Kate Sedley - The Three Kings of Cologne

‘Nothing,’ I agreed glumly. I swallowed another spoonful of broth and went on, ‘I’m going to tell Mayor Foster, when I see him after dinner, that there is no more I can do to find Isabella Linkinhorne’s murderer. One of her three former swains is probably lying, but there is no way I can prove which one after all this time.’

My wife sighed, but went straight to the heart of the matter. ‘In that case, we must try to repay Mayor Foster the money he gave you. It would be only right.’

‘I know.’ I continued spooning broth into my mouth, but it suddenly tasted like river water. ‘It’s all my fault,’ I apologized. ‘I should never have agreed to take it in the first place, then I would have carried on working as I usually do, whilst trying to find an answer to the mystery.’

Adela nodded. ‘Much of it’s gone, I’m afraid. But we have a few savings put by. We’ll use that to reimburse him. We’ll manage somehow.’

Her brave words, uttered without any reproach to me, suddenly engulfed me in a wave of guilt. I got up from my stool, went round the table, pulled her to her feet and enveloped her in a heartfelt embrace.

‘You’re a wife in a thousand,’ I muttered thickly, and kissed her again, to the great delight of Adam, who thumped on the tabletop with his little fists and shouted, ‘Kiss, kiss!’ at the top of his voice. Nicholas and Elizabeth dissolved into fits of laughter as they mimicked him.

‘Kiss, kiss! Kiss, kiss!’

When she was finally able to speak, Adela, straightening her cap and smoothing down her skirts, demanded to know what she had done to deserve this unexpected bussing.

‘I … I just wanted you to know that … that …’ My voice petered out lamely.

‘That you love me?’ my wife suggested dryly.

It was my turn to nod, feeling suddenly foolish. Adela smiled understandingly and advised me to finish my broth before it got cold. But I also thought that there was a certain suspicion in her glance, then decided it was only my guilty conscience firing my imagination.

I resumed my seat, saying hopefully, ‘Mayor Foster may well refuse to accept the money.’

‘You must make him take it,’ Adela insisted. ‘Either that, or you must continue with your efforts to discover Isabella Linkinhorne’s murderer.’

I laid down the spoon I had just picked up, shaking my head miserably.

‘It goes against the grain to admit defeat,’ I muttered, ‘but I can’t see any possibility of sorting truth from lies in this instance. It’s all too long ago.’

‘The affair, last year, at Bellknapp Manor, was in the past, yet you found the answer to that.’

‘It was only six years in the past, and there was the more recent murder to help me. This is two decades gone.’

‘Have you prayed to the Virgin and Saints to help you?’

‘I’ve prayed to every Saint in Heaven,’ I retorted snappishly, ‘but so far, I’ve received no help to speak of.’

This wasn’t, of course, quite true. My inspiration about the three sets of identical initials had surely been God-given, as had been my discovery, seemingly by chance, of the link between Robert Moresby and Ralph Mynott. But now, these hints and nudges appeared to have dried up and I was on my own. Floundering.

Adela said gently, ‘Before you present yourself at Mayor Foster’s house, you could visit Saint Giles’s or Saint Werburgh’s or even All Saints’ Church and ask again for assistance.’

I took her advice and went to beg Saint Giles for guidance. My customary (and secret) heretical practice was to ignore the Saints and go straight to God, demanding His help as the price of doing His work of righting wrongs or bringing the guilty to justice. But today, with my own burden of guilt weighing me down, plus the nagging suspicion that God was perhaps not best pleased with me, I felt that intercession on my behalf was a necessity.

The church was quiet and almost empty at that hour of the morning. Kneeling on the rush-strewn floor, in the shelter of a pillar, I recalled the story that no less a personage than the great Charlemagne himself had, on one occasion, sent for Giles to hear his confession, but had told the saint that one of the sins on his conscience was too shameful for him to admit to. Giles, however, had later learned in a vision what the king’s sin was — although alas, for the curiosity of the rest of us, he never revealed it — and, from henceforth, took Charlemagne under his especial protection. Well, I thought, if Giles could condone a sin of such proportions, perhaps my solitary infidelity may not appear so terrible in his eyes and he might be able to persuade God to overlook it, just this once. (But there was the rub. Would it be for just that once? I had to convince both the Saint and myself that it was.)

So it was in a sober and chastened frame of mind that I continued walking up Small Street until I reached Mayor Foster’s house, and was admitted to the hall by the little maid who had brought the message. To my utter astonishment, I discovered that another visitor was there before me. Richard Manifold.

‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded rudely.

‘I’ve been sent for. Why are you here?’

‘I’ve also been sent for. The message was delivered to Adela while I was with you, earlier this morning.’

He grunted. ‘My summons arrived just after you’d left.’ We eyed one another uneasily. ‘Why do you think Mayor Foster wants to see us both?’

I had no more idea than he had, but one thing was clear: I could postpone my declaration of failure until another occasion. Similarly, my offer to repay John Foster the money he had given me could also be delayed.

Our host did not keep us waiting long, but came downstairs in full mayoral robes and insignia a minute or so after my arrival. He was plainly on his way to a meeting of the Council, so, I guessed, would not wish to keep us long. Whatever he had to say to Richard and myself would be brief. We bowed and waited for him to speak.

Horses and I have never got on.

To me, they are creatures with a leg at each corner and wild, staring eyes that mean nothing but mischief. Probably they sense my nervousness and despise me for it. Certainly the one I was riding, hired for me from the livery stables in Bell Lane, was not the docile animal I had been led to believe by the groom. It sidled and bucked unnervingly whenever it had the chance to do so, and made heavy going over every patch of rough ground.

My companion, who sat upon a horse with greater ease, and handled the beast with greater skill than I would have expected, laughed openly at my attempts to quieten my mount.

‘We should be at Hambrook Manor well before suppertime,’ Richard consoled me, ‘and home again before dark.’

‘I cannot see why I should have been asked to accompany you,’ I complained petulantly. ‘I’m not an officer of the law. Why not Jack Gload or Pete Littleman?’

Richard shrugged, turning his head to look at the city now far below us as we reached the open spaces of the downs.

‘You heard what Mayor Foster said. He and other members of the Council feel that Lady Claypole should be warned about her possession of this bed of hers — or at least made aware that it is no longer her secret. You know which bed it is. There need be no searching of the house should she choose to deny its existence. Indeed, she would be foolish to do so with you standing beside me.’

I felt angry. This woman had tried to kill me; or if that had not been her intention (and I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt) at least to give me a nasty fright. I had realized by now of course, that she had been afraid of my investigations leading me to her brother, Ralph Mynott — which suggested that she either knew something that could implicate him in Isabella’s murder or else that she was unsure of his innocence; most probably the latter. But what angered me was that she was not to be charged with trying to harm a respectable citizen going about his lawful business, but instead to be warned politely that, in future, any strange disappearances in the vicinity of Hambrook Manor would bring her under immediate suspicion. Had she been poor or without the protection of a title, I doubted if she would have been treated with such consideration.