P. Chisholm - A Season of Knives

‘Was that all he wanted from you?’

‘Er…no, sir.’

‘Well?’

‘He wanted me to say you’d ordered it and forced me to do it, sir.’

Carey nodded. He didn’t look surprised. Evidently he had thought along the same lines as Dodd.

‘I din’t admit that either, sir.’

‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Carey’s voice was dry.

‘What do you want me to do, sir?’

‘Where were you last night?’

There was an apologetic cough. ‘Well, you wasn’t ‘ere sir, so…’

‘You were at Madame Hetherington’s?’

‘Er…yessir.’

‘All night?’

‘After I’d been in Bessie’s for a bit, I was there till this morning when the Castle gate opened and I come in. So I’d be here to serve you when you finished your patrol,’ he added virtuously.

‘Would Madame Hetherington testify that you were with her?’

‘I dunno, sir. She might.’ And then, complacently, ‘Maria will, though.’

‘Unfortunately a notorious French whore is not the best of alibi witnesses.’

‘Well, if I’d known I’d need one, I’d’ve got a better one, wouldn’t I, sir?’

Carey treated that impudence with a measured pause that said he was making allowances, but would not make them indefinitely.

‘Did anybody else see you at Madame Hetherington’s?’

‘I don’t think so, sir, that’d speak for me…Oh, bloody hell, it’s started again.’

‘Try pinching the bridge of your nose, see if that stops it.’

‘I can’t, sir. It’s broken.’

Carey was silent for a moment. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t get you out yet, Barnabus,’ he said. ‘I haven’t the authority. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea anyway.’

‘I know that, sir. Lowther’s on the up and up, in’e?’

‘For the moment.’

‘You’ll be able to sort it, though, won’t you, sir? I mean, the juries round here won’t be any more expensive than London ones, will they?’

Eh? thought Dodd. Carey had winced.

‘Barnabus,’ he asked gently. ‘You didn’t do it, did you?’

Barnabus’s voice was an outraged adenoidal whine. ‘Sir! You know me better’n that!’

‘I seem to recall a fight at the Cock tavern…’

‘That was different. I never done nuffing like this, sir, never, not that I haven’t ‘ad offers, mind, I just never would. ‘S stupid. There’s better ways of doing it than slittin’ ‘is throat in an alley. Besides, it’s wrong.’

‘Quite.’

‘So what do you want me to do, sir?’

‘Keep your mouth shut. That’s all. Are you cold?’

‘Yes, sir, freezing. I bin in Clink afore now, of course, but this ain’t what I’m used to and Lowther’s bastards took me jerkin and doublet off lookin’ to see if I had a bloody knife, which they didn’t find, I might add.’

‘I’ll get my sister to bring you some clothes and food.’

‘Yes sir,’ said Barnabus gloomily.

Dodd trailed after him as Carey marched from the dungeon, rounded the side of the Keep and was pounced on by his sister. She had her cap on crooked, her ruff under one ear, and her damask apron sideways, with a bundle of Barnabus’s clothes under her arm. She took one look at her brother and said, ‘You’ve heard then, Robin.’

‘I have. How did you stop Lowther searching my office?’

Her heart-shaped face became very forbidding. ‘Simon threw the key for your office in the fire and said you had it with you. I got there just after and when he wouldn’t go I drew my dagger on him and told him I’d stick him if he moved a step nearer, and he believed me.’

Carey embraced her, but she pushed him off.

‘What are you going to do about it, Robin?’ she said. ‘Lowther’s out for your blood. He’s telling everyone that Barnabus did it and he’s half got Scrope believing you ordered him to.’

‘How? I wasn’t even here.’

‘Well, that hardly matters, does it? Anyway, Lowther found one of Barnabus’s knives and a glove of yours by the corpse.’

‘ What ?’

‘Don’t shout, Robin, and don’t grab me like that, you’re all wet and muddy.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘Don’t swear. It doesn’t help. And I would get out of the Castle, if I were you. My lord might even have signed a warrant for your arrest by now.’

Carey was staring at her as if unable to believe what he was hearing.

‘How do you know all this?’

Philadelphia lowered her eyes demurely. ‘Lowther has a very carrying voice,’ she said.

Carey smiled faintly at her tone. Then he shook his head.

‘Well, my sweet, if he does issue a warrant for me, block it any way you can.’

Philly scowled ferociously. ‘I’ll steal it if I have to, silly man. Where are you going?’

Carey chucked her under the chin. ‘If I don’t tell you, then you can tell the truth to your husband if he asks.’

‘I wish you’d take your jack off; it’s sodden.’

‘I haven’t got time.’

‘And you haven’t even got a hat…’

Dodd gave Carey the morion he’d been carrying, which Carey put on.

‘Better?’

Philly’s brow wrinkled. ‘No, you look tired.’

‘At least if I have to ride for the Debateable Land, I’ll be properly dressed,’ Carey said with a crooked smile.

Philly swallowed very hard. ‘Do you really think it’ll be all right? I mean, the Queen’s an awfully long way away.’

‘Yes. God looks after me always, remember?’

Philly snorted. ‘Hmf. He didn’t look after Jemmy Atkinson very well, did he?’

‘Philly, you’re being heretical. Anyway, Jemmy Atkinson was a bad corrupt man and I’m not.’ He kissed her bunched up forehead and tried unsuccessfully to straighten her cap which had been pinned on crooked. She batted him off and marched away across the courtyard.

Dodd kept on at Carey’s heels as he lengthened his stride to pass through the Castle gate and down the covered way, his hands clasped behind his back and his head thrust forward.

‘Where are we going, sir?’

‘Hm? You still there, Sergeant?’

‘Ay, sir.’

‘It might be better for you if you got back to the Castle.’

Dodd considered this. ‘Nay, sir,’ he said. ‘If Lowther’s gonnae foul a bill against me, I’d rather it was in my absence.’

‘Why should he?’

Dodd was surprised to hear Carey being so naive. ‘He reckons I’m one o’ yourn now.’

‘Ah. Of course.’

‘Any road, I’ve always had a fancy to live in the Debateable Land.’

‘Have you? I haven’t.’

‘Oh, it’s no’ sae bad, sir. Skinabake Armstrong, that’s my brother-in-law, Janet’s half-brother…’

‘You’re related to Skinabake Armstrong?’

‘Oh ay, sir. Or Janet is.’

‘Why didn’t you say?’

‘Och, sir. If I told ye all the reivers I’m related to through Janet, we’d be all day about it. Besides, what difference does it make?’

‘Was that why you wouldn’t let me fight Wattie Graham at the ford?’

‘Ay, of course. I know Skinabake. He’d ha’ put a lance in yer back the minute ye was busy with Wattie. I know him, he’s no’ a very nice man. That’s why he likes it in the Debateable Land. He says he’d never live anywhere else, even if he wasnae at the horn in both countries.’

‘Lowther might not include you in his feud.’

‘Only if I turned Queen’s evidence and swore ye ordered Barnabus to dae it, sir.’

‘Ah. Well, let’s see what we can do to prove I didn’t order it and Barnabus didn’t do it.’

‘Ye didnae, did ye, sir?’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Well, he wasnae what ye could call a good armoury clerk and Scrope wouldnae let ye sack him, if ye see…’