No, John could not uphold the tale Guibert had concocted. Now he knew that the story of the theft was untrue, John would have no further part in it. In fact, as he walked back to his cell, he felt he should not remain here while Guibert was Prior. He would collect his bowl and his staff, and leave. Perhaps he could go further west, away from this city with its politics and felonies. He could not remain here.
At least, he reasoned as he took his leave of Robert and walked from the gates for the last time, at least he had been an agent for good. Guibert had lied, and at least John had been there to expose his untruth.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The watchmen outside Jordan le Bolle’s house had still seen no sign of the man, so Simon and Baldwin returned to the deanery with the Coroner.
Sir Peregrine was content to sit and listen to the story Baldwin told the Dean. There was little in it he had been aware of, and the telling made sense of other stories he had heard recently.
‘I can tell you much, I think, Dean. A lot of it is conjecture still, but most is based on what I have learned from people who know what has been happening: the matters of Gervase the merchant and Sir William of Hatherleigh being two cases.
‘This man Jordan is a committed felon, Dean. He is keen to steal what he can. For some time, I believe, he has been taking your cargoes and filching what he could. But people grew to realize what he was up to — especially Daniel, the sergeant. So Daniel had to be destroyed. Perhaps Jordan tried first to simply bribe him, but whatever else he was, I do not believe the sergeant was a felon, and taking money to close his eyes to an injustice would not have appealed to him. Not only that, but I think he saw it as a matter of honour that he should capture this man because what he was doing was harming the cathedral itself.
‘So Jordan decided to have him removed. However, he couldn’t simply dispose of one man alone and hope that it would leave him clear to continue with his pilfering. He thought to himself that it would be best if he were to distract the cathedral too. How to do that?
‘The man was nothing if not imaginative. Before ever he had arranged for Daniel’s death, he thought of setting up a dispute between the chapter and the friars. He knew, just as all the population of Exeter knows, that the two houses were often at daggers drawn. It should be easy to create a dispute between them. And so it happened.
‘The merchant, Gervase, appeared in the city. A fool with his money, he was easily parted from it over some ales and gambling. Jordan could easily fix a series of games, at first to let Gervase win, and then, when he thought his luck was in, to fleece him of the lot. Every game he lost, until he owed Jordan a fortune.
‘Jordan told him to rest at the cathedral for a day or so and make good use of the chapter’s hospitality, and then claim that his money had been stolen there.’
‘The ungrateful … I shall have him arrested,’ the Dean muttered.
‘He has left the city already. I should permit him to go and count yourself fortunate that so few people think of such schemes!’ Baldwin said with a chuckle. ‘After all, he cost you nothing, and he has himself been robbed, if by another person.’
‘Why did Jordan do this?’
‘It permitted him to raise doubts in the minds of others. And he made use of the best means of telling people. He knew how the friars had been shamed by the discovery that one of their brethren had stolen money; he decided to show them that the cathedral had a thief too. The friars were delighted to think that they had a means of exacting revenge on the cathedral, and went about the city telling all their audiences that the cathedral was harbouring a felon. And then, when the cathedral went and took the body …’
‘That wasn’t his fault, I suppose?’ the Dean asked hopefully.
‘The Prior did say that he had mentioned the death of Sir William. It struck him how similar the situation was to the death of Sir Henry Ralegh twenty years ago, and he, I think, hoped that a hothead might commit a similar offence. And so it came to pass.’
‘Because the fool Peter was told to by Jordan?’
‘That is how I should read the tale.’
The Dean sat silently for a few moments. ‘This man has much to answer for.’
Baldwin nodded. ‘A great deal. And a few of those matters are the murders of Daniel and Mick, and the suicide of Anne.’
‘He is an incomparably evil man,’ the Dean said.
‘Perhaps so,’ Baldwin said. ‘We should know before long.’
Betsy opened the doors with a small yawn. She was getting too old for the game. Already the sun was well up and she hadn’t done anything yet.
It was the way of life for girls like her, though. They’d sleep and doze through the day, unless someone came in with an urgent itch for scratching, and then they’d set to work properly in the evening. Each man coming in in the evening had his woman for the night. That was the rule, and each had to satisfy her client as often as he asked. Not always an easy task, it was true, but the girls tended to do their best. Especially now.
Betsy had tried to keep her from their gaze, but several of them had gone in to look at Anne’s ravaged features after she died. There was something compulsive about seeing how Jordan would punish any of them for the crime of wanting to take one man for her own. Anne had been popular in the house, and the idea that someone could destroy her so completely was appalling to many of the girls. Betsy had even seen old Mark, the man who had been at the South Gate when Anne had left the city that last morning. He had come with a small gift, a bunch of flowers, which he had set by her head.
No one was unaffected. Betsy could see it in their eyes. There was a new haunted look in the faces of the girls. The older ones now realized that they truly couldn’t escape this place. Not while Jordan was there. Not while he wanted them. The younger girls understood what they had become — nothing more than the property of a man who saw them in the same light as a herd of cows. They had value to him, but every so often the less productive members could be culled for the good of the rest.
Betsy heard a low whimper, and at the sound she seemed to feel a cold hand clutch at her throat, tightening like a steel gauntlet. She could sense icy waves floating down her spine, and she walked along the passageway slowly. The doorway was darker than most of the rest, and she hesitated before leaning forward to listen. There was a steady, sad weeping from behind it now, and her heart seemed to clench in her breast. She dared not enter. Not while he was still in there. Her hand lifted, her forefinger crooked to knock, but then she licked her lips. A picture of Anne’s face appeared in her mind, and the finger uncurled as she spun on her heel and stole away.
The shame burned her soul.
Baldwin and Simon took their leave of the Dean, and Sir Peregrine was somewhat surprised to see how they dawdled about leaving the close.
‘Should we not hurry to the man’s house?’ he burst out at last when the slowness of their progress grew intolerable. ‘This man is a murderer at least twice, and here we are, progressing more slowly than a nun crossing the threshold of a brothel!’
‘So you think,’ Simon said. ‘But there is no point hurrying to Jordan’s house just to wait there alongside the watchmen. If we must wait, this is as good a place as any. Then if Jordan le Bolle arrives home, the watchmen will send to tell us, and we can go to catch him together.’
‘And in the meantime,’ Baldwin said with a quickening interest, ‘we may just learn something from this man.’
Peregrine turned to see Henry walking towards them along the long pathway from the conduit.
He walked like a man in pain, his withered arm dangling at his side. His face was a mass of wrinkles, most of them caused by squinting in pain, and Sir Peregrine felt some sympathy for the man as he saw how his gait was affected.