Coincidence

  I decided to take a little walk outside to clear my head. No one would be about at this hour. I opened the door carefully, for it had a creak and I did not want to wake anyone. I stepped out. The clouds had passed and a moon had risen. I looked round carefully, eye out for anyone hidden in doorways, then walked round the corner of the building, where an arch led through to a path to the river.

  I jumped, and my hand went to my dagger, as I heard a sound. There was a figure, two figures, crouching by the arch. ‘Who’s there!’ I called out.

  Barak and Tamasin stepped out of the arch, hand in hand. I laughed with relief, thinking I had caught them kissing against the wall. Then I saw their faces. Tamasin’s eyes were wide with terror, and Barak’s face was stiff with shock.

  ‘What’s the matter? What in God’s name has happened?’

  ‘Quiet, for Jesu’s sake.’ Barak grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shadow of the arch. ‘We mustn’t be seen!’ he hissed.

  ‘But why? What—’

  He took a deep breath. ‘Tamasin and I have been out,’ he whispered. ‘Tamasin shouldn’t be out so late.’

  ‘That’s not so serious. Who —’

  ‘We saw something, sir,’ Tamasin said. ‘Something we weren’t meant to.’

  ‘I know now what Oldroyd’s words meant,’ Barak breathed. ‘“No child of Henry and Catherine Howard can ever be true heir, she knows.” Oldroyd knew, Jesu knows how but he knew.’

  ‘Knew what? Listen, I found something at Wrenne’s house today. A copy of that Act of Parliament —’

  ‘Forget that!’ Barak shook his head, his eyes wide with impatience. ‘What Oldroyd knew was nothing to do with old papers. It’s here and now. And we are all three of us deeper in the shit than we could have thought possible.’

  Chapter Twenty-two

  I STARED AT THE TWO of them, dumbfounded. Barak leaned his head out, eyes raking the darkness in front of the lodging house.

  ‘Anyone there?’ Tamasin whispered.

  ‘No. Jesu knows where he’s gone!’

  ‘Who?’ I demanded.

  Barak turned to me. ‘Listen, we must find somewhere we can talk.’

  ‘The refectory is open round the clock,’ Tamasin said. ‘So the soldiers may take their breaks there.’

  ‘The soldiery?’ Barak said dubiously.

  ‘Yes, but it will be almost empty. We could find a quiet table.’

  ‘What time is it?’ I asked, realizing I had no idea.

  ‘Near two.’ Barak nodded at Tamasin. ‘All right, let us go there.’

  ‘What in God’s name is this about?’ I asked, almost as rattled as they were by now.

  Tamasin looked at me. ‘If we tell him he’s in danger too.’

  ‘He’s in danger already. Come on.’ Barak stepped out and began walking rapidly to the refectory. We followed.

  The door was open, the big dining hall lit dimly by candles on the tables. The place was empty apart from a group of soldiers drinking quietly at a table near the door. The men had cast off their breastplates and plumed helmets and sat slumped heavily over their drinks, tired after standing long hours at their posts. Barak led the way to a table in the farthest corner of the room. ‘We’d best buy some ale.’ He walked off to where a bored-looking servant sat at a table next to a large barrel. Tamasin and I sat down. She bent her head and put a hand to her brow, messing her long blonde hair. Her hand, I saw, was trembling slightly. Something had shaken the girl to the core.

  Barak reappeared, set three mugs down on the table and sat next to Tamasin. His place gave him a good view of the door. He leaned forward, took a deep breath, then began speaking quietly.

  ‘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.’

  ‘And yet I cannot see her being behind these attacks,’ I said thoughtfully. ‘She does not strike me as a careful organizer.’ I considered a moment. ‘Tamasin, what do you think Lady Rochford will do now? About what you and Jack saw?’

  ‘The Queen would decide, surely,’ Barak said.

  Tamasin shook her head. ‘The Queen will take Lady Rochford’s advice, I think.’ She looked at me. ‘If I were her, I think I would try and scare us into silence, or buy it.’

  I nodded. ‘I think you are right. I think we wait and see if she approaches you. What we do after that can depend on what is said. If we are not approached, and especially if anything more is attempted against us, we go to Maleverer. On Monday. And meanwhile we stick to safe places.’

  ‘I think we should go to Maleverer now,’ Barak said.

  ‘No. Not without evidence. Not when you and I are in trouble already. Can you imagine how the King would react if this story were brought to him, and turned out to be untrue? It would be our heads in danger then.’

  I turned to Tamasin. ‘We’ll walk you back to the manor. Will the soldiers let you in at this hour?’

  ‘Ay. There’s more than one girl sneaks out at night.’

  I smiled wryly. ‘The morals of the court.’ I turned to Barak. He still looked dubious. Then he saw something behind us; his eyes widened and his lips set.

  ‘Too late,’ he said.

  I turned quickly. Another troop of soldiers had come in, Sergeant Leacon at their head. We stared as he left his men and marched up to us, his pike grasped firmly. He looked at the three of us in puzzlement.

  ‘What’s amiss? You all look startled as dogs cast out of a window.’

  ‘Nothing, sergeant, we—’

  ‘You are supping late.’

  ‘We got to talking. We should go to bed.’

  ‘There is something I must mention to you, sir. In confidence.’ The sergeant inclined his head. I got up and followed him. His soldiers, I saw, were crowding round the servant, who had woken up and was serving them beer. I realized they had all just come off duty; they had not been sent to arrest us after all.

  Leacon looked at me seriously. Always when we had met before he had been open and friendly, but now I sensed something wary, almost hostile, in his manner.

  ‘One of my men reported there had been some trouble outside Broderick’s cell,’ he said. ‘Between you and gaoler Radwinter.’

  ‘Ah,’ I said. ‘That.’

  ‘I should report it to Sir William Maleverer. But my man said that Radwinter provoked you.’

  ‘Yes, sergeant, he did. But I should not have let him.’

  ‘I will say nothing for now. I do not want trouble with Radwinter, and Sir William has enough to occupy him. But I must have your assurance nothing like that will happen again.’

  ‘It will not.’

  He nodded.

  ‘How does Broderick fare? I should have visited him today.’

  ‘The same.’ He gave me another measured look, then made a little bow and went off to rejoin his men. I went back to Tamasin and Barak.

  ‘What was that about?’ Barak asked.

  ‘My fight with Radwinter. He says he won’t report me if I don’t let Radwinter provoke me again. Well, I have other things to think on now.’

  We walked Tamasin back to King’s Manor. All was dark and silent; a gold half-angel ensured Tamasin was admitted by the guards. Barak and I walked back to the lodging house. I went to bed, but it was long before I slept.

  SUNDAY MORNING dawned fine. I was dressing in my cubicle when Barak knocked at my door.

  ‘That cook’s outside, Master Goodrich.’

  I finished dressing hurriedly and stepped out. He was standing by the door.

  ‘How is your son?’ I asked.

  ‘Better, sir, but he’s a nasty gash on his head. I’ve told him not to work again today.’

  ‘Thank God it was no worse.’

  ‘True. But, sir . . .’

  He looked at me. I wondered if he was going to ask for money, and slipped my hand to my purse. The cook shook his head.

  ‘I only wanted to ask – who would do such a thing? Is my boy safe?’

  ‘I am sure he is, Master Goodrich. The person who struck your boy down was after me. Rest assured, we will find who is responsible.’

  ‘It ought to be reported, sir. With the King himself here . . .’ He cast a look of mingled awe and fear in the direction of King’s Manor.

  ‘Leave i
t with me. And my good wishes to your boy.’

  I watched as the cook walked off towards the camp. Barak joined me. ‘Is he all right?’

  ‘Ay. Come, let us get some breakfast.’

  We began walking to the refectory. Outside, among the animal pens, I saw that one pair of bears’ cages was being taken to pieces by some workmen under the bearward’s supervision. I stopped and looked.

  ‘He killed six dogs before the King and was left standing,’ the bearward said to me. ‘But then he died most honourably.’ He gave a satisfied smile. The other cage was still occupied; the surviving bear was awake, lying curled up in a corner on the floor, its back to us. The creature shifted its position and gave a low, whimpering groan. Its coat was slashed and stiff with blood in several places.

  ‘Will that one fight again?’ Barak asked.

  He studied the bear professionally. ‘Ay, he’s fit for another bout. They’re strong brutes.’

  I walked away, suppressing a shudder.

  IN THE REFECTORY we ate in silence, among courtiers and servants breakfasting before church. I thought of the day before. Those quiet hours in Wrenne’s library seemed far off now.

  ‘I don’t like leaving Tamasin alone at the manor,’ Barak said at length. ‘It worries me.’

  ‘I believe this way is best, Jack, we mustn’t act precipitately.’

  He shook his head. ‘I can’t think straight after last night. Are you going to church? They’re doing Mass in shifts at St Olave’s.’

  ‘No. I can’t face it.’

  ‘I don’t want to sit cooped up here all day.’ ‘I know somewhere we can sit and watch what goes on.’ I led him to the bench where Tamasin and I had talked two nights before. Crowds of people were going in to the first service at St Olave’s. The whole atmosphere at St Mary’s had changed now the King was here: people moved and talked quietly, sedately.

  A little group of courtiers appeared, and I recognized some of the young men who had been at the camp two nights before. Dereham was among them; he flicked me a contemptuous glare as he passed. Culpeper, I saw, was not with the group.