The Devil's Domain

take effect almost immediately. If I gave a man of Sir John Cranston’s girth a cup heavily tainted with arsenic he would, within a short while, feel its effect. This is different. If you disbelieve me, ask any physician from the city. A man like Routier could take the poison but its effect is much slower to begin with; then it hastens up and the malignancy stops the heart.’
    ’So?’ Athelstan asked. ’The murderer has chosen this potion because it works slowly?’
    ’Possibly,’ Aspinall agreed. ’What I’m saying, gentlemen, is that most poisons kill quickly. If you reduce the grains, illness may occur but not death. This, whatever it is, acts in a simple way: it is prolonged yet still deadly. A good choice, because the assassin certainly doesn’t want to be near when his victim dies.’
    ’But if that’s the ease,’ Sir Maurice asked, ’how did the poor wench die?’
    ’I think it was an accident. I really do. Somehow or other, Lucy found this poison and ate it. You saw her yourself: she was constantly picking things up and putting them in her mouth. I have seen her in the hall after meals are finished, eating crumbs from the table.’
    ’It’s possible,’ Athelstan mused. ’I wonder if the assassin intended to kill Routier and one other? Perhaps a sweetmeat was left? A piece of cheese or bread smeared with a noxious substance? Master Aspinall, are the prisoners’ rooms locked?’
    ’From what I can gather, at night they are but, during the day, no. They are allowed to take the air in the morning and evening but, for most of the time, the prisoners are kept here in the manor. They talk, sleep or play a game.’
    ’So Lucy could have wandered into one of their rooms?’ Sir John asked.
    ’That’s possible.’
    ’In which case,’ Athelstan declared, ’those prisoners told me a lie. They said they had searched each other’s rooms to clear any suspicions but nothing was found. Yet here’s a witless maid who not only finds the poison but eats it.’
    Cranston took a drink from his wineskin and glanced back up the stairs.
    ’It could still be murder,’ he said over his shoulder. ’Limbright hates the French, the French hate him. The death of his daughter could be seen as a terrible act of vengeance. Master Aspinall, do you think that any of these prisoners have such malice?’
    The physician shook his head.
    ’They strike me as soldiers, warriors. They might pillage and burn in the heat of battle but deliberately kill a poor madcap?’ He pulled a face. ’No.’
    Athelstan got to his feet. ’Lucy was found in her own room. The door was open. Is that not right?’
    ’So the soldier told me,’ Aspinall replied. ’The door was open and she was lying on the rushes.’
    ’What is the longest time over which a poison can take effect?’ Athelstan asked.
    ’In my studies,’ Aspinall shrugged, ’certainly no more than an hour. However, if I follow your logic, it would be nigh impossible to see where Lucy had gone. She wandered this manor like a ghost.’
    ’So, it would be futile to investigate her death?’
    ’Yes, Brother, Lucy was frightened of both the French and the guards. She would take nothing from them and only heaven knows where she was in the time before her death!’
    Athelstan glanced away. Lucy had certainly taken or been given the poison during the chaos caused by Routier’s escape. Aspinall was right: God knows where she went but. Athelstan reflected , would the girl take something from this physician?
    ’Brother Athelstan, Sir John.’ Sir Maurice, aims crossed, tapped his boot against the paved stones. ’Let us say for the sake of argument that the assassin is one of the prisoners. I know it’s hard to believe but...’
    ’I know what you are going to say,’ Sir John interrupted. ’Logic dictates that there will be two more deaths and the man left alive must be the assassin.’
    ’Not necessarily,’ Athelstan said. ’God knows what de Fontanel will do. He may have the prisoners’ ransoms ready and have them out of Hawkmere. For all we know Routier’s death could be the last. What we should do before we leave Hawkmere is search this manor from top to bottom, and that includes the prisoners’ rooms. Master Aspinall, if you would keep an eye on Sir Walter, my colleagues and I will begin our search. The guards cannot protest. I suppose Monsieur de Fontanel has left?’
    ’Yes,’ Sir John replied. ’He left the hall and walked straight out of the