‘The wine was for the Dean and the iron was for the Cathedral works. Karvinel went down there, and as soon as the goods were checked out of the port, straight onto the Cathedral wagons, Karvinel took his payment and set off back. He was also carrying money back to the Dean, but when–’
Baldwin interrupted him with a sharp gesture. ‘You say he was carrying other money, not only his own?’
‘Yes. Is it important?’
‘It might be nothing,’ Baldwin said, but with a smile of calm satisfaction. ‘But if I am right, this could be the explanation of much.’
‘I see… you mean that someone within the Cathedral could have advised the thieves and arranged for the robberies?’
‘All I will say is, consider the curious similarities between the two events. One robbery was out in the open, some distance from the city; the thieves must have been ready warned. At Ralph’s place likewise there was clearly a lot of planning, making sure of the household’s routine, speaking to Mary, perhaps, and ensuring that the scapegoat would be delayed.’
‘If Karvinel was robbed on his way back to Exeter,’ said Simon. ‘How many others were robbed that day?’
‘Nobody I know of.’
‘So,’ Baldwin summed up, ‘we have one man who was robbed of his money and the Cathedral’s when his goods had been sold – and another who was murdered and robbed in his own house when there was Cathedral money in his strong box.’
‘You seriously think that is relevant? Sir Baldwin, if you spoke to any man in the city, you would find that the Cathedral held some place in their lives. It reaches into every aspect of the city. Everyone here has something to do with it.’
‘All the Freeman of the City, you mean?’ Baldwin asked.
‘Certainly all the merchants. And many of the others too. We all profit from the presence of the Cathedral.’
‘Let us return to the day of the robbery. You heard about it in the Guildhall, you say?’
‘Yes,’ Roger grunted, pouring himself more wine. ‘I was there with Vincent le Berwe and Ralph to witness some documents when a messenger from Karvinel came and hammered on the doors. He told us about the robbery and wanted me to join Karvinel at an alehouse near the South Gate. Said Karvinel had recognised one of his attackers sitting drinking.
‘Obviously I went with him immediately. The fellow was beaten, but what do you expect when an angry crowd grabs hold of a wrong-doer? He was lucky that most men had joined the posse to catch the other members of the gang. Then Peter arrived and…’
‘Where had he been? Surely he should have arrived at the same time as Karvinel,’ Simon frowned.
‘Yes. Well, he said he’d been so shocked he’d had to go and get some wine down his neck,’ the Coroner said dismissively.
‘Someone told me that the leader of this band goes under a knightly title,’ Baldwin recalled. Who had told him that, he wondered. Was it Karvinel again?
‘That’s right. Sir Thomas of Exmouth. Miserable sinner that he is! The man we caught wouldn’t tell us anything, sadly. He denied having anything to do with the robbery, but he was known as a disreputable character. He’d been found out of doors at night a couple of times when people had been knocked on the head, so his guilt seemed pretty obvious. Anyway, they decided he was guilty on the proof of Karvinel’s evidence and that of his clerk. Who would disprove a cleric?’
‘Did the posse catch any other members of the gang?’ Baldwin enquired.
‘No. Not a sight or sound. In fact we heard afterwards that a band attacked some people up towards Silverton, so maybe they’ve moved on. The posse must have missed them. Then again, who knows how long it was from Karvinel being thumped to when he got back to town?’
‘This wasn’t his only bad piece of luck this year, was it?’ Simon said.
‘Oh, the poor bugger’s been robbed at home, had his place burgled again, and fired. He won’t want to remember the year 1321: it’s been foul for him.’
‘And yet Karvinel and Vincent le Berwe get on well?’
‘I don’t know about “well”. They know each other, certainly. I believe they have some mutual business interests.’
‘Tell me, what was the document that Ralph Glover and le Berwe wanted you to sign?’
‘That? It was a sales agreement. Le Berwe had imported several bundles of basan and cordwain, and Ralph was buying it. He passed over the money after both had signed the document and the wagon was loaded at once. I saw it as I left to see Karvinel.’
‘You read the document yourself?’
‘Of course,’ he said patiently. ‘Vincent called me into the room just as Ralph left it to find a privy, and Vincent told me what they were proposing, which was for him to sell twenty dozens of basan and twelve of cordwain. I read it, and then Ralph came back, and he made his mark and stamped his seal upon the document, as did Vincent, and then me. Ralph was all frowns, though, and hardly looked at the document when he put on his mark.’
‘Why was Ralph like that? Because of Vincent’s business methods?’
‘No, it was a box of candles out in the screens. He told me later that he thought they were the Bishop’s – only the Bishop had his personal candles coloured that way or somesuch nonsense – and wanted me to find out where they had come from. I refused – I have little enough time to seek out all the bodies in Exeter and parts of Devon without searching for more mysteries. I told him, “No one from the Cathedral has asked me to investigate the Bishop’s candles,” but he was quite insistent. In the end I told him a few stolen candles were not my concern. If he was truly troubled, he should see the Constable or Bailiff.’
‘What did he say to that?’
‘Oh, he muttered something about duties and responsibilities, but then he shut up. I was right, you know. I have a hard enough job without finding myself more work.’
Baldwin paused, sipping. ‘What is the difference between cordwain and basan, I wonder?’
Roger drained his cup. ‘Cordwain is the finest goatskin from Cordova, carefully tanned and dressed; basan is good sheepskin tanned in oak or larch bark.’
‘How do you know that?’ Simon asked in surprise.
‘Bailiff, when you live in a town like this where there are many leather tanners, dyers, furriers and leatherworkers of all sorts, but which also happens to be a major port with hundreds of ships offloading cargoes of fine foreign leathers in our estuary at Topsham, you learn quickly.’ His face became thoughtful. ‘Perhaps that’s why Karvinel got robbed. His ship was unloaded down there at Topsham. Maybe someone there warned this gang of robbers and that’s how they got to know about him and his money.’
‘Coroner, how long would someone have had to watch the money being handed over before sending a message to his friends in the robber band? No, someone knew before Karvinel left the city that he was going to be bringing back a goodly haul in cash. The question is, how could a wandering band have learned such a thing?’
‘We’ll probably never know. At least one man involved was caught and dealt with swiftly. Maybe that was his job? Listening in taverns and alehouses for hint of such transactions.’
Baldwin looked doubtful. ‘Perhaps. But in the meantime, we clearly have three problems to resolve. The robbery from Karvinel, the murder of Ralph and the death of the clerk Peter. And I am intrigued by the fact of the purchase of the basan and cordwain – especially since it was a little while before the delivery of the jewels and money for the gloves.’
‘What has that to do with anything?’ cried the Coroner.
‘Perhaps nothing… but perhaps it has as much to do with it as the strange disappearance of Karvinel’s clerk after the robbery until Hamond was accused, or Peter’s anger in the tavern a short while later when he saw his master.’