The Stannaries were fiercely protective of their people. Elias knew he must be careful responding to the Bailiff’s questions. He waited, chewing his lip. It wasn’t his fault he was the only man who admitted to finding the body of the girl. Nothing to do with him, whoever had killed her. Nothing at all. But he’d be the man who was fined first and hardest, just because he’d stumbled over her corpse.
‘You’re Elias? I am Bailiff Puttock of Lydford.’
Simon wasn’t the sort of man to make Elias feel at his ease. He loomed over the peasant, while Hugh wandered idly around behind Elias, making him wonder whether he was about to be arrested. ‘Yes, sir, but I’ve done nothing, I just found the bodies, that’s all. I can’t help that.’
The knight was at the Bailiff’s side now, two evil-looking watchmen behind him. One glowered at him as though suspecting Elias of raping his wife. The other looked bored stiff. The two were so incongruous together that Elias found himself staring at them. Baldwin’s voice made him jump. He had all but forgotten the Keeper.
‘No, Elias,’ said Baldwin gently, ‘you are not held to be at fault. Nor shall you be if you tell us the truth. Now: the body you found up on the moors, the body of this miner – are you
sure
he was dead?’
Elias ducked his head, confused by the question. ‘His neck was broken, and his hand had been hacked off, like someone had gone berserk… Have you seen a man survive something like that?’
‘I think we may safely conclude that he was dead,’ Baldwin grunted. ‘Did you recognise him? Piers tells us it was probably a man called Wylkyn. Is that so?’
‘Yes. I’d seen him often enough. Used to be a servant at the castle – back in the days of Sir Richard, that was.’
‘Is that why you were asked to find him?’ Baldwin asked suddenly, cutting into his speech.
‘Asked to…?’
‘Don’t pretend to be stupid. Just tell me quickly:
who
told you where to find that body?’
Elias stared dumbly at the ground. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Oh, I reckon you do,’ Simon said. ‘Come on – how much were you paid?’
‘Nothing.’
Baldwin leaned down. ‘Elias, we can ask you here, and you can answer, or we can have you taken to Sir Ralph’s cell and leave you there until you choose to respond. Of course, if you refuse, we can have you taken to Exeter to answer to the Justices there in the county court. It is up to you.’
‘Which will it be?’ Simon rasped.
Elias was loath to answer. He didn’t know what to do, where to look, so he kept his head down, staring at their feet while he tried to think of an answer that would be safe, that would allow him some room for escape. It was a huge relief when he recognised the voice of Piers the Reeve.
‘Master, Sir Baldwin, I am glad you found our First Finder. Elias will help you.’
Elias shot him a look of hatred. He had spoken to Piers as a friend, as a neighbour and member of the same
Frankpledge
. Under the unwritten but perfectly comprehended rules of the vill, his words about Sir Ralph should have remained secret, but Piers’s tone gave him little hope that the Reeve would either leave him in peace or support him.
His feelings were plain, and when Piers glanced at him, he all but winced to see Elias’s face, but nothing would change his mind. Ever since he had walked with Flora towards the mill and learned that Esmon had tried to rape her, he had grown more determined to see Esmon pay for his crimes. ‘Elias may not know that Wylkyn’s body has disappeared, though.’
The old peasant stared at Piers dumbly. ‘Wylkyn’s gone?’
‘Somebody scared the shit out of my son last night,’ Piers nodded. ‘Took the body – we don’t know where. With all the rain, there’s little chance of tracking it down now, either.’
‘Elias,’ Baldwin said, ‘we don’t care about your role in reporting the body. The only point that concerns us is finding the body again for the Coroner. You understand? Otherwise the entire vill will be fined for concealing a murdered man.’
‘It was Osbert told me about him. Osbert was walking out that way and heard a fight or something, and when he carried on, he saw a body lying in the gulley near the wall there. So he came back here in a hurry and asked me to report it. See, they can’t fine me again – but it wouldn’t have been kind to Osbert to have that as well as poor Mary hanging over him.’
‘Poor Mary?’ Baldwin enquired. ‘What was she to him?’
‘Everyone knew Os adored her,’ Elias said shortly. ‘We hoped he’d pluck up courage and ask for her hand, but he never did. And she was a bit flighty. Didn’t want one of the dull-wits from round here, she used to say.’
‘Osbert?’ Simon mused. ‘Is that the lad who came to fetch me?’
Elias nodded.
‘Could this Os have raped and killed her in frustration, if he was so keen to possess her?’ Baldwin wondered.
‘We all know who killed Mary,’ Elias said gruffly. ‘It was that priest, Mark.’
‘You were there when the girl died, weren’t you?’ Simon asked.
‘Yes. Ploughing.’
His voice was toneless. Baldwin spoke softly, soothingly. ‘Friend, all we want is to find out who could have done these terrible things, that is all. Could you tell us anything you saw or heard that day?’
Elias told them again. He had repeated his tale so often in the last few days, it sprang to his mind as though he was watching the scene again even now.
‘It was quite a clear day,’ he began with a sigh. ‘I’d got up to the edge of the field, and the first few times all I could hear was the chopping of wood from hedge-laying on the other side of the lane. That was Osbert.’
‘I see. Right, continue!’
‘One time, when I came up to the top of the field, I heard voices. I knew them both. I’ve heard the priest often enough, and I’ve known Mary all her life. Didn’t think anything of it – why should I? The priest can talk to whoever he wants, can’t he?’
‘You’re sure you didn’t stop and listen a while?’ Simon said suspiciously.
Elias gazed at him scornfully. ‘You think they wouldn’t notice a plough suddenly stopping? They wouldn’t notice if Ben stopped urging the team on, if I stopped shouting, if the blade in the soil went quiet?’
‘Who’s this Ben?’ Simon asked.
‘Mary’s brother.’
‘So if he heard something odd, he’d have sung out by now,’ Simon said.
Elias was doubtful. ‘Perhaps. Ben never liked her much. Not recently, anyway.’
‘His own sister?’ Baldwin said.
‘No,’ Elias said, glancing at Piers for confirmation.
‘It’s true, Sir Baldwin,’ he said reluctantly. ‘There were rumours.’
‘There are always rumours. What were they?’
‘That Ben tried to molest his own sister.’
Baldwin felt as though he was closer to understanding the undercurrents of the vill. ‘You mean he tried to sleep with Mary?’
‘Yes. And she rejected him. It is only rumour,’ he added miserably.
‘Where did it originate, I wonder?’
‘With the young lads of the vill, I think. For my part I find it hard to believe, because it is so unnatural for a brother to lie with his sister, yet…’
‘Yet?’
‘Mary was a very pretty child. All the men would watch her when she passed by. And during a long, cold winter, a boy could seek comfort and solace in the arms of his sister. Who knows? Perhaps one thing led to another. And then he bragged about it with his friends, perhaps. I have heard of such things before.’
‘So have I,’ said Baldwin. Unnatural though such behaviour was, it was not unknown.
He gave Elias a nod. ‘Continue.’
‘That was all. When I was done, I sent the boy to open the gate, and I went out after the team. He stayed there to shut the gate while I carried on back towards the barton…’
‘Where would this be?’ Baldwin asked smoothly.
‘Down at the bottom of Deave Lane, by the ford at the brook.’
‘Go on.’
‘When we got along the road a ways, we saw her. Down on the ground by the hedge.’
‘Which side of the lane?’
‘On my right.’
‘So the opposite side of the road from your ploughing?’
‘Yes. She was there, and there was blood all about her… you know. Her legs were wide enough to see where it all came from.’
‘You noticed her instantly, so I assume anyone else passing there must have seen her?’
‘Oh, yes. No one could have missed that sight.’
‘You saw no sign of the priest at this stage?’
‘No, he’d been long gone, I’d reckon.’
Simon sniffed. ‘You say there were rumours about this Ben. Did he leave the field at any time?’
Elias scuffed a boot in the dirt. ‘Not that I remember.’
Baldwin eyed him. There was a strangeness about him, as though Elias thought this was hardly worth his consideration. Perhaps he was merely convinced of the priest’s guilt, he thought.
‘So you did… what?’
‘I didn’t want Ben to see his sister like that, so I sent the boy down to the barton to call for help, while I stood there with the oxen. They grazed on the stuff at the side of the road.’
‘What of the man laying the hedge… Osbert, you said?’ Baldwin asked, glancing at Piers.
‘He was gone by then, but he’d not have done anything to hurt her.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he loved her, Sir Baldwin. Everyone knew that. He was after her like a tom cat after his queen.’
‘Sometimes I have found that those who love the strongest are also those who are swiftest to kill in jealousy,’ Baldwin commented. Something made him glance up at Piers. The Reeve was staring fixedly at Elias. The peasant was clearly feeling more comfortable, his head was up again, and he had stopped staring at Baldwin’s boots.
‘Tell me, what else did you see that day, Elias?’ he asked suavely.
‘Nothing.’
‘There was something that made you very fearful for your own safety, wasn’t there? Did you see the murderer – is that it?’
‘I didn’t see no murder,’ Elias said doggedly, his head dropping again.
‘But you saw something else, didn’t you? Or was it some
one
else? Yes, that is it, is it not? You saw someone riding past, before you saw her body. Did that someone ask you to report the body so that they could make good their own escape?’
‘No, nothing like that.’
‘Then what? Come along, man – speak!’ Baldwin burst out, and then he felt Simon’s hand on his arm. The realisation hit him like a blow as he saw Elias’s eyes flicker up at the castle walls behind them.
That
was why he thought Ben was irrelevant! There was genuine fear in his face, as though he was worried that Sir Ralph himself might have heard the demand and might seek to punish the man who spoke and gave away secrets to a foreign Keeper.
‘Nothing,’ Elias said, his head drooping once more.
‘It was Esmon, was it?’ Baldwin said.
‘I didn’t see
him
!’ Elias stated.
There was no doubting the sincerity of his voice. ‘Are you sure? Then it was Sir Ralph.’
Elias hunched his shoulders as though hiding his head. ‘I didn’t say that.’
‘I am Keeper of the King’s Peace. Do you deny you saw Sir Ralph?’ Baldwin demanded. ‘If I learn you have lied to me, Elias, I can have you gaoled in Exeter until you decide to answer. Do you want that?’
‘I have to choose that or saying my master’s a murderer, do I?’
‘All you need do is speak the truth!’
‘It was him,’ Elias sighed. ‘I saw Sir Ralph ride past, but not Esmon.’
Simon was watching a group leaving the castle’s gate. Two men caught his eye. One was Osbert, the other a younger lad with dark eyes who glanced in Simon’s direction and then looked away quickly, as though anxious not to attract attention to himself. ‘Who’s that with Osbert?’
‘Ben, Mary’s brother.’
‘Hugh, fetch them here,’ Simon said and, grunting rebelliously, Hugh made his way to them. Soon they were standing before Simon and Baldwin, Osbert plainly worried, while Ben made a show of being unconcerned, but they stood uncomfortably, some little distance apart, as though disliking the fact that they were together.
Simon considered them a long moment, but then he noticed a bush tied over the doorway of a house further up the road, a little way from the castle, and he glanced at Baldwin. ‘Let’s get away from this castle. It’s giving me the feeling we’re constantly being watched.’
Chapter Twenty
It was only a cheap ale-house. The farmer’s wife made a few pennies by selling ale to passers-by when she had a little too much brewed. It wasn’t the best ale Simon had ever tried, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either, and he sat on a table outside her doorway, Baldwin beside him with his arms crossed, while they questioned the men.
‘Osbert. We’ve heard that you found Wylkyn’s body. Why did you hide that fact?’
Os shot Elias a look, but the older peasant was staring at the bush over the door, and Os had to resort to cursing him inwardly. ‘I… I knew Elias had already found one body. It made sense to ask him to look for Wylkyn as well.’
‘To evade your fines,’ Baldwin observed. ‘Never mind that for now. When the Coroner arrives, perhaps we can give him the facts and save your money for you. In the meantime, what can you tell us about Wylkyn’s body?’
‘He’d been badly cut about. I heard his screams and went up there, but then I saw that it was quite a band of Esmon’s men, and didn’t get involved. I’d just have got killed. Later, when they’d gone off with the carts to get them to pay their tolls, I looked over the place and found Wylkyn.’
‘Why would Esmon’s men have gone there?’
Osbert shrugged. With Mary’s death, life meant little to him any more, and if he could help put the noose about Esmon’s neck, so much the better. Everyone feared him and his men-at-arms after their robberies and rapings. ‘To rob them? They’ve often raided travellers, demanding tolls where none are due. That’s what they did the other day; they killed Wylkyn, but took all the rest to the castle. I suppose they went through all the goods and stole what they wanted.’