‘If you know so much, what do you want from me?’ William snapped. ‘Get these damned thongs from me, you bladder of pus! Release me, I’m the King’s man. Don’t dare to hold me! Bailiff, release me. I won’t stand here like a common felon.’
‘You are worse than a common felon!’ Simon roared. He shoved William, almost pushing him over. ‘You lied to the King in his court, and committed perjury, didn’t you? You denied taking part in the murder itself.’
‘Why should I confess to something like that? Who says I was there?’
‘I do,’ Thomas said. ‘I was there, and I accuse you, William. You were guilty. You stabbed the Chaunter’s vicar as he lay on the ground, and you stabbed the Chaunter himself. I saw you. I accuse you of murder. You beat Matthew, too, and-’
‘Wait!’ Simon blurted. ‘Matthew? You hit him? Why not kill him?’
‘I deny this! It is all false! Release me!’
Thomas shook his head. ‘We grew up together. I doubt he wanted to kill an old companion.’
‘Sweet Jesus!’ Simon moaned. ‘That was it, wasn’t it? Matthew was another like you, William. That whole dispute was between people from the city and people who were foreigners, wasn’t it? The new Bishop, Quivil, was a stranger, and men like you supported the Dean, John Pycot, against him. All those who sought to support the Chaunter were from outside the city, weren’t they? And there was one man in his familia who was from inside the city: Matthew. I’ve heard from the Prior Peter that he used to play ball with you and him. Matthew was a city man, so of course he wouldn’t support the Chaunter or the Bishop.’
‘Why don’t you ask him?’ William sneered.
‘It was him, wasn’t it, William? Matthew lied to the Chaunter and made him feel safe. Matthew wasn’t an ally of the Chaunter. His loyalty was first to Exeter, second to the Cathedral.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ William blustered.
‘Matthew was no hero that day, was he?’ Simon pressed. ‘He lied to his master, deliberately, in order to persuade him to go out into the Close to his death.’
‘Maybe he did, but that’s got nothing to do with me,’ William said.
‘Except someone must have got Matthew to tell the lie.’
Peregrine was looking at Simon with the expression of one who is unsure what he is hearing. ‘What lie was that, Simon?’
‘This man told Matthew to take part in an attack on the Cathedral’s Chaunter; he was to forewarn the Chaunter of the attack, but then lie, telling him that the Bishop himself knew of it and would position guards to protect him. The story was, they wanted to catch the assailants red-handed so that they could be tried for the attempt at murder. It was a good story, too, one which made sense — and it was invented by this man here, this shrewd fellow William. Afterwards, he also invented a story about the Southern Gate being left wide open, and caused the Mayor and the porter of the Southern Gate to be executed, solely that William could earn favour in the eyes of the King. And since then, he’s been a contented member of the King’s household.’
‘Why is he here, then?’ Sir Peregrine asked.
‘The King bought him a pension at St Nicholas’s Priory — as payment for his years of service.’
‘It’s all invention, true enough,’ William spat. ‘It’s invented by you! Coroner, if you insist on holding me here, the least you can do is protect me from the misguided rantings of a fool like this. Are you going to put me in a cell or not?’
Sir Peregrine glanced at Simon. ‘Are you sure of this?’
‘As sure as I can be.’
‘In that case, Corrodian, you are coming back to the city’s lockup. I’ll need to consider the case with the Justices of Gaol Delivery. After all, the King may like to hear about the matter. It sounds as though he has been rewarding you for years of deceit after committing a foul murder.’
‘You can’t be serious! I’m a King’s man, damn your cods!’
‘Which is why you’re going to gaol,’ Sir Peregrine said serenely.
‘Wait! What if I admit? If I approve?’
Sir Peregrine and Simon exchanged a look. Simon said, ‘If you become a King’s Approver, the Justices may be lenient and save your neck.’
‘I will approve! I admit my crimes, and I admit that I also persuaded Matt to tell the tale to the others, but it wasn’t for love of the city — Matthew did it for money. He always wanted more money! That was why he agreed to help have the Chaunter killed. Joel helped, and Henry, but without Matthew, we’d not have succeeded.’
‘So you admit your part in that murder?’ Sir Peregrine demanded.
‘Yes. I was one of the assassins. I helped kill the Chaunter and his familia. I did it to help the city, but Matthew did it from his lust for money. He was a mercenary.’
Sir Peregrine sucked his teeth. ‘Bailiff?’
‘I am content with that. I think you’d better take him to the city gaol now.’
‘I don’t want to go there!’
Simon looked at him for a long moment. ‘William, you have the choice of an ecclesiastical gaol, where the gaoler will be interested in how you tried to thwart the word of a Bishop, or a city gaol where you will be looked after by men who may respect your protection of city men. The choice is yours.’
There was no choice. Soon William was being taken up towards the East Gate, and shortly afterwards, Simon was back in Janekyn’s room. ‘You heard all that?’ he asked Baldwin.
The knight swallowed, and when he spoke his voice was a whisper. ‘Very clearly. Where is the man?’
‘He is usually to be seen on the scaffolding or in the Exchequer. I shall look there first.’
‘Good. But Simon, be cautious. The man has a good bow arm. He may look like a feeble old clerk, but I am proof that his arm is strong indeed.’
‘I shall be careful. Edgar, you stay here and guard your master and mistress. I will be back as soon as I know what has happened.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
The market was filled with people shoving and pushing, and Wymond allowed himself to be carried along with the general flow. At the outside were all the animals: songbirds in cages, kittens wriggling in larger crates, puppies tied to a post. There were stalls with sweetmeats, then the hawkers with apples and vegetables, and only at the top, nearer Carfoix, did he find the alley where he normally bought his bread. However, when he got to the shop he found that the boards were still up.
‘He’s been taken ill,’ a neighbour informed him with that restrained excitement that another’s misfortune will often bring out in a bystander.
Wymond chewed at his lip. There were other shops that sold bread, but he didn’t want to go back to the market. Instead he continued up the lane, which led to St Petrock’s Gate, a narrow way into the Cathedral Close. Intending to take a short cut up to the High Street, he went inside. A few yards from the church he suddenly saw the crowd of men. In their midst was William, a face he thought vaguely familiar, but the others were strangers to him. William was bound at the wrist, and Wymond wondered what he could have been accused of, to be tied up like that.
And then he heard the man’s confession and his shocking revelation that Matthew had helped plan the death of the Chaunter.
Matthew. The Clerk of the Rolls was known perfectly well to Wymond. This man, who had been the sole survivor of the attack, who had been struck down at the beginning of the incident was himself guilty of causing the affray in the first place. He was one of the evil devils who had betrayed poor Vincent.
Wymond looked from William to the Exchequer, the building lay beyond the northernmost tower, and as he studied it, he saw the figure of a clerk among all the labourers on the scaffolding. The clerk was watching the group gathered at the Fissand Gate intently, then he slowly began to make his way along the scaffolding towards a ladder.
It was nothing for Wymond to walk idly down towards the Cathedral, around the wall of St Mary Major, along the line of houses, and over to the point where the ladder reached the ground. Once there, Wymond saw the clerk descend the last rung and then hurry along the paved roadway towards the Bear Gate.