C Sansom - Sovereign

‘You know we went out hawking today, while the bear-baiting was on. Me and Tamasin and a party of the law clerks.’

‘Ay.’

Tamasin shook her head. ‘What a carefree day it was. I cannot believe it now.’

‘We had good hunting, then went to a village when it started raining hard. We did not get back till nightfall. We went to the lodging house, but you were fast asleep and we didn’t want to wake you. We had something to eat here. Then we went-’

‘Jack.’ Tamasin looked at me and reddened.

‘He has to know the whole story, Tammy. One of the clerks has a key to a room in the monastery complex, an office with a fire. We went -’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘I can guess the rest. But what happened to scare you so?’

‘We left the room an hour ago. Tamasin should have been back at King’s Manor long before, she sleeps in the servants’ quarters. We wondered how she would get back in, for the doors are guarded and we thought the soldiers would make a jest of us. Then we saw a door with no one outside. By the kitchen on the Queen’s side. We went down the side of the manor to see if it was unlocked. That was where we saw them.’

‘Who?’

Barak looked around the refectory, then at Tamasin. It seemed he could hardly bring himself to speak. Then he said, ‘Remember that popinjay Thomas Culpeper, that was at the cockfighting yesterday with Dereham?’

‘Ay. You said he was one of the King’s bodyservants.’

‘Bodyservant. He’s that all right.’ Barak gave a bark of nervous laughter. ‘He was standing just inside the doorway. Taking his leave of the Queen.’

‘The Queen?’

‘Queen Catherine herself. I didn’t recognize her, but Tammy knows her well enough by sight.’

Tamasin nodded. ‘It was her, sir. And Lady Rochford standing beside her.’

I stared at them in horror. ‘Do you realize what you are saying?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Barak gave that hoarse croak of a laugh again. ‘I’m saying the Queen was showing the most notorious rake at court out of her privy chamber at past one in the morning.’

‘Jesu.’ I remembered that first morning at King’s Manor, Lady Rochford pestering Craike about doors and locks in case the Queen needed to escape a fire.

‘You haven’t heard the worst,’ Tamasin said heavily. ‘They saw us.’

‘What!’

‘Culpeper saw us first,’ Barak said. ‘He turned and looked at us and stood rooted to the spot. Then Lady Rochford leaned out and stared at us; Jesu did she look angry. And frightened. She pulled the Queen in – she gave a startled little cry – and slammed the door. Young Culpeper just stood there like a ninny, he’d no idea what to do. Then he doffed his cap and turned and walked away.’ He gave that strange harsh laugh again. ‘Doffed his cap.’

I reached and took a swig of ale, for my mouth had gone dry. I thought a moment, then turned to Tamasin. ‘How was the Queen dressed?’

She saw what I was aiming at. ‘Fully. In a yellow dress, one of her finest. Her face was made up and she wore a necklace and earrings.’

‘No evidence they’d been romping, then. In fact, if she was fully dressed, and her face painted, that’s evidence they hadn’t.’

Barak shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter. Culpeper had been in her rooms at one in the morning. That alone is enough to lose him his head.’

‘And the Queen hers. She’d not be the first. Lady Rochford too. Jesu, why would that woman risk her life by getting involved in this?’

‘Heaven knows, sir,’ Tamasin said wearily. ‘Perhaps it is as some say, she is half crazed.’

I frowned. ‘Are you sure Culpeper was leaving? Could he not have just called for some reason? He knocks and they answer the door?’

Barak shook his head impatiently. ‘If someone knocks at the kitchen door at one in the morning, are the Queen and her principal lady in waiting going to come down and answer?’

‘No, they’re not. It looks bad, I agree.’

‘There have been rumours among the ladies,’ Tamasin said. ‘That Master Culpeper and the Queen had some affection before she married the King. And that she and her secretary, Master Dereham, had a dalliance when the Queen was a girl. Dereham and Culpeper dislike each other. But no one suspected she would -’

‘She must be mad,’ Barak said, clenching his hands.

‘Jesu,’ I said. ‘If the Queen announces she is pregnant, the child may be Culpeper’s.’ I bit my lip, breathing hard. ‘That fits exactly what Oldroyd said. “No child of Henry and Catherine can ever be true heir. She knows.” He meant the Queen.’

‘Exactly,’ Barak said. ‘This could have been going on for months, what if somehow the northern conspirators got to hear of it? Jesu.’ He shook his head in amazement. ‘Has Culpeper been foolish enough to tup the old man’s ewe?’

I nodded slowly. ‘If there were an announcement the Queen was pregnant and this came out, imagine how it would weaken the King. Remember when we brought that box in – Lady Rochford and Dereham saw it. What you saw casts a new light on that fact.’

‘Perhaps that confession you saw was written by someone who saw them together, like us,’ Barak said.

‘No.’ I shook my head, frowning. ‘Blaybourne’s confession was years old. And the Titulus dates from 1484.’

‘You said there were other papers, that you never saw.’

I nodded slowly. ‘Yes. There were.’

‘Perhaps about the Queen and Culpeper.’

‘Sir,’ Tamasin ventured. ‘I do not understand what is this Titulus, nor this Blaybourne.’

I looked at her. I was so shocked by what they had told me that I had mentioned the contents of the casket without thinking. I had put her in even more danger than she was in already. All three of us were in danger now; we had to pool our resources. I took a deep breath.

‘Jack and I found a box with papers in it, which were stolen later. In the glazier Oldroyd’s house.’

‘I know. That was when Jennet and I were questioned.’

‘Someone killed him because he had it. And is now, I think, trying to kill me because I saw what was inside. Saw only a small part, though they will not know that.’ I told her about the attacks on me at King’s Manor and at the camp, about Blaybourne’s confession and the Titulus, adding that I had found another copy in Wrenne’s library. Her eyes widened.

‘Jesu,’ she said quietly. ‘What have you got into?’

‘The biggest pile of shit you ever saw,’ Barak answered starkly.

I looked round at a noise from the far end of the refectory. The soldiers had risen wearily to their feet and were making their way to the door, leaving us alone but for the servant. He had fallen asleep on his table, head pillowed in his arms. I turned back to Barak and Tamasin. The strained expressions on their faces made both look years older.

‘What do we do now?’ Barak asked. ‘Report this to Maleverer?’

‘Not just yet,’ I said. ‘There is only your word for this. They’ll deny it. You’ll just get into trouble, perhaps serious trouble, for nothing.’

Barak leaned forward. ‘But if there’s a connection between the Queen and Culpeper and the papers in that casket, Lady Rochford could be behind these attempts on your life. She will redouble her efforts now.’

‘No.’ Tamasin spoke quietly. ‘The Queen would never involve herself in murder. Of that I am sure. She is a kind, generous woman – no, girl. In some ways she is very innocent.’

‘She’s part of the vipers’ nest that is the court,’ Barak said.

‘But that’s just it, she isn’t. She’s a silly innocent girl, everyone says so. She’s at sea, she must be, or she wouldn’t be as foolish as she has been.’

‘But Lady Rochford looks capable of anything,’ Barak replied. ‘Look at her history.’