Simon Beaufort - A Head for Poisoning

“Enide did? Are you certain? I was led to believe she was the most understanding of them all when it came to his whores … I mean his companions.”

He recalled Godric’s pleasure as he recounted Enide’s sympathy in his courting of Rohese, even giving up her own bedchamber so that Godric could seduce the girl in more conducive surroundings.

“She encouraged that Rohese all right,” said Mabel, vigorously scrubbing at the blood that stained Godric’s stomach. “But she made life so difficult for me that Sir Godric was obliged to tell me about the door. Oh!” Her hands flew to her mouth, and she gazed at Geoffrey in horror.

“What door?” asked Geoffrey, interested.

“No. Nothing. I mean window.” Mabel was clearly no liar. Her belligerent manner dropped, and she became flustered.

“What door?” asked Geoffrey again.

“No!” said Mabel firmly. “I will not tell you. Sir Godric made me promise that I would never tell anyone about it. Especially one of you!”

“But Sir Godric is dead, Mabel,” said Geoffrey. “And you might be able to help me catch the person who killed him if you tell me what you know.”

“Do you think so?” asked Mabel, uncertain. She looked down at the still features of Godric. “No. You are only trying to make me give up my secret. You are not interested in his killer-you only care about his wealth, just like the rest of them.”

“I am very interested in who killed him,” said Geoffrey softly. “He was my father. And I do not care about his wealth.”

Mabel regarded him long and hard. “That nice Sergeant Helbye says you only returned to pay your respects to Sir Godric. And young Barlow and Ingram have been telling everyone how you threw away so many chances to go looting because you have no taste for killing.” She paused, and continued her searching look at his face. “All right, I believe you.”

“Good,” said Geoffrey, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms. “Then will you help me catch my father’s murderer?”

“Oh, no,” said Mabel. “That would be far too dangerous. But I will tell you about me and Godric and Enide. That might help.”

She cleared her throat importantly, and perched on the edge of the bed. On the other side of the room, Julian pulled her hands from her ears and listened.

‘I took up with your father the summer after your mother died,” Mabel began. “That was fifteen years ago now. All was well at first. I think your brothers and sisters were just glad that I was able to soothe his ill-temper from time to time. But about a year or so ago, Enide began to object. She made life very difficult for us, and waited for me on the stairs to prevent me from going to him, urging him to take Rohese instead. In the end, Sir Godric told me about the door, but he said I should never tell another Mappestone about it, no matter what happened.”

She paused, and Geoffrey could see she was already having second thoughts about breaking her trust.

“Why did Enide take against you after so many years?” he asked, to distract her from her dilemma.

Mabel shrugged. “She said I was too indiscreet, and that Sir Godric should take up with a woman who lived in the castle and who could come to him when he needed her, rather than having to send a servant to the village to fetch me. And my husband did not always approve of that, anyway,” she added.

Geoffrey could see his point. Was that why Enide had been so accommodating over the business with the chambers, then? he wondered. To encourage Godric to make use of Rohese in the chamber opposite, rather than send for Mabel in the village?

“And the door?” he asked.

Mabel pursed her lips. “It was the only way I could get to him, but Sir Godric charged me never to come to him if there was anyone who might see me using it. He said word might get out to his neighbours that the keep of Goodrich Castle contained a secret entrance.”

“Where is it?” asked Geoffrey.

Mabel hesitated yet again, gazing at Geoffrey’s face as though she might be able to read there what were his true intentions. Finally, just when Geoffrey was beginning think he might have to think of better reasons to persuade her, she spoke.

“Come on, then. I will show you. Julian can wait outside while I do it, and make certain no one comes in and sees what we are doing.”

When Julian hesitated, reluctant to miss out on something that sounded so intriguing, Mabel put her hands on her hips, and Geoffrey bundled the girl out of the chamber and closed the door. Mabel led the way into the garderobe passage, and poked around at a wood-pannelled wall behind some shelves at the far end, where Godric had kept a few gowns and some rusty pieces of armour. She gave a hard tug and, with a groan, the entire wall slid back to reveal a dark passageway. Geoffrey shuddered, and closed it.

“Is that all you are going to do?” Mabel asked angrily, opening it again. “I betray a trust made to a man who lies foully murdered, and all you do is give it a quick glance and shut the door?”

Geoffrey appreciated how it looked, but nothing, not even the most ferocious of battles, could evoke in him the blind terror that could a tunnel or a cave. He had once been supervising an undermining operation while besieging a castle in France, and the whole structure had collapsed while he was still inside. He recalled every moment of the hours spent trapped in the tunnel, with water slowly rising and the air growing thinner and thinner, not knowing whether he would ever be rescued. The black slit in the thickness of the wall in Godric’s garderobe held less appeal for him than an army of Mappestones.

“Where does it lead?” he asked.

“Go down it and see,” said Mabel. “If you are afraid of the dark, here is a torch.”

Several torches and kindling on a shelf just inside the tunnel suggested that Godric’s secret door had been used relatively frequently.

“Who else knew of this?” Geoffrey asked, taking the kindling from her and replacing it before she could light it. “Besides you and my father?”

“Enide knew-long before I did. I suppose Sir Godric told her. But none of the others knew, as far as I am aware. Sir Godric tended to trust only her.”

“But was there anyone outside the family who knew?” pressed Geoffrey. “One of the servants, maybe? Or Norbert the clerk?”

Mabel let out an explosive bark of laughter. “Of course not poor old Norbert! Sir Godric trusted him even less than he trusted his sons. I believe no one at the castle knew, but he did have visitors sometimes. Once or twice, Sir Godric sent me off early, and I saw others entering after me. I do not know who they were. Sir Godric was always very careful that they were not seen.”

Geoffrey looked at the sinister passageway and swallowed hard. Godric might well have told Rohese about it, especially if he had seen that Geoffrey had been drugged, and would no longer be able to protect her. It was very possible his father’s young whore was down there now, too frightened to leave, and he knew he should go to see. But the passageway would be too low for him to stand upright, and probably too narrow for him to walk without turning sideways. As he stood looking, he could feel the cold, damp breath of the tunnel oozing out around them, filling the garderobe passage with a rank, musty smell. He closed the door firmly.

“I will explore it later,” he said vaguely. “It-”

He was interrupted by loud voices outside the bedroom door. Mabel scurried from the passage, and began laying out Godric again just as Henry burst in, followed by Walter and Stephen. Julian slipped in behind them, her eyes darting everywhere for evidence of Mabel’s door. Geoffrey hoped the astute Stephen would not notice what the girl was doing.