‘Your husband was not liked. Most men here hated him. Do you know which could have killed him?’ the Coroner pressed on, his left fist clenched about his sword-hilt as though it was the only thing that kept him upright.
‘I know of no one who could have done this to us.’ Muriel began to weep. ‘No one could want to widow me. What have I done to be punished like this? All my life I’ve tried to be good. I’ve struggled to be a worthy daughter, then wife, then mother, and now all is taken from me!’
‘Woman, the Church will protect you,’ Adam said soothingly, patting her shoulder while glowering malevolently towards Sir Jules.
‘Protect me how? If there’s no food, I’ll starve, and so will Aumery. Poor boy!’
Roger saw how Aumery clutched his mother’s tunic, his eyes still fixed upon Sir Jules. There was terror in his face, the terror of incomprehension, of confusion. His mother was in such a lunatic, frenzied state, his father was gone, and his brother dead too. All in a few short hours.
‘Sir Jules,’ Roger whispered. ‘We can do no good here.’
‘Can you think of no one, woman? No one who could have done this to your husband?’ Sir Jules pressed relentlessly.
She sobbed into her forearms. ‘I know no one! No one!’
Aumery didn’t quite understand what was happening. Father was dead, like the hog last year. That had died too. But Aumery wasn’t sure what death was. Father had simply stopped being Father. He lay there like Father, but with his face blood-encrusted, and without the movement that made him Father. No noise, no breath. It was odd, and only scary when he thought about it. Hamelin was the same, all flat and breathless like a little doll.
Somehow Aumery was sure that it was this tall, intimidating man asking questions that so upset Mother. He was nasty; he was scaring Mummy, just like Daddy used to scare Aumery. Remembering that, Aumery felt a little quiver in his tummy. It wasn’t nice to remember that. Daddy had told him never to mention it again. He said not while he lived. But Daddy didn’t live. Rebellious and half-fearful, Aumery steeled himself, and then he glanced at his father’s corpse before muttering his daddy’s words like a spell.
Sir Jules saw the movement as Adam’s head snapped around. ‘What was that?’
‘Nothing. He’s confused. What can you expect when the boy’s treated in this way while his brother and father lie dead before him?’ Adam said scathingly.
‘What did he say? Boy, what was that?’
Aumery swallowed, but the eyes of the Coroner were strangely intense and he couldn’t keep it in any longer.
‘It was the castellan. The castellan. Because Father said, “If he learned that another man knew his wife, he’d kill the man”,’ Aumery said defiantly.
Muriel sobbed into her hands now. Sir Jules looked to her, and waited, and after a little while she looked up at him brokenly. ‘It’s true: Athelina saw them, Lady Anne and Gervase, in the meadow while the castellan was away. My husband believed Nicholas would kill anyone who spoke of it.’
‘Christ Jesus!’ Sir Jules breathed.
Alexander gingerly touched his throat. ‘You could’ve killed me,’ he croaked sulkily.
‘And you could have caused the death of your master’s son,’ Iwan said easily. ‘Better bruises than a hempen rope. It gives terrible skin-burn.’
‘I had nothing to do with your brother’s death,’ Richer said wearily. ‘I was suffering from a migraine when I left here. Yes, I realised that he had said something about my family, but he didn’t actually say he had killed them. He was taunting me.’
‘So you saw little need for revenge,’ Iwan nodded.
‘That’s right.’
Iwan allowed his gaze to drift over the men who still stood about them. No weapons were visible, but the old smith wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t reappear as soon as his back was turned. ‘I was there at the harvest the year Richer’s family died,’ he told them all. ‘The older folks like me were making sure none of the children grew so drunk they’d hurt themselves. I was up there, and I saw Serlo coming to join the rest of us. It was him gave the alarm, told us all there was a fire. When he shouted, I looked back, and there were the flames. God’s holy pain, I could see them. Terrible, red flames through the trees, some appearing above the trees. I saw them, and that means Serlo could have been there; he could have fired the place.’
‘You knew that and didn’t say anything?’ Richer demanded harshly.
‘Easy, boy!’ Iwan said sharply. ‘I saw Serlo had appeared late, I saw him call the alarm and I saw flames. I didn’t see him with a burning brand in his hand, nor did I see him throw a torch through your window. Maybe he simply saw the flames and ran to fetch us to help quench them.’
‘Serlo was no murderer,’ Alexander said, sniffing, his head hanging.
‘So apologise to this lad, for suggesting he was,’ Iwan said curtly.
‘I don’t know he didn’t.’
‘You don’t know he did!’ Iwan stated.
Alexander averted his head like a man who had been slapped. For a while he could say nothing. Then he gave a short nod of acquiescence.
‘That’s good,’ Iwan said. ‘Sue? Bring ale to celebrate this peace! The castle will pay, I reckon.’
Warin saw the shrewd old eye fixing upon him and gave a grunt partly of approval, partly of admiration. ‘I think my father would be happy indeed to pay.’
‘Thank you, master. I’m sure he will,’ Iwan said as he held up his large pot for Sue to refill.
‘So who else could it have been?’ Alexander demanded quietly as men laughed off their tension and washed away their anger in good ale.
Iwan glanced at him over the rim of his cup. ‘I was at home all the night, and saw no one. But I heard one horse passing late last evening.’
Warin flushed. ‘That was me. I had gone to Temple to speak with the priest.’
‘Now why would that be, master?’ Iwan asked softly.
‘I don’t have to answer your questions, old man.’
‘No. But I just saved your lives and probably the manor from ruin.’
Warin chuckled dryly. ‘Father John at Temple owes his position to my father. My father suggested that I should speak with him. That is all.’
‘All? Perhaps,’ Iwan nodded. ‘What did you speak with him about?’
‘Many things. Mostly about the vill and the people here.’ Warin met his gaze steadily. He was not going to discuss his private conversations, not even with a reliable man such as Iwan appeared to be. ‘What else? Was any other man abroad last night?’
‘No one I saw,’ Iwan said.
‘There was one.’ Sue was passing them, refilling their cups from a large jug, and overheard their talking. ‘A man rode past here a little before dark. It was long before Serlo left here, though.’
‘It may have been the murderer, if he was prepared to sit and wait for a while,’ Warin guessed. He glanced at Richer. ‘Did you see anyone leave the castle?’
‘Only you. And later I too thought that I heard a horse,’ Richer said. ‘But I didn’t look to see whose it was.’
‘It was you killed my brother,’ Alexander spat suddenly. ‘You may have convinced these others you’re innocent, but I know the truth!’
‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Richer said wearily. ‘Of course I didn’t. Why would I?’
‘Maybe you thought he’d killed your woman?’ Alexander curled his lip.
Warin shook his head. ‘I think you need to consider another man, Alexander. My fellow is innocent. I’d stake my arms on it.’
‘Then who …’ Alexander felt his breath stick in his throat as a fresh thought came to him. If Serlo had upset Nicholas because of some harm or insult, real or imagined, it was possible that Nicholas could have killed Serlo, or ordered another man to do so. If Richer was innocent, that didn’t say the master was too.
‘The murderer of Athelina must have known her and her sons well,’ Susan remarked.
‘Why?’ Warin asked.