A Twisted Vengeance
- Автор: Робб Кэндис
- Серия: A Kate Clifford Mystery #2
- Год: 2017
- Язык: английский
- Год: Pegasus Books
- ISBN: 9781681774756
- Жанр: Исторические детективы
Электронная книга - «A Twisted Vengeance». Краткое содержание книги:
As the fourteenth century comes to a close, York seethes on the brink of civil war – and young widow Kate Clifford, struggling to keep her businesses afloat, realizes that her mother is harboring a dangerous secret…
1399. York is preparing for civil war, teeming with knights and their armed retainers summoned for the city’s defense. Henry of Lancaster is rumored to have landed on the northeast coast of England, not so far from York, intent on reclaiming his inheritance – an inheritance which his cousin, King Richard, has declared forfeit.
With the city unsettled and rife with rumors, Eleanor Clifford’s abrupt return to York upon the mysterious death of her husband in Strasbourg is met with suspicion in the city. Her daughter Kate is determined to keep her distance, but it will not be easy – Eleanor has settled next door with the intention of establishing a house of beguines, or poor sisters. When one of the beguines is set upon in the night by an intruder, Kate knows that for the sake of her own reputation and the safety of her young wards she must investigate.
From the first, Eleanor is clearly frightened yet maintains a stubborn silence. The brutal murder of one of Eleanor’s servants leads Kate to suspect that her mother’s troubles have followed her from Strasbourg. Is she secretly involved in the political upheaval? When one of her wards is frightened by a too-curious stranger, Kate is desperate to draw her mother out of her silence before tragedy strikes her own household.
Kate remembered Griselde’s dismay at the news that Eleanor had chosen Agnes Dell’s house as her Martha House, how she’d sniffed at the news that Agnes meant to bide with them as a sister. She had predicted it would be but a brief partnership. Kate had refrained from comment, asked for no explanation, in truth told Griselde she wanted to hear no more. Her mother had judged it a mutually beneficial arrangement. She might make of that what she would. She did not need to share her suspicion that her mother’s pretense at piety served a temporary need to conceal her true reason for fleeing to York.
“Perhaps you might start with your news,” Kate said, now regretting how she had silenced the woman, wondering what she might have prevented had she known more.
Griselde settled back with her bowl of ale in hand. “Jennet said to say that Nan’s mother, Hawise, has long been ill. She sleeps through most of her days, attended by the four children who have not yet left to go into service. All too young for such responsibility, if you ask me,” Griselde huffed. “That was me, not Jennet. It is true that Nan comes at night, but the children seemed to be keeping some secret about that – frightened eyes, pokes in the ribs. Nan has a reputation on the street for being easy, loving the men, that is what Jennet heard. So she intends to explore some of the rumors further, see whether Nan visits her mother alone. As for Agnes Dell, I’ve told you that Dame Eleanor did her beguines no favors in moving in with that lot. I should know, Agnes had been here often enough with her husband’s employer, your neighbor John Paris, both before and after she was widowed.”
“John Paris’s Agnes? That I did not know.”
“I tried to tell you, Mistress Clifford. But you did not wish to hear what I knew of Agnes Dell.”
“I remember. My anger clouded my judgment.”
Griselde pressed Kate’s hand. “Dame Eleanor has caused you trouble and great sorrow, I know, Mistress Clifford. You will be glad to hear that since Agnes took up with your mother’s beguines she has not been here.”
“At least that.”
“Do not blame yourself,” said Berend. “We know now, when we most need to know, eh?” His expression was caring, without judgment.
Kate relaxed a little. “What else do you know about Agnes, Griselde?”
“She was no better than her servant Nan, so they say. There was much gossip about Agnes and her boarders.”
“Her boarders? Did Jennet say that?”
“Jennet said nothing about Agnes.”
“So Agnes came here with John Paris while she was taking in boarders – boarders who also may have been lovers?” Berend asked.
“So they say.” Griselde seemed hesitant now. “Though it is only gossip. I have no personal knowledge of the woman, except as a guest here.”
“Might John Paris have arranged the boarders? Might Paris have threatened Agnes – and possibly her husband – if she did not oblige?” Kate looked around the table. “What do we know of her husband’s death?”
Clement and Griselde shook their heads.
“He died at sea, or while away,” said Berend. “There might be something there.”
“So what have Agnes and Nan done that you are asking about them?” asked Griselde.
What had they done? What had Kate done in neglecting to look into the household before her mother moved in? Not that she could have deterred Eleanor.
Fortified by an occasional pause for ale, Kate proceeded to sketch out the events since the dogs woke her in the night. It was important that Griselde and Clement knew the situation. They were her representatives here in the guesthouse, and oversaw what they could in Kate’s other property next door, the house leased by Sir Alan Bennet and his gathering of knights. “What did you learn?” Kate asked, turning to Berend.
“The knights gave no sign that they’d heard of the morning’s event. In that, as in everything, they were too closemouthed for my taste. They did express surprise about the response to the defense of York. Weaker than they had expected, according to Sir Alan.”
“York is splitting at the seams with armed men,” Griselde said. “How many more did they expect? And where, I ask, did they think to stuff them?”
Kate told them of her suspicion regarding the current and former aldermen, and the rumor about Knaresborough, especially the comment that Duke Henry was making promises only a king might carry out.
Clement nodded. “He is promising taxation only in times of emergency, that is what I heard in the tavern.”
“Sir Alan’s men also mentioned Knaresborough,” said Berend.
They were all silent for a moment, pondering the significance of all that had been spoken. How much blood would be shed, would Lancaster punish all those who supported their anointed king, what fate did he intend for King Richard, if deposed? Kate shivered.
“I do not know for whom to pray,” said Clement, “King Richard or Duke Henry?”
“Pray for us, husband,” said Griselde.
Berend nodded. “It is the small folk who suffer, it is always so. The farmers whose crops are trampled and burned, the foot soldiers who fall beneath the knights’ destriers, the merchants who cannot use the roads while the armies roam freely …”
“As Mistress Clifford said, the guild knows there is trouble ahead,” said Griselde. “Look at us. Already the presence of too-curious knights next door has frightened off some of our best customers.”
“Is that true?” asked Kate. It was the first she had heard of it.
“It is indeed,” said Griselde. “Your cousin William Frost and the widow Seaton are choosing discretion while Sir Alan holds court next door. And Dame Catherine and her Stefan.”
Thomas Holme’s wife. “But not Thomas?”
“No. He and his Mary are not so easily frightened.”
“God give me patience.” Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Less income to apply to Simon’s debts and memorial masses. People would notice if she neglected the latter. “Drusilla Seaton said nothing about this when we met on the street just now.” She hoped it was simply because of Sir Elric’s presence, nothing more, not distrust.
“I still believe you were right in accepting Sir Alan’s offer,” said Berend. “It might have been far worse had you been ordered by the mayor and aldermen to open your house to the armed men. At least Sir Alan is paying you generously and keeping the house in knightly hands.”
Kate knew he was right, but the loss of income was a setback she had hoped to avoid. Sir Alan’s rent was temporary. If the hiatus inspired Drusilla and William to separate for good … God forgive my selfishness, she silently prayed. Aloud she asked Berend what else he had learned from Sir Alan and his guests.
“We will want to watch them. They were far too ill at ease about my visit, though they seemed not to have heard about last night’s events.”
“Before we stray too far afield, we should consider just what happened last night,” said Kate. “Nan went out, leaving the kitchen unlocked. According to her, she has done so for a while. Someone entered by that door and found Dina in her bedroom. Did someone know about the unlocked door? Had Nan done this before it was a Martha House, when there were boarders? Who were the boarders?”
“John Paris once mentioned in passing that Leonard Dell – that would be Agnes’s late husband – had far more pleasure of his maidservant Nan than he did of his wife. He grinned at that – of course he would, being the one who did have pleasure of the man’s wife, the bloody …” Clement shifted uncomfortably as a tremor ran through his body.
Griselde pressed his hand and poured him more ale. He lifted the bowl with both hands, the contents splashing round but never spilling. Griselde knew just how much to fill it. Clement’s tremors were more frequent of late. Kate had noticed several while they reviewed the accounts earlier in the week. She knew better than to ask whether they were tiring him.