Nicholas wheezed through his open mouth. There was a dull ache between his eyes, and he had a desperate urge to scratch his ruined nose, but he daren’t touch it, not yet. ‘I’ll get the sod back for doing this.’
‘You think so? After he put four of your friends down and then you as well, you really think you’d have a chance against him?’ She patted away another dribble of blood from the tender, shattered skin, and felt him flinch as her damp cloth touched him, but not as much as when she said, ‘What happened to your wife?’
‘What of her? She left me.’
‘Left you?’
He curled his lip. ‘She got upset when she found me in bed with a strumpet.’
Anney leaned back and surveyed him. There was truth in his face; he wasn’t of a temper to lie, not now, and Anney, for the first time in the ten years since he had been taken from her, realised how lucky her escape had been. Nicholas was no more than a brute who would drink himself into oblivion whenever he had an opportunity, then beat his wife for any one of a number of imagined slights, and turn to a pox-ridden whore at the first opportunity to prove his virility.
It was hard to believe that she had spent so long pining after him, wishing he hadn’t been taken back to his first, legal wife. But he was still the father of her children, and Anney was content to look after his wounds because he was also the only man who had ever held her heart. And although she had no wish to discuss the affair with him, it gave her some comfort to know that the father of her dead boy was with her.
The boy whose death had been caused by that spoilt brat Herbert.
‘Eh? What’s that? You say you think I… The man’s mad!’ Thomas spluttered, puce in the face.
Godfrey ignored him and went on with his statement. ‘My evidence is this, Lady: he and his servant left us because he saw your maid Petronilla approaching and didn’t want to be overheard by her, or so he said. She came ambling idly along, and my master, who thought she might be able to give him information about you, tried to hold her up and talk. I had no wish to listen to his flattery and lies, so I took my horse a few yards away and left them to it.
‘Then there was a cry up on the hill, away near the top. When I looked up, I saw the priest thrashing about him with a stick at the furze, shouting out in the most unholy fashion about boys generally, but your son, and his friend Alan in particular. I had no idea why at the time, but I heard the priest shout something about slings. Now I think I understand why.’
Simon moved a little, so he could glance at the priest.
Stephen did not look up, but kept his head bowed as if in prayer, and the bailiff was convinced he was hiding something. And yet perhaps it was only this, that he had been near the scene of the boy’s death. He was thought to be a child-hater, so maybe he had decided to keep quiet in case he could be suspected.
Godfrey continued, ‘At the time, Thomas and his man were near the fork in the road, and I saw them stop there and glance back, so they obviously heard the shouting too. Petronilla did as well, and she scampered straight off up the hill to pacify the priest. I saw her. Just afterwards, Thomas and Nicholas carried on their way, but soon after they had disappeared around the curve in the road, I saw a figure dart across it. It was a boy.’
‘Was it Herbert?’ Baldwin asked immediately.
Godfrey gave a slight shrug. He wasn’t absolutely certain. ‘I’m no father; one boy looks much like another to me, especially when he’s been rolling in mud, which this one had, by the look of him.’
‘He always liked that. It was one of their games up on the hill,’ said Lady Katharine softly. There was a catch in her voice, and Stephen rested his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. ‘Chasing each other through the bushes and squirming their way through the peat all over the common. I used to scold him and smack him when…’ She buried her face in her hands.
‘My Lady, do you want me to be still?’ Godfrey asked.
After a moment, she lifted her head. ‘No, please tell us the rest.’
‘You don’t believe what this man says, do you? He’s only a whoreson mercenary!’ Thomas shouted suddenly. ‘Look at him! Would you trust his honour?’
Godfrey ignored his outburst. ‘The figure ran over the road, then I saw him dive into the bushes at the other side and disappear. I thought nothing of it at first. Oh, I assumed the lad must have done something to the priest up the hill there, but that was as far as I got. Beyond that, I had no thought for him. Then I heard the bellow of rage from him,’ he said, and pointed to Thomas.
Thomas flinched as the finger stabbed towards him, but then met Godfrey’s stare with a resolute fury as Godfrey finished his story.
‘Thomas screamed and I think I heard his man laugh, but then Thomas must have dismounted from his horse because I turned and saw him running towards me. As soon as he saw me, he demanded whether I had seen a lad coming my way. Well, I shook my head, wondering what on earth all this fuss was about, and he said: “The little bastard shot me with a sling and if I catch him, I’ll wring his insolent neck!” Then he swore and went back the way he had come.’
Godfrey paused and stared down, as if debating whether to continue. ‘My Lady, I also have to tell you that this man has no money. He needed the inheritance to save his finances. I think he ensured your son was put out of the way’
Simon gazed at the miserable Thomas. ‘Well? What do you have to say for yourself?’
‘Me?’ Thomas sneered feebly. ‘What could I say, Bailiff? You’ve made up your mind already, haven’t you? “Oh, the evil creature, he’s prepared to try to get himself a few pennies from his brother’s estate” – a brother, you’ll recall, who has left me nothing, nothing! And the estate would all have been mine if he hadn’t taken that dam to wife so he could start breeding. Why shouldn’t I have got something out of it? It should have been mine anyway, and why on earth the law allows a puling brat to take a man’s lands, I don’t understand.’
‘You know full well that the law is there to protect the weak, like poor Herbert,’ Baldwin stated sternly.
‘Oh, spare me the lesson on the law! The weak, you say? What exactly am I supposed to have done? Eh, Sir Knight?’
‘You’ve been accused of murder,’ said Simon sternly. ‘And as bailiff, I have to tell you that I am inclined to believe the accusation. You admit to your lust for the estate, you confess your dislike of the boy, and you knew that he was the only person standing between you and your greed. All you needed to do was kill him, and you could possess the lands you always hankered after.’
‘I… That’s rubbish!’ Thomas spat, rising to his feet. Edgar was close by, and took a step nearer, but Baldwin gave a slight shake of his head, and his servant remained where he was.
‘Rubbish, I say – you suggest I killed my own nephew, forsooth! In God’s name, it would have been easy enough, but I never even saw the little devil. He wasn’t there!’
‘Then who did you see?’ Baldwin asked, and seated himself at a bench. Simon sat at his side, and the two of them stared at the disconcerted man.
By that simple action, they had altered the whole tone; Thomas now felt he was truly the subject of a legal court, the suspected felon in this heinous crime. He swallowed. Suddenly he was sober, and fearful. He felt his legs quiver, and stared from one to the other, hoping to see a sign of sympathy in their eyes, but there was nothing. When he allowed his gaze to wander about the room, he saw contempt on all the faces, except Katharine’s: hers radiated pure hatred.