?” Baldwin mused.

“Not that I saw. I don’t think so. And I was looking pretty carefully.”

“Why did you go through Godfrey’s garden? Surely you had no need to trespass?”

“There are some things I don’t like to do – and one is advertise my business, especially when I am protecting another’s honor. Anyway, I thought it should be safe enough. I knew Coffyn was supposed to be away, and what the devil he meant by coming home so early, God only knows!”

“What was your mission?”

“That I cannot tell you.”

Baldwin eyed him dubiously. The man had an easy air, as if he was truly apologetic about being able to say no more, but there was also resolution in the set of his chin. “Very well,” he conceded. “But tell us what you know about Godfrey. What sort of a man was he?”

“He was the sort of man who’d steal your wallet to see how you’d survive with nothing, and then laugh when he saw you begging.”

Simon raised his brows. “He was well considered in the town.”

“So? What does that mean to me? You asked me for my opinion of him. The people of Crediton liked him because he had money, not for his character. Oh, Godfrey had a lot of money, and he was useful to some. Coffyn himself borrowed money from him, so I’ve been told, but…”

Baldwin peered at him. “Why should Coffyn ask Godfrey for money? Coffyn surely has enough and to spare.”

“He’s had troubles for the last three years, so I understand. Well, four months ago he had sunk to the level whereby he couldn’t afford any new stock. He had to borrow, and the first man who offered to help him was his kindly neighbor, Master Godfrey of London.”

“How can you know this?” Simon demanded. “You’re inventing it.”

“I have no need to invent, Bailiff. My information comes from an unimpeachable source.”

Baldwin was aware of a fleeting sympathy for Matthew Coffyn. John was surely hinting that he knew of Coffyn’s business affairs – and Baldwin suspected that he might have learned it from his adulterous affair with the man’s wife. Others in the town would laugh at the expense of the husband if they were to hear.

“John, we have already heard rumors that you were having an affair with Martha Coffyn. You have also been accused of trying to rape Cecily. What have you to say about that?”

John stared a moment, then roared with laughter. “Me? With one of them? Dear Jesus! Well, Sir Baldwin, perhaps you should ask them what they think about such allegations!”

The two men left him shortly after. Making their way to the inn to collect Edgar, Baldwin paused outside the gate to Godfrey’s house. Simon glanced at his frowning expression.

“There is enough to suggest that John of Irelaunde could be the killer,” he suggested.

“It is suspicious that he was there at the time, that he didn’t deny being seen by Putthe. He was in the garden, certainly, and admits going into the house.”

“And he could have killed Godfrey, punched Cecily, nipped out through the window, realized he’d been seen by Putthe and gone back inside to knock him out as well.”

“True enough, but I find it hard to accept that Cecily wouldn’t have recognized him.”

“Come now, Baldwin, it was dark! She said herself that she couldn’t see anything of the man.”