Gurney's last words rang like a death knell through the church, a harsh reminder to his tenants of the danger of lying on such an important occasion.

After that the questioning began. Gurney's huntsman took the oath and described how he had found the girl. Next came Giles Selditch, who graphically described the girl's wounds. Corbett glimpsed the ugliness in the faces of the jurors and the rest of the villagers.

'When do you think the girl was killed?' Gurney asked.

The doctor, standing at the far corner of the table, shrugged.

'Her flesh was cold, covered in frost, she must have been slain last night.'

'What was she doing out on the moorland?' one of the jurors asked.

Gurney told the man to shut up.

Master Joseph was called next. 'Marina was a member of our community,' he began. 'No one forced her to join us.' He stared around, nodding at the murmur of assent that greeted his words. 'No one forced her to stay.' He held one hand up. 'Indeed, the very fact that she was out on the moorland proves she had the freedom to move as she wished.'

'Why did she leave?' Gurney asked harshly.

Master Joseph stared back, waiting as Father Augustine's squeaky quill recorded the question.

'She said,' he finally answered, 'that she wished to see her father. I was reluctant to let her go but had no right or cause to prevent her. However, I got then the impression that she was lying to me – that it was really someone else she was meeting.' He looked over his shoulder at Fulke the tanner, who was squatting at the base of one of the pillars, his arm around his sobbing wife. 'I don't know who. Marina was due to leave us soon. Her purification was complete and, at the end of the month, we hoped to secure her passage to Outremer. She could have been in Bethlehem for Christmas.'

Corbett whispered to Gurney, who said quickly, 'Sir Hugh Corbett would like to ask a few questions.'