They are reserved for him and his brother. If he learns that you have been stuffing your fat carcass with his venison, he will carve you up into strips. Right,’ said Ralph, using the swordpoint to guide Reynard to a chair and push him down into it, ‘now that we understand each other, let me hear what you have to say.
And I will brook no more lies.’
Reynard nodded, his mind racing madly and his eyes darting around the room as if hoping to see a means of escape. The swordpoint pricked his paunch and he let out a cry of pain.
‘I am still waiting.’
‘It is true that Grimketel poached on my behalf,’ said Reynard,
‘but only once, I swear it. He slew three deer. Two were kept at his house where you found them. Until today the third was here, hanging in the kitchen, waiting to be eaten.’
‘How did it get from here to Grimketel’s? Can a dead animal trot the best part of a mile?’
‘No, my lord. Grimketel warned me that the lord Henry was coming this way, leading a search party for Boio. I was terrified that he would come into my house and see one of his own fallow deer hanging here.’
‘So you made Grimketel take it away?’
‘Yes, my lord. I loaned him a horse.’
‘That much I believe,’ said Ralph, ‘but I will never accept that a man like Grimketel could catch three deer on his own. I have met the fellow, remember. Catching vermin with snares or nets is all that he is fit for. He is no hunter. He had a confederate.
Who was it?’ Reynard shook his head but his expression gave him away. ‘Who was it? One of the foresters, I’ll wager. What is his name? Give it to me!’
‘There was nobody else,’ said Reynard, squirming in his chair.
‘Would you rather tell the name to the lord Henry?’
‘No, no!’
‘Then whisper it to me now. Who helped Grimketel? Which one of the foresters conspired with him to poach deer for you?’
Reynard capitulated. ‘His name is Warin.’
‘Warin the Forester, eh? I will look forward to making the fellow’s acquaintance. But let us put the poaching aside and turn to something far more important — the murder of Martin Reynard.’
‘I did not touch him,’ bleated the other.
‘You would not have enough guts. The only thing you would dare to attack is a dead animal on a platter. But you might still have found someone to act in your stead — the way you hired your poacher.’
Reynard’s throat was parched, his face took on a deathly pallor and he felt a pounding in his temples. His life might depend on what he said and how much he admitted. Ralph would not easily be deceived.
The commissioner jabbed Reynard even harder with the sword and made him yelp.
‘Did you hire someone?’
‘I did not, my lord. On my oath. But …’
‘But?’
An agonised pause. ‘But I may have … said something which Grimketel decided to act upon.’
‘Something about your kinsman?’
‘Yes, my lord. I told him how much I hated Martin and I remember saying …’ He clutched at his throat to help the words out. ‘I remember saying that it would be of great advantage to me if Thorkell were to lose his reeve before he battled with me in front of the tribunal. Martin was too tricky a foe. He had the gift of advocacy and I did not. I wanted him out of the way so that Thorkell’s case was weakened.’
‘In other words, you ordered his death.’
‘No!’
‘But you put the idea into Grimketel’s mind?’
‘Only in a moment of anger,’ gabbled Reynard. ‘The truth is that I do not know if he hired an assassin on my behalf or not. I did not want to know. Ignorance can sometimes be a protection.
All that concerned me was that Martin was dead and …’ The words tumbled out. ‘Yes, I was glad. I rejoiced in his death, I will confess it. But I have no idea who killed him.’
‘Yet you were quick enough to accuse Boio.’
‘We needed a scapegoat. He was the obvious choice.’
‘So Grimketel did not see him in the forest that morning?’
‘He may have done.’
‘It was not some tale that you and he concocted?’
‘No, my lord,’ said the other. ‘I give you my word. I am no angel but I am not guilty here. Have it in plain language. Martin Reynard is dead. I was pleased. If one of my men contrived the murder, I prefer not to know. A suspect was arrested. I called for his conviction.’
‘You would have let an innocent man be hanged?’
‘Who knows if Boio is innocent? Let me be frank, my lord.
Grimketel was as cunning as a fox. I would not put it past him to have paid the blacksmith to commit the crime then betrayed him to the lord Henry. Boio could well be the killer,’ he argued.
‘Grimketel knew that Boio would be too stupid to defend himself properly and that nobody would believe a word that he said.’
‘Boio was not too stupid to escape from the castle.’
‘Nor to find his way back here.’
‘Here?’
‘To kill Grimketel,’ said the other. ‘I did not think he would take such a risk but he obviously did. If Grimketel hired the blacksmith to commit murder then betrayed him, Boio would have been seething with rage. He would be a powerful man when roused. Grimketel was shaking with fear when he heard of the escape. That is why I told him to lock himself in his house when he had concealed the deer carcass. He was no match for Boio, as we have seen.’
Ralph watched him with a mixture of disgust and curiosity.
‘Repeat that again,’ he said.
‘My lord?’
‘What was that advice about locking himself in?’
Seated in his chamber at the abbey, Robert de Limesey handled the charter as reverentially as if he held Holy Writ between his fingers. His eyes ran slowly over the neat Latin script so that he could savour each separate clause afresh. His joy seemed to increase with each reading. Brother Reginald stood behind him and peered over his shoulder to take his own pleasure from the document. In the course of one day it had assumed infinitely more promise. Robert felt entitled to be complacent.
‘I believe that I struck a hard bargain, Reginald.’
‘Yes, my lord bishop.’
‘I was fair.’
‘But admirably firm.’
‘I was tenacious.’
‘Inspired.’
‘Haggling is permissible if it serves the needs of the Church,’
said the bishop, absolving himself of any blame. ‘That is why I lowered myself to do it. Gervase Bret was a clever young man but less schooled in political arts than I am. All that he and the lord Ralph gained was a meeting in a draughty gaol with a disreputable old man whereas I — that is to say, we, by which I mean the Church — have secured some of the most valuable holdings in Warwickshire.’
‘They were yours by right, my lord bishop.’
‘Eminently true.’
‘That charter before you proves it.’
‘It would not have guaranteed success.’
‘Your status carries weight in itself.’
‘Even with right on our side,’ said the bishop, ‘we may have lost. Royal commissioners are a strange breed, as we found when the first team visited the county. They do not always appreciate the moral claims of the Church. That is why I took the trouble to have word sent to me from Winchester about the men who would judge our case this time. In matters of litigation one cannot be too well prepared.’
‘Your attention to detail is remarkable.’
‘Archdeacon Theobald is a sound man. I know him by repute.
He could be expected to favour us but I did not like the sound of Ralph Delchard, still less of Philippe Trouville, both soldiers and like to prove stern judges. But,’ he said, flinging his hands in the air as if throwing a ball up to heaven, ‘when we most needed help, God provided it. He brought two of the commissioners to our very door and allowed me the opportunity to …’
‘Outwit them?’
‘Too vulgar a description.’
‘Persuade them.’
‘That has a far better ring to it, Reginald.’