Pat McIntosh - The Counterfeit Madam

‘I went to see,’ began Sempill, and stopped as the thought quite visibly reached him that Gil must have spoken to the Livingstone household. ‘Nothing to do wi you,’ he finished.

‘Well,’ said Gil, ‘you said you went to see Dame Isabella, you didny see her that morning, and now she’s dead. What’s more,’ he persisted as Sempill opened his mouth, ‘I ken fine you had words wi her the night before through her window, and she threatened you. So where did you go yesterday? Did you set out to find someone who’d nail her for you?’

‘If you ken so much,’ said Sempill, ‘you can find out for — no, I never did!’

‘You’d not rather tell me your version first?’ Gil suggested.

‘It’s none o your business. What’s it to do wi the matter, any road?’

‘So it was you that hired someone to kill her, then?’

‘I never said any such thing!’

‘And what was it she threatened to tell your wife? What have you been at, John?’

‘I’ve done naught against the law!’ Sempill said, bristling. ‘Just because I disobliged the old witch, she was threatening to tattle to — any road, it’s naught to do wi her death, I tell you!’

‘So where were you, if it’s that harmless?’

‘Nowhere you need to ken.’

‘The bawdy-house?’

‘No! I’ve no need to frequent sic places now,’ said Sempill, making a recovery, ‘no like some of us.’

‘And Lady Magdalen kens all about Euphemia, does she?’ Two could play that game.

‘Aye, she does!’

‘Well, was it the other toft, the next one?’ Gil persisted, unconvinced.

‘What would I go there for?’

‘And what about these two properties in Strathblane? What are they like, anyway?’

‘As to that,’ said Sempill disobligingly, ‘you can ask at Eck Livingstone, seeing he made claim to them both. Likely he kens the tenants’ birthdays and all.’

‘I’ll do that,’ said Gil. ‘And I’ll be back, when I’ve other questions. You’ve been a great help, John.’ He got to his feet, enjoying the faint look of alarm on Sempill’s face. ‘Oh, one other thing. You mind those two gallowglasses you had working for you? Neil and Euan Campbell, I think their names were. Have you seen aught of them lately?’

‘Them?’ Sempill studied the question with suspicion.

‘Them. It was Euan brought me the boy’s keep at the quarter-day, so I ken you’ve seen him at least this year.’

‘Aye, so he did. No, I haveny seen them since then. They’re not working for me, any road, just I saw Euan and I kent he would find you. He was glad enough for a bit extra work.’

‘What were they doing when you saw Euan? Who are they working for, if it’s not yoursel?’

Sempill shrugged.

‘I didny ask,’ he said.

‘You’d no need to,’ said his cousin Philip, coming into the hall from the screens passage. ‘They were under your hand, coming and going for Dame Isabella.’

‘Oh, so they were,’ said Sempill, glaring at him. ‘But mostly they were going, which is why I’d forgot.’

‘For Dame Isabella?’ Gil repeated in surprise. So were those the Campbells that her men were to ask after, he wondered. And yet Attie did not seem to know them. ‘Going where?’

‘No idea,’ said Sempill. ‘And now if you’re about done, Gil Cunningham, I’ll see you out of my cousin’s house.’

‘No need to trouble,’ said Philip, ‘I’ll do that.’ He waited politely for Gil to step out of the front door and followed him down the fore-stair. Pausing at its foot he said conventionally, ‘A bad business this.’

‘Very,’ said Gil.

‘You won’t have had a chance to look at the land in Strathblane? The one that might go to your sister?’ Gil looked at him, startled, and Philip caught himself up and went on, ‘No, that’s daft, it’ll never happen now. Unless the old lady made a will, I suppose.’

‘Not the portion out by Carluke?’

‘There’s no argument about Isabella’s right to that,’ Philip said, ‘no other interest in it, and it’s been in her family for years, or so she said. Whereas the other patch, well …’

‘You think an inspection would be worthwhile. Why?’

‘I just wondered about it. It seems to be gey profitable, it’s remarkable that the old dame would let it out her hands.’

Their eyes met. Then Philip glanced away, up at the sky, and shook himself.

‘No point standing out here in the drizzle,’ he said. ‘Will you be at the quest? It’s called for the morn after Terce.’

‘I suspect he is right,’ said Alys, her eyes on Jennet and Nancy who were were folding the cloth from the long board. ‘How far is it? Can you be back in a day?’

‘No more than twelve miles,’ Gil answered, ‘and sixteen hours of daylight. I should think so, unless I find something untoward out there.’ He dipped his hands in the basin placed ready near the door, and reached for the towel. ‘I could go tomorrow, rather than hear the quest on Dame Isabella, but there are still questions I need to ask in Glasgow. The morning’s lasted longer than I intended.’

‘I’ll be at the quest, never fear,’ announced Ealasaidh from the hearth, where she was watching small John playing with his wooden horse. ‘I can bring you word of what’s said, and maybe I can be translating for Forveleth nic Muirteach, too, if need be. Will you be going to hear it, lassie?’ she asked Alys.

‘I will.’ Alys stepped back as another maidservant emerged from the kitchen stair with a laden tray. ‘Set it yonder on the small table, Annis. He can serve himself.’ She lifted the small salt down from the cupboard, checked to see how full it was, and gestured at the stool drawn up to the table. ‘Come and eat, Gil. The Provost will not reveal all he knows, I suspect, though the Serjeant might. Did you speak to the woman Annot?’

‘I did,’ he said, seating himself obediently, ‘before I left Livingstone’s house. She described the missing purse for me, blue velvet with gold braid and a tassel. I asked her how she kent it was silver in it, if she wasny allowed to touch it, and she admitted to having looked one time.’

‘Did she count it?’

‘Near twenty-eight merks, all in threepenny pieces.’

‘That was a good look,’ said Ealasaidh darkly. Alys threw her a quick smile, but said,

‘More of the false coin, do you think?’

‘I’d be surprised if it wasn’t, at this rate,’ Gil agreed. ‘What puzzles me is, where was she getting it? Sweetheart, this is more than I deserve, after missing dinner.’

‘Is it enough?’ She came to put her hand on his shoulder. He bent his head to rub his cheek against her fingers, and saw a flicker of something bitter cross Ealasaidh’s face; then Alys spoke again, and it was gone. ‘What are the questions you need to ask? Can I help?’

‘You can,’ he admitted. ‘I think you might get more from Annot than I have been able to learn, maybe even from the other woman if the Serjeant would let you near her. I’ve still questions for Otterburn and the men who searched Clerk’s Land last night, and I want to go back there myself.’

She looked down at him in alarm.

‘Take my father, or at least take a couple of Otterburn’s men,’ she said.

‘Take me where?’ asked Maistre Pierre, stepping into the hall from the courtyard. ‘We have a loose tile above the drawing-loft, Alys. Ah, Gilbert, what progress do you make? What did you learn of this woman who is taken up for it?’

‘She never did it,’ said Ealasaidh firmly. ‘I am as certain as I am of my life. My brother bade me tell you the same, before he left for Dumbarton. He is still talking of deceit and falsehood and a false face. And she spoke the truth,’ she added, ‘when she said she had no knowledge of the sack of money.’