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.
“I hear that you are now a cook. Are you here to beg some unusual herbs?”
“I would not say nay to anything you might offer. What dishes I might concoct with such variety! But I’ve come on less sanguine business.”
“An illness in the household?”
“No, God be thanked. Might we sit somewhere quiet? Here in the garden, if you please.” Berend gestured toward a bench shaded by an old linden.
A little shrug, a nod to young Andrew and a gesture releasing him to return to the infirmary. “A moment in the shade would be welcome, Master Berend.”
“Just Berend. I am no man’s master.”
A surprised laugh. “You sounded like my father just then.” As the monk settled on the bench he removed his hat and pushed back imaginary hair – he had so little hair he’d scant need for a tonsure. An old habit then, from before he’d taken vows. Berend tried to imagine what he might have looked like in youth. Thin, long-limbed, and, judging by his brows and lashes, fair-haired. He would have been a comely lad, even-featured, with large, expressive eyes. Eyes that now returned his gaze with a wariness they’d not held when they last met.
“I will not trifle with you by circling round my purpose, Brother. One of the Earl of Westmoreland’s knights, Sir Elric, came to the abbey this morning asking to be directed to the abbot’s lodgings and the infirmary.”
A shrug. “Many come to the gate, for blessings, in hope of healing.” The monk coolly met his gaze. “Abbot Thomas rarely sends them on to me. You touched him. That is why he welcomed you when you first came to York, your quest for absolution, redemption. Have you found it in service to Dean Richard’s niece?”
Clever how he diverted the questions to Berend himself. And well informed. “I am on the path, as is my purpose in coming to you. A young woman was accosted by an intruder in Dame Eleanor Clifford’s house of poor sisters last night. I have cause to think the young woman, Sister Dina, might have injured her attacker. I wondered whether he had found his way here.”
“A poor sister was accosted?”
Choosing his words with a care to accuracy yet a sense of the horror of Sister Dina’s ordeal and her frightened silence, Berend took the monk through the events of the night and early morning. “My employer, Katherine Clifford, is determined to find out what happened. I ask in the hope that Sir Elric possibly heard something of the incident from one of his men in the city?”
“May God watch over Sister Dina,” Brother Martin whispered, crossing himself. “And all in her household.” The monk sat for a moment, folding his hands in his lap – work-roughened hands, despite the gloves he had tucked in his rope girdle.
Berend tried to quiet his own mind, allow anything to arise that pointed to something he might have missed in the telling. “I understand that I am casting a wide net,” he added quietly.
A little smile as Brother Martin shifted on the bench, facing Berend. “I am not a stranger to the investigation of a crime. My father – foster father–”
“He who was master to no man?”
A nod. “I sometimes assisted him in solving crimes in the city. So my mind has gone straight down that disused path, calling up questions so that I might sort them. It seems you have many unanswered questions. Why choose to come to me? The city is filled with armed men at present. Strangers.”
“With such a background you will understand why I must consider all avenues that might help resolve this as soon as possible. Before someone else is threatened. Did Sir Elric come to you? Is an injured man lying in your infirmary? One of his men?”
“Perhaps if you spoke to my abbot, you–” The monk paused as the novice Andrew came round the corner of the infirmary in some haste.
“Brother Henry says you must come at once, Brother Martin.” Andrew glanced at Berend, bit his lip, looked down, bowed, and made a hurried retreat.
Brother Martin crossed himself and rose with a deep sigh.
“I can return,” Berend said.
“Go with God,” Brother Martin murmured as he tucked his hands up his sleeves and hurried after the novice.
5
Remorse
After their long rest in the guesthouse kitchen, Lille and Ghent fairly trotted alongside Kate, happily sniffing at passersby, far calmer than earlier in the day. Kate, on the other hand, forced herself to the brisk pace in an attempt to combat the creeping weariness of early afternoon in high summer. The air felt thick, heavy, and her shoulders ached with the tensions of the day, yet she felt restless. Some time at the archery butt, or practicing with her battle-axe, that is what she needed.
Lille’s rumbling growl caught her attention.
Danger! Geoff shouted in Kate’s mind.
As Kate drew her dagger, she and the hounds turned as one, startling two armed men who were much too close. One carried a rope. Kate pointed the dagger at one, then the other, and warned them that she was about to order the dogs to attack. The men backed away, disappearing down an alleyway. Her mother’s man, Griffin, appearing from nowhere, chased after them, but he returned in a moment, shaking his head.
“I’ve lost them.”
Kate considered the Welshman, who had spent years in the Holy Roman Empire, judging by his accent. Crusading? As a mercenary? Just as she’d not bothered to investigate Agnes Dell, she’d ignored Griffin.
Ghent stepped between them, ready to protect Kate.
Holding up his empty hands, Griffin had the good sense to take a few steps back. “My mistake, Dame Katherine. I thought you might need assistance.”
“You see me through Dame Eleanor’s eyes.” Kate rubbed the hounds’ ears, caught up their leads, and turned to continue on her way, more disturbed by the encounter than she wished Griffin to guess, but also oddly satisfied, all weariness gone. “What is your business on Coney Street?”
“Searching for you. Dame Eleanor said it was urgent.”
“She sent you as well as Jennet?”
“Patience is not her virtue?”
“No, it is not. Jennet did not know what the urgent matter might be. Do you?”
“No.”
God help her. What had her mother done now? Noticing with annoyance that Griffin kept pace slightly behind her, she motioned for him to walk beside Ghent. “He shakes off his response to danger faster than his sister,” she said when he hesitated.
He did as she wished. “Berend is right, you’ve a rare connection with your hounds.”
So he’d been discussing her with Berend?
Interesting, Geoff said in her head. But I wouldn’t hold it against him.
We’ll see, Geoff. We’ll see.
They fell into easy laughter over the strangers’ apparent ignorance.
“He thought they would submit to his attempt to catch them with a rope?” Kate laughed.
“A plot conceived over one too many tankards of ale, I would guess,” said Griffin.
As they approached Kate’s house, Lille and Ghent pricked their ears. Across Castlegate, two men stood guard at the maison dieu. Kate changed direction, crossing toward them. “Sister Dina is there,” she said in answer to Griffin’s questioning expression.
“Did you order a guard?” he asked.
She shook her head, recognizing the two men. “Sir Elric’s.” His visit to the abbey and now this – it was clear that Elric had known about the intruder all along. Devious man, she was right not to trust him. “I will step inside, have a word with Magistra Matilda.”
“But Dame Eleanor …”
“I shall try her patience a while longer. This cannot wait.”
Griffin nodded. “I’m glad to wait with the hounds.”