‘I said no such thing. I merely inquired when you left Crediton yesterday.’
‘I should take it very ill, should you accuse me of murder, Sir Baldwin.’
Baldwin leaned back and stared unblinkingly at Sir Gilbert, his left hand on the table top, his right near his belt where he could reach his small riding sword. ‘If I were to accuse, I would be happy to allow you trial by combat, Sir Gilbert.’
Sir Gilbert chuckled. ‘I think you would find the combat rather short, and I would find it not to my liking,’ he said frankly.
Tanner entered with a pair of cooks, and soon Baldwin and Sir Gilbert were tucking into their food. As they ate, Baldwin admired the small dagger which Sir Gilbert used to cut his food.
‘This knife? I bought it from the armourer,’ Sir Gilbert said when asked.
When they were finished, Baldwin asked, ‘What time did you leave? After all, your servants can confirm when you did go.’
That was no threat. Any knight could guarantee his own servants would perjure themselves to support their master.
Sir Gilbert sipped wine from his mazer and then steepled his fingers under his nose. ‘I see no reason not to answer you. I left almost immediately after seeing my armour. It was quite late.’
‘You had angry words with him outside the forge?’
Sir Gilbert’s eyes widened marginally. ‘Who told you of that?’
‘A witness.’
‘Let us say, he was not happy that he would have to wait for payment.’
‘Not happy enough to come to blows?’
‘You overstep your mark, Sir Baldwin,’ Sir Gilbert grated.
‘And I would hear your answer.’
‘However I would not answer impertinence,’ he snapped. ‘Now, if you have no objection, Sir Baldwin, I wish to conduct my official enquiry.’
Baldwin stood behind the Coroner as the town’s jury shuffled in. Every man from the age of twelve was brought inside and stood nervously at the wall, their eyes reflecting their consciousness of the seriousness of the matter. A cleric from the Church had already taken up his post at Sir Gilbert’s side, reed in hand, to record the inquest. That was the Coroner’s first duty, after all, to record all the facts about a murder so that the justices could try the murderer later.
Adam, Ham and Jaket were led in, Edith at their rear. The four were taken to a point between the jury and Sir Gilbert, who sat on a low seat and studied them.
‘Sir Baldwin de Furnshill has informed me of your evidence,’ he began. ‘First, Jury, you must agree how this man died.’
He walked to the body and stripped it naked, with Tanner’s help. ‘See? One stab in the chest, by a blade probably an inch broad at the hilt. It reaches in,’ he added, shoving his forefinger into the hole, ‘Not more than about four inches. I think it’s fair to say that he died almost instantly: it went straight to his heart.’
Rolling the body over and over, he showed that the corpse had no other wounds.
Tanner glanced at Baldwin. ‘Sir, there are no cuts on his hands.’
‘No,’ Sir Gilbert said sharply, drawing Tanner’s attention back to him. ‘So we can assume that this murderous attack happened swiftly, before he could think of protecting himself. He didn’t have time to grab the blade and push it away.’
He turned from the body and returned to his seat. ‘The question is, who amongst you could have so hated this man that you killed him? My first thought is you, Adam.’
‘Me?’ The squeal was like that of a pig, Baldwin thought, and with that thought, he wondered again about the excrement in the forge.
‘Yes, you! You knew that your wife was whoring about the place, didn’t you? You knew that Humphrey was enjoying her, didn’t you?’
‘No, no, I didn’t!’
‘You didn’t know your wife was selling her body?’
‘Well … I knew that, yes.’
‘So you took your revenge on him.’
Adam shivered slightly. ‘I’d have beaten her if I’d guessed she was lying with a neighbour, yes, but not him.’
‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘We needed the money,’ Adam said simply.
‘You mean,’ Sir Gilbert’s voice reflected his disbelief, ‘you mean you’d happily allow her to whore her way around the town so long as she didn’t sleep with a near neighbour?’
‘It’d be hard to look a neighbour in the face if she had,’ Adam said apologetically. ‘I’ll thrash her for that later.’
Baldwin had to control a chuckle. Sir Gilbert was being confronted with a different set of rules and principles of honour. To have one’s wife lie with other men was all right, but not if her clients were close neighbours! But then the thought of the pig returned to him, and he watched the men with interest.
‘Jaket, you must have detested this man because of your litigation against him.’
‘Oh, you expect that kind of problem,’ Jaket said off-handedly. ‘It’s not as if it was a huge dispute.’
‘It went to court! You had to pay pleaders!’
Jaket licked his dry lips and tried to wear a smile. ‘The money the lawyer charged cannot be laid at Humphrey’s door. I knew how much they could cost before I started the case.’
‘And he won the matter, keeping the forge on your land.’
Jaket shrugged. ‘It happens.’
Sir Gilbert pressed him. ‘Weren’t you angry? Didn’t you complain about the noise?’
‘I don’t deny that. Almost everyone in the alley complained about it. They shook the foundations of all our places, those hammers, and the smoke! You should have seen this alley on a windless day. Smoke and fumes all over. You couldn’t hardly breathe!’
‘Sir Gilbert, may I ask a question?’ Baldwin enquired.
He was rewarded with an expression of annoyance, but then the knight gave him a dismissive wave of the hand, as if Sir Gilbert was indulging him. ‘Please do, Sir Baldwin,’ he said.
‘Thank you. Jaket, do you have a pig?’
‘Yes. It’s in the orchard.’
‘Did Humphrey keep a pig?’
‘No, he didn’t have space for one.’
‘And yet his forge has sheltered one. Whose would that have been?’
‘Ham’s. His hog went wandering a couple of days ago and Humphrey managed to catch it.’
‘Ham? Is this true?’ Baldwin asked.
‘Um. Yes.’ Ham had his fingers intertwined, and he twisted them as he tried to meet Baldwin’s eye.
‘Did he demand the trotters?’
Ham suddenly flinched as though someone had struck him. ‘It wasn’t fair! The pig is all we have left! Since I lost my work, I’ve had nothing, but what I could afford, I’ve shoved into the pig to fatten him, so that come winter there’d be enough for us to eat, and then Humphrey, God rot his balls, comes and tells me he’s taken my hog and stuck it in his forge, and unless I agree to have it killed and give him the trotters, he’ll keep it. I couldn’t let him do that.’
‘So instead you went to him, stabbed him, and rescued your hog,’ Sir Gilbert said scathingly. ‘How much fairer and more just.’
‘No, I didn’t! I went to his house to try to argue with him as darkness was falling, but the door was locked and he wouldn’t answer it, no matter how hard I banged on it. And then I heard my pig in the forge, and I thought, well, if he’s not there, I could at least get my pig back. But I didn’t even have to break down the door because it was open already. I fetched my pig and took him home.’
‘You expect us to believe this?’ Sir Gilbert demanded. ‘Pathetic! It’s the most unbelievable tale I have heard in many years!’
‘I swear it’s true, Sir.’
‘You had the motive and you had the means,’ Sir Gilbert said gleefully, pointing at Ham’s belt. ‘Your knife!’
Ham reluctantly pulled it from its sheath and passed it to him, and Baldwin studied it. ‘No blood,’ he said, and held it up
for all to see. ‘And the blade is a good nine inches long.’
‘So?’ Sir Gilbert asked.
‘So it was not used to kill Humphrey. There is one additional point about the deadly stab wound,’ Baldwin continued, walking to the corpse and pointing. ‘About it there is a ring-like bruise. I think it means the killer stabbed with main force, driving the blade in sharply as far as he could. The hilt struck Humphrey’s flesh, and marked it in this manner.’
‘And what does that tell us?’ Sir Gilbert asked suavely.
‘That the handle struck him, which means that a long blade like this would probably have gone right through him,’ Baldwin explained.
‘It might not,’ Sir Gilbert said. ‘It could have struck his shoulder bone and thus not penetrated his back.’
‘If that were the case, the hilt would not have struck his chest,’ Baldwin pointed out. ‘No, Humphrey was killed with a shorter blade.’
‘Who has a shorter blade?’
‘Sir Gilbert, you have a shorter blade, do you not?’ Baldwin said mildly, pointing to the knife on his belt.
Sir Gilbert was suddenly very still. ‘You accuse me?’
‘I do not accuse any man,’ Baldwin said pointedly. ‘I only wish to get to the truth. I would like to call another witness. Do you object?’
‘I …’ Sir Gilbert was white-faced with rage, but seeing the interested attention of the whole jury, and the reed poised over the paper in the clerk’s hand, he swallowed his ire with difficulty. ‘Call whomever you wish,’ he rasped finally.
‘Let us hear your servant,’ Baldwin continued, and when the man had been brought in, Baldwin made him stand before the jury, his back to his master.
‘I want to ask you about last night,’ he said.
‘Sir.’
‘Were you with your master?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘From dusk?’
‘Well, all afternoon, sir.’
‘So you were with him here, when he came to see Humphrey?’
‘I was holding his horse for him at the entrance to the alley.’
‘I see. When your master appeared, how was he?’
‘He was angry, sir.’
‘Because the armour was no good?’
‘Not only that …’
‘Why, then?’
The servant tried to turn to look at his master, but Baldwin brought his hand down heavily on his shoulder. ‘Answer!’
‘Because he’d made an offer for the man’s woman, so Humphrey grew wrathful with my master.’
Baldwin looked at Sir Gilbert. He appeared almost to have fallen asleep. ‘Your master offered Humphrey money for his woman?’
‘Yes, but Humphrey said he wouldn’t accept all the gold in the Pope’s palace at Avignon for her.’
‘Did your master have blood on his tunic?’
‘He was wearing his scarlet tunic, Sir Baldwin.’
‘The perfect clothing for murder,’ Baldwin observed.
‘I killed no one,’ Sir Gilbert snapped.
‘Then who killed Humphrey?’ Baldwin said.
‘The girl said that the candles were out. I left before the full dark. If I’d been there, she would have seen me,’ Sir Gilbert protested.
‘Did Ham collect his pig after Humphrey’s death? The house was locked,’ Baldwin mused. ‘Was it full dark, then, Ham?’
‘No, it was as the light was fading. It was dull, but not dark yet.’
Baldwin glanced up at the west-facing window, puzzled. ‘How long was your master gone?’
Sir Gilbert’s man considered. ‘Not long. I could hear them. Then Sir Gilbert came hurrying. He jumped on his horse and spurred away, and I had to hurry to mount my pony and ride off to catch up. As I left Crediton, all I could see was the fading sun catching his harness in the distance.’
‘So it was not full dark even then?’ Baldwin said.
‘No, sir.’
Baldwin faced Sir Gilbert. ‘And you had not paid this armourer, you told me?’
‘I refused to pay him until my helm was ready. Would you have done?’
Baldwin ignored his question, instead turning to face the four suspects again. ‘This murder was committed by someone who was well known by Humphrey. That was how the killer got so close to him.’
‘A thief might have waylaid him,’ Sir Gilbert said.
‘Behind what would the thief have lain hidden? Humphrey was killed in the open, there, in the middle of his floor. No, he was with someone he knew. He didn’t expect to be murdered. He thought he was safe.’
Baldwin stood still, contemplatively staring up at the window.
‘The trouble is, so many of his neighbours disliked him. But they could have killed him at any time. They had no reason to kill him last night. Only one person could have wished to kill him last night, and only one could have got close enough.’
‘Do you accuse me?’ Sir Gilbert said, his voice low and dangerous.
‘Sir Gilbert, please calm yourself. I know you are only recently dubbed knight, but it is not chivalrous to lose your temper,’ Sir Baldwin said, and as Sir Gilbert swelled as though about to explode, he continued, ‘No, it was the Coroner’s argument with the armourer which points us to the murderer. The Coroner wanted to offer money for the woman he had seen going to warm Humphrey’s bed, and that enraged Humphrey.’
‘He didn’t attack me, if that’s what you’re leading up to,’ Sir Gilbert snapped.
‘No. He went inside and spoke to his whore, an attractive young woman for whom he felt a very strong affection. Him, a man whose wife had died some while before, a lonely man living almost in a barn. Look at this place, you can see, you can feel his desperate loneliness! What could be more natural than that he should want a woman to share this with him? And what could be more natural than that he should want the woman who so regularly comforted him to share his life?’
‘I couldn’t do that, sir,’ Edith said modestly. ‘I am already married.’
‘We all know of women who can and do leave their husbands,’ Baldwin said gently, ‘and a man in love may even think of disposing of a rival. Did he suggest that to you?’
‘Me, sir? Why should he do that, sir?’
‘Because he loved you, Edith. And he probably thought that you loved him too, which was why he didn’t think you would mind when he told you he could not pay you.’
‘Of course he could pay me,’ she said, but her face had paled.
‘No. He had nothing in his purse. There was plate in his chest, which a robber would have taken, but he had no money. Perhaps he was relying upon Sir Gilbert’s cash to pay you.’
‘No! I couldn’t have hurt him!’
‘You say it was dark, but all the others were here at dusk. Ham was here after the murder, if your story is true and you locked the door before going. Before that, Jaket saw Sir Gilbert here. Sir Gilbert left without entering the hall. But you were here.’
‘He threatened me, sir, what could I do?’ she said, throwing caution to the winds and falling to her knees at his feet. ‘He wanted me to leave Adam and live with him, wanted me without paying. I couldn’t do that! I was bound to Adam by my vows. I had to draw my knife in defence!’
‘He thought you loved him. He thought you would willingly agree to sleep with him for free. And you stabbed him to death.’
‘He was killed because I didn’t pay for my armour?’ Sir Gilbert said, shocked.
‘Edith needed the cash. He made his use of her, but then failed to reimburse her. In a rage, she lashed out with her little dagger.’
Sir Gilbert glanced at her belt and saw her delicate knife. ‘Which is too short to penetrate both sides of his body.’
‘But long enough to puncture his heart,’ Baldwin agreed.
Sir Gilbert motioned to the clerk at his side. ‘Record that the woman Edith has confessed her guilt.’
Edith stood up and allowed herself to be gripped by Tanner. B
aldwin took her dagger and studied it. ‘Blood,’ he said, tossing it to Sir Gilbert.
‘I do not understand how you decided that it was her and not one of the other people,’ Sir Gilbert said, pouring wine.
Having completed the public aspects of the inquiry, now the two sat at the table once more, having supervised the removal of the body, while the clerk took an inventory of the dead man’s belongings.
‘It did not make sense to me,’ Baldwin explained. ‘Why should any of his neighbours suddenly decide to kill him? Surely there must be a striking event which gave someone cause to murder him yesterday?’
‘The pig?’
‘I thought of that, but Humphrey had taken his pig. You can be assured that Humphrey would not have let Ham get too close to him. If Ham had been there, Humphrey would have had defensive wounds on his hands and arms, as he would if it was Jaket or Adam. He would be on his guard with any of them. As he would have been with you. Especially since you had refused to pay him. No, that did not seem credible. But the thought led me to think that of all people, a man is at his most defenceless with women. The argument with you about his woman left him furious, and perhaps he was more determined than ever to rescue her from the degrading life of a whore.’
‘And she turned upon him.’
‘How else would a whore respond? He had tried to persuade her of his love as soon as you left – when Ham came, it was still dusk, and Humphrey was already dead, so he had had no time to bed her. But she assumed he was trying to avoid paying her. In a rage, she stabbed. Maybe she only meant to hurt him, to show that she was not so foolish as to be taken in.’
‘Why did she leave her kerchief behind?’
‘Now you test me,’ Baldwin said. ‘It was beside the bed, so I think she agreed to let him keep it as a memento some time ago. Perhaps she thought it would be a good way to keep her client bound to her. He would have something to remember her by, even when she was not with him.’
‘Why did she lock the door and go through that charade of leaving the forge open?’
‘Panic. Her first instinct was to bolt, but then she thought that anyone could walk in, and too many knew she had been there. Better if she leave the body hidden for a while.’
For the Love of Old Bones - and other stories (Templar Series) Page 7