Simon Beaufort - A Head for Poisoning

“What is this?” cried Walter, aghast. “Are you a forger now?”

“I wish we had known this before,” said Joan, inspecting the two marks closely. “Such a talent in the family might have come in useful.”

“What is your point, Geoff?” asked Stephen. “What do these marks prove?”

“That the Earl’s scribe might have written two wills stating that Father’s heir was to be Godfrey. Then father would have added his mark to the bottom of each of them after Norbert had read them through to ensure all was correct-the Earl kept one and Father kept the other. At a later stage, the Earl’s scribe might have made yet another will, stating that the heir was the Earl himself, and simply copied Father’s mark onto it, just as I have done. While handwriting is distinctive and can be difficult to copy, a simple sign like this one is easy enough, as I have just shown.”

“This is dreadful,” cried Walter. “You are saying that either the Earl has made out an entirely new will and has had his clerk forge Godric’s mark at the end of it, or he deceived a man on his deathbed to sign something he did not intend.”

“Does that sound so out of keeping with Shrewsbury’s character?” asked Geoffrey. “From what I hear of the great Earl, this shows him acting with great chivalry. He could have ridden in, slaughtered the lot of you, and had Goodrich anyway.”

“Not the Earl!” cried Olivier, taking part in the conversation for the first time. “He is a man of honour and integrity!”

Everyone gazed at him in astonishment, and then turned their attention back to the will without bothering to comment. Geoffrey wondered whether they were being entirely prudent in discussing how the Earl could have committed forgery or deception in front of one of his kinsmen. Once again, Geoffrey vowed to complete his business at Goodrich as quickly as possible, and leave. He certainly intended to be on the road long before the Earl rode in to claim his ill-gotten gains-and that would leave him less than six days to uncover the identity of the killer of his father and sister.

“There is another possibility, too,” said Stephen, picking up the parchment and tapping it against the table. “And that is that the Earl had both wills with him when he came visiting two nights ago. He said one of the reasons that he allowed Joan to persuade him to come was that he wanted to see Geoffrey, and I wonder whether he was undecided which of the wills he was planning to reveal.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Henry. “None of what you have just said makes sense.”

“I mean that the Earl would be taking a grave risk by openly forging a will, and the King watches him like a hawk for any such moves. It would have been safer for the Earl if he could have used Godric’s real will-the one citing Godfrey as heir. The Earl wanted to know what kind of man Godric’s youngest son was, and how long he would be staying before leaving again for the Holy Land. We all know that the Holy Land is a dangerous place, and I am sure Geoffrey would not have been allowed to leave Goodrich without making a will himself. And guess who the beneficiary would have been in the event of his death?”

“But even that would not have been necessary,” said Joan thoughtfully. “The property of a man who dies without legal issue reverts to his liege lord-in our case, the Earl of Shrewsbury.”

“But Geoffrey, although expressing a wish to return to the Holy Land, was not the malleable man for whom the Earl had hoped,” said Stephen, nodding agreement.

“What?” snapped Henry. “Speak in words a man can understand, for God’s sake.”

“It was Geoffrey’s insolence to the Earl that decided him on which will he was going to reveal,” explained Stephen. “If Geoffrey had not been belligerent to the Earl, Goodrich would still be in the family-the Earl was forced to use the forged will, because he knew he would not be able to make Geoffrey do anything that he did not want to do-like make a will and leave Goodrich to him.”

“Oh, well done, Geoffrey,” said Walter wearily. “You have lost us our inheritance!”

“Just a minute,” said Geoffrey, startled. “Goodrich still would not have been mine. All of you denied that I could be this Godfrey of Father’s will.”

“That was before,” said Bertrada. “Circumstances have changed. It is better that Goodrich should fall to you than that greedy Earl. At least we can negotiate with you.”

“Negotiate be damned!” spat Henry. “I will not parley over Goodrich with him!”

“You stand a far better chance of getting something from Geoffrey than you do from the Earl,” said Hedwise. “So shut up and listen.”

“All this is beginning to make sense,” said Joan. “Except for one thing. You keep saying that I invited the Earl here. I can assure you that I did not. He paid me a visit while I was seeing to affairs at Rwirdin, and questioned me vigorously about our father’s health and the time Geoffrey was expected back. Then he told me we would travel here together. His visit was no chance drop-in, but part of a planned itinerary.”

Geoffrey escaped from the dinner table as soon as he could, and went to check on his horse in the stables. The castle buzzed with activity: the Mappestones, in a rare display of cooperation, had agreed upon a plan to try to see what might be done to prevent the Earl from seizing their inheritance. It had been decided that Henry and Stephen were to take a message to the King, informing him that the Earl had seized Goodrich, and Hedwise was to ask a relative in the service of the Abbot of Glowecestre, whether the Earl really had lodged a claim to annul Godric’s marriage on the grounds of consanguinity.

Meanwhile, Bertrada and Joan were to continue packing to be ready to leave should the King fail to come up with a solution, and the Earl arrived to take possession of Goodrich. Walter was to arrange Godric’s funeral and then hunt for Norbert-to determine from the clerk whether the will was forged. And although nothing was said, Olivier, being a relative of the Earl, was not to do anything. He was even prevented from visiting the stables with Geoffrey, lest he sneak out and inform the Earl that plans were afoot to thwart him.

Geoffrey was free to do as he pleased, although, as only Joan had been bold enough to say, it would not be taken kindly if he were to leave, because without Geoffrey how could the Mappestone claim to Goodrich stand? Geoffrey agreed to stay for another six days, although he determined that he would not be there to greet the Earl. He smiled to himself, grimly amused that whereas only a few hours before, each and every one of his family had been desperate for him to leave, now they could not afford to let him go.

In the stables, Julian assured him that she had taken good care of the destrier, and he asked her to walk the animal around the outer ward a few times-partly to exercise the horse, but mostly to prevent her from spending the afternoon weeping over the missing Rohese. Julian sniffed and snuffled, grateful to be entrusted with such a task, but clearly fretting over her sister.

“But if you are going out, you will need your horse,” called Julian, as he strode away to visit the physician.

“I am only going to the village,” Geoffrey replied. “There is no need for a horse.”

“You are a funny kind of knight,” said Julian, eyeing him doubtfully. “Sir Olivier would never leave the inner ward on foot. He says walking is undignified.”

“All knights do not think the same way as Sir Olivier,” said Geoffrey, although he suspected that a good number of them did.

He did not want a horse with him as he explored the woods. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the great destrier might do himself an injury on the uneven surfaces. And secondly, it would be impossible to take a horse into the kind of places Rohese might hide.