The King's Corrodian (31 page)

Brother Euan, tackled in the infirmary, had been readily persuaded to take part, once he had accepted that he was not required to move his patient.

‘Indeed, it’s better he stays where he is,’ Gil emphasised. ‘We want to convince the—’ he paused, selecting a word.

‘Killer,’ said Brother Euan, with a most un-Ersche directness.

‘Aye. We want him to believe that Faither Henry will wake the morn and be able to talk, and that he’s sleeping in the guest hall the night, untended, save that you will be going in and out, because Faither James is so near his end it’s better he has absolute quiet.’

‘Och, no, that is a nonsense,’ said Brother Euan, ‘though I think they hear more than we can tell, and feel touch too, the dying.’

‘I ken it’s nonsense,’ Gil persisted. ‘Just so the killer believes it.’

‘I canny be telling folk that,’ Brother Euan said. ‘They would never be believing me.’

‘No need, Euan.’ Prior Boyd took a hand in the discussion. ‘I’ll announce it at supper, that all are to stay away from the guest hall and to be quiet passing it, and Brother Dickon can spread the word that Henry is there. All you’ll ha to do is cross the courtyard once or twice in the night, go into the guest hall, wait there long enough to be convincing and then come back here.’

‘Oh, I see!’ said Brother Euan, suddenly understanding. ‘You wish to – och, yes, that is easy done. I will help all I can.’

‘Thank you, brother,’ said the Prior. ‘How is Faither James? How long has he—?’

Brother Euan shrugged. ‘A few hours? A day or two? No longer, I should say.’

Shifting his feet in the dark to ease stiffening muscles, careful to make no noise, Gil hoped now that Father James would hang onto life until this matter was dealt with. The passing-bell and the resulting commotion would not be helpful additions to his plan.

It had been more trouble to persuade his own men the scheme would work, that they would not have a wakeful night to no purpose, and Alys’s reaction had been disapproving too, though he suspected that was because there was no place for her in it.

Why had she come back to the Blackfriars so late? She was in a strange mood, a mixture of triumph, almost elation, and the tearstained resolute behaviour he associated now with her hearing that another neighbour was pregnant, though he thought she knew nobody in Perth likely to have such news. They had been unable to discuss her day, though she had had time to tell him that she had found what might have happened to Leonard Pollock, and to show him the contents of the cloth-wrapped basin she had borne back as if it was an origin al copy of Aristotle, and also to warn him that Sir Silvester Rattray would call tomorrow.

Not too early, I hope, he thought, and eased his pos ition again. And what was that in the basin? It did appear uncommonly like what they had swept up in Pollock’s inner chamber, but after letting him look briefly she had wrapped the fragments up again, stowed the bundle in a travelling kist out of the dog’s reach, and retired to their bedchamber with Jennet, leaving him to set the watch.

‘What time is it, maister, d’you think?’ Tam breathed, his voice carefully pitched now to carry no further than Gil’s ears.

‘Near midnight?’ he guessed.

They were not in complete darkness. The door to one of the lesser chambers, the easiest to reach when one stepped into the hall, stood ajar, and a light burned within as if the sick man slept there. Gil and Tam lurked in the shadows of the hall, within sight of both doors; Dandy and, at his own insistence, Nory, were in the lit chamber. Euan had been set to guard Brother Euan and the infirmary, just in case their trap was ignored. Gil was torn between the hope that this would be unnecessary and the fear that one man was not enough protection. No doubt Brother Euan can fight, he thought. Two determined Erschemen ought to withstand an army.

Brother Euan had made one trip across the courtyard already. He had done it very well, pacing across the wide space with his small lantern, quite as if he was on the errand he pretended, staying in the lit chamber for five minutes or so and emerging with a blessing which sounded genuine and heartfelt.

The gate from the slype creaked, and Tam drew a sudden sharp breath.

‘Aye,’ Gil answered, on the edge of sound.

Quiet, cautious footsteps approached across the courtyard. Gil straightened up, flexed his legs, settled the leather doublet in place, made certain he could reach his dagger. A hand brushed the outside of the great door, the latch clinked. The door creaked open slowly, and against the slightly lighter sky beyond it a head moved, a shadowy figure slipped into the hall and made for the lit doorway. A second figure followed it, turned to close the door quietly—

Two of them?

As both figures were outlined against the candlelight, Gil shouted, ‘Get them! Tam, you get the left one!’ he added, springing forward. There was a squawk of alarm, both intruders whirled, one putting his fists up in a very businesslike way, the other lifting a dark bundle which was certainly not a knife.
Cloak
, Gil thought, dodging sideways to come in behind the elbow, grab the arm and carry the movement on upwards. The swathe of fabric unrolled and entangled his opponent. There was a scuffle of feet as the two men in hiding emerged to join in, making for Tam. Gil let go the arm he held, shifted his grip to put a forearm across the man’s throat, and dug his thumbnail into the folds of wool where he judged the small of the back might be.

‘Quiet now,’ he said. ‘Quietly.’

The other man was putting up more of a fight. Someone had already fallen back, blowing and gasping from a kick in the belly, and a handy blow produced a curse from Tam. At his words, Gil’s captive stood very still.

‘Maister Cunningham?’ he said, in muffled tones, under the blanket. ‘Is that you, maister?’

‘It is,’ Gil agreed, close to his ear.

‘Let me go, sir. It’s Sandy Munt. Me and Patey came to guard Faither Henry. Patey!’ he said, more loudly. ‘Patey, it’s Maister Cunningham’s men. It’s all right!’

‘All right, is it!’ Patey Simpson leaned sideways from a swinging fist and backed against the wall, hands up, the sleeves of his habit pale in the dimness. ‘All right, all right,
pax
, I’ve stopped. We’ve no weapons, maisters. You can search us, we’ve no knife on us, neither o us.’

‘You came to guard Faither Henry?’ Gil repeated, letting go of Munt. ‘Who else kens? Who did you tell?’

‘Nobody,’ said Munt, struggling out of the folds of cloth. ‘We reckoned two was enough.’ Nory emerged from the small chamber again, bearing the candle in its candlestick, and in the increased light both young men looked embarrassed. ‘Some guards we’d ha been, if you could surprise us like that, but I never thought o you being involved.’

‘Nor me neither,’ agreed Simpson, sucking his knuckles, allowing Tam to check his person for concealed weapons. ‘How is he – Faither Henry?’

‘Well, so far as I ken. Asleep. Brother Euan’s happy enough wi him for now, though it’s to be seen how he is when he wakes.’

‘Can we see him?’ Munt asked. Then, after a moment’s thought, ‘He’s no here, is he? Is it a trap, and we’ve sprung it?’

‘Keep your voice down.’ Gil gestured at the doorway beside them. ‘Come in here. Let’s get that light away from the windows. Aye, it’s a trap, and though you’ve sprung it, we could say it’s worked well. Dandy, are you hurt, man?’ He perched on the end of the empty bed, peering at the groom in the light.

‘I’ll live,’ said Dandy, dabbing at his nose with a sleeve. ‘You’ve a wechty nieve, man, for a religious.’

‘I’ve brothers,’ said Simpson briefly. ‘What can we best do, maister? We’d planned,’ he looked at Munt, ‘we’d planned to go into Matins, rather than be sought the way we all sought for, well, for Brother Thomas and for Faither Henry.’

‘We thought, if we waited by the slype, we could slip in at the back o the procession,’ supplied Munt. ‘They’d likely just think we’d been longer getting our boots on.’

Gil, with longer experience of the omniscience of those who dealt with the young, doubted this, but did not comment, saying only, ‘If you stay, you’ll need to keep quiet.’

In fact, he was not convinced the trap would catch anyone else this night. The killer need not have seen these two stealing about the cloister to be wary; anything or anyone out of place could cause him to think twice, to abandon his intentions.

‘What did Faither Prior give out at supper?’ he asked quietly, over the assurances of silence and stillness. The two looked at each other again.

‘About Faither Henry?’ said Munt. ‘That he’s improving, that Brother Euan thinks he may be able to speak the morn, that he’s to lie here the night. Was any o that true, maister? He’s – he’s – he’s been out o’t a long time, is he ever to waken?’

‘Certainly that he’s improving,’ Gil said. ‘The long sleep’s deliberate treatment for the head wound. I’ve met it afore, and my wife’s read o such things.’

‘Ah,’ said Munt, relief colouring his tone.

‘I’m sorry, maister, if we’ve owerset your plans,’ said Simpson, accepting the folded blanket from Nory. ‘It seemed like a good idea, that we cam down to keep watch by our teacher, but I see now it’s no so clever at all. Thanks, man,’ he added to Nory, who nodded and slipped out into the dark hall again.

‘If we hadny been here,’ said Gil, ‘it would ha been a right good idea, and you’d no way to know my plans.’ He got to his feet. ‘You two bide here wi Dandy, Nory can come out in the hall—’

‘Maister!’ It was Tam, in a hissing whisper. ‘Maister, can you come out here? Something’s afoot,’ he added as Gil hastened to join him. ‘Listen?’

There were raised voices, somewhere outside, a confused shouting. Gil made out panicky cries of ‘Murder! Who’s dead?’

‘Tam, wi me!’ he said sharply, stepping to the door. ‘Dandy, bring a light and follow us. Nory, you stay here wi the lads. The women are still in their chamber.’

Out in the courtyard it was much easier to find the direction of the shouting, which was definitely coming from somewhere in the cloister. Gil made his way cautiously through the slype, dagger in hand, Tam at his back, and peered out into the open space beyond. The raised voices were over to his right, towards the day stair, where a group of cloaked Dominicans were arguing fiercely, lantern-light catching white sleeves. It was not clear what was happening. Gil, relaxing a little, moved round the walkway towards them, Tam still behind him, and Dandy caught them up with a handful of lanterns just as they reached the group.

‘Nobody passed me!’ Brother Martin was saying. ‘He never went that way, any road!’

‘Nor into the kirk,’ said someone else. ‘I’d swear to it, that door makes sic a noise.’

‘What’s amiss?’ Gil asked. ‘We heard you in the guest hall. Is someone hurt?’

‘Maister Cunningham!’ It was one of the novices. Taking a lantern from Dandy, Gil held it up, and recognised Mureson. ‘Oh, maister, we’ve seen the murderer! Adam and me, we saw him just the now!’

‘They did!’ agreed Brother Martin, and two more men agreed with him. Beside Mureson, Adam Calder was shivering, his teeth chattering, whether in shock or with the cold was not clear, for he was not wearing his cloak.

‘I saw him,’ he said, nodding eagerly. ‘I cam out the privy and there he was in front o me, all in shadow in one o our habits, and I yelled and he ran. That way,’ he gestured along past the Chapter House and the Prior’s study.

‘Did you see him?’ Gil asked Mureson.

‘We should hunt for him,’ said someone. ‘He must be in the kirk.’

‘I tell you he’s not,’ said someone else.

‘What, hunt for a madman wi a knife? In the dark?’

‘I was right behind Adam,’ said Mureson. ‘It was him got the bigger fright, but I near— I louped like a lassie when he yelled.’ His voice trembled, though he was not shivering. ‘Dear God, I think I’ll go to the Charterhouse the morn.’

‘Did either of you recognise him?’ Gil asked.

‘If we all go thegither we’ll be safe enough.’

‘N-no, I didny get a sight – it was all so quick!’ Calder’s teeth were chattering again.

‘You want torches for that,’ Tam said to the incipient search-party. ‘You aye need torches for a search like that.’

‘Will you come wi us, maister?’ someone asked.

‘I will not,’ said Gil. ‘If the fellow has any sense, he’s hastened up the night stair and he’s back in his bed and warm by now, and I’d advise all you gentlemen to do the same.’

‘Sound advice, Maister Cunningham,’ said the Prior, appearing behind Brother Martin. The young man yelped in alarm, and staggered back against his neighbour. His ghostly father glanced at him, than surveyed the rest of the group by the light of his small lantern. ‘What is this unseemly assembly about?’ he demanded from behind the light. ‘Why are so many of our community out their beds at this hour, making so much noise when you are supposed to be observing a strict silence?’ There was some shuffling, and a general murmur of apology and requests for forgiveness. ‘Brother Martin, can you explain?’

‘Brother Adam and Brother Sandy saw the murderer, Faither,’ supplied Brother Martin. ‘And the rest o us came down when we heard them yelling. We were just going to hunt for him when you—’

‘He went that way,’ said someone else.

‘He must be in the kirk, there’s naught else there!’

‘There’s the night stair, like Maister Cunningham said.’

‘The more talk there is the now,’ said Boyd, raising his voice a little, ‘the longer will the imposition of silence last.’

A silence fell immediately, into which Calder said, ‘But Faither, I was face to face wi him!’

‘Did you see him too, Brother Sandy?’ asked the Prior.

‘I was just behind Adam when he – no, I …’ Mureson tailed off.

‘Very well. You and Brother Adam, come wi me, and the rest o you, go back to your beds, and try to sleep between now and Matins. Unless anyone else feels he has anything to add?’ he finished, in a chilly tone which was far from encouraging.

‘Should we no hunt for him?’ said someone from the shadows. ‘He must be somewhere about!’ Several voices agreed with him.

‘As Maister Cunningham has said,’ the Prior pronounced over the objections, ‘the fugitive is likely back in his bed by now and getting warm. You’ll all do the same, if you please. Maister Cunningham, do you wish to question these two?’