Field of Blood

floor of that cottage?'
    'May I sit down?' Walter's face became pleading. 'I don't feel very well, Brother.'
    'Of course!'
    First Gospel and his three sisters slumped to their knees. Athelstan crouched down to face them.
    'In fact it was a subtle, clever ploy,' he went on. 'On one side of your cottage snakes a river where roguery thrives like weeds in rich soil. On the other side stands a deserted meadow and a prosperous tavern owned by a loving sister. No wonder you lit a fire every night – smugglers must have a beacon light to draw them in.'
    'I told you about those,' First Gospel mumbled.
    'Rubbish! There were no barges full of shadowy, cowled men, that was to distract us. When I and Sir Jack, coroner of the city, arrived in Black Meadow surrounded by bailiffs, you must have had the fright of your life. But that's not all you are involved in, is it, sir? The King's warships, the wool cogs and wine barges throng the Thames. Sailors are sometimes not given shore leave: so, what better for sailors, starved of female kind, than to drop the ship's bum-boat and sail up river for a tryst with one of our ladies here? And what a place to make love, particularly in summertime, along the hedges of Black Meadow? No wonder the fisher of men heard strange sounds and cries at night.'
    'Do you know the sentence?' Sir John asked. 'For keeping a brothel? You can be whipped at the tail of a cart from one end of the city to the other.'
    'And the gold?' Athelstan asked. 'Gundulf's treasure?'
    'Oh no.' First Gospel waved his hand. 'Mistress Vestler was very firm on that: I was not to enter the tavern. Kathryn can be a strict woman. She gave me the cottage and the use of the land provided I left her and her tavern alone.'
    'Is that why you did business with Master Whittock?' Athelstan asked. 'Do you have a soul? Do you have a heart? Do you realise your sister could hang? Is that why you decided to flatter the King's lawyer? To keep your place here?'
    'I'm a villain!' First Gospel's face turned ugly. 'And true, Brother, I have wandered the face of the earth.' He paused. 'How did you know about the ladies?'
    'Oh, something the fisher of men said. You've seen him combing the river for corpses, as well as someone else.' Athelstan smiled. 'Dead men do tell tales. Do you remember a strange character called the preacher? Tall, black hair, face burned by the sun?'
    'He may have come here.'
    'He took one of your cheap little medals depicting St Michael. He hired some poor whore in Southwark and got both himself and her killed. The medal was found on his corpse. However, we were talking about your sister: you gave that information to Whittock?'
    First Gospel ran his tongue round his sharp, white teeth, reminding Athelstan of a hungry dog.
    'He came down here.' One of the women spoke up. 'He asked if we had seen anything untoward.'
    'But what you told him,' Sir John persisted, 'was not the truth.'
    'No, my lord coroner, it wasn't,' First Gospel snarled, getting to his feet, standing legs apart.
    He paused and looked across the field. Flaxwith had now sat down near the hedge, one arm round his beloved mastiff.
    'The lawyer came down here. He asked questions. I could see he would stay until he got an answer. I told him the truth, or at least half of it. Kathryn did come down here on the morning of the twenty-sixth. She asked if I had seen anyone I knew in Black Meadow. I replied I hadn't.'
    'You said it was half the truth?'
    'Well, the night before, my girls were busy down behind the hedgerow. It was a balmy, soft night. I thought I would walk.' He shot a glance at Athelstan. 'I didn't tell Whittock this. I saw lantern-light, just a pinprick, so I crept up the hill.'
    'And what did you see?'
    'My beloved sister Kathryn. She was digging. Or rather she was finishing what she had dug. She was piling in the earth.'
    'And weren't you curious?'
    'Brother, I survive by keeping my nose out of other people's business. Yes, I wondered what she could be burying at the dead of night. I was tempted to search there myself.'
    'You did, didn't you?' Athelstan asked. 'Don't tell lies!'
    'Yes, Brother, I did, a few days later. I came across a stinking corpse so I pushed the earth back and left it alone.'
    Athelstan looked at the horror-stricken coroner.
    'So you see, if I wished to do my sister real damage, I could have taken the oath and told them that.'
    'And you never approached your sister?'
    'I've already answered that, Brother. Kathryn is kind. She showed me