Tombland

‘I know. Secretary Cecil warned me off him. He could benefit financially from using Brikewell to join his estates together. And from what I’ve seen of him, I can imagine him capable of anything.’

‘And then there’s Flowerdew,’ Nicholas added. ‘He’ll have charge of the wardship, and if the twins are to seek to get them back perhaps palms will be greased there too.’

‘I wish we could shake the twins’ alibi for the night of the murder,’ Toby said.

‘Who gave them that alibi? Their group of trouble-loving gentlemen friends. Including John Atkinson, whom Richard Southwell aided when he abducted that poor girl from Mousehold Heath last year. Perhaps they were never at the cockfight that night.’

Nicholas said, ‘But there would have been dozens there.’

‘He only needed enough respectable young gentlemen to provide alibis.’

I shook my head. ‘If they weren’t there, that would lay the twins and their friends open to blackmail from anyone who was.’

Toby’s voice became impatient. ‘You don’t know Norwich, you don’t know how scared people are of the Boleyn twins. And of Southwell.’

Barak said thoughtfully, ‘Interesting that John Boleyn’s steward, Chawry, was there the night the key vanished.’

‘It is,’ I agreed. ‘But the twins answered his allegations about the key well. I expect their grandfather briefed them.’ I leaned forward. ‘Well, I agree we certainly can’t exclude the twins.’ I wrote down and circled, Gerald and Barnabas Boleyn , then drew a wavy line to John Atkinson and their friends . They were not suspects, but could have provided a false alibi. I drew another wavy line connecting them to Sir Richard Southwell . Then I wrote, John Flowerdew

. I considered, then said, ‘Let us assume, for the moment, that the twins told the truth, and that the key was stolen from them. That could have been done by another of Southwell’s lads on his behalf – but there is also the possibility that it was stolen overnight, by their grandfather or someone in his household.’

‘That old man?’ Nicholas asked. ‘He’s well into his sixties, and has to walk with a stick. I can’t see him killing his daughter and putting her into the stream, even with help.’

‘He has a motive,’ Barak said. ‘He hates John Boleyn and Isabella, would love to see John hanged and the estate go to the twins. He could have someone in his household do his dirty business.’

‘Yes,’ Nicholas agreed. ‘It’s possible. If only the steward Vowell had not gone; he must know the household inside out.’

I did not answer. I had missed the possibility of speaking to Vowell when I saw him talking with Josephine’s husband and the man Miles. Instead I said, ‘That whole family is the oddest I have ever encountered, and I’ve come across a few. The grandfather is a brute, who turned Edith away when she came to him in trouble, the grandmother racked with sorrow for her daughter –’

Nicholas looked at me. ‘What were those words she muttered in court?’

‘ “Edith, God save you, I wanted a boy!” ’

Barak laughed uneasily, ‘You’re not saying she killed her daughter?’

I said, ‘Perhaps she only meant that a boy would have had an easier life in that household. I saw the old man shove a woman aside in the Shire Hall. And the twins seem to see all women as fair game.’

Nicholas nodded. ‘Their grandfather appears to encourage them.’

Toby said, ‘But there was malice in Edith as well.’ He looked around at us. ‘She didn’t deserve to be brutally murdered but she treated people badly, too. Perhaps there is something in the family blood.’

I said, ‘Certainly there was a strangeness and hostility in her.’ I drew more circles, round the names Gawen Reynolds , Jane Reynolds , Reynolds household

? Then another connecting line from the key to Snockstobe and, separately, the name of the boy who could still throw light on the mystery, Walter the apprentice . I pushed the paper to the centre of the table for the others to look at. Nicholas said, ‘So much depends on the key being stolen. But the central evidence there comes from Walter.’

‘It does. But we’re not quite finished.’ I drew another circle, round the name Leonard Witherington . ‘His neighbour, who hated him and wanted part of his land. And, but for the pardon, could now buy it all.’

Nicholas said, ‘I doubt he’d stand up to Southwell, if he wanted the land too. And frankly, he struck me as too stupid to get involved in such a plan.’

Toby shook his head. ‘We saw how he treated the tenants when they were trying to clear the doves off their crops at Brikewell. And I’m sure he intimidated that shepherd.’

‘I agree with Nicholas,’ I said. ‘He seems too stupid to be involved. But we should add him to the list.’

Nicholas coughed. He had reddened slightly. ‘I don’t like to complicate things, but –’

‘Spit it out, lad,’ Barak said encouragingly.