The Medieval Murderers - Sword of Shame

Standing back as Simon bowed, Baldwin saw her fear begin to return even though her dimples remained.

‘You must be exhausted after your long journey,’ she said.

‘Exhausted? I should think we are!’ Roger said as he marched into the hall tugging at his riding gloves, slapping them against his thigh to clear the dust of the road from them. The dirt rose from his cotehardie and hosen as a fine mist, and he waved it away.

‘Command wine, then, brother,’ she said, and there was tartness in her tone, Baldwin noted.

‘Ale for me,’ Simon asked. ‘And a little bread and meat?’

When the bottler had brought them food and jugs of drink, Simon and Baldwin sat at the table.

‘Tell me, lady, where is your husband? I thought he would be here to meet us on our arrival,’ Baldwin said.

‘He wanted to be here to see you,’ she said in a rush. ‘He was desperate to hear what help you might be able to give him in this affair.’

‘He has been called away, apparently,’ Roger said comfortably, leaning back in his chair with a large mazer of wine in his hand. He took a deep draught and continued, ‘A matter of the arrangements for the market up at Bow.’

‘There must be many things to do in preparation for a market the size of Bow’s,’ Baldwin said easily.

‘He meant no insult to you, I do assure you,’ Alice said, and in her eyes there was a fleeting hatred as she glanced at Roger. ‘But the bailiff of the market is ill and may not recover, so my husband wished to assure himself that all was in hand.’

‘I understand perfectly,’ Baldwin said. ‘I have been involved in the organization of Crediton fair on occasion, and there is always much to do. When you are not so used to a life of responsibility, it is easy to underestimate the effort required,’ he added.

Roger was still for a moment. ‘Was that a calculated insult?’

Baldwin had taken a mouthful of meat, and he chewed quietly while contemplating the man. ‘I am sure that if I wished to insult you, I should succeed. Just as, if you were to try to insult me, I should take notice.’

‘Lady Alice,’ Simon interrupted quickly, ‘where was this sword kept? It seems curious to me that someone could walk in here and take a weapon with the heritage of this one.’

‘You have heard its story?’ she said, and her gaze returned to her brother-in-law.

Baldwin raised his brows. There was more to this than Roger had said. ‘It is old-we know that. If there is more we should know, perhaps you could tell us?’

‘No. It is not my part. My husband should do that,’ she responded. ‘But to answer your question, Bailiff, it was there, in the chest by the wall.’

This was an older hall, and there was no chimney. Instead there was a large blackened hearth in the middle of the floor, and the rafters and inner thatch spoke of the number of fires that had roared in here. Beyond the fire was a strong chest of wood bound with iron, and a massive lock in the lid.

‘It was locked in there?’ Baldwin asked with frank surprise.

‘I fear not. If it had been locked, it would be inside still. No, I had asked my husband to open it for me to fetch a necklace and it was not locked again. He blames me for the theft.’

‘Coule was not seen alive after visiting here? You believe he died that same day?’

‘Yes. I fear so,’ she said quietly.

‘The man who stole it was neither liked nor trusted by you, yet he was allowed in here alone?’

It was Roger who answered. ‘Walter Coule came ostensibly to discuss a matter before the courts: some of his merchants have been demanding freedom from tolls at our fair, and we see no reason to accommodate them. He came here and was allowed into the hall, but when my brother returned, Coule was gone. As was the sword.’

‘I was in here and received him,’ Alice said bitterly. ‘I went to fetch Sir William myself. It was my own mistake. I was a fool to leave him alone in here!’

‘You are sure it was gone then?’

She nodded. ‘Denis saw that the chest was unlocked that afternoon. He relocked it and gave the key to my husband that day. It was only when the body was found that we opened it again.’

‘What happened when your husband realized Coule was gone?’ Baldwin enquired.

‘William was angry, of course, but none of us thought more of it, other than it showed how boorish and unthoughtful Coule could be.’

‘Really,’ Baldwin said. ‘There were how many witnesses to Coule leaving the castle?’

‘The ostler, grooms, perhaps the steward…any number.’

‘None saw him carrying the sword?’

‘No. But few would have recognized the sword. It was not out on display all the time.’

‘He could have had it wrapped in his cloak or concealed some other way,’ Roger said eagerly.

‘Of course,’ Simon said, smiling understandingly at the woman. She was plainly upset, blaming herself for the theft. Her husband would not have been happy to learn that she had left the man in the hall alone. Especially since she had herself caused the chest to be opened, he reminded himself, and his face hardened. Perhaps Coule’s arrival was more than a coincidence. Could this woman have planned it?

Baldwin said nothing. He looked at Roger, then let his eyes move toward Alice. She, he noticed, had begun to flush, her throat reddening. He considered. ‘We heard this Coule was often here. Would you usually leave him unguarded?’

Alice lifted her chin slightly. ‘I do not expect every visitor who accepts our hospitality to rob us, if that is what you mean. But yes, Coule would come here once each month or so to speak with my husband on matters that affected our manors. My husband and Sir John do not get on well. Their mutual affairs are conducted by others. We tended to have my husband’s man of law, Denis de Topcliffe, speak with Coule.

Simon had another question which troubled him. ‘Roger told us that Coule was an unpopular man with his peasants. How did your folk respond to him?’

Alice took up her mazer and swallowed hurriedly. ‘I don’t think that they were troubled by him. Not like his own people at Down St Mary. If he had tried to bully our people, I am sure my husband would have seen to his being punished.’

‘Which he did, I assume,’ Baldwin said.

‘I don’t understand?’

‘Coule came here and stole from you. Surely your husband went to demand the sword’s return from Sir John?’

‘We didn’t realize it was gone until the inquest,’ she said defensively. ‘Otherwise I am sure my husband would have spoken with Sir John when the disappearance was noticed.’

‘Through an intermediary,’ Baldwin noted drily.

Simon continued, ‘Does your husband never talk to your neighbour?’

‘Sir John de Curterne? No.’

Roger said, ‘I told you: we are not friends with him.’

‘The lands you lost?’

She nodded. ‘It was a blow to the family, I think. But it was a long, long time ago. I am sure that my husband holds no ill-feeling about it. He used to be a good friend of the Curterne family. It was only after…since I knew my husband that the two manors have been at loggerheads.’

Roger sniggered at that, and the unpleasant sound stuck in Baldwin’s ears. ‘You say “since I knew my husband”-do you mean that in some way it was because of your marriage that the two men fell out?’

‘Perhaps-I was to have married Sir John’s brother. We had been betrothed for some months when he died.’

‘His older brother?’ Baldwin pressed.

‘Yes. Godfrey was his name. He fell from his horse into the river and drowned. He was only fourteen. Before then, the two families had been close, I have heard. But not since his death. And then a few years later his poor brother Ralph also died when an ox fell on him.’