who clove to her out of long-standing loyalty, surely well-deserved. This woman would have both feet firmly on the ground in dealing with those accidentally her servants, and respect them as they would learn to respect her.
She thought carefully about that. “It was past six in the morning. I cannot be sure how far past, but there was the promise of light. I went out with him to the gate. I remember, there were already colors, it must have been nearing the half-hour. For I went to the patch of gromwell?it went on flowering so late this year?and plucked some flowers and put them in his cap.”
“Past six, and nearer the half than the quarter of the hour,” mused Cadfael. “Then he could not have reached the spot where he was ambushed and killed before a quarter to the hour of Prime, and probably later.”
“There you must hold me excused, brother, for I do not know the place. For his leaving, as near as I dare state, he rode away about twenty minutes after six.”
A quarter of an hour, even at a speed too brisk for the light, to bring him to the place where the trap was laid. How long to account for the final killing? At the very least, ten minutes. No, the murderer could not have quit the spot before at least a quarter to seven, and most probably considerably later.
There was only one vital question left to ask. Many others, which had been puzzling him before he encountered her, and began to find his way past one misconception after another to the truth, had already become unnecessary. As, for instance, why she had discarded all her possessions, even her rings, left her jennet behind in the stable, denuded herself of all the profits of one career. Haste and fear, he had thought first, a bolt into hiding, putting off without coherent thought everything that could connect her with Huon de Domville. Then, when he found her already in a novice’s habit, he had even considered that she might have been stricken into penitence, and felt it needful to give up all before venturing into the cloister to spend the latter half of her life atoning for the former. Now he could appreciate the irony of that. Avice of Thornbury repented nothing. As she had never been afraid, so he felt certain she had never in her life been ashamed. She had made a bargain and kept it, as long as her lord lived. Now she was her own property again, to dispose of as she saw fit.
She had put off all her finery as an old soldier retiring might put off arms, as no longer of use or interest to him, and turn his considerable remaining energies to farming. Which was just what she proposed to do now. Her farm would be the Benedictine conventual economy, and she would take to it thoroughly and make a success of it. He even felt a rueful sympathy for the handful of sisters into whose dovecote this harmless-looking falcon had flown. Give her three or four years, and she would be abbess of Polesworth, and moreover, would further reinforce that house’s stability and good repute, as well as its sound finances. After her death she might well end up as a saint.
Meanwhile, though by this time he was assured of her forthrightness and reliability, she had a right to know that by doing her duty as a citizen she might find her privacy somewhat eroded.
“You must understand,” said Cadfael scrupulously, “that the sheriff may require you to testify when a man stands trial for his life, and that innocent lives may hang on the acceptance of your word. Will you bear witness to all this in a court of law, as you have here to me?”
“In all my life,” said Avice of Thornbury, “I have avoided one sin, at least. No, rather I was never tempted to it. I do not lie, and I do not feign. I will tell truth for you whenever you require it.”
“Then there is one matter more, which you may be able to solve. Huon de Domville, as you may not have heard, dismissed all attendance when he rode to you, and no one in his household admits to knowing where he might have gone. Yet whoever waylaid and killed him on that path had either followed him far enough to judge that he must return the same way?or else, and far more likely, knew very well where he was bound. Whoever knew that, knew that you were there at the hunting-lodge. You have said that you always used great discretion, yet someone must have known.”
“Plainly I was not left to travel unescorted,” she pointed out practically. “I daresay some among his old servants had a shrewd idea I should never be far away, but as for knowing where … Who better than the one who brought me there at Huon’s orders? Two days before Huon and his party came to Shrewsbury. I was always entrusted to one confidant, and only one. Why let in more? For the last three years it has been this same man.”
“Give him a name,” said Brother Cadfael.
9
The sheriff had confined his morning drive to the nearer woods on the southern side of the Meole brook, his line spread like beaters for a hunt, each man just within sight of his neighbors on either hand, and all moving slowly and methodically forward together. And they had netted nothing for all that time and trouble. Nobody broke cover to run from them, nobody they sighted bore any resemblance to Joscelin Lucy. When they drew off to reform and break their fast they had made contact all along their line with the patrols watching the town’s borders. The lepers at Saint Giles had come out curiously to watch their activities at the prescribed distance. Gilbert Prestcote was not pleased, and grew markedly short to question or address. Some others were better satisfied.
“The lad’s surely away home out of this long ago,” said Guy hopefully to Simon, as they dismounted at the bishop’s house to eat a hasty dinner. “I wish for my life, though, we could be certain of it. I could enjoy the hunt for him if I could be quite sure there’s no fear of finding! It would be no hardship to see Picard’s face grow blacker and blacker, and a delight if his horse put a foot in a badger’s sett and threw him. The sheriff has his work to do, and no avoidance, but Picard has no such duty. Office is one thing, but venom’s another.”
“He truly believes Joss killed the old man,” said Simon, shrugging. “No wonder he’s hot after him. All his own plans gone for nothing, and he’s a man who’ll have his revenge at all costs. Will you believe he’s turned against me? I opened my mouth out of turn, and told him flatly I believed Joss never did theft or murder, and he flared at me like wildfire. I’m not welcome to him or his lady any more.”
“Do you tell me?” Guy gaped and sparkled. “And do you know you’re drawn next to him in the line after dinner, when we head further out? Keep a weather eye on Picard, lad, and never turn your back on him, or he might be tempted, if he’s at odds with you. I wouldn’t trust that temper of his too far, and there’s thicker cover where we’re bound.”
He was not very serious, merely exuberant in his relief that his comrade and friend was still at liberty. His attention at the time was on his trencher, for the October air was keen, and provided a healthy young man with a voracious appetite.
“The looks he gave me when he turned me out of Iveta’s room,” admitted Simon ruefully, “you could be right! I’ll keep an eye on him, and be faster in the draw than he. We’re to make our own way back as we please, when the light goes. I’ll ensure I’m far enough ahead of him to keep clear of his blade. In any case,” he said, with a swift private smile, “I have something important to see to before Vespers. I’ll make certain he’s not there to put a bolt through that.” He sat back from the table, satisfied. “Where are you drawn, this time?”
“Among the sheriff’s sergeants, for my sins!” Guy grimaced and grinned. “Is it possible someone has suspected
