Читать книгу Rebellion's Message - Michael Jecks - Страница 13

Her face was only inches from mine, and I could smell her breath. She had been chewing cinnamon or cloves and her breath was the sweeter for it. I couldn’t help but think how plump and soft her lips looked.

Her next words dispelled any further amorous reflections.

‘Why did you kill him?’

‘What?’ If I squeaked before, this time I squealed like a stuck pig. ‘Me?’

‘Don’t deny it! You think I’m a fool? Everyone saw you go out, and moments later he was dead. The gull had realized his purse was gone, and went out after you to raise the hue and cry. You slew him as soon as he accused you, didn’t you?’

‘You’d blame me for robbing him?’ I said, and I meant it to sting.

She had the decency to look embarrassed. ‘Yes, well, you know how these things are.’

‘I saw your confederate take the purse, and he was foolish enough to pass it to me.’

‘And you gave me a bag with bone counters.’

‘I didn’t think your man would know there was anything missing.’

‘At least he didn’t kill anyone for it.’

I glared at her. ‘What happened to the counters?’

She glared back at me. ‘I don’t know and I don’t care!’

I tried to be conciliatory. ‘Look, your man robbed the gull. You can’t get angry with me when he made the mistake of passing the stolen purse to me, can you!’

‘Can’t I? I was to have a share of the money.’

‘That’s hardly my fault!’ Something struck me. ‘Was that it? You were going to share the money?’

‘Yes. We were to share it: one third to me, two to him.’

‘I see.’

‘I held it for a moment and gave it back to him when I could. I should have guessed. It wasn’t heavy enough. I had seen how heavy it was when it dangled from the gull’s belt, but when you passed it to me, it was much lighter. And we saw it was different when we looked at it outside. And when he opened it.’

‘After I’d left the room?’

‘Of course! You think we’d open it while you and the gull were there? After you walked out, we left the gull sitting on the bench and went to the street. We’d begun to stroll towards the cathedral when I gave him the purse, and – and he went mad! I never saw a man become so full of choler so swiftly! I thought he might die of rage – and then he ran back inside to chase after you. I didn’t know what had got into him. Not at the time.’

‘You hadn’t seen I had taken the purse from your man, then?’ I said, feeling smug that the switch had been so successful.

‘He told me later, after he found you with blood on your hands, standing over the poor fellow.’

‘I wasn’t standing!’ I protested, but she just tipped her head as though I was plainly lying. It was hurtful. ‘Your man called the constable, did he?’

‘It’s usual when a man’s found in the act of murder.’

‘He waited there? I hope you ran off before the law arrived.’

‘No, I stayed. I didn’t think anyone would accuse me of anything. I was in the tavern all the while when you killed the poor fool. He seemed to know the constables when they arrived. Anyway, so what? What do his actions have to do with you?’

I didn’t like the sound of that. I know some constables myself, but they were the sort of men who had limited senses of humour, and I wouldn’t wait for them to appear at a crime. It was odd that a proficient purse-snatcher should be on terms with them. What sort of man knew the officers but could prise a purse? Someone with more money than me to spend on bribes. I reasoned, ‘I think he must have killed the gull and knocked me down. He came in from the gate to the alley behind the tavern, broke my head and then killed the gull. Who was he? Where does he live?’

‘Do I look the sort of woman who would wait on a man like him?’

‘That depends on how much he was paying you,’ I said.

She looked at me with withering contempt. ‘More than you could afford,’ she said pointedly.

I ignored that.

‘In any case,’ she said, ‘when the shouting and bellowing all started and the hue and cry was raised, I made myself scarce. I didn’t want to wait any longer than I had to. You were lucky to escape. You should have seen all the men there haring off to catch you. I wandered away before anyone could accost me.’

‘Yes, well, the door to the alley was open, so I took it.’

‘And you ran. Why you took so long, I don’t understand. You had the body there. You were found red-handed, weren’t you? Why didn’t you flee as soon as you had killed him?’

‘I didn’t kill him! Why should I?’

‘Then who did!’ she snapped.

That was the nub of my problem, I realized. If no one had seen anyone, other than me, leaving the room, it would make establishing my innocence a great deal more difficult.

‘I told you. Your companion came at me through the alley and …’

‘He didn’t. I saw him. He went back inside the tavern. It must have been you.’

A thought struck me. ‘The man with the wide-brimmed hat! It must have been him! He did it!’

‘What man with—’

‘Someone was there,’ I said. I recalled the door in the wall, trying the latch, the way it gave way, then the pain of the blow on my pate. ‘There were three men in the tavern. One had a hat with a broad brim, but he left the place just as I was rising. I thought he was going to attack me before I could get to the front door, but what if he went out, then came at me along the alley? Someone came in from outside. I was knocked down, and I didn’t come to – not until your fellow came after me. Whoever it was who came through the gate must have hit me on the head and then killed the gull. That other fellow murdered him, and would have killed me, too, but for the speed of your man coming out, I suppose. I’ll bet it was the man with the hat. Your fellow surprised him, I think, and he fled. Leaving me lying injured and unconscious to take the blame.’

I thought I struck the right tone there. Not arrogant, but with just a hint of professional appreciation, as though I was experienced in such crimes. After all, I was the only man who could describe the scene.

‘Where?’ she said.

‘Where what?’

‘Show me where you were hit.’

I bent my head and indicated the lump. She felt it without sympathy, with a grudging respect and a fair amount of ungentle roughness.

‘Ow!’

‘Very well. I can see you have been knocked down.’

‘So you believe me?’

‘Let’s say I’m less inclined to disbelieve you,’ she said.

‘But I didn’t do anything!’

‘So you say,’ she said with scorn. ‘If someone else was there, no one else saw him. Everyone in the tavern did see you go out there, and the other fellow following immediately after you; when you disappeared, he was dead. It’s no surprise everyone thinks it must be you.’

‘You could have told them I wouldn’t kill a man!’

‘And how would I know that?’ she spat. I could feel the spittle hit my face, and I closed my eyes and lifted a hand to wipe it away, but as I did so, she thrust me from her and I tripped over a piece or two of trash and fell heavily on my rump. She turned to leave me, wiping her hand on her skirts as though to clean them of my filth.

‘Who is he, anyway?’ I said.

‘Who?’

‘Your companion. The man who was with you in the tavern? The man who came out and found me?’

‘He called himself Henry, but I don’t know more than that.’

‘Where did you meet him?’

‘He found me on the street. Where else? But I can tell you this: I saw him once at a house in Paternoster Row, near St Michael-le-Querne. I think he lived there.’

‘Could you show me?’

‘Why? What does it matter?’

‘He might know something. He was trying to rob the fellow. Perhaps there was more than money involved.’

‘Look! You killed that poor gull, and that is all that weighs in the balance.’ She began to walk away. ‘You are dangerous. I don’t trust you, and nor does anyone else. You’re marked as a murderer.’

‘Ann!’ I called, and she paused.

‘What now?’

‘You have to believe me! I didn’t do anything!’

She curled her lip, but this time more in amusement than contempt. It was oddly irritating to be looked down upon by her. I felt like an urchin viewed by a knight’s lady. ‘Looking at you now, I hardly think you have it in you to stuff a man full of steel,’ she said, ‘but there was no one else there that I saw!’ and she was gone.