The King's Corrodian (32 page)

‘I’d be glad of the chance,’ Gil admitted. ‘In your study, sir? I’ll follow you. I want a look round first.’

Boyd peered at him in the lantern-light but did not question this. Instead he waited while the gathering dissolved, its members slipping away one by one with murmurs of, ‘
Mea culpa
, Faither,’ and when the last had gone, turned and paced off down the length of the cloister. The two novices followed obediently.

Gil watched until they vanished into the Prior’s study, and said, ‘Dandy, see us those lanterns over here. Something went down, something metal.’

‘Metal?’ Dandy obediently approached with the light. ‘Did they really see the madman, Maister Gil?’

‘Something like this?’ Tam’s booted toe nudged an object on the flagstones. Gil swooped on it.

‘Indeed! And look what we have.’

They stared at the knife in his hand. A wooden handle, a long narrow blade, its edge curved with much sharpening, the point like a needle.

‘So he was here,’ said Tam. ‘I thought they’d just managed to fright themselves, maybe telling stories or the like, and fancied they saw him.’

‘No,’ said Gil, turning the wicked thing. ‘He was here all right.’

Sending Dandy back to the guest hall, with instructions to make sure the two novices still there returned to the dorter, Gil followed the Prior to his study. Here, by the extravagant light of three candles, Boyd was questioning Mureson and Calder. All looked round as Gil entered, but he signed to his kinsman to continue and found himself a seat, prepared to listen quietly. Tam took up position by the wall, the image of a well-trained servant.

‘So you were leaving the necessarium,’ Boyd said, ‘when you encountered a brother wi a knife, is that what you’re saying, Adam?’

‘Not quite, Faither.’ Adam Calder stood in an attitude of humility, hands tucked in his sleeves, head bent. ‘I’d just got there, reached the door, when I saw him. He was coming at me wi his knife, all ready to cut my throat. It was Brother Sandy was leaving.’

‘I was just opening the door, Faither,’ agreed Mureson. He had adopted the same pose, but now raised his head and shuddered in recollection. ‘I – I was taking care my lantern didny blow out, and there was this great skelloch outside the door, and afore I could close it this shadow leaped past and I near jumped out my boots, and Brother Adam fell against the door. So I yelled out and all, wi the fright, and Adam says,
Did you see him
? and I says,
Who was it?
and then the others cam down to see what was amiss.’

‘I see,’ said the Prior. ‘So, Adam, you saw the man with the knife, let out a skelloch, and Brother Sandy came out of the necessarium in the same moment, and let out another.’

Mureson nodded, and shuddered again, but did not speak. Calder said, ‘Aye, Faither.’

‘And then what?’

‘He ran off along the cloister, Faither, like I said.’

‘Sandy, did you see the man at all?’

‘I only saw his shadow, Faither,’ said Mureson. ‘It was,’ he bit his lip, ‘it was like a giant’s shadow.
Magna atque terribilis
.’

Boyd looked at Gil.

‘Maister Cunningham? Do you have questions for these two?’

‘I do,’ Gil said. ‘Adam.’ Calder turned towards him, head still bent. ‘Look at me, Adam.’ Calder raised his head, keeping his eyes downcast. ‘No, look at me,’ Gil insisted. ‘This is no moment for custody of the gaze.’ He waited until Calder met his eye, rather tentatively, and went on, ‘You had just reached the door of the privy when you saw this figure, is that right?’

‘It is, maister.’

‘What did you see? Can you describe it?’

‘Well …’ Calder hesitated. ‘It was one o ours, maister, for he was wearing a habit, and coming at me wi his knife in his hand, all ready to cut my throat, so I yelled out, and Sandy heard me and yelled out and all, and the madman just pushed past me so I fell against the door, and ran off instead o—’

‘Could you identify him?’

Calder shook his head.

‘No, maister. It could ha been near any o us, save maybe Faither, or Faither John, or Faither Henry.’

‘Why none of those?’

‘Well.’ Calder looked blank for a moment, then expanded his statement: ‘Faither was there later, and Faither Henry’s lying sick, and Faither John’s got his sleeping draught and besides, he’s a kenspeckle figure wi’s bald head shining.’

‘I see,’ said Gil. ‘So none o those three, but any other. And the knife? What like was that?’

‘I never got a right look at it,’ said Calder regretfully, ‘just a common kitchen knife, I think, wi a narrow blade.’

‘How long was it?’

‘Maybe so long?’ Calder held his hands out, forefingers eight inches or so apart.

‘So you had got to the door of the privy, and saw this figure coming at you wi the knife,’ Gil said. Calder nodded. ‘Where from? Where was he?’

‘From,’ Calder swallowed, and licked his lips, ‘from along by the side o the refectory. He was right on me when I saw him, but that’s where he was coming from.’

‘I see. Then you and Brother Sandy yelled, and the figure ran off down the cloister.’ Another nod. ‘Why did you not run after him? There were the two of you, after all.’

‘I – we’d got a fright, maister,’ said Calder reproachfully.

‘Adam,’ said the Prior in rebuke. Calder bent his head.

‘
Mea culpa
, Faither,’ he said. ‘But I think that was the reason, maister. We were that busy picking oursels up and I was telling Sandy what I’d seen, and then other folk heard us and came down. And then you was there, and then Faither came down and commanded us.’

‘You’re quite certain you didny recognise him,’ Gil said.

‘It was ower dark,’ Calder said, ‘and he just pushed past me, like I said. I’d not know him again, I saw so little. He was bigger than me, and he moved fast,’ he offered.

‘And he ran off down the cloister. Will you come out and show me how, the now? Where he went?’

‘Now? In the dark?’ Calder looked dismayed. ‘Those flagstones are no safe, maister. It’s one thing a madman running, I’d not care to try it wi no light, or even wi one of our lanterns.’

‘You don’t have your own lantern the now,’ Gil observed.

‘No, mine’s burning low, I wanted to save it for Matins. I just came down in the dark. The steps are easy enough, if you keep your hand to the wall. But as for running in the cloister, maister, I’d as soon not try it.’

‘Very well,’ said Gil. ‘It will do in the morning.’ He considered the novice for a long moment; Calder shifted uneasily under his gaze, and then bent his head in that attitude of humility again. Eventually Gil said, ‘I think we might let them get back to bed, Prior, do you?’

‘I’d be glad to, sir,’ said Calder, wriggling a little. ‘I never did get to the—’

‘Ah. Brother Sandy,’ said the Prior, ‘see Brother Adam to the necessarium, and then the pair of you get to your beds. There’s little enough time afore Matins.’ He raised his hand in a blessing, and the two young men bowed and said Amen. He watched them go, and when the door had closed behind them turned a face of exasperation to Gil.

‘What was that about?’ he demanded.

‘You tell me, sir,’ suggested Gil.

‘Hah! I wish I could! Is the lad deluded, or making himself important, or have they frightened themselves telling tales in the dorter? Does he merely want the attention of his elders and his peers?’

‘You saw that too?’ Gil shook his head. ‘Could be any of those, I suppose. The thing is, we found this, out there where he claims to have encountered the murderer.’ He drew the knife from his sleeve and laid it on the desk. Boyd recoiled, staring at it as at a basilisk.

‘Is that— aye, it must be, surely! A common kitchen knife wi a long blade.’ He tore his gaze from the weapon and looked at Gil in deep dismay. ‘Outside? Out on the ground here in the cloister? So he really was there.’

‘Aye,’ said Gil. ‘I think he was.’

‘You didny show this to Brother Adam,’ the Prior observed shrewdly.

‘Never put all your cards on the table at once,’ Gil said. ‘What I should like to do now, sir,’ he went on without looking at Tam, ‘is set a watch.’

‘Ah. You think the – the killer will come back for it?’

‘I do. He likely kens where it went down. I know I heard it rattle on the stones, from a few steps away. The rest were too busy arguing to pay attention. He’ll come back for it, rather than risk it being found in the morning and returned to the kitchen–’

‘With our brothers’ blood on it? Surely not!’ said Boyd in distress.

‘–leaving him without a weapon,’ Gil continued.

‘Aye, I see. Do you want one or two o the brothers to assist you? Brother Dickon, maybe? A handy man in a stushie.’

‘I’ll wager,’ Gil said. ‘No, I’d as soon keep the numbers down. The more men watching, the more likely we are to be noticed, to alert the quarry. I’d sooner you were aware of it, but I can do without anyone else. How do I find you if we do take him?’

‘My cell is the first on the left next the day stair, but I’ll no be sleeping. I’ll admit, I’ll be easier for knowing there’s a watch being kept.’ Boyd shook his head. ‘I never heard o sic a thing happening, anywhere in the Order. It grieves me sair it should happen here in Perth.’

‘Lightning can strike anywhere,’ said Gil. Hark at me, I am just as sententious as Brother Dickon, he thought, as he bent his head for the Prior’s blessing.

‘So who’s standing this watch?’ Tam asked quietly, watching Gil as he peered into the shadows under the cloister walk.

‘I will,’ said Gil. ‘Any that wishes can join me.’

‘Aye, well, I’d really relish going back to Glasgow to tell the Canon, much less madam your mother, how I’d let you get hurt for the sake o my night’s sleep.’ Tam moved along the side of the refectory after Gil. ‘So how much o that was an invention, the laddies had to tell us?’

‘How much do you think?’ Gil straightened up and looked at the man by the faint lantern-light.

‘If we hadny found the knife,’ said Tam after a moment, ‘I’d ha said all of it, but that makes it look as though this madman, or whatever he is, really was here.’

‘Aye,’ Gil agreed, and went back to the refectory door, set deep in its heavily carved archway. ‘I think this will have to do. It’s dark enough, it ought to hide you, and I’ll get beyond the day stair where that buttress is, and we should have him boxed in.’

‘I see your plan,’ said Tam after a moment. ‘As long’s he searches where we found the thing, we should have him.’

‘Aye, as long as,’ Gil said cynically. ‘You ken what happens to plans. Tam, go back to the guest hall, making a noise wi that gate, and let the other fellows know what’s ado. Bring back my cloak and your own and come as quiet as you can. And bid them get some sleep and relieve us after Matins,’ he added. ‘
Hey, how the chevaldoures woke al nyght
. No sense in two o us freezing our cods off when we can spread the pleasure about.’

‘Smells as if it’s like to snow,’ Tam observed, and set off along the cloister walk. Gil looked about him, standing quietly in the bitter dark, and listened carefully. Out in the burgh a dog barked, another answered, someone shouted at them. An owl screeched and was answered. Closer at hand someone was snoring, muffled behind the dorter windows, and something rustled in the grass in the cloister garden. The owl screeched again, and Tam approached quietly along the walkway, the two cloaks bundled in his arms.

‘Brought your gloves and all,’ he said, producing the felt mittens from under his arm. ‘Right. What’s the order o the night, then?’

‘I cannot believe how foolish you have been,’ said Alys in rapid, furious French, tugging at the bandages on Gil’s arm and chest. He yelped, and she loosened them slightly with gentle hands, though her voice did not change. ‘To put yourself in such a position, with only Tam to assist you, to catch your man and then to let him disarm you! Is that easier?’

‘It is,’ he said, attempted to flex the arm, and stopped. ‘It was the snow.’ She pulled her bedgown closer at the neck, glancing automatically at the window of the bedchamber, where the candlelight caught the flakes of snow whirling past, and snorted inelegantly. ‘Help me put my shirt back on, sweetheart.’

‘I’ll do nothing of the sort,’ she retorted. ‘You are to drink this and lie down and try to sleep.’

‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘I need to question the fellow. I promised young Rattray I would make his killer confess.’

‘Your shirt is not fit to wear,’ she said, ‘and I am not getting a clean one out of the baggage for you. Also, you are talking nonsense.’

He pushed Socrates’ head off his knee and got to his feet resignedly, waited a moment until the chamber stopped whirling, and bent to dig in the nearest of the bags. She watched, with an obstinate set to her mouth, until he turned dizzy again and nearly fell, when she exclaimed under her breath and came to support him back to sit on the bed. Socrates immediately leaned against his knee again.

‘You are not fit,’ Alys said. ‘Lie down, and I will question the prisoner.’

‘No, I need to deal with him,’ he said. He put his good hand up to touch her cheek. ‘Yes, I know I left you out of it and I’m sorry for that. Would you have had me wake you?’

‘Perhaps not,’ she admitted after a moment, and turned to search for a clean shirt. Jennet, wrapped in a blanket over her shift, came back into the chamber with a tray of steaming beakers. Nory followed her, cast one critical, assessing glance at his master and went to help Alys.

‘Here’s the buttered ale, mem,’ said Jennet, ‘and a good drop of usquebae to it and all. Did you no drink your other dose, maister?’

‘I’ll take that,’ he said, reaching for the tray. She held it out of his reach.

‘You’ll drink the other first.’

Wondering why women all turned into his old nurse when there was an injury to tend, he drank the bitter brew in the other beaker, and was handed his spiced ale as if it was a reward, but had barely tasted it when Nory emerged from the corner of the chamber with a clean shirt.

‘Come, we’ll help you into this,’ Alys said in Scots, ‘and I shall help question the prisoner too.’

‘Tam’s out there heating up his pilliwinks,’ said Jennet.

‘I hope there’ll be no need o that,’ said Gil repressively, allowing Nory to ease the shirt onto his bandaged arm. His injuries were not serious, he felt, though they had bled impressively, and Alys had cleaned the cuts well with more of the same usquebae. They were still stinging, despite the salve she had daubed on them before covering all with bandages begged from Brother Euan across the courtyard.