The Treason of the Ghosts

church alive.’
    ‘Nonsense! Furrell was a drunk. He fled from that woman of his
and went elsewhere.’
    ‘I
promised Furrell would hang you. Master Burghesh, the busybody around the
church, the man who burnt the triptych, who cleans, rings the bells and digs
graves.’
    Burghesh
was now clearly agitated, a hand resting on the hilt of his dagger.
    ‘Where
do you put a corpse like Furrell’s,’ Corbett continued, ‘when you have a woman
like Sorrel who knows the countryside like the back of her hand? You put him
with the other corpses. I’ll go through the Book of the Dead again to trap
Burghesh the grave-digger. In the evening you dig a plot for a funeral the
following morning. Only sometimes, you dig it a foot deeper and bury one of
your victims, someone like Furrell or one of the wandering women. I’ll get half
of Melford up here with mattock and hoe and we’ll go through that Mortuary
Book. We’ll dig up coffins then go deeper. The dead will convict you. The treason of the ghosts, eh, Burghesh? They’ll represent
evidence you cannot challenge. After all, only you dig the graves. We’ll also
question Parson Grimstone, search your house,
particularly the little stable behind. We’ll look for cloths filled with straw
to deaden the sound of your horse’s hoofs. And, of course,’ Corbett knocked the
bell rope, ‘we’ll go back to Curate Robert.’
    Corbett
got to his feet. ‘We’ll hold a court here in church. I carry the King’s Seal.
I’ll call on the dead to betray you. Flow thronged the nave will become! You
are a killer, Burghesh. You deserve death.’
    Burghesh
leant his head back against the door, watching Corbett from under hooded eyes.
    ‘Sorrel
called you a weasel, Burghesh. I wonder what’s the full tally
of your victims . How many secret graves lie around Melford? Furrell and
his woman discovered some: that poacher was your nemesis. Do you know what that
means?’
    His
opponent simply sneered.
    ‘It’s
God’s judgement,’ Corbett explained. ‘I suspect Furrell brought that triptych
back from Ipswich for Sir Roger and remembered
it after the poor knight was hanged. Furrell certainly suspected you. He made
up a song, about being between the devil and an angel, he was referring to Chapeleys’ triptych.’
    ‘He
was a drunken fool!’
    ‘He
was a sharp fool. To quote scripture, Master Burghesh, the foolishness of man
is often the wisdom of God. You also dismissed Sorrel as a vagrant but, when I
arrived, you changed your mind. You realised how much she might know: that’s
why you went out to Beauchamp
Place to murder her. You would have murdered me as
well with that piece of twine stretched across the bridge. An old poacher’s
trick or, in your case, Burghesh, an old soldier’s! I’ve seen royal archers use
the same trap to bring down horsemen. Oh yes,’ Corbett watched Burghesh
carefully, ‘you crept out of Melford and, if I hadn’t been at Beauchamp Place ,
Sorrel would have disappeared. I wonder where you would have buried her? You lured some of your victims back to the woods behind
your house and, as with Furrell, buried them in the graveyard.’ Corbett took a
step forward. ‘Let’s go into the church, Burghesh. Its nave must be filling
with ghosts, all crying to God for justice. They’ll betray you, hand you over
for punishment, both in this life and the next.’
    Burghesh
ripped the dagger from his sheath.
    ‘What
are you going to do?’ Corbett scoffed. ‘Kill the King’s clerk?’ He drew his own
dagger. ‘My name’s not Elizabeth .
I am no soft, frightened girl.’
    ‘No,
you are not!’ Burghesh snarled. ‘You are a clever clerk. You don’t know what
it’s like to have demons tapping inside your skull. You are right about one
thing: Melford is so easy to leave and—’
    Before
Corbett could stop him, Burghesh was through the door, turning the key in the lock.
Corbett heard a brief scuffle and went down the steps. The door was unlocked
and swung open. Ranulf stood there, the hilt of his sword under Burghesh’s
chin.
    ‘Where
have you been?’ Corbett accused.
    ‘Looking for you.’
    Ranulf’s
eyes never left Burghesh. He pressed the point of the sword, forcing the man to
look at him.
    ‘I
couldn’t find this creature but I remembered your words about the bell tower. I
have been listening for a while at the door, just catching phrases. So, look
what we’ve caught!’
    ‘Tie
his hands!’ Corbett ordered. ‘And, once you have done that, ring