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.
Surprised by the offer, Kate held out her hand for his, then guided him to touch Lille’s back, then Ghent’s. She bent to rub their ears. “Be easy with him,” she whispered. “I won’t be long.” She greeted Elric’s men, who stood aside to allow her in. “Did you or your comrades witness anything last night?”
The men bowed to her but did not speak. Which suggested the answer was yes. But nothing more. Elric had trained them well.
In the dimness of the sisters’ hall, Kate was greeted by a servant who knew her, knew who she wished to see.
“Come this way, I pray you, Mistress Clifford.” She led Kate into a small room off the hall, warmed with a brazier even on this summer afternoon. Magistra Matilda sat at the side of a small cot, watching Sister Dina sleep. A crucifix on the wall, a small table beside the cot, a shuttered window. Bare essentials.
“Any change?” Kate asked.
“At last she sleeps a healing sleep,” said Matilda. “For a long while she lay watching the ceiling and moving her lips, but no sound, no sound.” She shook her head. “What terror does she revisit?”
“I have been too incurious about the beguines my mother collected.”
“She is not your responsibility, surely?”
“When did the Earl of Westmoreland’s men take up the guard here?”
Matilda shook her head. “I knew nothing of it until one of the sisters returned in tears, fearing that we were being put out of our house so that the soldiers might lodge here. The men say they were ordered to ensure Sister Dina’s safety until her attacker is found. I demanded to see their captain.”
Elric knew everything, damn him. “And have you spoken to him?”
“Not yet.” Her veil trembled with indignation. “But I have sent word to the sheriffs.”
Unhappy news. “Did your message mention the intruder last night?”
“Only that there was one. And I am concerned that the Earl of Westmoreland has overstepped his bounds.” A sniff of irritation.
Not as bad as Kate had feared, but still … Once the sheriffs knew of the intruder the story would spread quickly throughout York. Any scandal touching her was bad for business – lenders and customers became uneasy. And with all the soldiers, it was no time to stand out. “Had you mentioned an intruder to anyone before Sir Elric’s men arrived?”
“Do you accuse me–”
“No.” Kate raised her hands in surrender. “But I cannot understand how the knight knew to put guards here, can you?”
“I have said nothing to anyone outside this house. And I ordered all in my charge to say nothing.”
“Then someone else knows and told Sir Elric,” said Kate. She bowed to Matilda, thanked her for watching over Dina.
“I will send for you if there is any change,” Matilda assured her. “Or if the sheriff sends someone.”
Perhaps Berend’s visit to the abbey might reveal what Elric knew, what his night watch had witnessed. If not, Kate must think of a way to confront the knight without seeming to confront him.
Outside, the sun beat down. She was glad to see that Griffin had found a shady spot beneath a tree to rest with the hounds. As she approached, he rose with a fluidity that impressed her.
“How is Sister Dina?” he asked.
“Sleeping peacefully.” Kate smiled as Lille and Ghent joined them, nudging her hands for ear rubs. As she obliged them, she thanked Griffin for watching them.
“To be honest, it felt as if they were keeping me polite company,” he said.
Kate waited until they crossed into Hertergate to ask Griffin why her mother had sent him and not a servant to fetch her.
“Dame Eleanor grew anxious that Jennet might not have stressed the urgency of her summons. I set off to find you.”
A stroke of luck that he’d found her, then. “But you know nothing of what happened that she’s so keen to see me?”
“To see both of us. Devil if I know. Except that she had an unexpected visitor – Lionel Neville.”
That sent a shiver down Kate’s sweat-dampened back. “God help me. If Dame Eleanor and Lionel are in league–”
“No, no, I did not mean that. I assure you, she dislikes him as much as you do.”
“So she has told you all about us?”
“To be honest, I heard it on the street.”
Of course. Their bad blood would make good gossip. “I take no comfort in your empty assurance. She has not as much cause to dislike him as I do.” She led Lille and Ghent down the side of the Martha House and into the garden, finding a shady spot for them beneath the kitchen eaves. “A bowl of water?” she asked Griffin.
He fetched it from the kitchen without hesitation, and proffered a small plate of cold meats. “Not so rich as what they deserve.”
“But welcome for now.” She smiled, a peace offering.
“Dame Eleanor awaits us–” Griffin gestured not to the main house but the kitchen.
“In here?” As she stepped into the kitchen, Kate wrinkled her nose at the warring scents of damp earth and lye.
“The intruder bled enough to weaken a man,” Griffin noted.
“Yet he managed to elude us.”
Kate paused in the doorway to the small bedchamber, nodding to her mother, who had been sitting on the bed, hands folded. Now Eleanor rose and came to kiss Kate on the cheek. A surprising gesture.
“Bless you for finding her, Griffin.”
“She was already on her way, Dame Eleanor. I merely accompanied her from Coney Street.” He said no more.
Placing a cool hand on Kate’s arm, Eleanor leaned close to request that they adjourn to her house. “I would as lief not be overheard.”
Kate glanced around. It was only the three of them. What did her mother fear? “Of course. Berend is out, so the kitchen should be quiet. I have some information for you as well.” She noticed shadows beneath her mother’s eyes, and a subtle bowing of her shoulders. “What did Lionel want?”
“At your house, daughter. Griffin, come along.”
The Welshman grinned good-naturedly and followed.
Kate called to Lille and Ghent as she moved through the garden to the gate in the hedgerow. In her own kitchen, Matt was piling wood and coals by the hearth. Changing her plan, Kate told Matt they’d be in the hall.
“But Sister Brigida and the girls …”
“The weather is so fine, they might enjoy taking their lessons out in the garden. Bring ale and some food to us, then wander down to the staithes, chat with the workers. Perhaps someone’s talking about trouble there in the early morning.”
Matt’s expression brightened. Kate knew he missed the bustle of High Petergate, where he’d supported Griselde and Clement.
Sister Brigida and her pupils greeted Kate’s idea with delight, the girls hurrying from the hall clutching their wax tablets and giggling as they attempted to express their happiness in elegant Parisian. Brigida followed at an only slightly more sedate pace, whispering to Kate, “They are such joys.”
In the ensuing silence, Griffin settled on a bench between the two windows. Taking off his felt hat, he leaned back and sighed with pleasure as the cross-draft ruffled his coppery curls.
Eleanor had been drawn to the vertical loom directly beneath the east window, touching the bright threads. “You’ve done some work on it.”
“Petra and I. It reminds her of happy times with Old Mapes, the healer who raised her.” Kate’s niece had quickly adapted to the sounds and rhythms of her household. The loss of a father she’d never known, and the two who had brought her up, still burdened her with sorrow, but as she discovered her deep similarities with Kate, and was shown over and over again by all in the household – even Marie, in her own way – that she was loved and appreciated, she found the strength to hold that sorrow. “We both take great pleasure in the time together.” Kate felt herself bracing for the much-remembered criticisms: “You are all thumbs. Your color pairings are no better than if a blind girl chose them. Do you call that a pattern?”