“It was all dark clothing, I think he had a rich scarlet tunic, and a heavy cloak.”
“What color was the cloak?” Baldwin pressed.
“It was dark-one color looks like another!”
Baldwin sat back and threw a harassed glance at his friend. Simon shook his head. It was plain enough that they would get nowhere with Mistress Cecily, not unless she recalled some more hard facts they could deal with. Baldwin nodded to himself, then leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“There is another thing we have been told,” he said hesitantly. He was reluctant to bring the matter up, for it smacked of prurience. “My apologies again if it is distasteful, but I have been told that your father was heard to shout at your attacker. He bellowed, ”So you’d defile my daughter too, would you?“ You didn’t hear anything like that?”
She looked up at him, and he could see a tear moving slowly down her cheek as she shook her head. Her mouth moved slightly, as if to frame the word “No,” but no sound came.
“Putthe thought you were missing some plate. Have you checked it all?”
Cecily clutched for the arm of her chair. “The plate? You expect me to count up all my poor father’s silver when he’s lying in there dead? I neither know nor care whether someone might have taken it!”
Simon stirred. “Baldwin, I really think we should leave the lady alone now, she’s told us all she can.”
“Yes, of course. Lady, I am grateful to you, you have been most helpful, and I am terribly sorry to have had to bring it all back to you. If you could ask your servant to show us out.”
Simon glanced at him with faint surprise. Baldwin was not usually so keen to stick to formalities. The young woman called sharply, and they heard a pattering of light footsteps, then Alison was with them. Baldwin stood, bowed, and walked back into the hall with the maid, leaving Simon to mutter his own farewell and trot after them.
He found the knight by the body once more. Baldwin had paused, as if caught by a sudden thought. “Tell me, Alison. Your mistress-the last time I saw her, she was wearing a new blue tunic, I think. Very dark. Isn’t that what she was wearing last night?”
“Why…Yes, sir, she was.”
“Tell us what you heard, and what you found when you came in here and discovered your mistress.”
“Well, sir, I don’t know that I should. I-”
“Come along! You have already told all the gardeners and grooms, haven’t you? And your friends, so it is already all over the town,” Baldwin grinned.
“He wouldn’t-I mean…” She stopped, flustered.
“Do you want me to have to question each and every other servant until I discover who your sweetheart is?” the knight chuckled. “Come, I am not asking from some perverted motive. I have to try to find your master’s murderer.”
She gave him a quick look from the corner of her eye, then ducked her head. “All right, sir. I was upstairs with my mistress in the early evening, but when it got dark, she came downstairs. She told me to wait.”
“Was it usual for her to leave you up in her chamber while she went to fetch something for herself?”
“Mistress Cecily is a very gentle and kind lady. If I’m busy she’ll often help me, and yes, sometimes she does run her own errands.”
“So you were busy last night?”
“Not particularly. I was making up her bed and sorting through some of her clothes, that’s all.”
“And her father was out, she’s told us. That was normal?”
“Recently, yes. What with the…”
“Yes?” Baldwin prompted gently.
She gave a little sigh, and a shrug. “Well, since Master Coffyn next door got in these soldiers of his, the master was nervous. He argued with Master Coffyn several times over them.”
“You heard them argue?”
“It was hard to miss them, they were shouting so loud.”
“Where was this?” Simon asked.
“Why, in the hall here.”
“So Coffyn used to come here often enough?” Simon pressed.
“Oh yes, sir. My master had invested a lot of money in Master Coffyn’s business over the last few months. He often used to come here to tell my master how the business was doing.”
Baldwin pulled her back to his own theme. “But your master thought Coffyn’s men might rob this house?”
“Yes, sir. Not that I saw any of them near, but you know what stories there are about wandering soldiers like them. None of them owe any loyalty but that which they give for money.”
Baldwin nodded. He was perfectly well aware of the increasing public concern about such people, but he had no desire to be caught up in a debate on their morals with a serving-girl. “And is anything missing? Could Coffyn or his man have taken anything?”
She gave him a quick look, then studied the sideboard. When she faced him again, she met his gaze with what looked like defiance. “No, sir. Nothing is missing.”
He peered at her, nodding slowly. “Very well. What happened when your mistress left you and came in here?”
“Well, sir, she was gone some little while when I heard her father. He was shouting something about her being defiled. I didn’t know what to do. I was just going to go downstairs, when I heard something else. It froze the blood in my veins, sir, it really did. It was her father. He gave a great roar, and I swear I never want to hear a noise like that again as long as I live!” She shivered at the memory, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve before continuing. “I was scared out of my wits, not knowing what to do. The only way out of the solar block is through the main hall, and if there was a madman killing people there, I didn’t want to go! But then, when things had been quiet for some time, I thought I should steal down. I was about to go when I heard another scream, and-”
“Another scream?”
“Yes, sir, not so deep as the master’s, more like a kind of shrill cry, it was.”
“Could it have been Putthe?” Simon asked.
“I suppose so. Anyway, after that, I heard footsteps running away, and-”
“In which direction?”
“Hmm? Oh, out at the back…but not straight away. I am quite certain that the man went out along the house. I think he must have gone to the wall to the side of the house, and out over the wall into the little street.”
“The street that leads up to John’s house?”
“Yes, sir-but if it had been John of Irelaunde, he’d have run through the garden and over the wall without going into the road.”
Baldwin nodded. It was a logical enough inference. “How much time was there between the cry and the running feet?”
“Oh, I don’t know, sir. Only a few minutes.”