Wilf wiped his mouth and went on. ‘No one had attended to the mill pond since the fire. Those gates were bound to give way eventually. Well, when I went up there they had: the mill pond had quite drained away, only silt left at the bottom, which with the warmer weather this month has dried and shrunk. It was a strange, sad sight, the empty pond with the ruins by the broken dam. Then Caesar ran out onto the dried mud, began sniffing and digging at something sticking out of it.’ He closed his eyes briefly, then continued.
‘I called him, but he wouldn’t come, he was worrying at what looked like a tree root. In the end I took off my shoes and walked over to get him. The dried mud was only a crust over softer stuff: once I sank in almost to my knees, but I made it over to Caesar. Then I saw what he was worrying at.’ The old man paused and took another swig of beer. ‘It was an arm, a human arm, all withered but preserved by the silt. There’s a whole body down there. So then I came to Master Seckford.’
‘Who do you think it was?’ I asked urgently.
‘I don’t know. You couldn’t tell.’ He fell silent.
Barak said, ‘Someone could have fallen in the pond over the years since the foundry went.’
Wilf shook his head. ‘It was in the middle of the pond. Someone took that body out there in a boat – there used to be a little rowing boat – and dropped it in.’
I asked, ‘Could a swimmer not have drowned in there sometime?’
‘The body’s clothed, sir. There’s what looks like the remains of a doublet sleeve on the arm.’
‘Mary help us,’ Seckford said. He rose and headed for the buffet.
‘No, sir,’ I said to him sharply. ‘Please, we should stay sober.’
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.’