The Alehouse Murders

by Maureen Ash

  “It is believed so. They were stabbed as well, but that was after they were dead.”

  “Aye, just as I said. Look for a woman. Though any female would need a man’s help to kill four. Unless she were a witch, of course. Then she’d have demons to help her. I mind me of one time, back in ’76 it was, when the old king was still alive, found six bodies, all laid out in a circle around an oak tree by the king’s hunting lodge. Not a mark on ’em. That was a witch. Found her in a hut nearby. Had her familiar with her. A black dog it was . . .”

  Bascot let the old knight’s voice drift out of his consciousness and surveyed the company in the hall. On the dais Lady Nicolaa presided with her husband beside her. Tonight the sheriff was attired more resplendently than Bascot had ever seen him before, in a pale grey tunic with embroidered silver sleeves and a matching cap. In his hand was the familiar cup of wine. On his right sat Conal’s uncles Ailwin and Magnus, while Nicolaa had her sisters Petronille and Ermingard to her left. Farther down the board sat Richard Camville, between Conal and Lady Sybil, and near the end sat Hilde, strategically placed between Hugh Bardolf and his daughter. Bascot could see her smiling and chatting with good humour and saw that her amiability had not passed unnoticed by Ailwin and Magnus, for occasionally one or the other of the brothers would glance down at her with a look of perplexity on their faces.

  Gianni piled Bascot’s trencher with the remnants of the stew that was left in the large bowl in the middle of the table. It was mostly root vegetables and gravy, for all of the choice pieces of meat had already been consumed, but it was tasty and Bascot ate it with relish, finding that he was unusually hungry. As he started on the next course—spiced eels simmered in their own juice—he felt a movement beside him and looked up to find Ermingard’s husband, William de Rollos, beside him.

  “I have been looking for you, Templar,” de Rollos said, wearing an embarrassed look on his heavy-jowled face. “I thought to tell you that Bardolf did not have my support in his baiting of you yesterday at de Kyme’s manor. Nor do I endorse his sentiments towards Lady Sybil and her son. If they are guilty—then well enough, they should be punished, but that remains yet to be proven. I want no part of that intrigue.”

  De Rollos was sitting on Bascot’s sighted side and he could not see if the elderly knight on his right was taking an interest in their conversation or not. However, he felt Gianni at his shoulder, taking an interminably long time to prepare his plate and straighten his wine cup and napkin. He guessed the boy was acting as a shield against his neighbour hearing his conversation with de Rollos and dropped his voice accordingly.

  “How did you come to be at de Kyme’s manor?” Bascot asked de Rollos.

  “Bardolf asked me to accompany him to one of his properties to see a new destrier he has acquired. As you know, there will be a tournament at the end of the fair. Although I do not intend to ride myself, Ivo has a fancy to try his sword in the melee. Bardolf thought perhaps I might be interested in buying the animal for my son to ride. We stopped at de Kyme’s manor on the way. I would not have gone if I had suspected Bardolf would get embroiled in a drunken argument with de Kyme and his relatives. I thought only to get away from the castle for awhile, and to see if the horseflesh he touted was of worth. Ivo needs a distraction. He is much distressed at his mother’s illness.”

  And so are you, thought Bascot, but did not say it. Instead, he asked, “Your wife—she is no better?”

  De Rollos shrugged. “She has not been this bad since Ivo was born. Then I thought I would lose her—it was the sight of so much blood at the birth, you see. But these last years she has seemed much calmer. And was still so, until a few nights after we arrived.”

  “Did anything happen that might have precipitated her illness?” Bascot felt sorry for the man. Even though it was probable that theirs had been an arranged marriage, the Norman knight seemed genuinely fond of his wife, and cared about her welfare.

  “Nothing that we know of,” de Rollos replied. “When we first arrived she seemed glad to be in the company of her sisters again, and behaved as normal. Then, one night—I think it was the night of the day the bodies were discovered—she was found wandering near dawn along one of the passages in the upper keep, crying and tearing at her garments.”

  “Is it known how she came to be there?” Bascot asked.

  “No. She was sleeping in a chamber with her sister Petronille and their maids. I had bunked down on the floor of the hall, for the keep was crowded and all the available chambers had been kept for the women or those who were elderly. Her maid came to me just as the sun was rising, telling me of her condition. Apparently Ermingard had got up in the night without waking anyone—presumably she wanted to use the privy. Neither Petronille nor the two maids knew how long she had been from her bed, but when one of them woke and found her gone they went searching for her. She was some distance from their chamber, and in the state that I have told you.”

  Bascot remembered how distressed de Rollos’ wife had been on the morning she had entered the solar. “And she did not tell you where she had been?”

  “No,” de Rollos’ misery was written plain in the downcast set of his jaw. “She just keeps saying over and over about something being the wrong colour, but what that something is, we do not know.” He sighed. “I have no doubt she saw some blood somewhere and it has turned her mind. I will be glad when we are away from here and back in Normandy. Perhaps familiar surroundings will restore her to health.”

  Bascot was trying to find an answer that would lift the Norman’s spirits when he felt a hand touch his shoulder and looked up to see Ernulf standing behind him.

  “Brunner’s been found,” the serjeant said. “He’s dead.”

  “Where?” asked Bascot.

  “In an old shack near the leper settlement, just outside town off the road from Pottergate. He’s been stabbed, but not after death like the ones in the alehouse. Blade took him straight in the heart while he was still breathing, damn his evil hide. He deserved to die slowly.”

  “And the girl—Gillie?”

  “She was with him when he was found. Tied up and bruised, but alive. Frightened near out of her wits, though.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “I’ve put her in the holding cell at the back of the garrison. Left two of my men with her and a chaplain. Thought you might want to question her.”

  “I’ll come straight away,” Bascot replied.

  Twenty-one

  THE CELL INTO WHICH ERNULF HAD PUT GILLIE FOR safekeeping was one that was usually used to keep the occasional drunkard or brawler locked up for the night. It had a dirt floor and little furniture except for a hard pallet and a stool, and a bucket for slops. The one window was fitted with strong bars and the door with a heavy lock. Gillie lay on her side on the pallet, the chaplain kneeling beside her and speaking to her in reassuring tones. The priest looked ill at ease. He was the chaplain that attended the small church of St. Clement just outside the castle’s northwest wall and was more accustomed to giving comfort to the men of the garrison than a young female.

  When Bascot entered with Ernulf and Gianni, Gillie sat up and began to entreat the Templar. “I won’t catch the wasting disease, will I, sir? Please tell me I won’t. I didn’t touch any of the lepers, but we were very near to them. Brunner made me go there with him. And he tied me up so I couldn’t get free. Will God punish me for being a harlot and make me a leper? Am I damned, sir? Please, please help me.”

  Bascot hunkered down beside her. Her face was scratched and dirty, her hair tangled and laced with wisps of straw and her clothing torn and stained. Her fresh country expression was gone, replaced with the haunting look of fear. He was unused to wailing females but could understand the girl’s terror. Leprosy was a terrible disease and no one knew how to cure it. Once the disease was contracted, the unfortunate victim was given the last rites just as though they were already dead and then they were consigned to live in a community with others that had been strick
en in the same way, to stay there until they died. The leper community’s only sustenance came from alms given by the church, and their care was entrusted to a few monks or priests brave enough to enter their dwelling place. They were not allowed to travel away from their hovels without ringing loudly on a bell to warn healthy citizens of their approach and they were forbidden to try and contact any members of their families. For all intents and purposes they were already dead and buried, their only joy of life what little comfort they could find in each other’s company. He could see pity for Gillie etched on the faces of those around him, even young Gianni.

  “Now be quiet, Gillie, and listen to me,” Bascot said, searching for words of comfort. “If you didn’t touch any of the lepers’ sores then it is most unlikely you will get their disease. As for God’s punishing you for being a harlot, you know as well as I that if you confess your sins and do penance, Our Lord will forgive you. Especially if you do not return to the life of a bawd.”

  Beside him the priest murmured agreement and, after a few minutes, between them they managed to calm the distraught young doxy.

  Once she was sitting quietly, albeit still shaken and trembling, Bascot asked how she had come to be where she was found.

  “Brunner made me go with him. He said that there was someone who would kill him, and me, too, if we did not hide. We left the stewe-house and went out Pottergate to where the lazar houses are. I was frightened, but he wouldn’t let me go, and we went to this shack. It was a mean place, not as good as my da keeps his pigs in. There was no food, and not even a pallet to lie on. I told him I wasn’t going to stay there, not only ’cause it were so terrible, but because the lepers were right there, just a short distance away. He beat me and then he tied me up.”

  “Did he leave the hovel himself?”

  “Aye, he did. He had to because we had no food, you see, and he was as hungry as I. And he wanted wine, as well.” She added this last with contempt. “He went out all wrapped up in his cloak. It was just on dusk. He told me he’d be back before long.”

  Gillie’s eyes grew dark with fear as she remembered. “But he didn’t come back. It got dark and there weren’t no candles, nor could I have lit them if there had of been, tied up as I was. I tried to cry out, but my throat was parched from not having anything to drink, and I was half-scared anyway that if anyone heard me it would be a leper.” She shuddered. “I ended up just crouching where I was, all bound with rope. Finally I fell asleep and didn’t waken until I heard a noise outside.”

  “Was it Brunner returning?” Bascot asked.

  “It was, but I didn’t know that then. I heard voices, boots scuffing on the ground. Then there was a cry, and I heard a thud against the wall of the shack. Then silence. I was so frightened, I just lay there and didn’t make a sound. It was morning before anyone came. A monk, from All Saints. He was going to the lazar houses and saw Brunner’s body outside, I suppose. Anyway, he came in and found me and loosened my bonds.” She looked at Ernulf. “Then the serjeant’s men came and brought me here.”

  Bascot looked to Ernulf, who nodded. “The monk saw Brunner lying on the ground and went to see what ailed him. Found him dead and then the girl.”

  “I might have been killed, too,” Gillie wailed.

  “You’re right, you might have been,” Bascot said sternly to stop her breaking into fresh sobbing. “So you had better tell us anything you know about this matter or else Brunner’s murderer may come looking for you.”

  “But I don’t know anything, sir. Honest I don’t. Brunner told me to tell you that pack of lies the day you came to the stewe-house. Only he didn’t know that dead girl was pregnant, I swear, because he was as surprised as me when you said she was with child. All he kept saying was that there was someone who would do for him if he wasn’t careful, someone high-placed, and that person would do for me too because I knew about the lies.”

  “He said someone high-placed, did he?” Bascot asked and Gillie nodded. “And he didn’t know who it was?”

  “I don’t think he did,” Gillie answered slowly, taking a moment to consider. “He just kept saying he had been given a warning and he didn’t want to end up like the alekeeper.”

  “We found this parchment tucked into his hose,” Ernulf said to Bascot, proffering a dirty piece of much-used vellum with black inky figures drawn on it. Bascot took the paper and looked at it. The meaning was plain, dead Wat with his skull broken and Brunner with a knife through his heart. When the stewe-keeper had received it he must have been alive and it had been sent as a warning. Now, it was the truth.

  “The sad thing is that we nearly caught hold of Brunner while he was still breathing,” Ernulf said. “Just this morning, at dawn, that little serving maid from the brothel come to the castle gates asking for me. Said she’d seen Brunner yestere’en and had followed him as far as Pottergate. He must have been coming back with the food. A loaf and some cheese was found beside his body. The little maid couldn’t get away to tell me last night—trade was too brisk at the bawdy house—but came as soon as the doxies had finished their night’s work and were all asleep. If only she’d come before, we might have got to him before the killer.”

  “Did you ask the maid if she saw anyone following Brunner?”

  “I did. She says she didn’t notice. She was too intent on following Brunner, but she couldn’t go through Pottergate after him because the bawds would be expecting her back. Also, it was nigh on dark and she was nervous of going outside the city walls on her own. Her mother had sent her out for some wine, you see, and would be angry if she was gone too long. She’s a good little lass, but scared of her mother, I reckon. Anyway, she did just as I told her to do, as soon as she could. Just a shame it wasn’t earlier.”

  Bascot returned his attention to Gillie. “You’re sure you haven’t forgotten to tell me anything? A name Brunner might have mentioned, or something about his connection with the alekeeper?”

  “I don’t think so,” Gillie replied, her sobs forgotten as she tried to remember. “He just kept saying over and over again that we had to hide, and stay hidden.”

  Bascot rose and, as he did so, she looked up at him, fear once again on her face. “What is to happen to me, sir? Am I to be punished for telling you those lies? I didn’t want to, Brunner made me. He really did.”

  “I believe you, Gillie. And you will not be punished. You are free to go.”

  “But where, sir? If I go back to the stewe-house, whoever murdered Brunner may come after me there. What am I to do?”

  There was rising panic in her voice and he saw Gianni tense. Memories of his own plight at the time Bascot had found the boy must not be far below the surface of Gianni’s mind.

  Bascot looked down at her and said severely, “Do you want to continue being a bawd, Gillie?”

  The girl hung her head and gave it a little shake, then mumbled, “No, sir, I don’t.”

  “Then do you want to go back to your family?” Bascot asked more gently.

  Gillie looked up at him, tears streaking her face. “No, sir. Me da’ll beat me and that old hag he married will crow in my face forever. ’Twould be near as bad a life as a harlot’s.” She began to plead. “Isn’t there some honest work I can do, sir? I don’t mind what it is. I’m strong and willing. And I can clean and cook. Please, sir, don’t you know of someone who will give me a place?”

  Bascot looked at Ernulf. He knew the serjeant had a strong protective streak in him, especially for women and children. “Is there any need for another scullery wench in the castle kitchen, Ernulf? Or perhaps a girl to take out slops and help with the poultry?”

  As Bascot had known, Ernulf, after a sympathetic look at the distraught girl, nodded his head. “I’ll find somewhere to fit her in. Just as well keep her under our eye for the moment, in case the murderer thinks she’s a threat. She’ll be safer within the castle walls.”

  The serjeant gave Gillie a grim look. “But you listen to me, girl. You’ll be doing only the job of work
you’re given and nothing else. If I hear of you lying on your back for any of my men, you’ll be out the castle gates before you can pull your skirts down, do you hear?”

  Ernulf’s expression softened as Gillie promised contritely that she would do just as she was told. He then gave her over to the care of one of the grinning men-at-arms who had been standing on guard at the door, admonishing the soldier to take her straight to the cook. The chaplain, seeming relieved that his services were no longer required, made a hasty exit leaving Bascot, Ernulf and Gianni alone in the dingy cell.

  “Well, we’ve found Brunner, but we’re no further forward than we were before he was dead,” Ernulf said.

  “Perhaps we are,” Bascot replied, “even if it does not seem so.”

  “How’s that?”

  “When I went through the hall last night, after I had seen Lady Hilde, I am sure I saw Conal and his mother both still there.”

  “They were. I saw them myself. Conal was playing chess with Richard Camville and his mother was keeping company with Lady Nicolaa and her sisters.”

  “Then it should not be too difficult to find out if they stayed the night.”

  “Richard and Conal were still playing when I made my last rounds. The ladies had gone to bed.”

  “Then I am sure there will be witnesses aplenty to where they all slept, with the castle being as crowded as it is. Neither Conal nor his mother could have left through one of the gates without one of your guards seeing them, could they?”

  Ernulf gave the question consideration. “Not if they left through one of the main gates. There is the postern, of course, but I keep it locked against intruders. It would be unlikely either of them would have access to the key, or could unlock it without making a disturbance. For all that it’s small, it’s not much used and makes a racket when opened.”

  “Then whoever killed Brunner, it could not have been either de Kyme’s wife or his stepson,” Bascot said. He looked again at the parchment he held in his hand. “The person that killed the stewe-keeper and sent this are one and the same. By implication of the drawing of the alekeeper, Brunner’s death is connected to the murders in the alehouse. If it could not have been either Conal or Lady Sybil, then it is one piece of proof for their innocence.”