A Wicked Deed (33 page)

‘But her nearest neighbour is Norys, and Norys killed her,’ said Michael. ‘And he killed her because she would not give him the alibi he needs to cover his murder of Unwin.’

‘But Mother Goodman saw Norys talking to Mistress Freeman outside the church, just as he claimed,’ Bartholomew pointed out.

‘True. But not many moments after, she saw Stoate chatting to her by the ford, and no Norys in sight. I told you Norys was our killer, and I was right. A little solid evidence might prove useful, though, because Tuddenham is convinced Tobias Eltisley killed Unwin.’

‘On what grounds?’ asked Bartholomew. He had quite forgotten the landlord’s predicament. ‘That Eltisley is a dangerous lunatic?’

‘Because Tuddenham’s man, Siric, found a bloody knife in Eltisley’s garden. Eltisley, not surprisingly, says it is not his, and that anyone might have thrown it there.’

‘And this is all the evidence Tuddenham has against Eltisley?’

Michael nodded. ‘You said you thought Tuddenham might start casting about for a scapegoat, if he could not deliver his promise and produce Unwin’s killer quickly: Eltisley is it. So, now we need to prove that Norys is our murderer, or Eltisley will pay for it, and I am certain he is innocent.’

‘At least Eltisley cannot endanger people’s lives with his inventions, if he is safely behind bars,’ said Bartholomew unsympathetically. ‘Tuddenham’s cellar is the best place for him.’

‘That is an uncharitable position to take, Matt. You will feel terrible about saying that if he hangs for Norys’s crime.’

Michael sighed. ‘He is already doing that, quite independently of me. He questioned everyone who lives on The Street yesterday, in a manner that can only be described as single-minded. I only hope we catch Norys before William decides to use more physical techniques.’

‘We should go to Mistress Freeman’s house,’ said Bartholomew, standing and stretching. ‘There might be some clue there regarding the identity of her killer.’

‘I have already checked,’ objected Michael. ‘We would do better to go to Norys’s cottage, and look for blood-drenched garments and something really incriminating-like Unwin’s relic.’

He stood and walked purposely towards the ford. Ducklings scattered in his path as he splashed across the stream and made his way to the pardoner’s home. Norys’s uncle was in his garden, hammering on a piece of leather. He glanced up as Michael loomed imperiously over the gate.

‘Have you found him?’ the tanner asked anxiously. ‘He has never left me for more than two nights in a row before.’

Michael pushed open the gate, and walked in. ‘We will find him soon. Meanwhile, perhaps I might look in your house, to see if I can find any evidence of where he might be.’

‘Such as what?’ asked the tanner, alarmed, and standing to block his way. ‘I cannot read, so he would not have left me a note, if that is what you mean.’

‘I have traced many missing people in Cambridge,’ said Michael, insinuating himself past the tanner and into the house. ‘I will just ensure there is not some vital clue you might have overlooked.’

‘But I am too busy to help you,’ squeaked the tanner desperately. ‘I must have this leather ready for Walter Wauncy’s new shoes by mid-morning, or there will be hell to pay.’

Michael looked backward and gave him a cunning smile. ‘No matter, Master Tanner. I will find what I am looking for much faster if you are not with me.’

Bartholomew felt sorry for the tanner, who was bewildered by Michael’s blustering presence. He gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and followed the monk into the cottage.

‘There is no need to terrify the poor man,’ he said in a low voice, so that the tanner would not hear. ‘He is clearly worried about his nephew, and you have no right to intimidate him like that.’

‘Do I not?’ demanded Michael, trying to disentangle himself from an over-friendly cat. ‘Eltisley’s life is at risk, and you are concerned about the feelings of a pardoner’s uncle? Damn these wretched animals! They are everywhere. God’s blood, Matt – that one bit me!’

A large tabby cat shot from under Michael’s foot and scampered out of the door. Another hissed, arching its back and revealing sharp, white teeth. Michael backed away and sneezed.

‘You look around,’ he said to Bartholomew. ‘These beasts do not seem to like me.’

‘I wonder why,’ muttered Bartholomew, picking his way into the room. It was difficult to search for anything under the furry bodies. Two cats wound their way round his legs while he shook the blankets on the bed and rifled through the room’s only chest.

‘Look at this,’ whispered Michael in sudden revulsion, looking into a strongbox that stood on one of the wall shelves. He pulled his new piece of linen from his scrip, and dabbed his nose on it while he rummaged through the box with his other hand. ‘These are his pardons!’

‘Leave them, Brother,’ warned Bartholomew, peering into the cooking pans one by one.

‘One for you, then,’ said Bartholomew. ‘There is nothing here, Brother. We should leave that poor tanner in peace.’

Michael made as if to demur, but there were few places in the single-roomed cottage where anything could be hidden, and even he had to admit they had searched it as well as they could. He sneezed once more, took a final look round and stalked out, closely followed by three yellow cats.

‘Have you finished?’ asked the tanner, hammering furiously and looking up as they passed. ‘Did you find anything that might help him? I wish he would come back; he knows I worry about him when he stays away more than a night or two, and this time he has been gone since Wednesday.’

‘Where does he sleep when he is in Ipswich?’ asked Michael. ‘A tavern?’ He managed to give the word an insalubrious feel, as though it were somehow sinful to be staying in such a place, regardless of the fact that he was thoroughly enjoying his own sojourn at the Half Moon.

‘He always stays at the Saracen’s Head,’ said the tanner nervously. ‘Are you thinking you might go there to see if he is all right? You must be concerned if you are considering that – you must think something dreadful has happened to him.’

‘No,’ said Bartholomew, to soothe him. ‘We have no intention of going to Ipswich. I am sure your nephew will arrive home safely soon.’

‘What is that?’ asked Michael suddenly, pointing at something. The tanner’s cottage was untidily thatched with reeds, and had a chimney in the middle to allow smoke from the cooking fire to seep out. Near the chimney was a bundle, almost hidden by the nettles that had sprouted all over the roof. The tanner peered at it, too, surprised by its presence.

‘I do not know what that is,’ he said, squinting at it with the narrowed eyes of a man whose long-distance vision is poor. ‘Perhaps my nephew put it there.’

‘Did he now?’ said Michael, snatching up a stick and trying to hook the bundle down. ‘Damn! I cannot reach. Matt, you will have to climb up and grab it.’

‘I will not,’ said Bartholomew, laughing at Michael’s audacity. ‘You do it.’

‘Would you have this poor tanner homeless because my weight has collapsed his roof?’ asked Michael with arched eyebrows. ‘You are lighter than me, and I will help you. Here.’

Michael formed a stirrup of his hands and, reluctantly, Bartholomew placed one foot in it, scrabbling at the roof as he was propelled upward faster than he had anticipated. He gained a handhold on one of the bands that held the thatch in place, and hauled himself up. The object of the precarious exercise was just out of his reach, and he began to ease himself toward it, almost losing his grip as a cat leapt on to the roof next to him. Eventually, the very tips of his fingers touched the bundle, and he leaned to the side as far as he could to try to dislodge it. It came loose at about the same time that the thatch band broke, precipitating Bartholomew, bundle and cat downward in a tangle of hands, legs, claws, dirty cloth and tail. The cat gave a tremendous yowl and shot back into the house. Bartholomew sat up, rubbing his elbow.

Michael’s attention was on the bundle, which had burst open when it hit the ground. Scattered under his triumphant gaze were a bloodstained shirt and hose, and Unwin’s purse, all wrapped in a long, dark cloak.

Alcote sat at the table near the window with his scrolls and deeds, while. Bartholomew and Horsey were employed in sorting through a large box of household accounts that Dame Eva had discovered in her chamber the previous day. None were relevant to the advowson – which was why Alcote was prepared to accept their help. Meanwhile, Michael stood over the tanner with Tuddenham; Deynman, not trusted with documents – even unimportant ones – was looking after the morose Cynric; and William was out questioning the remaining villagers.

When Siric had returned from Ipswich a second time without tracing Norys, Michael had decided that the only way forward was to question the tanner again, and had asked Tuddenham to arrest him, hoping that a night in Tuddenham’s cellars might frighten him into revealing his nephew’s whereabouts. Since William had declared such an interrogation could not take place on a Sunday – none too subtly implying that anyone who disagreed with him was in league with the Devil – the tanner had been left in peace until dragged from his bed at dawn on the Monday, interrupted in the very act of downing a cup of Eltisley’s black tonic to fortify him for a day with his leathers.

Bartholomew had gone with Hamon to fetch him to Wergen Hall, because he felt sorry for the little man and was sure he knew nothing of Norys’s disappearance or Unwin’s murder. He wanted to make sure that Hamon did not use more force than was necessary, although he need not have been concerned: Hamon had been hostile and angry, but not rough.

‘Anyone could have thrown that bundle on to our roof,’ the frightened tanner protested bleatingly, as Tuddenham paced in front of him.

‘Brother Michael tells me that it was cunningly concealed next to the chimney,’ said Tuddenham coldly. ‘I ask you again, Master Tanner, where is your nephew?’

The tanner was almost in tears. ‘Please believe me! I do not know where he is – he has been away since Wednesday, and no one in the village has seen him since.’

‘But you admit these bloody clothes and the murdered priest’s purse were on your roof?’

‘Of course I do!’ cried the tanner. ‘I was there when they were found. But they do not belong to me or my nephew. I have never seen them before. The cloak is not his – he is not very tall, and it would be too long for him.’

‘And what about Unwin’s purse?’ asked Michael, in a kinder tone than the one used by Tuddenham. ‘In it, he had some chrism and a few hairs from St Botolph’s beard wrapped in parchment. The chrism has been left – holy oil does not fetch much of a price unless you happen to know any witches or warlocks – but the relic is missing.’

‘I do not know where it is,’ whispered the tanner, swivelling to look at Michael. ‘Really, I do not. And my nephew would never steal a relic – it would earn him eternal damnation.’

‘He was prepared to ask around Ipswich market for a relic of St Botolph for me to take home as a souvenir,’ said Michael. ‘He was most obliging on that front.’

‘But obtaining a relic to sell to you is not the same as stealing one,’ said the tanner. ‘My nephew knows lots of merchants in Ipswich, and he is very good at finding people things they want. But he does not steal.’

‘And you have no idea where he might be?’ pressed Tuddenham. ‘You do not have him hidden away somewhere, waiting until all the fuss has died down so that you can enjoy the spoils of your wicked crimes at your leisure?’

‘I do not!’ cried the tanner, tears trickling down his leathery face. ‘My nephew has not been seen since he went to Ipswich. In fact, the last people to see him were these Cambridge men. Perhaps they killed him, and threw that bundle on to our roof so that Eltisley will be freed and they will not have to stay in the Dog instead of the Half Moon.’

Bartholomew wondered whether he and Michael really appeared to be the kind of men who would kill in order to reside in the tavern of their choice.

‘So, we had better release Eltisley, then,’ said Hamon, from where he leaned against the wall watching the scene in some disgust. ‘It is clear that this bloody knife Siric found in the landlord’s garden was tossed there by Norys as he ran from the scene of his crime.’

‘That is not clear at all,’ said Bartholomew. ‘There is no evidence to support such a conclusion.’

Hamon spat into the rushes. ‘Evidence! You scholars are not interested in justice, only in finding ways to weave and twist your way around the law.’

‘Accusing Norys of throwing the knife into Eltisley’s garden is not justice,’ said Bartholomew.

‘Matt,’ warned Michael. He turned to Tuddenham and Hamon, both of whom were looking angry at Bartholomew’s interruptions. ‘He is still shocked from being attacked in Barchester…