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Chapter 32

Tatscombe Hall, Wealdshire. 1517

'Imps! The old fool doth think he was pursued by imps. Methinks his brain hath become addled with age.'

'I will visit him this night. On the morrow, Thomas, you can collect the money that I owe you.'

Chris pressed the 'stop' button on his ghetto blaster and looked at Elizabeth. Her face was a treat — eyes as big as saucers and hand clasped tightly over mouth.

'This is sorcery,' she gasped. 'If the priest hears about this . . .'

Josie reached out and touched Elizabeth's hand. 'It isn't sorcery. It's like a picture. When you draw something, you end up with a likeness. This is the same. The camera that we put beneath Simon's bed made a picture of the voices.' She looked at her brother and saw him pulling a face. 'You explain it then, if you can do any better,' she snapped.

'I don't know that I can. It's not easy to explain that I copied the soundtrack from the camcorder onto an audio tape.' He turned to Elizabeth. 'As Josie said, it's not sorcery. It's not magic. This is just a machine. It stores sounds. Where we come from, everyone has one of these machines to play music. Listen.' He pressed the 'play' button on the B deck and wondered what Elizabeth would think of the heavy metal music that burst from the speakers. When she clamped her hands over her ears he had his answer.

'That is music?' she said incredulously. 'It must surely be the music of the devil himself.'

Josie grinned. 'It does sound like it, doesn't it? Not all of our music sounds like that.'

Chris could see that Elizabeth was thinking about this clever machine. 'When my mother and father entertain guests, they have some minstrels to play music. Could they use this instead?'

'Yep,' said Chris. 'Or they could book a disco. Can you imagine that, Josie? A disco here. That would really blow their minds.'

'Chris, we're supposed to be helping Elizabeth — not thinking up stupid ideas.'

'Yeah, sorry. I got carried away.'

'Sometimes I wish you would be.'

Elizabeth looked nonplussed. I wish I understood what these two are talking about, she thought.

Chris opened the B deck and extracted the cassette. 'What you heard was your brother talking to Thomas. It sounds as if Simon wanted Thomas to take the goblet instead of the money that he owed him. Thomas said he wanted money, so Simon was planning to sell the goblet to someone called Grimesby. Have you heard of him?'

'Who has not?' answered Elizabeth. 'He has a reputation as a receiver of goods which have been stolen. Simon must have been going to see Grimesby when Daniel caught him at the door.' She couldn't help smiling as she said this. 'He will try again unless he can be stopped.'

Chris took another cassette from his pocket and inserted it into the machine. 'Listen to this,' he said as he pressed 'play'.

A loud and eerie sound filled the air. It made the hairs on Josie's head feel as if they were standing on end. A cold shiver ran up and down her spine. The sound faded away and a deep, mysterious, threatening voice began to speak.

'Simon Houghton, stay where thou art. I am here to avenge the injustice done by you to Caleb and Sarah. You stole your father's goblet. Thou art a thief.'

Chris pressed 'stop' and looked at the girls. 'What do you think?'

They looked at each other. 'Who is this speaking?' asked Elizabeth.

'It's little old me,' said Chris proudly. 'I recorded the words on my computer — that's another sort of clever box — and then processed the file — adding echo and slowing it down and so on — to make it sound scary.'

'It certainly sounds scary,' agreed Josie. 'It's great — but what are you going to do with it?'

'That's where I hope Elizabeth can help us. I want to get Simon alone somewhere at night. Can you think of an empty building near here — one that isn't too close to your house?'

Elizabeth rubbed her neck as she tried to think of somewhere. 'Yes. There is such a place. It is an old barn on the road to Lambsgrove. It is called Tylers Barn.'

'Good,' said Chris. 'Now we need to think of a way of getting him there. Do you know what Thomas's writing looks like?'

Elizabeth sucked her lip. 'I have not seen his writing.'

'Would your brother have seen his writing? What I'm really asking is if you could write a note to Simon and pretend that Thomas wrote it. Do you think that's possible?'

Elizabeth tipped her head back and coughed. 'It may be possible. What would you wish me to write?'

'Pretend that you are Thomas. Say that you wish to meet him at . . . Tylers Barn . . . at midnight tonight because you have thought of a way for him to repay the money he owes you. Could you do that?'

Elizabeth nodded. 'How would I give the note to my brother?'

'Perhaps you could ask a servant to deliver it to him,' suggested Josie.

Elizabeth nodded again. 'What will you do at the barn?'

'With a bit of luck,' said Chris, 'I will turn the scumbag into a good Christian. Leave it to me.'

Elizabeth did not look happy. 'I fear that this is folly,' she said. 'I doubt that anyone can make a good man of my brother.'

to Chapter 33