Behind him, with an air of satisfaction, rode the constable. And with him came a shorter man whom I had never seen before, and half a dozen others who began to look uncomfortable as they caught sight of Daniel standing quiet by the roadside.
Daniel took a step that brought him close in front of me, so close that I could see the dagger’s blade glint in his fingers where he held it very casually below his coat’s turned cuff.
And then he stepped into the road and with his other hand reached out to catch the bridle of his brother’s horse and bring it to a halt. ‘Well, Jack,’ he said, in the same tone he might have used if he had caught his brother coming home too drunk. ‘And what is this?’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The answer came, not from Jack Butler, but the constable, who’d reined his horse up deftly just behind. ‘’Tis an arrest. And there will be another yet, if you do not let loose that horse.’
Daniel ignored the threat. ‘What is the charge?’
‘This merchant here,’ – the constable inclined his head towards the shorter, rounder man behind him – ‘was cruelly robbed upon the road but several days ago, and lost a purse of silver and a joint of mutton to your brother.’
The mutton. I recalled Jack’s cheerful boast about the theft, and I could feel my heart sink suddenly inside me as I glanced at the indignant, unforgiving merchant’s face. He was a thick-jowled man of middle age, his waistcoat stretched across a stomach that had seen its share of hearty meals, but though he looked a fool he did not look to be a liar, and his accusations would bear weight.
Jack looked less cheerful now, avoiding Daniel’s eyes, his own eyes lowered to the rope that bound his wrists together. His character was normally so reckless that I wondered why he hadn’t bolted anyway, and chanced his horse’s speed against the constable’s pursuit.
The constable was moving forward now, aware he had his foes against the wall and wanting only to enjoy it. With his boot a mere hand’s-breadth from Daniel’s shoulder, he looked down in mocking sympathy. ‘And will you come to see your brother hang?’
I didn’t breathe the whole time Daniel stood there with his gaze locked to the constable’s. The calm had settled over him so evenly it seemed the very wind had lost its nerve and ceased to blow, and for that moment even I feared it would end in violence.
But he moved at last, a slight shift of his stance and nothing more, and for some reason that small movement was enough and I could breathe again.
He said, ‘Where is your warrant?’
And just like that, the tables turned. I saw it in the briefest hesitation of the constable, and in the faces of the men behind him.
Daniel said, ‘You surely have a warrant?’
‘We are riding now,’ the constable assured him, ‘to obtain one from the justice of the peace. If you will kindly stand aside.’
But Daniel had already turned towards the merchant. ‘Tell me, sir, where did this most distressing robbery take place, and when?’
The merchant, keen to share his story, named the date, and said, ‘’Twas early in the morning, so it was. The sun was barely up, and I had travelled all the night in this man’s company.’ He stabbed a finger through the air in Jack’s direction. ‘Offered me protection, so he did, and said he’d ride with me a ways because he knew these parts and knew the dangers of the roads, and so I let him ride beside my wagon. And at sunrise I complained of being weary and he told me it was safe for me to sleep, that we had passed the place of greatest danger and I would no longer need his aid.’
Daniel considered this, and gave a nod. ‘And so you slept?’
‘I did, sir. And when I awoke, I found he had repaid my trust by making off with one fine joint of mutton and my purse, sir.’
‘A bold theft, indeed,’ agreed Daniel. ‘And bolder to do it by daylight, when he could more easily have overcome you at night, without fear of a witness. How did he subdue you, then?’
The merchant frowned. ‘What?’
‘Well, surely when you woke and saw him stealing your belongings, you did all you could to stop him. Did he strike you? He does look a man who might resort to violence.’
Jack, as though he thought his brother had gone mad, glanced back at Daniel with a dark expression, but it went unnoticed as the merchant’s hard expression altered.
‘No, he did not … that is, I was not awake …’
‘Ah.’ Daniel gave another nod. ‘But how then did you see him take the mutton and your purse?’
The constable, a step ahead of where this line of questioning was leading, said impatiently, ‘One does not need to see the thief in action to be sure that he has stolen.’
‘Does one not?’ asked Daniel, calm. ‘I do apologise. ’Tis only that it seems to me this good man here might have been set upon by any rogue while he was sleeping, for in these parts there are many, I am sure you will agree, who would do mischief.’
The constable held his gaze. ‘One or two, ay.’
‘And as this merchant seems an honest man, I only seek to try his memory so that he may satisfy himself that he does not accuse the innocent.’
‘The innocent?’ The word all but exploded from the constable, as though he had been pushed beyond his limit.
Daniel looked at Jack. ‘You will admit you rode beside this merchant’s wagon through the night, and that you offered him protection?’
Jack’s eyes settled on his brother’s, wary. ‘Ay, I did.’