‘So what did you think he would do with the money?’ Baldwin said.
‘Hide it.’ Jolinde’s mouth twisted slightly as he waved a hand, encompassing the ruined walls and holed floor. ‘I thought it must be here somewhere.’
‘It’s not,’ Baldwin said quietly. ‘He took it back, but not immediately. By an evil chance, he took it back later. On the day Ralph was killed. He rewarded Ralph’s murderer.’
‘We have heard,’ Simon said, ‘that you saw Karvinel in the tavern too. Peter turned from him – snubbed him. Do you remember that?’
‘Yes,’ Jolinde said, a faraway look on his face as he recalled the evening. ‘It was the twenty-second, I think. The afternoon of the day the felon was hanged.’
Coroner Roger nodded. ‘I remember. We had been going to hang the bastard as soon as the court had concluded his guilt but we decided to wait. We had no scaffold,’ he added apologetically, as if ashamed that they had taken so long. ‘Peter was there when Hamond swung; he was all right with Karvinel then.’
‘He and Karvinel were talking that morning?’ Simon asked with frank surprise. ‘What happened to change their attitude by the same evening?’
‘You’d have to ask Karvinel,’ said Jolinde. ‘All I know is, he was depressed. And I think he was fearful already that he was possessed. He probably thought the theft proved it,’ he blurted, close to tears.
‘What we do need to ask you is this, though,’ Baldwin said. ‘Bearing in mind you don’t need the money, because as you point out your father is very wealthy, why did you need to rob a man like Ralph?’
‘I wanted the money!’ Jolinde asserted, but Simon saw that he did not meet any of his three interrogators’ eyes as he spoke.
‘That’s rubbish,’ Simon said. ‘You knew you could have whatever you needed. You had enough to be able to feed not only yourself but your friend as well.’
‘But I couldn’t know how long that would last.’
It was Baldwin who now coldly dissected his motives. ‘But you did, didn’t you, Jolinde? I think you knew only too well. You had enough money. There was no need for you to rob Ralph. In fact, I think you were yourself disgusted by what you did, which is why you gave away the tainted money. It was thirty pieces of silver that Judas took, wasn’t it? How much were you paid to ruin Ralph?’
Jolinde was silent, but his eyes closed and tears sprang from beneath his lids as Coroner Roger frowned with incomprehension. ‘What do you mean, Sir Baldwin?’
‘Just this: Jolinde didn’t want the money – he gave it away as soon as he could! No, but he was so desperate to take it that he persuaded his own friend to help him. Why? First, there’s the receipt. It showed Ralph had accepted the Cathedral’s money and gems. In a few days, Ralph would have to present the gloves to the Cathedral so that they could be given to Simon and me, among other people, and as soon as that happened, the Dean or Treasurer would be sure to notice the missing jewels and they would accuse Ralph of stealing them. And how could he defend himself?’
‘You whoreson bastard!’ the Coroner breathed. ‘You’d rob a man and then get him accused of the theft himself?’
‘Ah – no, Coroner, not quite,’ Baldwin murmured. ‘I think this lad had little choice in the matter. Isn’t that correct, Jolinde? No comments? Well, let me say what I guess and you can correct me as you wish.
‘You see, I think this fellow was forced into an impossible position. He had no wish to lie or see Ralph accused. But someone did. Someone who hates competitors in the city. Someone who would be glad to see his last significant competitor for political power in the place removed.’
‘Christ’s blood! You mean Vincent.’
‘Of course. Le Berwe told his son that he would be given enough money to seek a place at University or to win over a patron if he carried out this single task…’
‘No, sir. My father said he would take away all my money if I didn’t.’
‘I see.’ Baldwin glanced at Jolinde’s miserable expression. ‘So your whole future depended upon whether or not you were prepared to rob a man and leave him to suffer punishment for your crime.’
‘A man who incites crime is more guilty than the weak weapon of his malice,’ Coroner Roger grated.
‘My father has suffered bad luck,’ Jolinde protested. ‘I don’t think he would have hit upon this idea had he not been terribly scared for himself.’
‘What should he fear from Ralph?’ Coroner Roger scoffed, but then his expression hardened. ‘Or was there something else he feared?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, as I said, the booty isn’t here,’ Baldwin said. ‘Your friend decided he couldn’t live with the guilt of his crime and took it back. As Elias will testify, Peter returned later that morning and gave him the missing gold and jewels. Ironic.’
Simon nodded understandingly. ‘Yes. Poor Peter returned the stolen jewels and money just in time for the murderer to steal it all.’ He frowned. ‘Yet Coppe the cripple said he left the Cathedral later. Did he return?’
‘He may well have done. To apologise in person, and explain what had happened,’ Baldwin said. ‘Jolinde, you should reflect upon this: you agreed to obey your father’s commands and you would have caused the ruin of an innocent man as well as forcing a friend to be your accomplice against his will. Your father may have compelled you to obey him, but you repeated his crime in forcing Peter to take part. If Ralph had lived, he would have been wrongly accused of theft. Instead, the ruin has fallen upon your shoulders… and it will bring shame upon your father too.’
Jeanne poured a fresh pot of wine for Hawisia as the woman’s tears began to well once more.
‘Drink this, my dear. It will help.’
‘I… thank you, Lady Jeanne. I needed something.’
‘There, is that better?’
Hawisia gave her a brittle smile, her eyes strangely pale now that her face had reddened. ‘Yes, I feel much better, thank you.’
‘You really should not concern yourself with such terrible fears,’ Jeanne said calmingly. ‘I am sure your husband’s son is a perfectly good man.’
‘Jolinde was always a jealous fellow,’ Hawisia said, dabbing at her eyes with a sleeve.
‘Do you mean he was jealous of you?’ Jeanne asked.
‘Oh, Lady Jeanne! I love my husband, I love him dearly,’ Hawisia burst out. ‘But I live in terror of his boy.’
‘But why?’
‘My husband’s first wife died, you see. It was just as she was due to give birth to her first baby. It was a girl child, but how would Jolinde have guessed that?’
‘I don’t understand you.’
‘Jolinde wants no other children. I think that’s why he killed Vincent’s first wife.’
‘What?’ Jeanne cried.
‘As soon as she became pregnant, Jolinde refused to speak to her. He was always a greedy soul, but I think the thought of a legitimate son so revolted him that he decided to kill it and his father’s wife. He poisoned them.’
‘You know that for certain?’
‘No,’ Hawisia said wretchedly. ‘I don’t know anything for certain. All I know is what I have heard in the city: that the girl grew ill suddenly just before giving birth. I think that was why Jolinde killed her. And now I am terrified that he will do the same to me and my child!’
Chapter Twenty-Six
‘The shit!’ Coroner Roger swore as they left the Secondary slumped near his cold hearth. ‘Miserable, canting shite! I knew Ralph – and to think of that decent man being set up by that pair of turds makes me want to throw up. How dare they!’
‘You can do nothing about the boy,’ Simon reminded him. ‘Benefit of Clergy.’