Heartstone (20 page)

Bess rose. ‘I can meet the costs, sir.'

Paulet gave her a long, hard look. He would guess the money would come from the Queen. I hoped Warner would be able to cobble together a plausible payment from the Queen's treasury. The Master turned and held my eyes for a long moment. ‘This had best not be a mare's nest, Serjeant Shardlake,' he said very quietly, ‘or you will be in bad odour with this court.' He turned to Mylling again. ‘Draw the order.'

The clerk nodded, took a blank piece of paper and began to write. He had not so much as glanced at any of us. I wondered whether he could have given information to Dyrick about my involvement, whether it could have been Dyrick that set the corner boys on me. My opponent was putting his papers in order with rapid, angry movements. Paulet said, ‘Master Dyrick, I would like a brief word.' He stood, and everyone in the court rose hastily. Paulet bowed, dismissing us. Dyrick gave me a nasty look, then went out after the judge.

WE RETURNED to the vestibule. As soon as the door was closed Broughton seized my hand. ‘The light of the Lord's grace shone in that court,' he said. ‘With that hard judge I thought we must lose, but we won.'

‘We have won only the right to investigate,' I cautioned.

‘But you will find the truth, I know. These people who gather wardships. Men without conscience who flatter themselves with heaping riches upon riches, honours upon honours, forgetting God—'

‘Indeed.' I looked at the court door, wondering why Paulet had called Dyrick back. Bess came up to me. She was pale. ‘May I sit down?' she asked.

‘Of course. Come.'

I sat her down on the bench. ‘So Michael has obtained his wish,' she said quietly. ‘An enquiry.'

‘Be sure I shall question everyone in Hampshire closely.' I glanced at Barak, who was leaning against the wall, looking thoughtful. Next to him Feaveryear swept his lock of lank hair from his forehead. He still looked pleased at the prospect of the journey.

Bess sighed heavily. ‘Thank you for all you have done, sir.' She looked at me. Then she reached round to the back of her neck and unclipped something. She opened her hand and showed me a small, beautifully worked gold crucifix. She laid it on the bench between us. I looked at the delicately crafted figure. There was even a tiny crown of thorns.

Bess spoke quietly. ‘This was found with Michael when he died. It was Emma's, given her by her grandmother. The child wore it in the old woman's memory. After Emma died and Michael was dismissed he asked Mistress Hobbey if he could have some remembrance of Emma. She gave him that, with an impatient gesture, Michael said. He kept it with him always. Would you take it, and give it to the boy Hugh? I am sure Michael would wish him to have it now.'

‘I will, of course,' I said. I picked it up.

‘I pray you get the poor boy out of the hands of that wicked family.' Bess sighed. ‘You know, in the weeks before he died my son had taken up his archery again. I think if he had lived he would have gone to the militia.'

‘Did he fear being called up?'

She frowned. ‘No, sir, he wanted to play his part in repelling the French. He was a good and honourable man.'

Reverend Broughton touched her arm. ‘Come, good madam, I would be out of this place. May I accompany you home?' Bess allowed Broughton to lead her away. In the doorway she turned briefly, smiled at Barak and me and was gone.

THE COURT DOOR opened, and Dyrick strode towards me. He looked in a cold fume.

‘Well, Master Shardlake, it seems we must go to Hampshire.'

‘It does.'

‘Are you up to such a journey?' he asked with a hint of a sneer.

‘Once I rode to York on a case.'

‘I was hoping to spend these next weeks with my wife and children. I have two girls and a boy; during the law term I do not see nearly enough of them. Now I must tell them I have to disappear to Hampshire.'

‘We will not be long away. Three or four days there and three or four back if we make haste, a few days in between.'

‘You have no family, I think, sir? It is easier for you.' Dyrick leaned close to me and spoke quietly, fierce eyes on mine. ‘I know why Sir William has done this. Normally he would throw such a tissue of unsubstantiated allegations out at once.'

‘Perhaps he wished to do justice.'

‘Just now he told me that Mistress Calfhill was for many years the servant of Lady Latimer, as she then was.'

‘Even the servant of a Queen may seek justice, I think.'

‘This is not justice. It is pestering, persecution.'

‘Everyone in Hampshire will get a fair hearing.'

‘Sir William told me that while the Queen may press for an investigation she cannot determine the outcome. The help she can give you stops here.' His voice rasped like a file.

I met his angry stare. ‘We should consider the practicalities of our journey,' I said.

‘I want to leave as soon as we can. The sooner we start, the sooner we return. And it will take more than three or four days to get there. The roads will be muddy after the storms, and there will be soldiers and supply carts on the roads south.'

I caught Barak's eye. ‘I agree. What about the day after tomorrow?'

Dyrick looked surprised by my ready agreement. I continued, ‘I suggest we take a boat as far as Kingston, that would be the quickest way, then hire strong riding horses so we can make the journey as fast as possible.'

‘Very well. I will send Feaveryear down today to hire the horses.' He turned to the clerk. ‘Can you do that?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘That sounds sensible,' I said. ‘But horses will be difficult to hire just now. There will be much demand for them.'

‘Then we must pay above the normal rate.'

I hesitated. If we found nothing all those costs would be paid by Bess. Or, rather, by the Queen. But my horse Genesis was only used to short rides and this would be a long one. I had ridden him to York four years before, but that was by slow stages and he was younger then. I nodded agreement.

‘Will you bring a bodyservant as well as your clerk?' Dyrick asked.

‘Probably.' I was thinking about the man Warner had promised me.

‘I will not. Feaveryear can do my fetching and carrying. We should travel as light as we can to make speed. I must send a letter by a fast rider to Master Hobbey, so at least he has some advance warning of this nonsense. I suggest we meet in Kingston on Wednesday. As early as possible-I will send you a note.'

‘We agree on the practicalities, then,' I said, trying to lighten the discussion. After all, I would be stuck with Dyrick for well over a week.

He leaned in close again. ‘Be assured, you will find nothing. And when we come before the court next month I will make you regret this nonsense. That is, unless the French land and we find ourselves cut off in a battle zone.' He sighed deeply, then looked at me. ‘You could still pull out. Go after your client and advise her she will be bankrupted, which she will. Unless I find evidence the case is being maintained by the Queen, in which case Mistress Calfhill could find herself in prison.'

I met his gaze. I knew he was bluffing, he would never dare bring the Queen into this. He gave me a final vicious look and turned away. ‘Come on, you,' he said to Feaveryear.

Barak and I were left alone in the vestibule.' Now,' I said, ‘come. There are things we must discuss.'

I TOOK BARAK to a tavern. ‘That was a clever idea,' he said, ‘getting my name on the order. But will it override Goodryke's orders?' The hand that held his mug was trembling slightly.

‘Yes. It is an order of the court, instructing you personally to accompany me. Sir William Paulet has more power than any whiffler. Go back to Wards this afternoon and fetch the signed order, then take it round to Carver at the Guildhall. He can show it to Goodryke. And the day after tomorrow we will be gone.'

‘Goodryke will know what you've done.'

‘He won't be able to do anything about it. Paulet himself will be gone to Portsmouth and the clerks at Wards won't be interested.' I smiled bitterly. ‘There's no money in it.'

‘Did the idea just come to you in court?'

‘Yes. Thank God Dyrick did not object.' I looked serious. ‘I know I didn't want you to come, but it seems the only way to keep you safe. I'll tell Warner I don't need a clerk now, though a stout bodyservant would still be useful.'

Barak looked at me. ‘Tamasin knows nothing about the attack on you, that warning from those apprentices.'

‘Then don't tell her. I'm less worried for my own safety than I was. Dyrick knows I have the Queen's patronage, and I have no doubt he will tell Hobbey when he writes. If the danger came from them, they're not going to risk trouble from that quarter. Though I am less and less sure they set those boys on me. Dyrick is a nasty piece of work, but I don't think he'd do something that could cause him trouble at the Bar.'

‘Didn't like the look of him at all. What's his history?'

‘I've asked around Lincoln's Inn. He's a London fellow, his father was some sort of clerk. He did well at his examinations and chose to specialize in land litigation and the Court of Wards. He's a strange one; it's as though he knows no other way of being than aggression. Yet from what he said he'll miss his wife and children.'

‘If not him, then who was it set those boys on you? And I still think there is something suspicious about Michael's suicide.'

I considered. ‘There is no evidence for that. All we have is an empty room.'

‘I suppose if those boys really wanted you out of the way they would have killed you, or hurt you badly.'

‘Yes.' I looked at him. ‘When we go south you are not to go chasing trouble. This man Warner has promised me can come with me to where Ellen lived when I go there.'

‘You're still going to look into that?'

‘Oh, yes.'

He raised his eyebrows. Then he said quietly, ‘Tamasin must have the final word on this. Will you come home with me?'

HALF AN HOUR later we were back at Barak's house, in the little parlour. Tamasin sat opposite us. Through the window bees hovered over her pretty flower garden.

‘You must decide, Tammy,' Barak said.

She sighed deeply. ‘Oh, Jack, if only you had dealt with that man civilly in the first place—'

‘Tammy, I am more sorry than I can say.'

‘With luck,' I said, ‘we may be back in under two weeks. Well in time for the birth.'

She looked at Barak. ‘At least I wouldn't have to put up with your fussing around.' Her tone was light but I could see she was blinking back tears. And I knew how frightened they both were that this baby might be born dead like their first, and how much they needed each other now. But I could see no better plan. Barak reached across and took Tamasin's hand.