Kate Sedley - The Midsummer Rose

‘No,’ I answered bluntly. There was no point in beating about the bush. ‘I’m the man you’ve twice tried to murder; firstly in the house at Rownham Passage when you thought I was the Irish sea captain, and secondly when you broke into my house two weeks ago. And don’t try to tell me it wasn’t you. You left a shoe behind — a shoe I now know was lent to you by Robin Avenel.’

He had stopped smiling and was looking grim. He had at last found the dagger, and I saw his fingers close around the hilt. I moved swiftly to hold the point of my own knife at his throat, although somewhat hampered, I have to admit, by the candlestick in my other hand. Reluctantly, he released the dagger.

‘Proceed,’ he said. ‘What do you want? Or is that a stupid question? I’m sure there’s a price on my head.’

‘Not that I know of. In any case, I don’t deal in blood money,’ I assured him, but without lowering my knife. ‘ Why did you try to murder me a second time? And how did you know where I lived?’

He blinked rapidly. ‘The answer to both questions is Mistress Alefounder. She asked me to do it and she told me where to find your house. She’s afraid of you. She said you can’t keep your nose out of other people’s business and were better disposed of. Sooner or later, she thought, you’d puzzle out what was happening. It seems she was right.’

He was smiling again, so I took a chance and removed my knife from his throat. He made no move to attack me.

‘I’m not the only one who’s been looking for you,’ I said. My anger with Timothy Plummer had still not abated. ‘There’s a government spy in the city, desperate to discover your whereabouts and take you hostage for our king. A bargaining counter to use against your brother, King James. There’s also the apothecary, Silas Witherspoon, who owns the house at Rownham Passage and is one of Henry Tudor’s agents. I have reason to believe that he has also joined in the search. Now, the motives of both these men bode ill for your future good. I, on the other hand, just want to prove the innocence of a friend of mine who’s been arrested for murdering Robin Avenel.’ With a jerk of my arm, I brought up my knife again and pricked the skin of his throat. A bead of blood appeared on his neck. ‘So, what can Your High and Noble Mightiness tell me about that?’

‘I? N-Nothing,’ he stammered. But his eyes shifted sideways and downwards to try to locate his dagger.

I pressed the knife further into his thin flesh and a second gout of blood joined the first.

‘By my reckoning, Master Avenel was killed right outside this door. If you didn’t kill him, you must know who did. I just want to know the name of the murderer, that’s all. Then as far as I’m concerned, you’re free to go to Brittany or France or wherever you wish. I shan’t try to stop you, I promise.’

The sweat was standing out on his forehead in great drops.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I really don’t know, I swear by Christ and all His saints.’ He made to push aside the point of my knife, but I held it steady. ‘Look,’ he said desperately, ‘in return for your help, I’ll tell you all I do know.’

‘And what help can you possibly need from me?’ I sneered.

‘I need to get away. To escape. I need a ship to carry me to France as soon as possible.’

I frowned, sensing a trap. ‘Isn’t that what you’re doing? What Mistress Alefounder is doing for you? Trying to arrange your passage to Brittany?’

The duke sat down again on the bed, emitting a little moan and burying his etiolated face in his long, thin hands.

‘I don’t want to go to Brittany,’ he said in defiant, but muffled tones. Then he raised his head, a desperate expression in the sapphire-blue eyes, and proceeded to explain.

‘When Sir Thomas St John — he’s a disaffected Lancastrian supporter of Henry Tudor — came to me at Stirling and made his proposal, I have to admit that I was excited by it. I promised I’d consider the scheme. However, before I’d had time to think about it carefully, word reached me that my younger brother, Mar, was dead, probably murdered, and I was advised to get out of Scotland before I suffered a similar fate. Sir Thomas’s offer at once took on the appearance of divine intervention. It also meant I would have protection on my journey and that my passage abroad would be arranged without any extraordinary exertion on my part. So, Sir Thomas escorted me south to this house near Bristol, where we slept the night. The next day he left me in the care of Mistress Alefounder, who would see me safely aboard the Irish ship which was to carry me to Brest, and there I should be met and cared for by others of the conspirators.’ He shrugged. ‘But it all went awry, as you know only too well. Instead of being transported to Brittany, I’ve been mewed up here for over three weeks.’

‘And you’ve had time to think,’ I suggested.

The duke laughed grimly and said something in broad Scots which I didn’t understand, then reverted to English.

‘I’ve done little else but think in between Mistress Alefounder or that pretty friend of hers bringing me my meals. I shall go mad if I have to stay walled up here much longer. And after Master Avenel’s murder, his sister’s been as jumpy as a cat on cinders — and with good reason, I suspect. Especially now you tell me that there is not only an agent of Henry Tudor living in the town, but also one of King Edward’s spies.’

‘Not “one of”,’ I corrected him. ‘The best.’

Albany cursed fluently, again in broad Scots. It sounded splendid. I wished I knew what he was saying.

He continued. ‘As I said, I’ve had time to think these past weeks and it’s brought me to my senses. I realized I’ve been deluding myself that I could ever usurp Henry Tudor’s place as the Lancastrian pretender to the English crown. Within days, hours even, of landing in Brittany, I’d be as dead as yesterday’s meat. But more than that, the whole mad scheme has as much substance as a puff of air. Henry Tudor is never going to be King of England. I’m never going to be King of England. King Edward’s hale and hearty according to all the reports I’ve ever had of him, and he’s the father of two male heirs.’ Albany gave a smile of great cunning. ‘Besides, I’d much rather be king of Scotland, and if I play my cards aright — well, who knows? Stranger things have happened. So you see — ’ he paused and spread out his hands — ‘what I need is an accomplice who might be able to help me escape to France.’

I considered him for a moment or two, still holding him at bay with my knife. Was he genuine, or was this a ploy to put me off my guard? I had to make up my mind.

‘And in return for my assistance, you agree to tell me what you know of Robin Avenel’s death?’ I asked.

‘Everything. Although in fairness I should warn you, it isn’t as much as you would wish.’

I hesitated before slowly lowering the point of my knife.

‘I’ll have to take that chance,’ I said.

Isat down beside him on the bed, but at a distance. I still wasn’t wholly convinced that I could trust him. He was a dark, swarthy creature of about my own age, but there was a shifty look in his eyes that somehow called his probity into question. It was an expression I had seen in the past in the eyes of George, Duke of Clarence, another dissatisfied younger brother.

‘Very well,’ I said. ‘Tell me what you can.’

Before replying, however, he got up and walked over to the open section of wall, which, with an effort, he pushed shut. Catching sight of my face, he laughed.

‘You’re quite safe. It can be opened from this side, too.’ He resumed his seat on the bed, slewing a little to his right, so that we were almost face to face. ‘It’s a marvellous piece of machinery, don’t you agree? The Jews are a very clever people. Which is why we are so afraid of them, I suppose. Now, before I tell you anything, you tell me how you will get me across the Narrow Sea to France. I need to be gone as soon as possible. Tomorrow. Tonight if it can be arranged.’