is horribly stiff for a man with delicate fingers.’
He danced a little jig, much to the crowd’s appreciation, and then made a show of donning his pale purple gloves. Joan remarked politely that they were very fine, and was promptly rewarded with a complex description of how he had come to purchase them. Bored, Geoffrey offered his arm to Leah, eager to see her to the hall so he could resume his enquiries.
‘Where are you taking her?’ demanded Richard. ‘She is not well enough to be dragged all around the butts. Why do you think I found her a bale of straw to sit on?’
‘I was escorting her to the hall,’ replied Geoffrey shortly, hoping the man was not going to provoke another confrontation. ‘She has a headache.’
Richard’s face creased into concern. ‘You should have told me, Leah,’ he said, uncharacteristically gentle. ‘You promised me you would.’
‘I did not want to spoil your fun,’ said Leah, leaning on his arm gratefully.
‘You could never do that,’ he whispered, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. He scowled when he saw Geoffrey was watching, and led her away.
It was not long before Edward came to stand next to Geoffrey, still preening from the praise lavished on his final shot. It would not see him win the competition, because his first two efforts would count against him, but it was certainly the best that day. His happy expression faded when he followed the direction of Geoffrey’s gaze and saw Richard and Leah.
‘I do not understand what she sees in him,’ he said. ‘Oh, he loves her well enough, but he is always so damn miserable. You would not know it to look at her, but she was a happy little creature as a girl. These days, her illness renders her as gloomy as him, and even I struggle to make her laugh. Of course, none of us has much to smile about today.’
‘No?’ asked Geoffrey. ‘Why not?’
‘Because of Mabon,’ replied Edward. Geoffrey was horrified to see tears in his eyes. ‘He was a good friend, and I shall miss him horribly.’
Geoffrey recalled the pleasure with which they had greeted each other the previous day, and knew he was telling the truth. Edward’s distress at the abbot’s death was genuine.
‘When William died,’ he began tentatively, ‘you were out on patrol.’
‘William fitz Baldwin?’ asked Edward, startled. ‘But he died seven years ago! Or are you thinking that if William was poisoned, then the same person might have murdered Mabon? It is certainly possible, I suppose, although I cannot imagine why someone would choose them as victims. They were so different.’
‘Because William was a saint, and Mabon was irreligious?’
Edward’s smile was pained. ‘William had his faults, believe me. He was cloyingly pious for a start. However, Mabon was a fine man, and he was religious – he just did not allow himself to be confined by Church dogma. I admired him for that.’
‘Your patrol,’ prompted Geoffrey.
Edward sighed. ‘Alberic and I were gone for almost two weeks, hunting a band of villains who were robbing travellers. It was dreadful work – hot, tiring and dirty. When we arrived in Kermerdyn, no one was home except Leah, who was ill. We availed ourselves of a bed in her home for the night and learned of William’s death the next morning.’
‘Do you believe he was poisoned?’
Edward was silent for a while, then nodded. ‘Yes. I thought so at the time and I have no reason to revise my opinion. He said he had a secret, and a lot of people were eager to learn it. Of course, William dead meant it was lost for ever, so the killer made a grave mistake.’
‘What was this secret?’
Edward sighed. ‘I do not believe there was one. William may have been speaking figuratively – to explain his turn to goodness in a way he thought others would understand. But it killed him, because someone decided to take it from him.’
‘Did anyone stand out to you as a suspect?’
Edward shrugged. ‘Delwyn, Sear, Alberic, Cornald, Pulchria, Hywel, Bishop Wilfred, various servants. Not Richard, because he was devastated by his brother’s death, and not Leah because she was too unwell. However, your silly shooting contest has been good for one thing.’
‘And what is that?’
‘You can cross me off your list of culprits for trying to kill you last night. I am a fine shot with a familiar weapon, but it takes me a while to get used to strange ones.’
He sauntered away, leaving Geoffrey not sure what to think.
When it was time for Sear and Alberic to demonstrate their skills, both did so with a careless confidence that demonstrated their superior ability. They beat Richard’s score, and Sear was smugly aloof when Adrian declared him in the lead, with Alberic second.
‘You will not do better,’ Sear informed Roger. ‘You and your friend will lose.’
‘We will see about that,’ growled Roger angrily, seizing the crossbow in his big hands ‘Come on, Geoff.’
The crossbow was not Roger’s forte, but pure bloody-mindedness led him to put three bolts in a neat triangle in the target. Unfortunately, they were all to one side, so although he scored more highly than Alberic, he was still behind Sear.
‘I have been asking everyone about Mabon,’ said Geoffrey to Sear and Alberic, while Roger wound the weapon for the next contender. ‘Do you have any idea who might have killed him?’
‘Richard,’ said Sear immediately. ‘And he probably shot at you, too, because he has more than ably demonstrated that he is skilled with a crossbow.’
‘Why would he do either?’ asked Geoffrey, not pointing out that Sear was highly skilled with a crossbow, too.
‘Because he is that kind of man,’ replied Sear shortly. ‘Cruel, vicious and unfathomable.’
‘Easy, Sear,’ said Alberic softly. ‘We have no evidence to make accusations.’
‘Or else it was Delwyn,’ Sear went on. ‘He is sly enough to resort to poison, so he may have killed William all those years ago, too. I doubt he is much good with a crossbow, though.’
‘I can shoot,’ objected Delwyn, hearing the last part. He snatched the bow from Roger and demonstrated a respectable skill, although nothing to match that of the knights.
‘Where did you learn to do that?’ asked Alberic uneasily. ‘Did Mabon teach you?’
‘No,’ said Delwyn haughtily, shoving the weapon back at Roger and beginning to stride away. ‘I was not always a monk. And, for your information, you are all suspects for murdering Mabon in my eyes. The only one who is innocent is me, because I was praying at the time.’
‘Your alibi is God?’ asked Sear mockingly. ‘I doubt that will convince Sir Geoffrey.’
‘It will if he is not a heathen,’ called Delwyn, stamping away.
‘I have changed my mind,’ said Sear, watching him. ‘ He is the culprit. He probably killed William, too, because he was seen loitering in the kitchen near the butter.’
It was Geoffrey’s turn to shoot, but Gwgan reached the crossbow first. Geoffrey had not known he had been standing so close, and realized uncomfortably that the Welshman possessed the ability to blend into the background. It was a trick he had seen other politicians employ, and it crossed his mind that Gwgan might be conducting his own enquiry into what happened to Mabon – not by asking questions, but by watching and listening. He decided to find out.
‘What have you learned about Mabon’s murder?’
Gwgan’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What makes you think I have been looking into it?’
‘You are Prince Hywel’s counsellor, and he will want to know what happened to Kermerdyn’s abbot. Of course you have been exploring the matter.’
Gwgan smiled. ‘You are right, although I have nothing to show for my efforts. Mabon had his eccentricities, but I do not see them as reasons to kill him. It was the same with William fitz Baldwin – most folk liked him, but it did not stop someone from feeding him poison.’
‘You think the same person dispatched them both?’
Gwgan thought carefully. ‘It is possible, although Mabon seems to have died almost instantly, whereas poor William lay ill for days, vomiting up anything he ate.’
