Page 159

According to the rider, when Crane heard the names Locksley and Fitzwalter spoken together, he'd sat down on his doorstep and begun crying.

He'd agreed to come south under escort.

Unfortunately, his health was poor.

He was forty-seven now and suffered from a persistent chest ailment.

The journey would take at least eight days.

"Eight days," Robin said when I told her. "That'll be after the hearing."

"Yes."

"Then we can't rely on him for the first proceedings."

"No. But his testimony will be important when the formal investigation begins."

She nodded. "We'll have to make the documents count."

"We will."

Oswin Harcourt's message arrived that same evening. And it changed everything. He'd discovered that two royal commissioners were already traveling through the Midlands for the autumn assizes.

They were due in Nottingham on Tuesday.

As a former justice of the King's Bench, Oswin had petitioned for a special hearing concerning suspected fraud against the Crown's revenues.

He'd submitted the petition under his own name.

The commissioners had agreed to hear it.

The proceedings would take place in Nottingham's shire hall rather than inside the castle.

Oswin had insisted on that.

I was grateful.

Tuesday.

We had a date.

And we had a place.

Robin read the message over my shoulder.

"Do you think Fitzwalter will come?"

"Absolutely."

"Why?"

"Because he controls the castle, the garrison, and most of the officials in Nottingham. He'll assume he can control the hearing too."

She considered that.

"And he's going to walk in expecting everyone to believe him."

"Yes."