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.
“But what did they want?” asked Kate. “Or who?”
No one had come up with an answer to that. Who were those men? Was Jennet right, that they had hoped to silence Lille and Ghent so they might finish the task they had bungled last night?
As the light faded in the garden, the diners grew quiet. Kate imagined they were all wondering whether the intruder would return.
Berend rose and stretched out his arms, shook out his legs. “I must see to my evening chores before drowsiness overcomes me.”
Kate told Marie and Petra to go up to bed. “You woke early. It has been a long day. Jennet will come with you. And Matt will be down in the hall.” Though they dragged their feet, the two obeyed, which was unusual for Marie, as was her silence for most of the evening. She seemed to understand that it was not a night to defy Kate.
In the kitchen, bowls and spoons clattered softly in the tub of water Berend bent over. Kate stepped in, shutting the door behind her.
Berend paused, still stooped over the tub, studying her. “You told the girls that Jennet would join them soon, and Matt would be in the hall. What of you? Where are you sleeping tonight?”
“You listen too closely.” Kate smiled. “If Griffin has gone off to follow Elric’s men, I thought to sit in the doorway of the hall at the Martha House so that I can watch both the house and the kitchen until he returns.”
Berend paused, regarding her with a frown. “You will, of course, be armed.”
“Always.”
“And then he will take your place in the doorway?” Berend shook his head. “The sisters might object.”
“We shall see.” Kate fully expected that she would be sleeping in her mother’s hall. She would tell him that when the time came. He worried about her, despite his claim to be confident in her ability to defend herself.
As I do, Geoff said in her mind.
As he would a comrade-in-arms. I do understand.
“What about Lille and Ghent?” said Berend. “Why not take them with you?”
“Sister Clara fears them. And, truth be told, I would rather they were in the main house, protecting the girls.”
“I will be listening.”
“I depend on that. Geoff, too, will be alert.”
“A ghost sharing the watch.” Berend shook his head. “Only you.”
Out in the summer night Kate paused, gazing up at the stars.
I wonder what it means that he is able to sense my presence?
I don’t know, Geoff. Now quiet. We are on watch.
She moved through the hedgerow gate with care in the darkening evening, peering into the shadows, checking the kitchen and Dina’s – now Griffin’s – small room. All was peaceful. Across the garden she picked up a three-legged milking stool, idly wondering if the garden had once been home to a goat or a cow. Or perhaps the stool was someone else’s castoff, gratefully reused. She placed it in the doorway and sat to begin her watch. From the hall came the soft murmur of the sisters and her mother at their evening prayers. Their voices were tense, their prayers halting. Then Sister Brigida began to read a meditation on the Mother’s love, and how that love was God, was the source of all creation, and held all in natural grace. Sin was but a forgetting. A soul need only remember, and return to love. After the reading, the voices rose again in prayer, calm now, strengthened by the remembering.
Kate might envy them the solace they drew from their devotions if they also took steps toward learning to defend themselves. She had never witnessed a heavenly avenger appearing to protect the pious, despite all their orisons.
After a while, Griffin strolled into the yard. Kate stepped out but left the hall door ajar so that she might hear the women’s voices. She drew Griffin just inside the kitchen so that they would not disturb them.
“Well?” she asked. “Did you find Elric’s men?”
A nod. “Two of their comrades relieved them. I followed the two now off the watch to Toft Green.”
“They are camping with the other soldiers?”
“I think not. They were asking about, looking for three men who might have returned in the early hours this past morning, one of them bleeding from the neck and the stomach.”
“They know so much?” Damn Elric and his silence. What is his part in this? She stared out at the starry night. “So Dina’s intruder was a soldier?”
Griffin shrugged. “They were not greeted warmly, and were soon in a brawl. I chose to leave. But I will be watching here tonight.”
“Three. And soldiers. I wonder whether we met two of them today, hoping to silence Lille and Ghent so they might return and complete their mission?”
“I wondered that as well. I did not spy the ones we’d encountered, but the camp is crowded and I saw but a small part of it.”
“I should sleep in my mother’s hall tonight. If three come calling, you’ll need help.”
“Why not have Jennet stand watch in the hall?”
“She is already abed.”
“Berend?”
“He will be listening for trouble, never fear.” She went to collect what she would need for the night.
Back in her own kitchen, Kate shared a bowl of ale with Berend while she told him Griffin’s news.
“Soldiers. I knew there would be trouble. Why would they think your mother’s kitchen worth robbing, if that’s what they were about?” Berend scratched his scarred ear as he stretched out his legs. “And Sir Elric’s men – did they witness it? Why would he not tell you?” He cursed under his breath.
“That worries me. But it’s clear we need to do our own sleuthing.” She told him her plan.
“Sleeping in your mother’s hall?” Berend shook his head. “Send Jennet.”
Griffin, too, thought of Jennet rather than Matt. They both underestimated him. “Jennet went to bed a while ago.”
“She will wake when you go up. Send her.”
“Why? Are you thinking she might like Griffin?”
“Is he sleeping in the hall as well?”
They laughed, dispelling some of the tension.
“No, the kitchen,” said Kate.
Still grinning, Berend shrugged. “I will not argue.”
Kate grew serious. “You’ve discussed me with Griffin.”
“I’ve warned him. In case he thought he might dissemble with you. I thought to keep the peace between our two houses.”
“Ah.” She was leaning back with her eyes closed but could hear the grin in his voice.
They were quiet awhile. A moment’s respite.
“How did Sir Alan discover you had a house to lease?” Berend suddenly asked.
“My uncle sent him to me.” Richard Clifford was dean of York Minster as well as King Richard’s Lord Privy Seal. He also happened to be one of the few people Kate had come to trust implicitly. She prayed he had not misled her. But when the king he served was in danger, might he not choose to protect him, even if it meant betraying her? “I don’t recall his telling me how Sir Alan happened to approach him.” She sat forward, curious about the change of topic. “Why?”
Berend raised his uneven brows and shrugged. “I do not mean to question Dean Richard’s integrity, but it might be worth asking him about Sir Alan. What do the knight and his men know of all this? We know they have spies moving about the city. Yet they behaved as if they knew nothing, could offer nothing.”
“Except to ask you about the abbey.”
“A question for me, yes. So, your uncle the dean?”
“I cannot expect him to put my welfare before that of the king he serves, or his archbishop.” Archbishop Scrope’s loyalties were the subject of much conjecture in the city. His mentor was the former archbishop, Thomas Arundel, now one of Henry of Lancaster’s closest advisors. On the other hand, King Richard and his court had attended Scrope’s enthronement as Bishop of Lichfield shortly before he was promoted to Archbishop of York. He was an enigma. “I will go to the deanery in the morning. No matter his purpose, I trust my uncle will tell me what he can once I tell him what has happened this day.”