A Murdered Peace
- Автор: Робб Кэндис
- Серия: A Kate Clifford Mystery #3
- Год: 2018
- Язык: английский
- Год: Pegasus Books
- ISBN: 9781681779270
- Жанр: Исторические детективы
Электронная книга - «A Murdered Peace». Краткое содержание книги:
England still in tumult at the start of the fifteenth century, as Kate Clifford finds herself working to prove the innocence of her longtime confidante.
It is deep winter in York, 1400, the ground frozen, the short days dimmed with the smoke from countless fires, the sun, when it shines, low in the sky. It is rumored that the Epiphany Uprising, meant to relieve the realm of the Henry the usurper and return King Richard to the throne has, instead, spelled his doom. As long as Richard lives, he is a threat to Henry. So, too, the nobles behind the plot. The ringleaders have been caught, some slaughtered as they fled west by folk loyal to Henry, and the king's men now search the towns for survivors.
A perilous time, made worse for Kate Clifford by the disappearance of Berend, her cook and confidante, shortly after Christmas. Her niece saw his departure in a dream – he said he was honor bound to leave. Honor bound – to a former lord? One of the nobles who led the uprising? Is he alive? She is hardly consoled when Berend reappears, wounded, secretive, denying any connection to the uprising, but refusing to explain himself. When he is accused of brutally murdering a spice seller in the city, Kate discovers a chest of jewels in his possession. Some of the jewels belong to her old friend Lady Margery, wanted by the king for her husband’s part in the uprising. For the sake of their long friendship, and the love she and her wards bear for him, Kate wants to believe his innocence. So, too, does Sir Elric. And he has the powerful backing of the Earl of Westmoreland. All she need do is confide in him. If only she trusted her heart.
“What are you hoping to learn from Old Bess?” she asked as she topped up both of their cups.
“I find it best to listen without expectations.” He leaned closer. “I might not need her confidence if you can help me. Which brings me to why I will bide with her a while. On the orders of my lord the earl I am searching the city for Margery, Lady Kirkby.”
God help me. “Lady Kirkby is here?” Kate prayed her voice was steady.
Elric did not seem to notice anything amiss. “She is believed to have arrived in York in the past day or two.”
“Believed. You have not seen her?”
“No. I am to find her and hold her at Sheriff Hutton until King Henry’s men come to take her into custody.”
“Into custody?” Thinking of the woman hiding beneath the bed in the next room, Kate felt both dread and anger. If her wards should suffer because of Margery’s naïve husband …
“What are you thinking?” asked Elric.
She had been silent too long. He watched her so closely she had to remember to breathe. “I fear for my friend,” she said. “Of what does she stand accused?”
“So you have not seen her?”
“A year past.”
“The rebels you spoke of,” said Elric, “those involved in what some are calling the Epiphany Rising–”
“You cannot believe Margery had a part in that?”
“Not her, her husband. The king believes Sir Thomas was part of the plan.”
Reminding herself that she must seem to hear this for the first time, she whispered, “Was?” Kate felt as if someone was slowly tightening their fist round her heart as she listened to Elric’s account, how much he knew, Thomas’s leech, the rising suspicion about his loyalty to Richard, seemingly confirmed by the report of his earlier visit to Pontefract.
“From Windsor he’d gone to Cirencester and was seen in the company of the rebel earls,” said Elric. “I must tell you – he was executed by the mob. Lady Margery managed to escape. Apparently with her husband’s head.”
“His head? Margery witnessed his beheading? God help her.” Kate crossed herself. She did not need to pretend distress. She lifted her cup and drank.
Elric was not unsympathetic. “I am sorry to be the one bearing such news”
The brandywine helped steady her. “Why would Margery be there?”
“Her sister claims that Lady Margery was visiting her, and that Sir Thomas had arrived unexpectedly a few days before the earls of Kent and Salisbury. But the king believes the earls had meant to join Thomas in the town and ride off together.”
“God grant gentle Sir Thomas eternal rest,” she whispered. “I find this all– Elric, I cannot believe it of him. He sought peace, not bloodshed.”
Elric’s blue eyes were steady, neither expressing agreement nor disagreement. “So he claimed. It is not for me to judge him or his lady, merely to find her and hold her. As you have sheltered Lady Margery in the past, I wanted to warn you. Do not take her in.”
Too late for that. “Are the king’s men also in York?”
“Not yet. I hope to find Lady Margery before they arrive. It will be better for everyone. Especially for you, for you are known to have hosted her fund-raising dinners.”
“As a favor to my uncle, the dean of York Minster,” Kate clarified. “From the first I thought it a rash plot. Naïve.”
“I know. But the king and his sons were threatened …”
“What of Margery’s family?”
“All being questioned. Thomas’s head went missing right away, a boy seen racing away with it, Lady Margery in pursuit. Sir Thomas’s body was spirited away in the night. Her sister is suspect, though why she would risk her own family–” A shrug. “Someone close to Sir Thomas has at the very least interfered with the king’s justice – the bodies and heads were to be displayed as a warning.”
“Thomas beheaded,” Kate whispered, crossing herself, then reaching for her cup. The king begrudged her the body, including the head, for burial? Monstrous. “One body out of so many – what can it possibly matter?” she asked. “Her family is being held?”
“No, just watched. For now. But if she is not found …”
“What precisely do they want of her?”
“Besides answering for the theft of her husband’s body and head, they believe she might know the extent of the rebellion. More names. Additional plots.”
So the longer Margery hid, the more danger for her family. Kate did not like this. She did not like this at all. How she wished Carl had appeared after this conversation with Elric. Would she have turned Margery away?
“But if Sir Thomas was innocent of this?” she asked.
Elric held up his hands, palms out, quieting Kate’s protest. “I merely wish you to know the whole sad tale so that you might make wise decisions should any member of her family appear on your doorstep.” He reached for her hand. “I mean to keep you safe.”
Did he? Or did he want to feel whether her hand might reveal something, the cold sweat of guilt perhaps? Fortunately, Kate’s hand was warm. She let him take it. “Will they execute her as well?”
“Should I find her first, I promise you I will do my best to protect her at Sheriff Hutton Castle until someone with authority – and some modicum of calm – convinces me that she is safe in their hands. Meanwhile, I beg you to have a care. Trust no one as they jostle to gain King Henry’s favor. The slightest criticism might be reported.”
Such as her sense that they had traded one vicious despot for another. “I understand,” she said. God help her family.
Elric poured them both more brandywine. “There is more.”
There always was. Kate took a deep breath. “Tell me.”
“I know that Berend has been gone a while.” Kate flinched. Elric glanced down at her hand in his, then looked her in the eye. “I can understand why you would hope no one noticed.”
“Bess Merchet noticed?”
“If she has, she has said nothing to me. I heard it elsewhere. Not from my own men, mind you. It seems you have earned their loyalty.”
Bless Kevin. “So Berend is away. What of that?”
“You do know that he was once in the service of Baron Montagu?”
She withdrew her hand, though she was certain he had already sensed her surprise, her fear.
“I see you did not know. Katherine, I am sorry. I want only–”
“To protect me. Yes, you said. You mention his service because Montagu’s son, the Earl of Salisbury, was one of the rebels?”
Elric nodded. “In his will, Salisbury’s father left Berend a modest property. A house and land to the east of York. The property was deeded to Berend ten years ago, on Montagu’s death.”
“His son and heir, Salisbury, is he – was he not King Richard’s champion?” Kate asked.
Elric nodded.
Kate crossed herself. No wonder he was curious about Berend’s absence.
Salisbury had been in Ireland with Richard when word came that Henry of Lancaster had landed in Yorkshire. King Richard had sent Salisbury back to England to secure Chester for him. When Richard was captured, Salisbury stayed by his side in Chester Castle. She remembered Kevin sitting in the kitchen telling them about it. He had just heard it from someone in the city.
And Berend, who had been kneading bread as he listened, said, An honorable man, Salisbury, to stay with his lord. Was that where Berend was? Was that the meaning of Petra’s dream, that Berend had felt honor bound to obey the summons of his lord’s son? Why?
“Richard’s champion, and part of the uprising, butchered in Cirencester. I am sorry to be the one to tell you,” said Elric.