Heartstone ms-5 Page 40

  Seckford hesitated and looked longingly at the jug, but made himself come and sit down again. He looked at me. 'Wilf was afraid of reporting it, sir, you see. Because he'd been poaching. His dog had dug up some truffles on the way, and he'd be hard put to explain what he was doing in the woods. That is our problem. And there are footprints in the mud now, going out to where the body is.'

  'I see.'

  Seckford said carefully, 'What we thought, sir, is that you could say you came back here today to make more enquiries, and got Wilf to agree to take you to the foundry to look at it. Then the dog can find—what it found.' He smiled uneasily.

  'You are asking my master to perjure himself,' Barak said.

  Seckford met his gaze. 'It may be Wilf's only hope.' He looked at me. 'He would not have gone up there but for your visit. And you, sir, wanted to discover what happened there. Well, finding the body would put you at the centre of any new enquiry. You could tell them what you told us, that you were seeking members of the Fettiplace family for a friend.'

  I leaned back, sighing. Again I had set out on an enquiry in good faith, with the aim of helping someone in trouble, and brought more trouble to everyone involved. Yet Seckford, it seemed, still trusted me.

  'I'll take you there now, show you,' Wilf said eagerly. 'Then you could say afterwards that you asked me to go there today. You're my only hope,' he added desperately. 'My sons agree.'

  I looked at Barak. He shook his head, spread his hands.

  'I'll do it,' I told Wilf. 'Take me to the foundry now, show me and we'll pretend we've just found the body.'

  Wilf let out a long sigh of relief and smiled at the curate. 'You were right about him, Master Seckford. He'll save me.'

  * * *

  SECKFORD REMAINED behind. I was not sorry, for he would have slowed us down, and I had a horrible anxiety that someone else might find the body in the meantime. I saw the old fellow reach for his jug as we headed for the door. Outside, Wilf pointed to a path which led up into woodland. I was hungry, dusty, my legs tired beyond measure. But this had to be done now.

  We followed Wilf into the woods, the dog at his heels. The sky was very dark; it could start raining at any moment.

  'What the fuck are we getting into this time?' Barak muttered.

  'Something that should have been dealt with a long time ago. But no secret lasts for ever.'

  He shook his head. 'This one might have, if that dog hadn't gone digging. You realize there'll be another inquest. You'll be first finder again. Only this time you'll have set that up.'

  'I couldn't leave that old man in the briars. But you don't have to come, you don't have to be involved in this.'

  'That woman saw us riding together through the town. They'll be asking later who was with you.'

  'You are right. I'm sorry.'

  'It looks like murder again, doesn't it?'

  'Yes, Jack, it does.'

  We followed Wilf along an overgrown path between the trees, alongside the large stream that ran through the town. This would have been a pretty scene in other circumstances. 'This stream fed the mill,' Wilf called over his shoulder. 'Here, Caesar!' He called to the dog, which had got a little ahead and seemed impatient. He stopped, running a hand over his bald brown pate. 'I walked this way to work for many years,' he said quietly. 'It was so busy then, carts coming down here with loads of iron. We come to the foundry first, the pond's behind.'

  We reached the clearing where the foundry had stood just as heavy drops of rain began to fall. All that was left was a pile of low ruins, jagged remnants of wooden walls, black and burned, festooned with ivy. At one end the smashed remains of a water-wheel leaned against a tall, round structure with rooks' nests on top. The furnace chimney no doubt. Beyond the ruined building I glimpsed a long, rectangular expanse of brown mud, through the centre of which the stream now ran. Large overgrown mounds stood on the banks. 'What are those?' I asked Wilf, pointing.

  'Slag heaps.'

  Seeing the empty pond, the dog tried to dart ahead. Wilf reached out and put a hand on its collar. 'We'll need to find something to dig with,' he said. He led us into the ruins through a gap in the broken walls. Inside, the wide stone floor was covered with weeds. At one end stood the old furnace shed. The walls had almost gone but the big stone furnace stood blackened but untouched, a dark hole at the bottom: no doubt the hatch through which the semi-molten iron was collected. Wilf began picking among the rubbish on the floor. Barak and I stood looking around. The rain had started to come down steadily, pattering on our heads and on the stone floor.

  'The building is larger than I thought,' I said. Even now I caught the tang of iron in the air.

  Wilf looked up. He had unearthed the remains of a spade, the blade half rusted away. 'If a fire started here it would take a long time to burn up the whole enclosure. And those walls weren't high, anyone active could climb over.'

  Ellen's words came back to me again: He burned! The poor man, he was all on fire—One man, I thought. Was the other already in the pond?

  'I see what a wreck this place must have been after the fire,' Barak said.

  'Burned almost to the ground,' Wilf replied. 'They found bones, of course. Burned right through, charred.' He pointed to the furnace. 'Just there.'

  'How many bones?' I asked.

  Wilf shook his head. 'It was hard to say which bones were there, they were so burned. But there was only the remains of one pelvis. Priddis said the other bones must have been been burned beyond recognition. Now, sirs, come. Let us see what Caesar found.'

  We left the ruined foundry. The rain was still coming down, and I blinked water out of my eyes. We went over to the muddy depression, which gave off a rotten stink. It was surrounded by reeds, dying now from lack of water. Wilf produced a length of cord and tied Caesar to a tree. The dog whined, looking longingly out at the mud. Wilf pointed at a spot near the centre of the pond, perhaps twenty yards in. I saw a trail of footprints leading to what looked like a large blackened stick protruding from the mud. Barak whistled softly.

  Wilf pointed to a wooden pole protruding from the reeds. 'The boat used to be tied to that post, see, there. When Master Fettiplace's daughter was little she used to go rowing out on the pond. Someone could have taken that boat on the night of the fire and dumped the body in the middle.' I suddenly thought, Ellen could. But why not leave it in the foundry?

  Wilf's mouth set firmly. 'We'd best do it now, sirs.'

  He put the rusty spade over his shoulders, and Barak and I removed our shoes and followed him onto the dried, cracked mud, walking carefully. Once the crust gave and Barak sank to mid-calf, swearing mightily as he pulled his leg out.

  Wilf was first to reach the middle. 'See, sir?' he said quietly.

  I looked down at the shrivelled remains of a human arm, dried skin and wasted tendons over bone. I was reminded of the saints' relics that were forbidden now. Wilf took the spade from his shoulders and set it in a crack in the dried mud. 'Stand back, sirs,' he said.

  'Let me do it,' Barak said roughly. 'I'm younger than you.'

  'No, sir. It's easy enough, even with this broken thing. I just have to dig through the crust into the mud. But you'll have to help me get it out.' Wilf thrust the spade into the mud. Barak and I watched, the rain tipping down relentlessly on our heads, as he dug. Underneath was a layer of stinking, viscous ooze. Once Wilf stopped, winced, then stood with his head lowered.

  'What's the matter?' Barak asked.

  'I think I hit the body.' He had gone pale.

  'Do you want me to take over?' Barak asked.

  'Yes, please.'

  After about twenty minutes Barak had exposed an area of thick silty mud perhaps seven feet by three. Then he leaned over and reached down. He felt around, then tugged gently, dragging up another arm. He turned his head from the smell of the ooze. 'Try to find the feet,' he said. 'If we try pulling it out by the arms it might come apart.'

  Wilf and I knelt carefully on the wet crust and reached into the mud.
The rain still beat down on us all and on those exposed, withered arms. 'I've got a leg,' Wilf said in a shaking voice.

  'I have the other.' It felt horrible, just cloth and bone.

  Barak said, 'One, two, three,' and we all pulled. Slowly the body of a man rose from the bottom of the pool, the mud sucking at it. The leg I had hold of seemed particularly hard to get out; as it rose slowly from the mud I saw why. A rope was tied round the thigh, a lump of iron on the other end. There was no doubt now: this body had been hidden here.

  We hauled the dark, dripping thing to the bank. Caesar strained at his leash, barking. We sat down, taking deep breaths of fresh air, the rain running into our mouths. Then Wilf rose and, gently turned the body over. Producing a rag from his smock, he wiped the mud-encrusted head. It was little more than a skull with skin stretched over the bones, but it still had hair.

  He wiped the neck and the collar of what I saw were the rags of a doublet. He bent down and rose with a large button in his hand. He showed it to me, his hand shaking.

  'See, sir, the button hasn't rotted. See the design, a big square cross. I remember it, these were the buttons Master Fettiplace wore on the doublet he often wore to work. And the hair is fair, as his was. It is him.' Wilf looked stricken, then he began to weep. 'Forgive me, this is hard for me.' Barak put a hand on his shoulder.

  'How did it happen?' I asked Barak quietly. 'Ellen said one man burned. That must have been Wilf 's friend Peter Gratwyck. Her father was killed and put in here.' I looked at the body, but it was too mummified to show any sign of a wound now.

  Barak said, 'If he was killed, why not leave the body in the foundry to burn?' He leaned close. 'And who was there? Ellen was, we know, but was anyone else?'

  I turned to Wilf. 'Did anyone from round here, apart from Master Fettiplace and your friend Gratwyck, go missing at the time of the fire? Someone who might have done this and fled?'

  Wilf 's face was streaked with mud and tears and rain. 'No sir,' he said, 'nobody.'

  Chapter Thirty-four

  WILF INSISTED we put Fettiplace's body under cover, and we placed the desiccated corpse against an inside wall of the ruined foundry, protecting it with loose planks. It was sickening to carry; I feared it might come apart. Afterwards I looked over the cracked mud where the body had lain; already the space, and our footsteps, were filling with rainwater. Then we walked back, sodden and dripping.

  'Now I suppose we have to go to Buttress,' Barak said quietly, 'as magistrate.'

  'Yes. He will have to set enquiries in motion, and notify the Sussex coroner.' I shook my head. 'Murder follows me on this journey.'

  'The common factor in each is Priddis's involvement.' Barak lowered his voice to a whisper, though Wilf was ahead with Caesar. 'You said Ellen's signature on the deed conveying the house was forged. Do you think Buttress knows?'

  'He could do. I didn't like what I saw of him.'

  The vicarage came into view. I took Wilf 's arm. 'You should send for your sons,' I said gently. 'You have had a shock.'

  He came to himself, looked at me. 'You'll say nothing about my poaching?'

  'No. I promised. We shall tell the story as we agreed, that I asked you to show me the old foundry buildings today.'

  Seckford had seen us approaching and came into his garden. 'What did you find?' he asked apprehensively.

  'The body of Master Fettiplace.' I took the curate's soft plump arm, and looked him in the face. 'Sir, Wilf will need you sober now. We all will.'

  He took a deep breath and turned to Wilf. 'His body will have a Christian burial. I shall see to it.'

  We went into the parlour. Seckford spoke with sudden firmness. 'That jug, Master Shardlake, will you take it out to the kitchen?'

  I took his beer to a filthy little room behind the parlour, where flies buzzed over dirty plates. Seckford seemed barely able to care for himself, but once he had cared for Ellen. I returned to the parlour, where Wilf was hunched on the settle. Seckford was in his chair.

  'Master Seckford,' I said, 'I think we must go to Master Buttress, now. All four of us.'

  'Will the truth be found?' he asked. 'This time?'

  'I hope so. Now listen please, both of you. I beg you to stay quiet about my personal interest. Let Buttress continue to think I have merely been trying to trace family links for a client.'

  Seckford looked at me with sudden sharpness. 'But if you found something out in London, surely that must come out now.'

  'There are reasons I should say nothing yet. Please trust me.' More than ever now I did not want Buttress, or his allies, to discover where Ellen was—assuming they did not know already. I hoped desperately that I had done enough to protect her, and suddenly wished Wilf had never stumbled on that body. The old man was looking at me doubtfully again.

  Seckford came to my rescue. 'We must trust Master Shardlake, Wilf. Do not say more than you have to in dealing with people like Buttress, eh, Master Shardlake?'

  'Exactly.' I felt a rush of gratitude for Seckford's trust. He stood, went over to Wilf and patted his arm. 'We can call at the church on the way, I will write a note for the verger to take to your sons.'

  * * *

  AN HOUR LATER I sat again in Master Buttress's well-appointed parlour. There was a fresh vase of flowers on the table, their scent cloying. Seckford sat beside me, his plump cheeks sweating a little, while Barak and Wilf stood behind us. Buttress had offered chairs only to Seckford and me, though Wilf looked shocked and ill.

  Buttress himself walked up and down the room, hands clasped behind his broad back, as I told him of the discovery in the pond. When I had finished he ran a big hand through his grey curly hair, thinking. Then he came and stood looking down at me.

  'What I do not understand, Master Shardlake,' he said with blustering aggression, 'is why you went ferreting about at the foundry. When you came before your concern seemed to be in querying my right to this house.'

  'I did not imply anything of the sort, sir. I merely wished to see if there was an address for Mistress Fettiplace on the deeds. You agreed to show the document to me.' I had not questioned his ownership of the property, but the guilty, I thought, easily take alarm. Buttress, I realized, was quite a stupid man.

  He grunted, little brown eyes narrowing. 'In my experience, when a lawyer asks to see a conveyance it is usually because he wishes to query the title.'

  'Then I apologize if I caused you unnecessary concern. I see I must have done, since Master Seckford and Goodman Harrydance tell me you made enquiries about my visit afterwards.'

  'But why ride back all this way to look at the ruins of that foundry?'

  'I had a day without business in Hampshire, and felt like a ride. Master Seckford had told me Goodman Harrydance knew the site.'

  'And all this because you have a client interested in tracing family links. Who is this client, anyway?'

  'You know I cannot answer that, sir. It would be a breach of professional confidentiality.'

  'You'll have to tell the Sussex coroner when he gets here.' Buttress's eyes continued to probe mine a moment longer, then he turned away and made an irritated gesture. 'I suppose now I must arrange for the remains to be fetched back to Rolfswood. It's market day tomorrow—this will be a rich piece of gossip for the goodwives. And I must write to the Sussex coroner at Chichester. Though heaven knows when he will be able to get here. Well,' he continued, looking round the four of us, 'at least there is no urgency. Master Fettiplace was in that pond nineteen years; it won't hurt him to wait a little longer.'

  'With respect, sir,' I said, 'this is still a newly discovered murder. Sir Quintin Priddis's old verdict of accidental death was clearly wrong.'

  'Ay.' Wilf spoke up boldly. 'I always said that first inquest was not done properly.'

  Buttress leaned his heavy body forward, glaring into the old man's face. 'Are you accusing one of the region's leading men of incompetence? Watch your step, old nid-nod.'

  'Goodman Harrydance is upset,' Seckford said placating
ly.

  Buttress turned his baleful look on him. 'I know you and this other old fool like a drink together, Master Curate. More than one. And I hear your services have a papist flavour. Don't provoke me into making life difficult for either of you.'

  'Sir,' I said. 'I protest. You are the magistrate, it is not fitting you should bully witnesses.'

  Buttress's face darkened, but he kept his control. 'I brought Goodman Harrydance to order for insulting the former coroner. And Master Seckford is no witness to anything. He did not accompany you to the foundry.'

  Seckford said quietly, 'I am, though, a witness to the state of mind of Mistress Fettiplace after the foundry burned down, and to the fact she was hurried away by Master Priddis himself.'

  I winced, wishing he had not drawn attention to Ellen's disappearance. I said, mildly, 'If she witnessed a murder, that could explain her state of mind.'

  'And what,' Buttress asked, rounding on me, 'if the death was suicide? What if Master Fettiplace, for some reason we do not know, set the fire, killed his man, then rowed out to the middle of the pond, tied a lump of iron round his leg, and drowned himself? Such things happen; there was a silly village girl a couple of years ago got herself with child and drowned herself in a local pond.'

  I suddenly thought of Michael Calfhill, swinging from that rope in his lodgings. I said, 'Then surely the empty boat would have been found floating in the pond next morning.'

  'Maybe it went unnoticed; everyone was concerned with the fire.'

  'Why should Master Fettiplace have killed himself?' I asked.

  Buttress shrugged. 'Who knows? Well, we shall have to bring the witnesses together. Some of the men from the foundry are still alive.'

  'I understand Ellen Fettiplace had spent the day with a young man who was interested in her, Philip West.'

  Buttress flicked me an angry look. 'The Wests are an important local family. Self-important anyway. Master West is now an officer on the King's ships.'

  'Nonetheless, he, too, will need to be questioned.' I realized that when all these people were brought together it would come out how thoroughly I had been investigating Ellen's history. But the important thing was to get them together and questioned properly. And I would be there.