basket of apples when I was a child. It is a trick, nothing more.'
'Not to James Kenzie,' said Michael. 'Why did you lie about this when I asked you about it later?'
Edred's eyes became frightened again and he seemed to lose some of the colour from his face. 'Because I took the ring to Master Lydgate and he told me if I ever mentioned to anyone what I had done, he would kill me,' he said.
'So, why are you telling us now?' asked Michael, unmoved by the friar's fear.
'Because he made a similar threat to Werbergh.
Werbergh spoke to you,' said Edred, looking at Bartholomew with large eyes, 'and now he is dead.'
'But if you think Werbergh died because he spoke to me,' said Bartholomew reasonably, 'why are you now doing the same?'
'Because I do not know what else to do,' said Edred.
Bartholomew had expected him to break down into tears and wail at him, but Edred was made of sterner stuff. He swallowed hard and met Bartholomew's gaze evenly. 'I thought if I told you what I know, you might be able to sort out this mess and offer me some kind of protection.'
Michael sighed. 'It all sounds most mysterious,' he said cynically. 'But let us start at the beginning. We will consider your protection when we better know what we must protect you against.' He leaned back into his chair again, ignoring the creaking wood. 'Proceed.'
Edred looked from one to the other, his face expression-i less. 'Master Lydgate killed Dominica and a servant from Valence Marie that she was with the night of the riot. He also killed Werbergh and James Kenzie. And if he knows where I am he will kill me too.'
CHAPTER 9
In the silence that followed Edred's announcement, Bartholomew was aware of small sounds in the kitchen: Michael's heavy breathing, a student laughing in one of the rooms, the purring of the College cat as it rubbed around his legs.
'How do you know all this?' asked Michael, the first to regain his tongue.
Edred studied an oatcake, then began to crumble it in his fingers. 'On the night of the riot, I was out with some of the other students. I was only there to administer to those that might need me, and to try to stop needless fighting,' he said, looking at Michael.
'Of course you were,' said Michael flatly. 'Pray continue.'
'Then I saw Dominica Lydgate in the company of two men. I knew she was thought to be safe in Chesterton, and so I ran back to Godwinsson to tell Master Lydgate that she was in Cambridge.'
Bartholomew nodded. That accorded with what Cecily had told him. He thought of Joanna and the uncertain light. 'Are you certain it was Dominica? Could you have been mistaken?'
Edred looked surprised. 'Yes, I am certain,' he said. 'It was Dominica I saw.'
'Did you recognise the men she was with?' asked Michael, looking at the small pile of crumbs on the table from Edred's oatcake.
Edred hung his head and swallowed noisily.
'Come now, Brother Edred,' said Michael firmly. 'You are safe here. Tonight you can sleep in Michaelhouse and tomorrow we will see about getting you away from Cambridge altogether. But only if you are honest with us now.'
Edred nodded miserably. 'I thought I recognised who she was with,1 he said, 'although I am still uncertain. I think one of the men was called Will — he is a grubby little man who works at Valence Marie and who has been trawling the King's Ditch for relics recently. The other was his brother, Ned, who died in the riot.'
Bartholomew thought back to the bodies lying in the castle outbuilding. One may well have been Will's brother.
He looked up to find Edred staring at him intently.
'Master Lydgate has killed four people already. My conscience will not allow him to kill again.'
'But what evidence do you have that he has killed these four people?' asked Bartholomew, denying himself the satisfaction of asking the arrogant friar why his conscience only started to prick after four deaths.
Edred began to push the oatcake crumbs into a heap with his index fingers. 'When I told Master Lydgate I had seen Dominica the night of the riot, he left to find her.
He was in a rage such as I have never seen before.' He looked up briefly. 'And, believe me, I have witnessed a fair few of his rages during my time at Godwinsson.
Anyway, after he had gone Mistress Lydgate said she was going, too. I did the only thing an honest friar could do and accompanied her.'
Michael and Bartholomew exchanged a wry look in response to the friar's claimed motive. Edred, his attention fixed on his pyramid of crumbs, did not notice.
'We searched for some time and then we found Dominica. But Master Lydgate had arrived before us and Dominica already lay dead. He had also killed Ned. He was standing over the bodies with his dagger dripping. Of Will there was no sign. He must have managed to escape, for I have seen him alive since.'
'But did you actually see Lydgate kill them?' persisted Bartholomew. Although Edred's story corroborated Cecily's, there remained a small thread of doubt in his mind.
Edred gave a short bark of laughter. 'No, I did not. But a man hovering over two corpses with his dagger dripping blood? What else would you imagine had happened?
Mistress Cecily was all for rushing forward to Dominica, but I prevented her. Master Lydgate stood over his victims for a while, looked around him as though he expected the Devil to snatch him away, and then slunk off. We had seen enough. Mistress Lydgate asked me to escort her to Maud's and I left her there. By the time I returned to the scene of the murder, Dominica's and Ned's bodies had been removed by the Sheriffs men.'
Michael looked at Bartholomew as he asked his next question. 'Do you know where Cecily Lydgate is now?'
Bartholomew avoided his eyes while Edred continued.
'I cannot say what happened after I left her at Maud's. She did not return to Godwinsson, but apparently someone had made a terrible mess of her room — perhaps when it was searched.'
'Searched for what?' asked Michael.
'Her jewellery, I suppose. It is widely known that she possesses a great deal of priceless jewellery.'
'Was this jewellery missing after her room was searched?'
Michael asked.
Edred's mouth lifted at one corner in a disdainful sneer. 'Of course not. She does not keep it on display.
It is all hidden away in places known only to her and Master Lydgate.'
'Not Dominica?' asked Bartholomew.
Again the sneer. 'One or two places, perhaps, but not all. The Lydgates are not a trusting couple where their wealth is concerned.'
Around Edred's neck was a delicate golden crucifix that Bartholomew had not seen him wear before. Since Edred seemed to know about Cecily's hidden treasure, Bartholomew supposed it was not too much of a leap in logic to suppose that Edred had taken the opportunity to ransack her room himself. It would certainly explain why he had taken so long to return to the scene of Dominica's murder-long enough so that the Sheriff had removed the body — after he had seen Cecily safely to Maud's Hostel.
'The day after all this, you went to the Castle to identify the body of the Godwinsson friar who died during the riot, did you not?' asked Bartholomew. 'In the company of Master Lydgate?'
Edred nodded. 'Several students were missing after the riot and Master Lydgate wanted to see whether any of the dead were ours. Two were: the friar and the French student. The friar's head was crushed but we saw the scar on his knee where he was injured at the Battle of Crйcy. Or so he always claimed. Master Lydgate insisted on viewing all the dead, although I only looked at ours.'
Bartholomew caught Michael's eye, wondering if he would consider this evidence that Lydgate had been looking for Dominica among the dead. Except that now, Bartholomew was no longer certain whom Lydgate had
