Face Down under the Wych Elm (22 page)

Margery held up her hands to show Jennet a fine pair of gloves with embroidery on the cuffs. They were almost new and scarce worn, although Jennet could not help but notice there was a small burn on one finger. The result, no doubt, of a rich young woman's carelessness. Still, such castoffs were not to be sneered at.

"Your mistress is indeed generous."

"That day, Mistress Damascin comed out to join us in our work whilst you and your mistress were busy with Mistress Edgecumbe. She ain't the lazy creature her mother would make of her. She growed tired of not being allowed to try new things. Such treatment just makes her try hard not to be catched."

Such treatment, Jennet thought, would not make most young women so rebellious. It must be passing sweet to be pampered. In spite of Margery's spirited defense, Jennet could not bring herself to think kindly of Damascin Edgecumbe. That she had disguised herself as a servant meant only that she was deceitful as well as clever.

"She wanted to help with the water,” Margery continued, “but she is not as wellmuscled as a laundress must be. The cauldron was too heavy for her. ‘Twas just ill luck that we stumbled with it and overset the bucking tub at the very moment your mistress passed by on the other side."

It could have been an accident, Jennet supposed. After all, what reason would Damascin have had to harm Lady Appleton? She'd not even known why they were at Edgecumbe Manor that day—unless she'd been near enough to overhear what Lady Appleton had said to her mother.

"Dresses up often, does she?” Jennet asked Margery.

"Oh, aye.” She giggled. “You'd not believe some of the things she wears."

"But if she is innocent in all this, why did she send you to spy on Lady Appleton? What does it matter to her what my mistress does?"

To Jennet's surprise, this question produced another giggle. “It was not Mistress Damascin sent me. ‘Twas her mother."

Susanna listened to Jennet's account of her conversation with Margery with mild amusement but little concern.

"While you were out, Jennet, a letter at last arrived from Canterbury. What Master Calthorpe has learned about Lucy's past may mean we need not concern ourselves further with Mildred or Damascin."

"He discovered something?"

"Indeed, he did. A motive for all that has transpired.” She glanced at the missive. “The solution is both simple and obvious, now that one significant fact has come to light."

"What is it? What did you find out?” Jennet's eagerness made her a most appreciative audience.

"Lucy Milborne is the rightful owner of Mill Hall, not Hugo Garrard. It came to her at her brother's death. Do you remember, Jennet? Lucy told us there was a quarrel between male cousins when he died. She may not realize that she is an heiress. It is possible that she was somehow tricked out of her birth right."

"Mayhap what Master Baldwin learned explains her confusion. Did he not say her state of mind grew perilous when the nunnery was closed?"

"Excellent, Jennet. That may be the answer. We will go to the gaol and talk to Lucy. I think we will discover that she was indeed defrauded of her inheritance, by Hugo's father and then by Hugo."

"You mean Master Garrard is—?"

"The murderer.” It made perfect sense to her. “If Clement Edgecumbe knew Lucy should have inherited, because of his interest in marrying her when her father was still alive, the matter would have come up when Hugo proposed to marry Damascin. Hugo must have feared the truth would come out and he'd lose not only Damascin but Mill Hall, as well. That gave him a powerful reason to kill Edgecumbe. The same motive applies to Marsh's death. He was Hugo's clerk before Adrian Ridley came. What more likely than that he knew too much of his master's affairs and became suspicious when Clement died? Then he had to be silenced, too. Blaming Lucy may not have been Hugo's original plan, but he'd have been passing quick to think of it once he decided to commit the second murder."

"Proving any of this will be difficult."

Susanna dismissed Jennet's pessimism with an airy wave of her hand, pleased to discover that it no longer surprised her with pain when she made a sudden move.

An hour later, Susanna met with Constance and Lucy in their cell. For a change, she was their only visitor. Sir Adrian was nowhere to be seen, and Susanna had sent Jennet to Nick's house to apprise him of this newest development.

He had left her to go home hours earlier, with great reluctance, to have a serious talk with his mother.

Lucy, much recovered but still weak, listened to Susanna's reasoning without interrupting, but her occasional nod seemed to indicate agreement.

"Did you know you could inherit after your brothers died, if they had no children?"

"Aye. I did. But by entering the nunnery, I relinquished that right."

"You regained it with the dissolution."

Lucy frowned. “If I was told that, it was lost in the long period when my mind was ... disturbed. I have only a few, muddled memories of the period right after my father brought me home."

"Your relatives took advantage of that.” Susanna was convinced that Hugo was behind Lucy's troubles.

"I can scarce believe it,” Constance said. “I trusted Hugo to—oh!"

"What is it, Constance?"

"The letter!"

"What letter?"

"I wrote a letter to you when I was arrested, asking for your help. I gave it to Hugo to send to Leigh Abbey."

"I never received any letter, Constance."

Constance looked stunned by this news. “But if you did not receive it, why did you offer to help us? I assumed you'd gotten the letter and were not in any hurry to offer assistance, but I did not mention how long you took to respond because, after all, you did come forward in the end."

"I came because you were unjustly accused,” Susanna told her. “It was by chance that I was in Maidstone and heard of the case."

After a few minutes’ thought, Constance sighed. “That Hugo should have done this makes a terrible kind of sense. Even Peter Marsh's sudden interest in me can be explained by his new information. He must have fixed his attention to me because he knew I was Lucy's heiress. But do you have any evidence that can convince the justices we are innocent?"

"I have speculation, not proof, and yet, with luck, that will be enough to postpone the trial. When the justices arrive in Maidstone later today, I will go to them and present your case in private."

"How can you—?"

"There are names I can drop in order to gain access to these men."

With what she'd learned this morning, Susanna felt confident they would give her a fair hearing.

Jennet was on her way back to the Queen's Arms from Master Baldwin's house when she heard that the justices had been sighted just outside of Maidstone. Thinking this sufficient excuse for a detour, she went to the gaol, intending to inform her mistress of their impending arrival.

To her surprise, there was someone just outside the door of the cell. He had an ear to the door, blatantly eavesdropping on the conversation within. A servant lad, by the look of his clothing, he was not anyone she recognized.

"Hey, you!” Jennet shouted.

The boy ran. Jennet followed, emerging into the bright sunlight barely in time to see the direction he took. Hoisting up her skirts, she sped after him, unsurprised when he turned down the side street that led to The Ship.

Panting, her side on fire from a stitch, Jennet reached the inn only moments after the lad disappeared within. What now? Margery, she decided. She would find Margery and ask about servant lads in the Edgecumbes’ employ.

But Margery, so the inn's chamberlain informed her, had gone out, as had Mistress Edgecumbe.

"And her daughter?"

He shrugged. “I did not notice."

With the justices coming, the atmosphere of a fair pervaded Maidstone. Most folk were out and about, coming and going.

"Did a lad run in here just ahead of me?"

"Oh, aye. I passed him just now on the stair. Like as not, he went into the chamber Mistress Edgecumbe and her daughter share."

Jennet felt no trepidation about approaching the room the chamberlain had indicated was Mildred Edgecumbe's. Mistress Edgecumbe was not there, only a boy, and Jennet was an old hand at dealing with servant lads.

Without pausing to wonder if she was acting wisely, she opened the door and stepped into the room.

Susanna read through the pages of the deposition she had just finished writing, well satisfied with the result. She had marshaled all the facts in a clear and rational manner. Although she intended to plead her case before the justices in person, documentation was never amiss. Confident that she would be able to keep her promise to Lucy and Constance and obtain a postponement of their trial, she folded the newly inscribed pages around Master Calthorpe's letter.

In this case, postponement might well be as good as an acquittal. Susanna intended to use every bit of influence she could muster, and a few judicious bribes, as well, to obtain the prisoners’ release. She would also offer sureties for their return in six months, but with any luck, by the time the Assizes met again, this furor over witches would have died down. Even if Mildred Edgecumbe could not be persuaded to withdraw her charges, with that much time they could find more proof that poison, not witchcraft, had killed Clement Edgecumbe and Peter Marsh. Now that they had uncovered Hugo Garrard's motive, evidence of his guilt would surely follow.

Standing, Susanna stretched her arms high above her head and flexed her cramped fingers. She left the table to wander idly about the chamber, and not for the first time wondered where Jennet had gotten to. Susanna had expected her friend to be waiting for her here at the Queen's Arms. Jennet had left the inn hours earlier to deliver a message to Nick. Neither Fulke nor Lionel had seen her since.

Although Susanna was puzzled by Jennet's continued absence, she was not particularly worried. There were a great many places Jennet could be, including Nick's house. Yes, Susanna decided. That must be it. Jennet knew Nick planned to return to the inn. Indeed, he should be arriving at any moment. No doubt Jennet had waited, intending to accompany him.

That thought brought a frown to Susanna's face. The only reason she could think of for Jennet to spend time in Nick's company was in order to talk about her, Susanna. An uneasy truce had existed between them since Susanna had taken up residence at the Queen's Arms but she did not expect it to last. Jennet was, in her own way, as opposed to Susanna's involvement with Nick as Nick's mother was.

It was pure chance that brought Susanna, pacing, close to her door at the moment a small object was shoved through the gap beneath it. She picked up what appeared to be a thin packet with one hand and lifted the latch with the other, stepping out of the chamber in time to catch sight of a boy just reaching the top of the stair. A moment later, he'd disappeared from view.

He'd left behind a piece of paper folded around a lock of Jennet's hair. The accompanying note was brief but terrifying.

Jennet—loyal, courageous Jennet—was being held prisoner. If Susanna wanted to see her again alive, she was to abandon her championship of Lucy and Constance and stay away from the justices.

Susanna had moved toward the window, where the light was better, as she read. When she lifted her gaze from the paper, she found herself staring blindly down into the innyard. Abruptly, her vision sharpened. The boy she'd just seen outside her door was there, crossing the open space between inn and stable and headed straight for the High Street.

Her only thought to catch up with that boy and make him tell her who had given him the message to bring to her, Susanna rushed out of her chamber. She dared not risk losing sight of her quarry by taking the time to fetch Lionel or Fulke to help her.

The crowds that delayed the boy's escape also frustrated Susanna's pursuit. All along Maidstone's High Street, she had to force her way through a milling throng. The justices were about to arrive.

Pandemonium reigned. Susanna could scarce hear herself think for the cacophony of sound—bells, music by the town waits, whistles and huzzahs at the first glimpse of the colorful cavalcade. Pikemen specially clothed for the occasion in bright new livery came first, walking ahead of the riders. The assize judges, one a justice of the Queen's Bench and the other a newly appointed serjeant-at-law, had been met a few miles outside of town by the county sheriff, the members of the corporation that governed Maidstone, and sundry representatives of the local gentry.

Susanna's original plan had been to join this very procession, following it to the inn in which the judges would lodge. There, by tradition, they received county gentlemen and heard their opinions on local matters. Now she wished these same men to perdition, for they impeded her progress.

Up ahead, she saw the boy break free of the crowd. He was heading, she realized, toward The Ship. Increasing her own efforts, she followed. She could not catch him. Even without the obstacles in her path, he had the advantage of youth and speed. But she was close enough behind to see where he went. When a chamber door slammed shut on the upper floor of The Ship, she was just cresting the stairwell. She saw which room he'd gone into.

Cautiously Susanna approached the closed door. She did not know whose chamber this was but thought it likely Hugo Garrard was within. She knew she should go back to the Queen's Arms for help but her concern for Jennet had her pressing her ear against the wooden portal.

She heard nothing. No voices. No sound whatsoever.

It would take too long to go back to the Queen's Arms. Were there men below, in The Ship's common room? Would they help her apprehend the boy who'd entered this room? No, she decided. They did not know her, and she would be asking them to invade the privacy of a paying guest.

She had no choice. She could not dawdle here all day. Besides, with Fulke and Lionel beside her, she'd have a better chance of convincing whoever they found within to cooperate. She should have guessed the boy would come here, she berated herself. She should have stopped to collect her henchmen en route.