A Murdered Peace
- Автор: Робб Кэндис
- Серия: A Kate Clifford Mystery #3
- Год: 2018
- Язык: английский
- Год: Pegasus Books
- ISBN: 9781681779270
- Жанр: Исторические детективы
Электронная книга - «A Murdered Peace». Краткое содержание книги:
England still in tumult at the start of the fifteenth century, as Kate Clifford finds herself working to prove the innocence of her longtime confidante.
It is deep winter in York, 1400, the ground frozen, the short days dimmed with the smoke from countless fires, the sun, when it shines, low in the sky. It is rumored that the Epiphany Uprising, meant to relieve the realm of the Henry the usurper and return King Richard to the throne has, instead, spelled his doom. As long as Richard lives, he is a threat to Henry. So, too, the nobles behind the plot. The ringleaders have been caught, some slaughtered as they fled west by folk loyal to Henry, and the king's men now search the towns for survivors.
A perilous time, made worse for Kate Clifford by the disappearance of Berend, her cook and confidante, shortly after Christmas. Her niece saw his departure in a dream – he said he was honor bound to leave. Honor bound – to a former lord? One of the nobles who led the uprising? Is he alive? She is hardly consoled when Berend reappears, wounded, secretive, denying any connection to the uprising, but refusing to explain himself. When he is accused of brutally murdering a spice seller in the city, Kate discovers a chest of jewels in his possession. Some of the jewels belong to her old friend Lady Margery, wanted by the king for her husband’s part in the uprising. For the sake of their long friendship, and the love she and her wards bear for him, Kate wants to believe his innocence. So, too, does Sir Elric. And he has the powerful backing of the Earl of Westmoreland. All she need do is confide in him. If only she trusted her heart.
Her late husband had learned of Berend’s gift of land from his former lord? The one she had just learned of? “Did he not share the information with you when he first heard of it?” Kate asked Griselde.
“No. He says he feared I would tell you Simon was interfering. He remembers that part.” Griselde sighed. “Maybe once he’s able to move about more in the wheeled chair the fog in his head will clear.”
“I pray it does,” said Kate. She wondered what else he knew about Berend.
“But you did not come for all this, I trow.”
Kate nodded toward Lady Margery. “Has Phillip met the new maidservant?”
“No. Mary has stayed out of sight,” said Griselde.
“I am becoming well acquainted with the storeroom,” Margery said, motioning with the cutting knife toward the curtained doorway to one side of the kitchen. “I have a mind to make up my bed in there tonight. But I am grateful.”
“No word of Carl?”
Both Margery and Griselde shook their heads.
“Jennet stopped by to ask whether he had arrived, and brought this gown for me.” Margery held up the skirts and bowed.
Kate had wondered where she had procured the gown of undyed wool. “I trust she included a linen underdress?” Or it would be scratchy to a woman accustomed to fine clothes.
“Bless her, she did,” said Margery.
Without the red hair and bright clothes, the noblewoman was quite transformed. Only those who knew her well might pause before her, wondering what had brought her to mind. Still, Elric knew her well enough. As did all three of her wards.
As Margery turned back to her work, Kate softly instructed Griselde to keep Mary hard at work. The more she inhabited the role of Mary the maidservant, the less likely she would be to move and behave as a noblewoman. And she must earn her keep, she told her quietly. They were risking everything for her.
“Her hands …”
“We want them rough,” said Kate.
“Of course.”
Seth glanced back at them. “You told me to remind you of two things you must tell Mistress Clifford.”
Griselde’s hands flew to her face and she muttered something about her failing memory. “Oh dear me, forgive me, Mistress Clifford. I meant to tell you something that slipped my mind last night. Come, have a seat. Seth, some ale, if you would.”
Kate was about to decline, but, seeing the worry etched in the lines on her housekeeper’s face she thought she might need it. “Tell me.”
“There is a spice seller with a stall next to Old Cob the eel man in the market. Merek, he is called. Yesterday, when I bought the eel for your celebration, this Merek wanted to know why he’s not seen Berend in the market of late.”
Kate did want that ale after all. “I’ve noticed him.” Just this morning, in fact. “A sly one, he seemed to me.”
“That would be him. Berend had warned me to have nothing to do with either the man or his goods.”
“Did he? Why?”
“Said he was the devil, out for souls, not money.”
“Berend said that?”
“He did, and with such a scowl that I’ve heeded his advice without question.”
“But yesterday Merek spoke to you?”
“He did. And as Old Cob wrapped the eels I’d purchased the dear man leaned close and said under his breath, ‘Begging your pardon, Goodwife Griselde, but most folk at the market have naught to do with yon merchant. Too many questions about our friends. He is cooking up a pot of poison, that one. Just a warning.’”
“So Old Cob knows his reputation.” Kate nodded. “Did you say anything to the spice seller, Griselde?”
“I said I could not see as it was his concern where you sent your cook and for how long.” Griselde gave an indignant sniff.
“Bless you. That was the best answer.”
The wrinkles rearranged themselves in a bright smile. “I hoped it was the right thing to say. Seth thought it was.” She nodded to him.
“Come, sit with us a moment,” Kate said to the young man, who was hovering over Margery’s hesitant gestures with the knife. Jennet was teaching Seth how to listen and watch, skills Kate valued in her servants, so she asked, “What did you notice about this Merek?”
Seth was quick to bring a stool to the table and sit down, leaning toward her, eager to add his observations. “He watched us all the while we were in the market. I noticed him when we arrived, trying to listen in to Goodwife Griselde’s chatter with Old Cob – not that there was anything to hear, except that the earl’s men would be dining with you at the guesthouse.”
Griselde frowned. “Perhaps I should not–”
“No.” Kate touched the woman’s folded hands. “I am glad he knows the stature of our dinner guests. He might be less likely to meddle.” She motioned to Seth to go on.
“Merek watched us even after we moved on,” said Seth. “Whenever I glanced back toward him his beady eyes would be just flicking off, pretending I hadn’t caught him. He went hurrying away when we were leaving the market.”
“With someone?” Kate asked.
“Not that I could see. I slipped round behind a stall to watch him. He was in a hurry, dodging round people.”
“Good work,” said Kate. She turned back to Griselde. “You had two things to tell me – the second?”
“The visitors, yes. We had visitors, well-spoken men, though not of noble status, two of them, travel-worn, but their clothes were of fine cloth and leather, and beneath their cloaks I noticed badges, livery, but you know I am not good at recognizing the houses.”
Kate described the two men she’d encountered by St. Michael’s near Ouse Bridge.
“The very men. They said they were stopping at all the inns and guesthouses in the city to warn us of two men and a woman looking for a place to hide. One of the men was probably limping on his left leg. And a woman, not young, but still handsome, well dressed.”
Margery had gone quite still.
Lady Margery, Carl, and– Berend? “What did they want with them?” Kate asked.
“They warned me not to give them shelter. That they are wanted by King Henry and it would be treason to help them.”
“Was there another man in your company, Mary?” Kate asked.
Without turning to look at Kate, Margery said, “We did walk for a while with a farmer coming to market.”
Was Margery lying? Did she come with Berend? “Did they say anything else?” she asked Griselde.
“They warned me to insist on seeing whoever wanted lodging, not agree to make arrangements with a third person.” Griselde smiled. “Of course they could not know how careful we are.”
“Did you say any more to them?”
“They asked whether we had rooms available. I explained we have no rooms to let at present, so we were in no danger of accepting such lodgers. Then they wanted to know who was lodging here. I told them that we obey all the laws of the city regarding notifying the council of strangers biding here.”
Which was rare indeed. “And they accepted that?”
A sniff. “What could they say? They had no standing here.”
“Good. You must send Seth to tell me if the men return, or if Carl appears. At once.”
Griselde frowned. “Should I keep the men here until you come? What if–”
“No. I just want to know. Seth, watch which way they go as they leave, if you would.”
“Do you know who the men were, Mistress Clifford?” asked Seth. Too eagerly.
“Your visitors might have been the king’s men as their badges were Lancastrian livery. The king is calling on Lancastrian retainers from all his holdings, so not all wear the royal livery. But now you know, so tell me if you see any others with such badges, or wearing blue and white livery, for that matter.”