A Twisted Vengeance

Hands clasped behind his back, Dean Richard was pacing the length of the hall when Kate opened the door, not bothering to knock.

“We need to talk, Uncle.”

He paused. “You have made your decision?”

She waved that away. “I understand you and Mother’s Welsh retainer have had several meetings. One last night in the minster. Late last night. What is your business with him?”

He brushed dust off the sleeve of his dark robe. “Ah. Griffin. Yes.” Head down, he took a few more steps, nodding to himself.

Fashioning a good lie?

“He seems determined to extract from me a promise to protect Dame Eleanor. I have explained that I have no armed retainers to offer her, and I leave the city in a few days, but still he persists.”

“She is your brother’s widow.”

“More recently Ulrich Smit’s widow.”

“Is that it? Is the enmity between you and Mother about her remarrying before my father was cold in his grave?”

A hesitation, his eyes sad, and then he gave a little shrug. “Perhaps a little. I do not think David was much mourned by Eleanor.”

Kate would be a hypocrite to defend her mother when she, too, resented her hasty marriage. She returned to the matter at hand. “Does Griffin always come alone? Werner is never with him?”

“Who is Werner?” The dean’s voice caught slightly. Lying? Worried?

“One of Ulrich’s servants. She chose two menservants and Griffin to escort her here with the sisters.”

“Werner and Hans.” The dean nodded. “I see.”

Kate watched how her uncle avoided her eyes. “What do you know?”

“What could I possibly know? Katherine, look to the children and depend on the strong alliances you’ve made in the city. Move to the house I’ve deeded you. A large house, large enough for your household …”

“And far from Dame Eleanor.”

“And near Phillip. He misses you. Perhaps I speak out of my own guilt in abandoning the lad. He has found comfort in Helen’s kitchen, and I’ve enjoyed evenings with him over a chessboard. He has a subtle mind and a quick wit. If he ever wearies of working with stone, I would not hesitate to sponsor him for the Church.”

She could not imagine Phillip setting aside his hammer and chisels for the Church. “Tell me about your meeting with Griffin in the minster last night. You argued.”

She smiled at his confusion, the high, noble brow furrowing. “We were observed?”

“You were. It seemed an argument, Griffin standing over you as you knelt. What did he want?”

“His message does not vary.”

“So he came to you late at night, seeking you out in the minster – how did he know you would be there?”

“I wondered that as well.” A flicker of something, so quick that Kate had only a vague impression. “Perhaps he is not what he seems? But his message is always about Dame Eleanor.” There was a hesitance in his answer, as if he warred with himself.

“Come dine with us tomorrow, Uncle. Berend would enjoy the challenge of impressing Helen.”

The dean bowed his head. “If all is ready for the journey, I would enjoy that. We can discuss my offer in more depth. I will send word to you in the morning, in good time.”

They embraced, kissed each other’s cheeks, and parted.

“So?” Jennet asked as they turned up High Petergate.

“His story is that Griffin wants his word that he will protect Mother. He will not accept a no, no matter how many times my uncle says it.”

“Dame Eleanor has set him to that? That might be what has so irritated the dean.”

“That is just the thing. I do not believe she sent Griffin. Nor did Uncle suggest that.”

“Would Griffin take it upon himself?”

“God help us. Instead of answers we find more to question.” Kate did not choose to tell Jennet about the deed tucked in the slit in the lining of her sleeveless overdress.

The prior’s apartments were more simply furnished than Abbot Thomas’s, yet the prior himself commanded respect with his aquiline nose, arched brows, and low, resonant voice. His smile was welcoming as he invited Kate to sit. Jennet had chosen to stay out in the yard, listening, watching.

“I am grieved to tell you that the man you seek was injured beyond our ability to save him. He had been stabbed many times and badly beaten,” said Prior Norbert. “He died last night, with his friends round his bed.”

“His friends?”

“Bran and Carter, two ne’er-do-wells, I must say, yet they were loyal to the end,” said the prior. “Robin asked for a woman. Ann? But his friends said she had disappeared. He also asked for his brother Fitch but was told the man had been forbidden to come. By his master.”

“Fitch? Lionel Neville’s manservant?” Kate wondered aloud.

“Oh?” the prior brightened. “Is Neville Fitch’s master? I did not know.”

Kate had had no idea that Lionel’s manservant was Robin’s brother. “Had he any other visitors? Anyone else asking after him? A woman, perhaps?”

“No, no woman, and no one else that I know of, though his friends were keen to discover who brought him to us.” At Kate’s questioning look, he shook his head. “By the time someone answered the bell, there was only poor Robin. Shall I send for Friar William, the infirmarian? He might tell you more.”

Kate declined the offer. Lionel Neville’s manservant Fitch was Robin’s brother. That was an unpleasant twist. Before she departed she mentioned Friar Adam’s visit to her mother’s Martha House and asked Prior Norbert to inform Adam that Dame Eleanor had made other arrangements for a confessor. She would not require his services.

A pained smile. “His companion Friar Walter knows better than to encourage such visits. Rest easy, Dame Katherine. You need not fear his return. Adam does not have permission to offer such services. He is old, infirm, and, God forgive me, but he is much confused of late, believing that he has been given a mandate to purge the world of all sin.”

“But I understood that he is confessor to Isabella Frost.”

“Ah. She visits him often, it is true, but I had not known that he fashioned himself her confessor. I will speak with him, and with Dame Isabella.” He bowed to Kate, thanking her for the warning.

“About Friar Adam’s confusion. Would he go so far as to tell Robin and his friends to steal something from the beguines Dame Eleanor brought to York in order to hold it up as a pagan idol – to defame them?”