Timothy frowned. ‘Are you saying…? Can you be saying that this travelling minstrel was… was in reality Ralph Boyse?’
‘It would have been about the same time that he was supposed to be in Devon, but his ignorance of the red earth around Exeter convinces me that he was almost certainly elsewhere. I think he was at Chilworth, close by Southampton.’
‘For what purpose?’
‘For the purpose of speaking to Matthew and giving him his instructions.’
Timothy wrinkled his nose like a dog with a suspect bone. ‘You’ll have to do better than that,’ he demurred.
A party of drunken revellers emerged noisily from the inn, shouting bawdy ditties and laughing inanely as they wound an unsteady path across the courtyard. Timothy watched their progress with a jaundiced eye.
‘They’ll be worse than that as soon as they set foot on French soil,’ he prophesied gloomily. ‘There’s something about foreign parts that brings out the very worst in Englishmen, however well-behaved and docile they are at home. They’ll be committing rape and rapine in every town and village they pass through. Some’ll be hanged, others flogged, but it won’t deter the rest of ’em. However, that’s not my problem, God be thanked. Go on then, chapman. Give me another reason for suspecting Matthew Wardroper.’
‘The two attempts to maim Lionel were both made after Matthew arrived in London and after Ralph had learned, again through Berys, that the plot against the Duke had been uncovered. The first try was a failure, Lionel only breaking an arm in the fall and being able to keep the rendezvous with Thaddeus outside the Priory. Somebody followed him that night and I’d be willing to stake my life that it was either Ralph or Matthew. Myself, I believe it was the former. Ralph would have had friends amongst the officers on the gates who would have let him in and out without too many questions asked.
‘Had Thaddeus been able to supply a name there and then, I don’t believe that either man would have lived to tell the tale, but unless absolutely necessary Ralph wouldn’t have wanted to risk murder on the open highway. As it was, the pair of them had to be prevented from meeting again the following evening and the second attempt to harm Lionel was more successful. The fall this time broke his ankle and Matthew was sent to meet Thaddeus in his place. Whose suggestion was that? Do you remember?’
‘Lal’s,’ was the prompt response. ‘So you lose that argument, my friend. Matthew knew nothing of the plot until we took him into our confidence.’
‘And played, quite by accident, straight into the conspirators’ hands. I’m sure that had you decided to go to the warehouse yourself, in Master Arrowsmith’s place, Matthew would still have got to Thaddeus before you. But you made things easy for him.’
Timothy digested this for a moment, then asked, ‘Do you have any other reasons for accusing young Matthew? You haven’t yet convinced me.’
I sighed, although I knew in my heart of hearts what he must know, too: that there was a great deal of guesswork and intuition in what I was saying, but very little substantial weight of evidence.
‘Two things. Firstly, Thaddeus had not been killed cleanly, but had obviously managed to struggle with his assailant after the fatal blow was struck. There was a bruise on his jaw where someone had hit him. Later, when we were all together in that room in the tower – you, me, Master Arrowsmith and young Wardroper – I noticed Matthew rubbing the knuckles of his right hand as if they were sore, but then I thought nothing of it. Secondly, there was something which bothered me about the finding of Thaddeus’s body. At the time, I was unable to decide what it was, and so, gradually, it faded from my mind. Recently, however, that unease has returned to haunt me and at last I think I know its cause.
‘The murderer must have realized that his victim was not quite dead when he left him. Dying, most surely, but not completely devoid of life. Why did that fact not worry him? Why did he not make certain that Thaddeus was despatched before your envoy arrived for the meeting? For how did he know when that would be? Thaddeus might still have been able to whisper a name: the name of his killer and also that of the man appointed to slay Duke Richard. It was a risk he dared not take unless he was in a position to control events. So that man, by my reasoning, had to be Matthew Wardroper.
‘The one thing he didn’t, of course, foresee was the arrival on the scene of myself and Philip Lamprey, but even then his luck held firm. Thaddeus died in my arms without having uttered a word. And as,’ I finished, ‘for the two attempts so far on Duke Richard’s life, who thought to inquire where Matthew was or check his movements during the masque? But we know where he was when Great Hal bolted. Riding behind His Grace.’
There was a long silence as my voice finally died away. The courtyard was quiet now. Only in the tavern itself were there sounds of conviviality and laughter. The shadows were beginning to lengthen as the sun sank behind the roofs of Calais and windows sparkled into life, lit by pale aureoles of candle-flame. In the west, the darkening sky was streaked with lakes and rivulets of clearest pearl, while far away beyond the walls could be heard the faint, bell-toned hushing of the sea.
Timothy stirred at last, reluctantly, as though returning to cramped and painful life after a deep and dreamless sleep. ‘You’ve no shred of proof to back these assertions,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing but what’s in your head.’
‘I know,’ I admitted. ‘But do you believe me? If so, then between us we might be able to think of something we can do?’
He got to his feet and reached down a hand to help me to mine. ‘Against my better judgement, against all reason, I believe you. As you say, the thing now is to get some proof.’ Another thought struck him, undermining his newfound faith. ‘But it was young Wardroper who saved the Duke when Great Hal bolted! Why would he wish to do that if he is our assassin?’
‘I think that the person who saved the Duke was the Duke himself,’ I answered. ‘His own horsemanship. His own quick thinking. Oh, I don’t deny it looked as though Matthew was the rescuer and I don’t doubt but what it seemed that way to Duke Richard. But there was a deal of confusion as they neared the edge of the ditch; a lot of tugging and pulling. From where I was standing, Matthew could equally as well have been trying to force His Grace over the brink. I wanted to get the Duke’s own opinion on the matter, but John Kendall denied me an audience this morning because of the Duke of Burgundy’s arrival.’
‘And also,’ Timothy said drily, ‘because he thinks you grow too bold and forget your station.’
I grinned. ‘That, too, I’m sure.’ I stretched my arms above my head. ‘By the saints, I’ll be glad when this is finished and I can get back on the open road again.’
We walked back to the market square and turned our feet in the direction of the Duke’s temporary lodging.
‘You’d give up a roof over your head, regular meals and pay, for the chancy existence of a pedlar?’ Timothy asked in disbelief.
‘Willingly,’ I answered. ‘You may enjoy this world of gossip and intrigue, where everyone spies on everyone else, where no one trusts any other, where the smiles are false and solemn words and promises are given only to be broken, but that’s not for me.’
Timothy shrugged. ‘Each to his own taste.’ He laid a restraining hand on my arm as we neared the street door of the merchant’s house. ‘Not a whisper,’ he urged, ‘to anyone of the doubts and suspicions you’ve voiced to me tonight. I refer particularly to your thoughts concerning the King’s intentions. If you are right, you would do well to let His Highness reveal them himself in the fullness of time. For if you are wrong you could be arrested for the crime of lèse-majesté.’