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.
Matt was not smiling. “Let her tell you.”
In the kitchen, Berend, the sleeves of his thin linen shirt rolled up above his elbows, chopped vegetables for a pottage as he listened to Jennet, who sat across from him shelling peas into a bowl in her lap. Kate’s gaze lingered on the pale down of Berend’s forearms. So strong, yet so gentle, so loving. None of the men in her household – she could not imagine them harming a child even to save their own lives.
“Did Matt tell you about Nan?” Jennet asked.
Kate shook herself, slipped down next to Jennet. “No. Tell me.”
“I told Berend I would go to check her at her mother’s, let him get on with his work. She’s gone. The children – it was only the girls there when I went to warn her about Robin – said that a man came for Nan not long after Agnes left her. Told Nan that Robin was dying and he had asked for her. She must come quick.”
Kate muttered a curse.
“I know. The children – they were so frightened. Their mother is in a bad way, clawing at her throat trying to breathe. I sent two of them to fetch Dame Jocasta. I managed to prop Goodwife Hawise up enough that she could breathe better by the time Dame Jocasta appeared, and shortly after a healer, who made a soothing drink and a paste for Hawise’s chest and throat. She was much better when I left. Dame Jocasta will have the healer stay with them, and a man to watch.”
“Bless her. And bless you for knowing what to do.”
“The children had seen the man before, with Robin. The girls said they did not know his name. But Dame Hawise – I swear she whispered, ‘Bran.’” Jennet scooped up more pea pods. “A woman who has so little breath does not waste it with nonsense. But I know no Brans.”
Berend rubbed his neck, thinking. “No one comes to mind.”
Nor could Kate think of anyone. But Agnes might know. What was the pattern here? The house, Hans, Nan? “It must be theft. Something the sisters brought. We must search for Nan. And I need to talk to Agnes.” Kate rose.
“I have a few of the best trackers searching for her,” said Jennet. “What of Sister Dina? Did she remember anything of use?”
All the sorrow welled up, and Kate needed to sit down for the telling. She wanted them to know all, that Dina must in no way ever feel blamed. When Kate was finished, Jennet sat silently, staring at her feet.
“May her father be thrown into the fires of hell and forgotten,” Berend growled. He put a pitcher of ale and three small bowls on the table beside the vegetables and settled down across from Kate.
“As you see,” she said, “her memory of the morning agrees with Kevin’s, once he arrived, though it is incomplete.”
“So Robin was searching the kitchen.”
“Nan kept a key to the house there,” Kate said.
“I should have gone to Nan earlier,” said Jennet.
“There is no point to such self-recrimination,” said Kate. “None of this might have happened if … We can always say that. What could Nan know? How can she be of help to Robin now? Might it be true – that he’s dying and he’s asked for her? They would not want to give away their hiding place.”
“If she isn’t part of the plan, what happens to her now?” Jennet’s frown made it clear what she thought.
“I’ll go to Toft Green this evening,” said Berend. “We need to know the gossip in the camp.”
Kate agreed. “I will accompany you.”
“If I may advise, it would be best if I take Matt. This is a camp of soldiers, and you are a woman. Not only that, but there are those in the camp, many, I suspect, who think Lille and Ghent should be put to better use than guarding your interests here in York. You’ll be noticed and I’ll hear nothing.”
Kate did not like it, but Berend was right. “I will talk to Agnes.”
The former mistress of the house was standing over the kitchen fire watching a pot of water, muttering to Eleanor’s maidservant about her mistress’s cursed insistence on boiling everything. She glanced up when Kate stepped into the kitchen, and began to apologize.
The steam in there was enough to make anyone testy. Kate held up a hand in peace. “I do not disagree. I never knew my mother to require boiled water. Some odd advice taken to heart?” A cure for some pain? A fear of poison? “Heaven knows. Agnes, might we have a word? Rose, would you watch the water?”
The maidservant gave a reluctant shrug.
Agnes wiped her brow and neck with her apron, tucking damp strands of her hair back into her plain white cap. Kate led her round to the back of the kitchen, an area of deep shade beneath the eaves and the plane tree, beside the tall hedge. She told her about the man coming for Nan.
“Dying? Poor Nan! Her heart will be breaking. She bragged that they were to marry and he promised her a house, pretty clothes, a cow, and a hen. I told her that a man will promise anything to get up a woman’s skirts. But she would not hear me, she so wanted to believe him.” Agnes muttered an apology as she drew off her veil and shook out her long braid. “God help us, there is so little breeze.” Strands of wet hair now clung to her damp face.
As she could do nothing about the woman’s discomfort, Kate ignored her complaints. “Do you know a man by the name of Bran?”
“Bran?” Agnes cocked her head. “I’ve heard it, but where? It will come to me.”
“Do you have any idea where Robin might be?”
Agnes shook her head. “I never knew where he lived.”
Nor had Nan. “What might Nan have seen in this house that was worth stealing? Some valuables she mentioned to Robin?”
“Nothing. There is nothing but the house itself. The sisters live so simply. The offerings on the altar are of no value but to them. I’ve no idea what Dame Eleanor has in her chests, but Nan had no reason to know either. Truly. The sisters have so lit–” Her voice trailed off as a man’s voice rose in anger out in the garden.
Thomas Holme. And now Dame Eleanor’s voice rose in injured retort. Kate caught Agnes’s arm and stopped her from stepping out to look.
10
Tensions
“They walked off together,” Thomas was saying. “Have you no control over your servants?”
“Griffin is not a servant,” Eleanor snapped, “and Werner is now your responsibility. No doubt they have gone off to pray for the soul of their friend Hans. As should we all.” A sniff.
“My gardener waited for him all afternoon, then did the heavy lifting himself and injured his back. He and Werner were set to finish clearing away the old stone shed down by the water.”
“That old man should know better.”
“I should have known better than to hire your servants.”
“Werner will return and complete the work, I assure you. He is trustworthy.”
“Is he? I would not know. And what about Hans’s funeral? Have you made arrangements?”
“I assure you it is all in hand. Magistra Matilda’s sisters have prepared his body for burial, and he will be buried at our parish church. Your parish church.”
Thomas cleared his throat and spoke too softly for Kate to hear.
“Why are you so aggrieved?” said Eleanor. “It was Werner’s friend who was murdered last night.”
“And I am afraid I’ve lost two servants in one day. What monster have you brought into our midst? Why are you in York?”
When her mother called him a bilious old fool, Kate decided it was time to interfere.
“Go back to your work,” she told Agnes as she moved out into the garden.
“I suppose I am a fool – for hiring your servants.” Thomas stood with his hands balled into fists at his side, his face purple with rage. Kate had never seen her business partner in such a state. Her mother had a talent for drawing out extreme emotions in the most tranquil of souls.