JENNIFER continued her investigation of Earl Leofric. She began to ask the servants, the butler, the footman and the maids. Each of them were telling her how he started out being a good guy but during the past year he had started to mistreat the servants. It was as if he were two different persons. She also had been exploring the castle in which the earl and his lady had been living in.
At one point she explored the lower regions of the castle where the dungeons should be. She noticed a guard standing at a door.
“Excuse me.” she asked, “But what are you guarding?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you.” said the guard.
“Alright then.” said Jennifer, “Tell me about Earl Leofric.”
“What do you want to know about him?” asked the guard.
“About his behavior during the past year.” said Jennifer.
“That is not your concern.” said the guard.
Jennifer was baffled.
Then, she said “Well everyone else seemed to be open about it. Even his wife. So why are you being so secretive about it?”
“Ma’am.” said the guard, “I only work here. I don’t discuss what the earl does or doesn’t do here.”
“Alright.” said Jennifer, “Thanks for talking to you.”
After that, she left.
++++++
After mass, Jennifer went to talk to the archbishop about Leofric.
“He was the one who founded this cathedral years ago.” he said, “It was built for the Benedictine Monks. The site one time housed a convent for nuns.”
Jennifer looked around at the inside of the cathedral. She had never seen such beauty before in her life.
“So he financed this.” she said.
“Him and his wife Lady Godiva.” said the bishop, “Through the years they had used their wealth to have this church maintained. But during this past year, he stopped supporting it. I don’t know why but he did.”
“How long will the beauty of this place hold out before it falls into disrepair?” asked Jennifer.
“In perhaps another year.” said the bishop, “Maybe less.”
Jennifer looked around the inside of the church again. She hated to see such beautiful architecture go to waste.
++++++
After mass, Jennifer was invited to a Sunday brunch with the earl and his lady. This gave Jennifer more time to ask the peasants about Leofric.
Encountering the woman she saw when she first entered the city, she said “About your taxes.”
“Have you talked to your husband about it my lady?” asked the old woman.
“Actually, I’m not Lady Godiva.” said Jennifer, “My name is Jennifer and I want to ask you why he would want to raise your taxes.”
“Because he wants our property.” said the old woman, “He’s been raising taxes to a point where we can’t pay them. That way, if we don’t pay up, he gets the property and me and my family are in jail.”
“Oh dear.” said Jennifer.
“He wasn’t always that way.” said the woman, “When they first arrived here, he financed the reconstruction of the water works here and saw to it that we had decent homes. But now…”
“But now he wants you all in misery.” said Jennifer.
“It’s called greed young lady.” said the woman, “Greed!”
“I call it a split personality.” said Jennifer.
“Jennifer!”
Jennifer turned to see the earl and his lady beckoning her to follow them.
“Listen, I’ve got to go.” said Jennifer, “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Alright.” said the woman, “But you tell that earl that if he ever wants our money, he’d better lower the taxes.”
“I will.” said Jennifer.
She turned and left.
As she caught up to the couple, Leofric asked “What you and that woman talking about?”
“Oh nothing.” said Jennifer, “I’m just trying to get acquainted with the citizens of Coventry.”
“I see.” said the earl.
They entered an inn where there was a lunchtime crowd.
“Looks like we’ve got to wait.” said Jennifer, “Unless we find another place to eat.”
“Don’t worry.” said Leofric, “I’ll handle this.”
“You will?” asked Jennifer, “what are you going to do?”
“Just watch.” said the earl.
He cut into the crowd and told someone “I want a table now for me, my wife and our guest.”
“Right away, my lord.” said that someone.
The other customers were mad at this. But Jennifer was shocked.
“He’s been doing this for the past year.” said Godiva.
“He has?” exclaimed Jennifer.
“Yes.” said Godiva, “But before that he was very patient fellow.”
“I gather nobody here has ever heard of making reservations.” said Jennifer.
“I had a reservation.” said a customer who overheard what Jennifer said.
“You do?” asked Jennifer.
“Yes.” said the customer, “Me and the missus. But for a year the innkeeper has been forced to make last minute changes to accommodate the earl and his wife.”
“But it hadn’t been that way before has it.” said Jennifer.
“That’s right.” said the customer, “He always said ‘You’ve been waiting longer that we have, you go ahead and have your meal.’”
“It’s like he’s two different people.” said Jennifer.
The earl came back saying “We’ve got a table.”
At that, he and his party went there.
They were about to be seated when Jennifer said “Can you excuse me?”
“Why?” asked Godiva.
“Well, uh, I’ve got to go relieve myself.” said Jennifer, “I’ll be right back.”
She got up and went to the innkeeper.
But instead of asking him where the restroom was, she asked “How long have you known Earl Leofric?”
“Ever since he and his wife came here to Coventry.” said the innkeeper.
“I see.” said Jennifer.
“In fact, the earl helped finance my inn when the bank refused a loan.” the innkeeper went onto say, “Even designed the construction of it.”
“Well that’s a good reason for you to give him and us a table ahead the rest of this bunch.” said Jennifer.
“I know.” said the innkeeper, “But it hadn’t always been that way. There were times when I insisted that he should move up ahead of the line because he financed this edifice but he always said ‘No. These people were here first, so they should be served first.’”
“That’s an interesting story.” said Jennifer.
“But now he’s acting like he owns this place.” said the innkeeper, “It’s as if I don’t know him anymore. And what is worse, he’s calling in the loan he gave me to finance this franchise. He’s threatening foreclosure if I don’t comply. And those taxes he’s getting me to pay…”
“Don’t tell me.” said Jennifer, “You can’t afford to pay back the earl and his taxes at the same time.”
“Right.” said the innkeeper, “And it’s been going on for a year now.”
“Listen.” said Jennifer, “My friends are missing me. I have to get back.”
“Alright.” said the innkeeper.
“Thanks for the chat.” said Jennifer.
“You’re welcome.” said the innkeeper.
At that, Jennifer returned to her two hosts. When she did, she noticed the couple looking at her.
“Are you interrogating my people?” demanded Leofric.
“Interrogating?” asked Jennifer, “No. I was…”
“People area coming up to us saying that you’re asking questions about me.” said Leofric, “Why?”
“Well I don’t know a lot about you so I decided to ask around.” said Jennifer.
“Jennifer.” said Godiva, “You must stop this. You’re acting like you’re an investigator on a case.”
“Alright.” said Jennifer, “I’m sorry. I’ll stop asking around.”
++++++
After brunch, they returned to the castle. In the guestroom, Jennifer copied from what she recorded when she interviewed those associated with the earl. The story was the same: A good guy up to a year ago and now he’s gone bad. And there was that dungeon that the guard wouldn’t let her look in. It was becoming more like there was someone trying to impersonate him. That the real one was incarcerated in that dungeon and the imposter is trying to discredit him. But why?
At dinner, Jennifer was looking at her food. She looked at the earl. Was he the real earl or a fake? And does his wife know that this might not be her husband but a phony?
“Jennifer.” asked Godiva, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing.” said Jennifer.
“Something is wrong, Jennifer.” said Godiva, “You have been in your room all day.”
“Oh just thinking of what you said about me questioning people about your husband.” said Jennifer.
“What did they said about me?” asked Leofric.
“Well I haven’t talked to everyone yet.” said Jennifer, “Tell me, my lord. What did you do before coming here to Coventry?”
“Well I was doing this and that.” said Leofric.
“He supported Harold’s claim to the throne.” said Godiva.
“Harold?” asked Jennifer.
“Yes.” said Godiva, “He’s the son of the late king Canute.”
“My lady.” said Jennifer, “You said he supported Harold’s claim to the throne. Does that mean someone else was vying for it?”
“Yes.” said Godiva.
“Who?” asked Jennifer.
“Hardicanute.” said Godiva
“Hardicanute?” asked Jennifer.
“The other son of King Canute.” said Godiva.
“But that was a long time ago.” said Leofric.
“Six years ago,” said Godiva, “He played mediator during a quarrel between Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwine. My husband’s part adverted a civil war and settled a dispute referring to the Witan.”
Looking at Leofric, Jennifer said “It looks like you’ve been one of the good guys gone bad. Why?”
Leofric looked at the time traveler with anger.
“I don’t have to answer this.” he said, “I am an earl. And I have the authority to stop this line of interrogation.”
“Well then, I’ll have to ask a higher authority.” said Jennifer, “Who’s the king of England now?”
“Don’t you know?” asked Leofric.
“Edward the Confessor.” said Godiva.
“Alright, I’ll go talk to him tomorrow.” said Jennifer.
++++++
That night she had a dream. In it she was a detective out of the Sherlock Holmes novels. She was leaving a beauty pageant when this British inspector caught up with her.
“Jennifer.” he said, “Thank God you didn’t leave. There has been a murder most foul.”
“Has there?” asked Jennifer, “Then bring me to this murder.”
The inspector did saying “Make way. Make way for the great detective Jennifer Parker. Make way.”
She was shown the corpse. Among the witnesses were the contestants The victim himself had a gash gushing blood from his head and was being examined by a coroner.
“It looks like someone used an ax.” he said.
Turning to Jennifer the inspector asked “What do you think.”
Jennifer knelt down, produced a magnifying glass and examined the wound.
And then, she said “The wound is too fine to be caused by an ax.” Then, she examined the beauty contestant and pointed out the winner saying “Here’s you suspect.”
The beauty backed away but the inspector said “Seize her!”
“But Jennifer.” said the coroner, “She might not have the strength to use an ax on the victim but what weapon did she use?”
Jennifer reached out and yanked the tiara of the woman’s head saying “This!”
“Jennifer!” said the inspector, “Be careful! You yanked that thing off so hard one of the ends have broken off.”
“Oh it’s already broken off.” said Jennifer going back to the body. She produced some pliers and used it to pull something out of the wound. Showing it to the inspector, she said “It was in here.”
“But why would she do such a thing?” asked the inspector, “What grudge does she hold against this man?”
“This man had been stalking her for years.” said Jennifer, “The woman had refused his company but he kept on persisting. Restraining orders failed. The harassment got so worse that the law refused to hear about it. And then tonight she won the beauty contest. Was given this tiara and notice the ends of it are very sharp in which if used hard enough could cut through flesh an bone. When she saw her stalker backstage, she saw her opportunity to kill him and did thus. But, as she extracted the tiara from the victim’s skull and put it back on her head, the end broke off being left inside the skull like a stinger left behind by a bee or a wasp.”
As she was making her dissertation, she demonstrated how the act was carried out.
Satisfied, the inspector ordered his men “Take her away.” And the beauty queen was taken away.
Turning to one of the judges, she said “I gather that the runner-up is now the beauty queen.”
“It is.” said the judge, “If you give us the tiara, we’ll…”
“Sorry.” said Jennifer, “But this is evidence.”
After that, she woke up.
Monday, May 26, 1057
8:00 p.m.
Coventry, England
A carriage was rented out for Jennifer and was ready for when she was to go. When she came out, she was given the most formal of dresses to impress the king. Underneath this outfit was the pocket recorder she was using when she was questioning people about Leofric.
Unbeknownst to her, Leofric began to wonder where she came from and why she’s questioning people about him. He was also aware about her suddenly coming across a dark secret about him.
So he told his henchmen “Listen, search the guestroom. I want to know everything about her. I need to know about anything that will discredit her. And I need it fast!”
“Yes my lord.” said the henchmen.
After that, they left.
And Jennifer, he said to himself, if I do find out something scandalous about you, I won’t be afraid to use it against you.
He left the courtyard in which he was addressing his henchmen and went back into the castle.