‘True. But since then a boy has disappeared and two men are dead. I begin to feel that matters are more pressing than one man’s decision to hold his tongue, no matter how moral was the basis of that decision,’ the abbot said sarcastically.
‘Very well, my Lord. I have often seen the boy Gerard wandering about during the night. It seemed odd to me.’
‘So he stole the items,’ the abbot said, shooting a look at Baldwin.
The knight smiled thinly. The abbot believed that this was proof of the boy’s theft of the two plates found in his bed. Baldwin still doubted that.
Peter continued. ‘I also saw how the plates were disposed of. I once observed Gerard hurrying from the guest rooms to your own lodgings here, Abbot.’
‘Here?’ Abbot Robert said with surprise.
‘Yes. And a few moments later, from the walkway at the top of the wall by the river, I saw a window open, and a small sack descend on a rope. It was collected.’
‘By whom?’
‘Walwynus. I saw him quite clearly.’
‘And you did not see fit to tell me!’ Abbot Robert said coldly. ‘This is extraordinary! After all this abbey has done for you, this is how you repay us? Fortunately another brother saw fit to tell me!’
‘My Lord,’ Peter said calmly; ‘if I had told you then, it is likely that Wally would have simply denied the charge and accused me of wanting revenge – nothing more. You yourself would have been sorely troubled about my mind. And you would have questioned whether I could have seen the man that clearly at – what? – perhaps some fifty yards in the dark.’
‘You should have trusted me!’
‘And tested your confidence in me. Perhaps so. I’m afraid I chose the harder route. I sought to speak to the men responsible. And in Wally I found a ready ear. I fully believe that he felt his guilt and was prepared to redeem himself. I think that he was going to try to return the value of the metal to the abbey for you to do with as you saw fit. It is only sad that he died before he could do so.’
‘So you think that this deplorable boy had access to my lodgings and could pass the things to Wally from my own window?’
‘Unless he had help.’
‘From whom?’ Baldwin interjected. ‘You saw someone else during your ramblings at night?’
‘I did. Occasionally, recently, I have seen Brother Mark. I think he feared that I was observing him, for he hid a few times when I noticed him, but he was never quite swift enough.’
‘Brother Mark,’ Baldwin muttered, and looked at Simon.
The bailiff said nothing. He was considering Peter with a slight frown on his face. Mark, he thought. Mark who had been seen up on the moors on the day Wally died, if Ellis could be believed. Mark, who had been ostentatiously putting away that syphon tube on the day that Simon had been taken to the empty wine barrel, as though showing that anyone could have taken the tube and had access to the wine. Mark, who hated the idea of stealing from the abbey, if his protestations meant anything.
‘At least we know that Wally did indeed try to bring back the pewter,’ he said, and he saw Peter close his eyes in a short prayer.
When he opened them again, Peter turned them on Simon. ‘I am sure he did, and for that his soul deserves peace,’ he said calmly. Simon nodded, but his mind was already turned to another issue: the abbot had said that another brother had already told him about Gerard. Glancing at the abbot, Simon almost asked who it was, but his master’s expression did not invite such a question.
Chapter Twenty-three
Nob had felt a great sympathy for the miner. As he raked the coals aside in his oven, he couldn’t help shaking his head and sniffing a little. Poor Hamelin! So he’d got hold of a load of money, and come back here to share it with his wife and try to save his son, and all he’d won was a dagger in the guts.
It was a decent sum of money too, from what he’d heard Emma saying. Not that it could do him any good now.
The night before, when he had taken the bailiff and others to Hamelin’s corpse, he had decided to make himself scarce. There was no advantage in being around when a coroner started doing his work, for that only led to fines and more expense. Instead he frowningly retreated while the three began their discussion and questioned the others in the area, until he arrived at the end of the alley, and there he turned and darted back to his own shop.
Cissy was at her place by the bar, serving a couple of drunken yeomen, both recently thrown out of the tavern across the way, and she had looked up with an expression of thunder on her face as the two tottered clumsily from the shop, clutching their pies. ‘And where have you been all this time? Down at the alehouse again, I’ll bet. When will you ever grow up? You don’t need—’
‘Quiet, woman! I’ve not been near the alehouse.’ He took hold of her hand. ‘Hamelin is dead. I was there when he was found, stabbed.’
Cissy went white. ‘Oh, poor Emma! What will she do now? I hope she still has all his money.’ Cissy pulled the table aside so that she could squeeze past. ‘I’ll have to go to her right away. You mind the shop, Nob. I’ll stay with her overnight and make sure she’s all right.’
‘All right, love. Off you go.’
His wife had been as good as her word, and he had slept alone but for the companionship of his barrel. Now, this morning, his head felt a little furry, his mouth tasted sour, and he couldn’t help but burp
