‘Are you well, Ranulf? And Mistress Alicia?’
Ranulf’s slightly flushed face told him everything. He opened his hand and Corbett espied the little locket he’d seen round Alicia’s neck.
‘A token of affection, eh, Ranulf?’
His manservant’s face became grave. ‘She thinks you are a very dangerous man, Sir Hugh.’
Corbett shook his head. ‘You’ve read St Augustine? He defines murder as the supreme chaos and that chaos, Ranulf, must be resolved by logic, evidence and the enforcement of royal justice.’ He tapped his clerk playfully on the side of the cheek. ‘And murder comes in many guises. For all we know, Ranulf, we may have spent the morning in the presence of a cruel assassin. Remember the proverb: “Of the two brothers Cain and Abel, Cain was the comeliest and smiled the most.”’
Chapter 12
After some searching, the hermit found the place where he had crossed the trackway. It was now about noon; clouds were closing over the sun and the first cool winds of autumn were making themselves felt. Gold-brown leaves whirled in the wind, laying down a carpet across the rutted track. The forest was silent apart from the occasional call of the birds and the incessant cawing of the rooks. Corbett noticed how the trackway curved and bent.
‘A corner,’ he said. ‘The best place for an ambush, or so my lord of Surrey is always telling me.’
He and Ranulf followed the hermit and Brother Cosmas down the bank to the narrow grave from which Odo had dug the woman’s corpse. Corbett knelt down and, with gauntleted hands, pulled away the leaves and twigs which had amassed there. The soil was soft, easy to dig; it must have taken only a short while for the assassin to slip the corpse in and then hide it under a layer of muddy soil.
‘What are you looking for?’ Brother Cosmas asked.
Corbett pointed back to the trackway. ‘I suspect this young woman was coming from the Devil-in-the-Woods. She was travelling either to the manor or to the priory or, perhaps, north to London. She turned that corner. The assassin must have stood somewhere near here, arrow notched. There’s a well-known outlaw’s trick. You throw a stone in the air and let it fall on the trackway.’
‘And the victim naturally looks up?’
‘Yes, presenting his throat as a suitable target.’
‘The archer must have been a good marksman?’ the Franciscan insisted.
‘We do not know how close he was,’ Corbett replied. ‘But he was definitely skilled with the bow and he fully intended to kill. You served in the wars, Brother. Do you recall a man suffering a throat wound and surviving? Anyway, the assassin steps on to the trackway and drags the corpse down here where it’s stripped and buried. The poor unfortunate’s clothing, smock, dress, boots, belt and cloak.’ He paused, watching a squirrel scamper up the trunk of a tree.
Ranulf looked at Corbett curiously. His master stood, mouth half open, brow furrowed.
‘Master, you were talking of the corpse being stripped?’
‘Of course,’ Corbett breathed. ‘Why strip a corpse?’
‘Because you need the clothes?’ the hermit half-joked.
‘No, no.’ Corbett shook his head. ‘The assassin was no common thief. He was waiting for this young woman. I doubt if she came upon him by chance. It has all the hallmarks of a well-plotted ambush. Our archer can afford a good bow, a quiver of arrows. So, why should he be so keen on some poor woman’s clothes?’ He punched Ranulf on the shoulder. ‘Come on, Clerk of the Green Wax, clear your wits! Remember that corpse, the cropped hair, the sinewy body.’
‘A man!’ Ranulf exclaimed. ‘The woman was travelling disguised as a man! That’s why the clothes had to be removed. If you go back to the tavern and ask, as we have, “Can you remember a young woman?” the answer, of course, will be “No!”’
‘In life as in love,’ Corbett observed, ‘the truth’s always the same: very obvious to those who search for it! Brother Cosmas and Odo, I beg you a favour. Would you mind digging round this shallow grave?’
Brother Cosmas stared truculently back.
‘I asked you as a favour,’ Corbett added evenly. ‘I will do my share as well.’
At this Brother Cosmas picked up the spade and mattock. He gave the latter to Odo and they began to dig while Corbett led Ranulf away.
‘How well do you know these woods, Ranulf?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Very well. Go back to the Devil-in-the-Woods. Search out young Baldock: he is now groom and Master of Horse to Sir Hugh Corbett, King’s Commissioner. Sir William won’t object. Tell him I’ll draw the indentures up tonight before we go to Rye.’
‘Rye!’ Ranulf exclaimed.
‘Yes, Rye. Baldock has two tasks. First, he’s to take you to Savernake Dell and, when you’re finished, to bring you back to the tavern. Afterwards he’s to go and ask Sir William for a letter of release from his service.’
‘What am I looking for in Savernake Dell?’
‘Well, any sign of Sir William being ill.’
‘Sir Hugh!’
‘More importantly, see how long it takes to run from where Lord Henry was killed to the other side of the dell and back. Baldock will help you, he knows where everybody stood.’
Ranulf left. Corbett joined the others. They’d dug into the grave but only unearthed a silver button, no bigger than a groat.
‘Would the assassin have hidden the clothes here?’ Brother Cosmas asked. ‘If he took such pains to strip the corpse?’
‘True.’
Corbett squatted at the side of the pit, eyes half-closed, listening to the sounds of the forest. Brother Cosmas had led the digging and the clerk was suspicious. The Franciscan was an intelligent man. He had made no attempt to search elsewhere: like some menial servant, he had literally followed Corbett’s orders, digging deeper, not accepting the logic that the assassin would scarcely have dug a deep grave only to bury the clothing, cover that up and place the corpse on top. Odo was also sullen, distracted. Corbett’s hand travelled to the hilt of his dagger. He had acted arrogantly! Here he was with two strangers, both of whom were under suspicion, yet he was alone in the forest with them where any accident might occur. He got to his feet, quietly promising that he would not turn his back on this precious pair.
‘I have shown you,’ Odo protested. ‘And I have dug. Apart from a button, we have found nothing.’
Corbett looked along the bank. Were these two men guilty of the murder? Had Odo brought him here because he had no choice? Corbett drew his dagger.
‘The corpse was dragged down here,’ he began. ‘The assassin moved quickly. The corpse is stripped and swiftly buried.’ Corbett looked to his left and pointed to the thick gorse and undergrowth which sprouted along the side of the bank. ‘The assassin would wish to be away from here as swiftly as possible. He hurriedly put the clothing in a bag.’ Corbett walked to the far side of the freshly dug pit. ‘Then up, across the trackway, and into the forest.’ He crouched down and sifted with his dagger among the brambles and leaves. ‘Let us hope he dropped something.’
The two men didn’t join him. Corbett continued his search, using his dagger to scrape away the grass and weeds which clung so tenaciously to the soil. He carefully divided the ground into small squares, moving along the bottom of the bank and then up. Now and again he glanced at Brother Cosmas and Odo. They had drawn aside, whispering to each other. Corbett was about to ask them to join him but he decided it would be safer if they kept their distance. He was also unsure what they would do if they found anything untoward.