The Manor of Death (36 page)

Tired from a day in the saddle and the stress of the sudden attack, John decided not to visit the Bush that evening, though part of him welcomed the excuse to escape Nesta's emotional mood, as women in tears frightened him more than facing a troop of cavalry. Next day he had to attend the fortnightly county court in the bleak Shire Hall in the inner ward of Rougemont. With Thomas prompting him from his parchments, he made several declarations of 'exigent', outlawing men who had failed to answer to their bail on four previous occasions. There were two confessions to read out from men who had turned 'approvers', trying to save their necks by denouncing their accomplices in cases of robbery, and he successfully persuaded an indignant leather merchant to take his 'appeal' against a fraudulent supplier of hides to the next Eyre, rather than challenge the man to trial by combat, which he was almost certain to lose.

The proceedings were finished by dinner-time, with the sheriff sending three men to be hanged for thefts of items worth more than twelve pence and another for clipping coinage, a felony classed as treason and always punishable by death. Though the efforts of the Chief Justiciar to wean major cases from the local manor, hundred and county courts into the royal courts was slowly succeeding, the old Saxon system was proving hard to eradicate. One problem was that the visits of the king's justices to hear cases at the Eyres were so infrequent that the population preferred the quicker summary justice of the local courts. It was true that to speed up the process, more frequent visits of lesser judges, the Commissioners of Gaol Delivery, had been established, but still the old ways proved most popular with the people.

De Wolfe discussed some of this with Henry de Furnellis when they met that afternoon in the keep, but the main business was to harden up their plans to sail the decoy ship to try to attract the pirates. The coroner had learnt from his partner Hugh de Relaga that the
St Radegund
was due to be back in Topsham within the next week, weather permitting.

'Her master, Roger Watts, is then due for a voyage off, to spend time at home, so we can use Angerus de Wile for our purposes,' said John.

'Assuming he's willing to put his life at risk,' reminded Ralph Morin, who was also present. 'You had better go and talk to him and explain what's required.'

John readily agreed, very conscious that the shipmaster lived in Dawlish.

'We had better arrange for this collection of the fake treasure boxes from Taunton,' declared the sheriff. 'You and Gabriel had better go up with the empty ones and fill them full of stones yourselves. The fewer people who know the truth of this, the better.'

The castle constable agreed and added: 'The return journey to Exeter with an escort of men-at-arms needs to be as public as possible. We can store the boxes here in Rougemont until they are due to be taken down to Topsham.'

The finer details were thrashed out until all that remained was for John to get the cooperation of the
St Radegund
's master. The crew need not be told anything until the contingent of soldiers arrived to be hidden below deck.

'Amongst whom will be myself!' boomed Ralph.

'As will be I and Gwyn of Polruan,' added John grimly. 'Though I think I'll leave my little clerk at home for this particular adventure!'

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

In which the coroner goes to sea

Angerus de Wile lived in a low cottage facing the beach in Dawlish, one of an irregular row of small huts and bigger crofts that housed sailors and fishermen as well as a few traders and craftsmen. As a shipmaster sharing in the profits of each voyage, he was richer than most of his neighbours, but his dwelling was still very modest. The walls were oak frames filled in with cob plastered over wattle panels, and the roof was made of thick stone tiles, as thatch or wooden shingles would not stand the winds that constantly threatened the shore.

His wife had died in childbirth four years earlier, and his eldest daughter, now aged nine, looked after the other two children and kept house while their father was away at sea. John de Wolfe thought that the girl did a good job, as when he came to see Angerus a few days after the conference in Rougemont, he found the little house warm and comfortable. There were clean rushes on the floor and a savoury smell came from a small cauldron hanging on a trivet over the fire pit. Unusually for Devon, there was a crude box-bed against the wall, a cave-like cupboard where Angerus slept when he was home, the three children sleeping on hay bags laid on its roof.

De Wolfe, who today had left both Thomas and Gwyn behind in Exeter, accepted some hot broth that the daughter ladled from the pot, followed by a cup of good wine that Angerus had brought from his last trip to Bordeaux. Seated on stools around the fire, he explained the situation and asked the shipmaster if he was willing to take the
St Radegund
out, given the possible risks. Though the man was virtually his servant, in that he now worked for the partnership, John made it clear that he was asking for a volunteer and that he was free to refuse if he so wished.

The shipmaster sat for a while, staring into the small glowing fire. His lower jaw, which stuck out so that his teeth markedly overlapped the upper set, made him look like an angry dog about to attack a tethered bull or bear.

'I'll take the ship and be glad to do so, Sir John!' he said eventually. 'It was sodding pirates of some sort who so cruelly slew Thorgils, my master and friend! It would be some measure of revenge if I could help you.'

John looked at his daughter and then at the two younger children, sitting wide-eyed watching them from the bed.

'You have a family to think of, Angerus - but with a dozen armed men on board, as well as myself, the constable and doughty Gwyn, there should be no great risk to you or your crew.'

De Wile looked across at his children, who were obviously well loved and well cared for. 'They have been brave since their mother died, Christ bless her soul! I'm sure if the worst happened, Mistress Hilda would see them cared for, as she has done for the families of Thorgils' crew.'

They talked for a while longer about the details of the proposed voyage and agreed that Angerus would sail the cog out of Topsham in ten days' time.

'It may well be that we'll see no sign of any attackers,' warned de Wolfe. 'Or it's just possible that some other privateers will take the bait, like those said to be working out of Lyme.'

Angerus shrugged. 'The sea's a big place, 'Crowner! You could hide a thousand ships just in the Channel, so the chances of them coming across us once out of sight of land are very slim, unless they know exactly when we left harbour.'

'That's just what we have been trying to achieve, and will do so again in the next few days, now that we have a date. You can tell your men that you have a cargo of silver coin for the king's troops, but for God's sake don't mention the soldiers until they actually turn up at the moment you're ready to cast off your mooring ropes.'

When he rose to leave, John made a point of going to each of the children to press a penny into each hand, as he ruffled their hair affectionately. Though he was not used to children, he sometimes had a yearning for some of his own when he saw a contented family like Angerus's. As he walked back along the strand to the tavern where he had left Odin to be fed and watered, he wondered if things would have been different if he had sired a few on Matilda, though she had never expressed the slightest interest in motherhood, preferring the sisterhood of the Church and apparently yearning only to be a bride of Christ. He was now forty-one years of age and life was slipping by at an astonishing rate, but he knew he still had the potential to be a father - all he needed was the mother!

The thought quickened his steps until he told himself sternly not to be such a damned fool, as an image of Nesta floated into his mind. Doggedly, he walked on and after checking at the alehouse to see that his stallion had been properly cared for, he turned up the side street and loped towards Hilda's grand house, its stone walls and two front pillars marking it out from every other dwelling in the village.

As he approached the heavy door, he felt excited at what had almost happened the last time he came here. He rubbed at his chin to see how much stubble had grown and even ran his fingers through his thick black hair in an attempt to tame it. Flinging the sides of his riding cloak over each shoulder, he tightened his broad leather belt another notch and adjusted the sheath of his short sword at his side. Then he pounded on the door with his fist and waited impatiently for Alice to open it and let him stalk up the stairs to the blonde beauty in her solar.

The oak boards creaked open and the maid looked out timidly.

'Alice, I'm here again to see your mistress!' he announced almost gaily, putting one foot over the threshold.

The young girl stared at him, this great man dressed in black and grey. 'But she's not here, sir. She's gone to Holcombe to stay with her family for a week.'

Deflated and feeling slightly foolish, de Wolfe backed down the steps and trudged moodily back to the waiting Odin.

The next ten days seemed to pass unusually quickly for John. There were a number of new deaths that needed investigation, one in Totnes which occupied two of those days, much of it in travelling. There were no more arrows fired at him, and with no possible means of investigating the failed assassination he had to write it off to experience. He was convinced that, like the killing of the Keeper, it was an attempt to extinguish his interest in Axmouth.

The false 'treasure' was duly brought to Rougemont by an armed party and locked in the sheriff's inner room. Both Gwyn and Thomas reported that the city was rife with gossip about the thousands of silver pennies destined for the king's troops in Normandy.

It was not the first such happening, as genuine exports from the Exeter mint had been made at intervals, albeit recently debased by the covert addition of tin. However, the large amount involved in this new consignment and the fact that it had been brought down from the Bristol mint made it a talking point in the taverns and churches of the city. John's two spies also confirmed that the place and date of its departure were widely known amongst the populace.

'If this doesn't reach the ears of those who would like to steal it, then we'll have to admit defeat,' said the sheriff resignedly as he bumped his shins on the six boxes of stones that cluttered his quarters.

During those days de Wolfe's relations with Nesta had improved, and he had spent several nights with her in the Bush, though he still felt awkward knowing that Owain ap Gronow was lying only a few paces away.

One day he again went down to Dawlish, as he felt he could not commandeer a ship and her crew that used to belong to Hilda without the courtesy of getting her approval. If nothing else, the potential danger to the master and crew made it imperative that Hilda was brought into the secret, as he knew that the welfare of their families was close to her heart. Following the rapprochement with Nesta, he decided to take Hugh de Relaga down to Dawlish with him, as the gaudy portreeve was not only the third member of their wool exporting consortium but would serve as an effective chaperone, as John felt that he might not be able to trust himself to behave if temptation became too great! The meeting was decorous and friendly, and John had no opportunity to be alone with Hilda, much as he chafed against his own decision to avoid temptation. Hilda readily agreed to using the cog as a decoy, as since Thorgils had been killed her anger still burnt against those who so treacherously slew shipmen on the high seas.

The circle of people made privy to the ambush plot was widening, but John felt that he could trust all of them not to divulge the secret until the moment that the
St Radegund
actually sailed. The troop of men-at-arms that would hide on the ship would not march aboard until the very last minute, when it would be too late for any spy to get a message to Axmouth to prevent a privateer from leaving to intercept the treasure ship. John still did not exclude the owner of
The Tiger
from being party to the murderous trade, and his servants in Exeter would be well aware of the departure of the vessel.

It was Gwyn, with his knowledge of the sea, who pointed out that any pirate ship would have to leave Axmouth at about the same time as the
St Radegund
sailed from Topsham, otherwise it would have to wait twelve hours for the next tide to be able to float off and leave the estuary of the Axe, by which time the treasure ship would have vanished over the horizon.

A few days before Angerus de Wile was due to take his ship to sea, John asked Thomas to scribe another short letter to his wife. He decided that though his wife's continued absence was something that he was getting used to - and which he was now quite content to be a permanent situation - he was bound as an honourable knight to try all means to persuade her either to return to him or at least to give some clue as to her intentions.

'I have to let her know that I have been called to London,' he growled to his clerk. 'Perhaps the knowledge that the king himself wants me to become coroner to the royal court will change her mind about staying in Polsloe.'

Thomas was quite ready to believe that Matilda's snobbery and ambitions of social elevation would entice her away from the desire to take her vows of chastity and obedience. His master's thoughts were similar, but John felt that his duty as a husband and a Norman gentleman obliged him to take the risk. The letter was duly delivered to Dame Madge but, contrary to John's fearful expectations, no reply had materialised by the time he left on the
St Radegund
.