‘Out?’ asked Geoffrey. He saw Roger’s sheepish expression and raised his eyebrows. ‘With you? God’s teeth, man! Take care Ulfrith does not find out. His sulk will know no limits.’
‘I left him a clear field, but he failed to take advantage of it,’ said Roger defensively. ‘Besides, she offered herself to me. But nothing happened anyway. We sat at the high altar in the church, and all she wanted to do was play dice.’
‘Dice?’ asked Geoffrey, not sure that a hot-blooded knight like Roger would have spent his time gaming when there had been promises of a different nature in the offing.
Roger sighed ruefully. ‘She declined to lie with me, and I am not a man for rape. We passed the night chastely, although I doubt Ulfrith will believe it. I would much rather have had Edith, if you want the truth – Philippa is a bit skinny for my taste – but Philippa looked at me prettily, and it seemed a shame to disappoint her. She asked about my gold.’
‘Did it occur to you that she might be looking for a wealthy husband now Vitalis is dead? And so was Edith probably, hence her friendship with Lucian.’
‘Yes, I had worked that out, thank you,’ said Roger dryly. ‘And, personally, I believe it was Lucian who killed her. I think she invited him to her chamber to make him break his vows of chastity, and Philippa agreed to make herself scarce for the occasion. But Lucian may not want a wife, so, to make sure Edith did not tell his brethren what he had done, he strangled her.’
‘With red ribbon,’ mused Geoffrey. ‘Does he have any?’
Roger waved a dismissive hand. ‘There is a scriptorium here, and any number of people have a supply he could have raided.’
‘Have you confronted him?’
‘No, because I do not want anyone to know about Philippa and me. We would both be in trouble – for breaking the monastery’s rules about associating with women at night, and for gambling on the high altar. But it was the best available surface for my dice.’
‘You are right! The monks will be furious. What were you thinking?’
Roger was surprised by the question. ‘Of getting her in the right mood, of course! Brother Wardard almost caught us. He came early for his offices, but Philippa was able to persuade him that we were praying for you. Unfortunately, I had to donate a lot of gold to make it convincing.’
‘And here I was, thinking you had done it for me. But you were only trying to evade a charge of blasphemy!’
Roger ignored the remark. ‘Do you remember when we met Lucian by that shepherd’s hut? The shepherd was dead under a fallen tree. Well, I think Lucian killed him, too. And, for all we know, he might have murdered Vitalis and Paisnel into the bargain. I said from the start that there was something nasty about him.’
‘Very well!’ snapped Harold loudly, his voice breaking into their discussion. ‘I will play if it will make you happy, but do not expect beauty. This instrument is no better than a piece of pipe.’
He put the horn to his lips and began to blow. Geoffrey winced at the raw, rasping sound that emerged, although Roger bobbed his head and tapped his feet in polite appreciation. Bale listened with a sober, intent face, and Ulfrith put his hands over his ears. Eventually, the noise stopped.
‘That was “Sumer is a Cumin in”,’ said Harold in the silence that followed. ‘I told you the instrument was not up to my talents.’
‘It was very nice,’ said Roger, whose idea of good music was anything with a bit of volume. ‘Do you know any dances?’
Harold obliged, with Bale hammering a pewter pot on a table and Roger adding his own rich bass to the cacophony. Geoffrey felt his headache return and was relieved when Aelfwig came to say the noise was disturbing the monks at their devotions.
‘Oh dear,’ said Harold with a conspiratorial grin. ‘Now we are in trouble!’
‘They are just jealous,’ said Roger. ‘They would rather be singing pretty songs, too, not chanting those tedious dirges.’
‘How much of the pirates’ gold did you take, Roger?’ asked Geoffrey the following day, as they ate breakfast with the squires on the steps outside the hospital.
He had slept soundly and was well on the road back to full health. His mind was sharp enough to think about the questions that had been plaguing him since the shipwreck, though there were frustrating blanks in his memory that included much of his meeting with Galfridus, and he was uncertain whether some of the discussions he recalled had actually taken place.
Roger pursed his lips. ‘I showed you in the marshes – a few coins for horses.’
‘You did not make off with the whole chest?’
‘If I had, you would have noticed, surely? That box was large and heavy.’
Geoffrey was not so sure. Roger’s salvage had been wrapped in the blanket he had taken from Pevenesel, so it was entirely possible that it had included a chest of gold. Roger was certainly strong enough to carry one and make it appear as if it were of no consequence.
‘Have the others gone?’ he asked, realizing he was unlikely to have the truth. ‘Lucian said he wanted to return to Bath, and Juhel was going to continue to Ribe.’
‘Galfridus suggested everyone remain here until we are sure there is no invasion,’ replied Ulfrith. ‘He said it was too dangerous to roam about until then. So everyone is still here. Well, almost everyone. Poor Philippa.’
‘Philippa?’ asked Geoffrey in confusion. ‘I thought it was Edith who died.’
‘Murdered,’ corrected Ulfrith. ‘Philippa is distraught about the loss of her companion. They loved each other like sisters, despite sharing the same husband.’
‘Philippa seemed more fond of Vitalis than Edith was,’ said Geoffrey, ‘although I suspect the security his money offered was a factor. Now she is afraid of being poor.’
‘She did say she wanted a husband,’ admitted Ulfrith, ‘but that she will not begin her search until the proper period of mourning is over. She spent much of yesterday with Brother Lucian, although I do not think he will renounce his vows and marry her.’
Geoffrey raised his eyebrows, recalling Roger’s contention that the monk was a prime suspect in Edith’s murder, and hoped Philippa knew what she was doing.
‘I think she is trying to catch him out,’ explained Roger in an undertone. ‘She is not a fool and doubtless drew the same conclusions I did.’
‘Then let us hope we do not have another strangling on our hands.’
‘She gave him a necklace,’ said Ulfrith, trying to hear what the knights were saying. ‘I think it was because Edith lent him a ring, and she did not want to appear mean by comparison.’
‘It was not valuable, though,’ said Roger, who had an eye for such things. ‘It was coloured glass and cheap metal, whereas the ring held a real ruby. Most monks cannot tell the difference, but Lucian can, of course.’ He shot Geoffrey a meaningful look, as if this was evidence of the man’s dubious claims to monasticism.
‘Well, he is a bursar,’ Geoffrey pointed out. ‘I imagine they are very familiar with jewels.’
‘I have barely spoken to Philippa in days,’ said Ulfrith, looking around wistfully for a glimpse of her. ‘But I thought I had better spend my time with you instead.’
‘Thank you,’ said Geoffrey, sensing that some acknowledgement of the sacrifice was expected.
‘I was worried,’ said Ulfrith in a small voice. ‘I thought you were going to die.’
‘He nearly did,’ said Roger grimly. ‘And when I find the culprit, he will wish he had never been born.’
After breakfast, Aelfwig talked about the ships that had been seen and his fear that they might be Belleme’s. Geoffrey pointed out that the Duke of Normandy was rumoured to be in St Valery, so they were more likely his, but Aelfwig countered that the Duke would not dare visit England without an official invitation from his brother.
‘I assume de Laigle has sent word to the King, regardless?’ Geoffrey asked, shaking his head when the herbalist offered him another draught of his raspberry tonic.