Authors: Stephen Wheeler
THE FIRST-FINDER
Hamo’s
fate now rested with the coroner. I have to admit to being a little nervous of this man. His office is a new one dating back less than a decade to the time when Archbishop Hubert Walter was Chief Justiciar of England and King Richard was imprisoned in Trifels Castle by the German Emperor. It was at the archbishop’s instigation that the system was set up in order to curb the power of the sheriffs who had an even more fearsome reputation for extortion and embezzlement then than they do now. I would like be able to say that the archbishop’s motives were to defend the ordinary peasant against the power of the sheriffs, but I fear it was more to recover money destined for King Richard’s ransom that had been disappearing into the sheriffs’ purses.
Still, the system seems to have survived, mostly I suppose because both King Richard and King John saw its financial advantages. The way it operates is like this: every county in the realm has three coroners appointed by the Crown whose function it is to examine cases of violent or unexplained death - and, most importantly, to ensure the king gets his share of any confiscated chattels of a convicted felon. Unfortunately that predisposes the coroners to find cases proven since the greater the number of convictions the more money the king earns. But it depends largely on the integrity of the man occupying the coroner’s chair. In Suffolk the present chief coroner is an old soldier who last saw action with King Richard in the Holy Land a decade ago and who goes by the singularly unfortunate name of Sir Henry de’Ath. When he arrives Sir Henry will hear all the evidence in Hamo’s case and then decide whether to refer it on to the royal justices in London for trial. However, if he thinks the weight of evidence is sufficient he could simply order Hamo’s execution himself. That was our greatest fear and why it was vital we wasted no time in pursuing our goal of finding Fidele’s true murderer, preferably before the coroner arrives.
Early next morning, therefore, I went over to Heathenmans Street with the intention of trying yet again to persuade Joseph to reveal the killer’s identity. I could understand his reticence. Being a Jew his motives would always be regarded with suspicion. On the other hand if he didn’t speak out he could be the next victim. I’d already suspected that something of the sort was behind the attack on Abbot Eustache in Lakenheath. If true, that may be the killer’s first mistake for it further exonerates Hamo who wasn’t among the mob that descended on Lakenheath that day - which meant, of course, that the killer was.
When I got to Heathenmans Street I was shocked to find that my worst fears had already been realised. Sometime in the night a fire had been started in the shop entrance. Chrétien was still sweeping up the mess as I arrived.
‘Dear God, what’s happened here?’ I said stepping over bits of fallen burnt plaster.
‘It was only a small fire, master, quickly put out.’
‘There’s no such thing as a small fire, Chrétien. Small fires quickly turn into big fires and pretty soon half the town is ablaze. How did it happen? Did you see?’
‘I was asleep in the upstairs chamber. A neighbour’s dog raised the alarm.’
‘Lucky for you it did,’ I said and added grudgingly: ‘Are you injured?’
‘Only my foot.’
‘From the fire?’
‘From running down the stairs. I stubbed my toe.’
I frowned at him. ‘This is no time for humour, Chrétien. You could have been badly burned. This looks deliberate to me. The killer obviously thinks you know his identity.’
‘You’re assuming the fire and the murder are connected.’
‘Well of course I am. What other explanation can there be?’
‘Fires are common enough hazards in shops, master - just as they are in abbeys,’ he smiled.
‘If you’re referring to the fire that nearly destroyed the shrine three years ago, that was an accident. Someone left a candle burning. And we had the advantage of the saint watching over us. Edmund raised the alarm himself in a dream and was never in any real danger.’ I looked about. ‘This fire was started in the doorway, yes?’
He nodded.
‘Well there you are then. It was clearly not an accident but a deliberate warning.’
‘Warning of what?’
I rolled my eyes with exasperation. ‘Of worse to come, of course. God in heaven, Chrétien, for an apothecary’s assistant you’re not very bright. The murderer is warning you what will happen if you disclose his name. So out with it. Who was it?’
‘If it’s a warning not to tell, master, then perhaps I shouldn’t.’
‘Well not
me
you fool, you can tell
me
, I didn’t mean
me
.’
He shrugged. ‘As I’ve said before, master, I don’t know the name.’
‘I don’t believe you. And more to the point, the murderer clearly doesn’t either, hence all this.’
But he just gave me his enigmatic smile and shrugged.
‘Ach, you’re as bad as Joseph. He’s still away, I take it?’
‘Yes master.’
‘And you don’t know where he is.’
‘No master.’
‘Would you tell me if you did?’
‘No master.’
‘Well if you do happen to speak to him tell him from me that time is running out. The coroner will be here any day now and unless we can come up with an alternative for Fidele’s murderer Hamo is the only credible suspect. He will hang, do you understand? Tell him that. Also that Abbot Eustache is intent on pressing his case hard against Hamo and he can be very persuasive.’
‘I am sure Joseph is already aware of the permutations, master, but I will see he gets your message - if I see him.’
‘Do that, and while you’re about it put a barrier against that entrance. I don’t want to come here in a day or two and find a blackened corpse.’
‘Your concern for my welfare is most gratifying master, but I doubt if the murderer will try the same trick again.’
‘No, you’re right. Something a little more permanent next time - like a dagger under the ribcage.’
They are maddening the pair of them. But at least Chrétien managed to dowse the flames before they did too much damage. It was only a small fire and I doubt whether his life was ever in much danger. But I couldn’t believe it was accidental. Joseph wouldn’t permit naked flames to burn unattended in doorways. No, the fire had to be deliberate. Of course it could have been started by someone else and have nothing to do with the murder. But it was one hell of a coincidence if it was. I told Jocellus and Jocelin all this when I met up with them later.
‘D-did the boy give you the murderer’s name?’ asked Jocelin.
‘He claims he doesn’t know it.’
‘And you b-believe him?’
‘Oddly enough I think I do. I know the way Joseph’s mind works. He will have calculated that keeping Chrétien in ignorance was his best shield. What he doesn’t know he can’t tell.’
‘But the k-killer won’t know that. If he thought Chrétien knew before he may t-try again.’
‘Try telling him that.’
‘You still think Joseph knows the name?’ said Jocellus. ‘In which case he is in danger as well. Where is he now?’
‘I’m guessing at my mother’s house in Ixworth. It’s where he usually goes when danger threatens. How did you get on with your former Cistercian brother?’
‘Oh, no help I’m afraid. He knows of the abbey at Fly and has heard of Eustache and his clerk. It seems they are quite a celebrated pair among the Cistercians. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell me much about Fidele other than his reputation for diligence - something that would endear him to the abbot.’
‘And bring him a good many enemies, I’d imagine,’ I nodded. ‘Which might explain why no-one is willing to come forward to testify.’
‘You th-think there are others who kn-know the killer’s identity?’ said Jocelin.
‘I don’t see how there can’t. The murder took place in the middle of the day in a busy Sunday market. Someone must have seen something. We just have to find that someone.’
‘Reeve Alwyn interviewed everyone in the vicinity and came up with nothing,’ said Jocellus.
‘I’ve a theory about that, too. Right from the start Hamo was assumed to be the murderer, therefore no-one was looking for anyone else. Maybe someone did see something but didn’t connect it.’
‘H-he ran away,’ said Jocelin. ‘Th-that’s what guilty men do.’
‘Exactly, which is why I think we should be talking to people again.’
‘Like who?’ said Jocellus. ‘There were so many. We don’t have time to interview them all.’
‘We can start with the first-finder - the woman who found the body. Any ideas who she was?’
Jocellus shrugged.
‘I th-think I might know,’ said Jocelin tentatively.
The back alleys and track-ways in the north of the town are among the poorest in Bury, the land in these parts being low-lying and close to the river. They are known as the bracklands and are as unsavoury as the name makes them sound. Jocelin’s family originated from here which was why he knew the woman who first found Fidele’s body. Alice Nevus she was called on account of the distinctive wine-coloured birthmark she had across one side of her face. Jocelin had known her from childhood, although he hadn’t spoken to her in all that time. The area he grew up in was barely half a mile’s walk from the abbey yet in all the years I’d known him I never knew him to visit his home once. He was a little reluctant to come with us on this occasion, too. I have often wondered if there was some history here that he found painful.
Alice Nevus’s house lay close to the town’s north gate not far from the town ditch. The air here is filled with disease-carrying miasmas emanating from the rotting filth, animal carcasses and decaying vegetation that gets dumped in the ditch. Small wonder Jocelin was anxious to escape it. Despite her birthmark Alice was a not unattractive woman in her fifth decade of life. She seemed very nervous when we arrived unwilling at first to let us across her threshold. I suppose having three monks suddenly appear uninvited at your door can be little intimidating. And we were in a hurry, which didn’t help. But we had to tread carefully. If we pressed her too hard she might clam up completely. She did eventually let us in and stood at the back of the room wringing her hands nervously.
‘I don’t want any trouble, brother.’
‘And we’ve not come to bring you any, sister,’ I smiled. ‘All we want is to ask you about the murder.’
‘I already told Reeve Alwyn everything I know.’
‘For which he was very grateful. But I’d like you to tell us, too. Nothing more than that. Begin with why you were at the market that day. Were you buying or selling?’
‘Selling. Beans - my own grown in my garden.
‘I’m sure they were. So, there you were in the marketplace selling your beans. Did you manage to sell many?’
She nodded. ‘Most.’
‘Good,’ I smiled. ‘I’m pleased to hear it. Then what?’
She took a deep breath. ‘You arrived with that foreign monk.’
‘Abbot Eustache.’
‘He started spouting about markets and devils.’
‘Which meant nothing to you. Of course not. You were trying to sell your beans. So what happened next?’
‘He got to arguing with the glove man. Then that other monk, the little one, jumped down from the market cross.’
I nodded. ‘Slow down, this is the important part, the part I want you to concentrate on. What happened with the little monk?’
‘Nothing.’
I frowned. ‘What do you mean “nothing”?’
‘He vanished.’
‘Vanished?’
‘I think she means he d-disappeared among the crowd - he was a dwarf after all,’ said Jocelin. ‘Is th-that what you mean, Alice? Be t-truthful now.’
She looked frightened. ‘Yes, that’s what I mean.’
‘All right,’ I said placing a restraining hand on Jocelin’s arm. ‘Fidele vanished into the crowd. But you must have seen what happened to him. How did you come to find him?’
‘He was just lying there with that bar through him.’
‘You didn’t see how the bar got into his chest? Or who put it there?’
‘You fainted, d-didn’t you?’ said Jocelin. ‘That’s what happened. T-tell the truth now, Alice.’
Alice’s eyes were beginning to fill with tears. She was clearly very frightened - mostly of Jocelin’s bullying. It was most unlike him to be so aggressive.
‘Before you fainted,’ I said to the woman. ‘Did you see anyone go near the little monk?’
‘No, brother.’
I sighed. ‘All right. Let’s go back a bit. You saw the little monk hit the glove-seller.’
‘No.’
I gawped. ‘You must have done. That’s the one thing everyone saw. Fidele whacked Hamo in the shin with the metal bar. Think carefully before you answer. I may not be the only one to ask. The coroner will soon be here. He won’t take kindly to being lied to.’
Her eyes started welling up again. ‘It was all I saw. And that’s the truth.’