‘Your humility does you credit,’ Munio said sarcastically. ‘Do you know where it was found?’
‘No.’
‘On the body of a dead man. A man who was in charge of a gang of thieves. Perhaps you have heard of him? His name was Domingo.’
‘Domingo?’ She brought her brows together. It was hard to feign ignorance, but she was determined to try.
‘Yes, Domingo. He led his men against a band of pilgrims on the day that they arrived. Afterwards, he was reported as having stolen your horse, I think?’
‘I didn’t report him.’
‘Another theft that went unreported. Curious, because that theft apparently prevented you from going to meet someone.’
‘My maid was able to go instead.’
‘And she died in your place,’ Munio pointed out.
‘Yes,’ Dona Stefania said, her eyes downcast.
‘And your money was stolen from your maid.’
‘Yes.’
Munio glanced at Baldwin, who nudged Simon. The Bailiff gave a beaming smile and flicked aside his coat. From beneath it he brought out the purse he had found at the ford.
‘Is this yours?’ Munio asked.
Her face was answer enough. ‘I had no idea … how did you …’
‘It was easy,’ Munio said, and motioned to Simon.
Simon stood now, and strolled to Munio’s table. While he spoke, Munio translated. ‘The money was never stolen. The attempt was made, of course. Your maid, Dona Stefania, as you suspected, wanted to leave you and take a nice little nest egg with her. She had spoken to her lover, Don Ramon, about getting married, and he agreed. He was delighted; he loved her.
‘But first she must get her hands on the money. To do that, she told you that someone had heard or seen of your affair with another pilgrim, and that he had approached her, demanding to meet you and be paid off. You were enraged, of course. You thought that you had done nothing wrong …’
Munio’s tone was ironic, and a chuckle rippled through the hall. Simon smiled winningly and continued as the Dona’s head shot around to glare at the audience.
‘… so you told her you would go and pay the man. But when you went to fetch your horse, you learned that Domingo had taken it already. Perhaps he wanted to sell it for himself. So you had no horse. Instead, you told your maid to go.’
‘She wanted to go. She said it was safer than letting me go. If there was a felon there, he might have molested me — ransomed me, perhaps!’
‘Perhaps. You should be glad, whatever is true. It was easier for her merely to go in your place. She arrived there, and met her husband-to-be, Don Ramon. He was thrilled to see her. They went for a lovers’ walk — but then things went wrong. She produced your money, Dona, and presented it to him.
‘But she had not reckoned on Ramon’s integrity. No sooner had he heard how she came to have your money, than he threw it from him. He refused to listen to her blandishments, but left her, telling her that if she wanted to marry him, she must take the money back to you and confess. Then he mounted, and rode away.
‘He did not know that her plans were already set in train. One part of her plan was to have a woman arrive, someone who was similar in appearance to her, who was of the same build, the same shape. As Ramon rode away, she saw this person who was to take her identity. She was going to kill her and disappear with the money.’
Dona Stefania nodded. ‘You are right in every respect, I believe. I have remained here in the city in order to find where my Joana has gone, but she has been in hiding.’
‘A beggar may walk the streets, but she can be found if she is unique. That is why the woman you sought has been hiding.’
Something in Munio’s voice made Dona Stefania frown. Then her mouth fell open and she whipped round. There, near the door, she saw the tall beggar. ‘That’s Joana! Don’t let her get out!’
There was no need for her cry. The figure leaped for the door, but before she could reach it, two sturdy peasants moved before it, arms folded. Seeing their stolid figures, the beggar sagged, as though she realised that there was no escape.
‘Joana, you evil child!’ the Prioress raged. She forgot all about the other people in the room, and marched up to the beggar, slapping her across the face. ‘You would steal everything from me, would you?’
Then, to Baldwin’s amazement, she fell back.
The beggar’s veil had been knocked from its moorings, and Dona Stefania could see that this was not Joana. ‘Who … who are you?’
It was Maria, but Baldwin now glanced with consternation at Simon. He had thought that Maria was merely Joana renamed. Apparently not.
Simon took up the story again. ‘However Joana was not able to kill her victim immediately, Dona. She was in hiding, about to spring, when a man rode up — a man of strong passions, who when he forms a desire, will have his way. This noble knight,’ Simon said drily, eyeing Don Ruy, ‘had seen you both on the pilgrimage here, and he had developed a fancy for your maid. When he rode past, seeing another woman of a similar build, walking by the river on her own, he offered her money to lie with him. Nothing loath to make a few dinheiros, she agreed, and the two lay together on the roadside. While they were coupling, Joana could not move even to retrieve the money. She was pinned there like a rabbit by an arrow.
‘After he was done, the man left the woman. She rose, and found herself being berated by Joana. She was reluctant to stand and listen to this, but Joana set upon her to kill her, and she must defend herself.’
‘No. Joana waited until her cousin was there, her Cousin Domingo. He was to have half the money for himself,’ Maria spoke up. ‘I knew nothing about this. Domingo did not realise at the time that I was to be her victim. She thought he would think nothing of killing me because I was nothing to her. Although I was her cousin, she saw me only as a useful thing to be destroyed for her profit. But Domingo! She thought he would kill me because I was no longer part of his family.’
‘You were related to him, weren’t you?’ Simon pressed her.
‘Yes,’ she admitted, her head downcast.
‘And you use a different name to save your family from shame, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Your real name is Caterina. Maria is solely a trade name for begging and … other activities.’
‘Yes.’
‘What relation was he to you?’
‘I was his sister, but our father dispossessed me and refused to acknowledge me when I married,’ she said with a firm pride. ‘I married a mudejar, you see. None of my family would help me from that day onwards.’
‘But Domingo drew the line at killing you?’
‘Yes. Joana tried to beat me to death, but her first blow missed its mark and only served to hurt. I saw she had a rock, and she started shouting to Domingo to hold me, to knock me down, so she could kill me, but he reached around me and beat at her with his rock, crushing her head, then her face, and beating all to a mess. It was horrible!’
‘It must have been,’ Simon agreed. ‘Especially when Domingo deliberately made the corpse look as though it had been mutilated after a rape.’
‘Yes.’ Caterina lowered her head with revulsion. ‘He said he had to make it look like a rape so that people wouldn’t realise anything else had happened. He wanted to hide the truth as far as he could.’
‘Why?’ Munio asked.
Simon answered, ‘I think because he knew that the Prioress would leave no stone unturned to find her money. If Joana’s body was found and she appeared to have been murdered during a robbery, Domingo knew he’d be suspected. A rape would make him, as Joana’s cousin, less suspicious in the Prioress’s eyes. Joana could have had a chance encounter with a rapist before she ever met the blackmailer, or the blackmailer himself could have raped her …’
The Prioress spoke. ‘He knew that I’d seen Don Ruy staring at Joana while we travelled here. He intended me to think Don Ruy was the guilty man.’
‘So, to continue,’ Simon said, ‘after this, Caterina left. She had no idea about the money. Domingo didn’t think that his cousin would have thrown it into the bushes, and didn’t know where she and Ramon had lain, even if he had guessed, so he could not find it. He searched about the horses, I expect, but then grew worried that he might be seen, so he rode back to the town, probably thinking Ramon had taken it. The body remained where he’d left it.