[Roger the Chapman 05] - Eve of Saint Hyacinth (13 page)

'My lord,' I answered, 'if your life is threatened then I should most sincerely wish to discover the source of the danger. His Highness, King Edward, cannot afford to lose the chief prop and stay of his throne.'

The duke pulled down the corners of his mouth. 'I doubt if the queen's family would relish that description of me, chapman. However,' he acknowledged, but simply, without arrogance, 'no doubt you're right. Very well, if you are prepared to serve me yet again, so be it. And thank you.

But I must enjoin strict secrecy upon you. What we know, or think we know, must remain a confidence between the four of us. You, me, Timothy Plummer and Lal Arrowsmith.'

'And young Matthew Wardroper,' I amended.

The frown reappeared. 'Ah, yes! I had forgotten. A foolish move, that, to involve the lad. He's too young to be mixed up in such conspiracies. Why could Tim not have kept the tryst with Morgan, instead of Lionel? He thinks a little too well of himself, does Master Plummer. But the damage is done. Keep an eye on young Wardroper, chapman. I would not have him suffer injury in so miserable a cause.' He held out his hand for me to kiss, indicating that the audience was at an end. 'Timothy Plummer will keep me informed as to what is happening, should any progress be made. And once more, accept my deepest gratitude.'

I was plainly being dismissed, but there were still things, I felt, left unresolved. When I hesitated, however, the duke merely smiled briefly and said, 'Timothy Plummer will tell you all you wish to know. Go and see him now. You'll doubtless find him hovering somewhere not too far distant.'

He was right.

As I stepped across the threshold of the antechamber, Timothy was waiting and pounced on me eagerly. 'Well? Did His Grace agree? Did you agree?' And when I nodded in answer to both questions he bore me off triumphantly to the same tower room where we had sat and talked the previous evening. 'Sit down! Sit down,' he urged, 'and I'll tell you what, with His Grace's consent, I've decided for you.'

I seated myself in the window embrasure. 'I assume I'm to enter the duke's household. But how will you explain me?'

'I've been thinking about that long and hard ever since I woke up this morning, because it suddenly occurred to me that it would be impossible to keep your true identity a secret. That was my first idea, as you know, but there are bound to be at least half a dozen, and most probably more than that, of His Grace's followers who remember you from your past association with us. My suggestion, therefore, is this. On both the previous occasions when you rendered him a service, Duke Richard offered to reward you, if you so wished it, with a place in his household. At the time you had no desire to give up life on the open road, but now you have changed your mind and you came here last night in order to acquaint His Grace of the fact. You were granted an audience this morning, with the result that you are to take up an immediate appointment as a Yeoman of the Chamber. Duke Richard is even now issuing written instructions to that effect.'

'But ... what do I have to do as a - what was it? Yeoman of the Chamber?'

Timothy Plummer smiled, not without malice. 'You help set the boards for meals, see that the torches and candles are lit, run any messages that need taking. A fairly lowly position, as you'll have gathered. But there are some twenty or so of you, so you'll not be kept too busy, a fact which should enable you to find the time to keep your eyes and ears open.'

I think he was afraid, but had also half-hoped, that I might be offended by such menial tasks and was therefore a little disappointed by my answer. 'A sensible decision, Master Plummer, for it would have looked strange indeed had I been offered any higher appointment. And in any case, it will not be for long. The Eve of Saint Hyacinth is less than two full moons away.'

The worry-lines once more creased his face. 'God forbid,' he said, crossing himself, 'that any harm should befall His Grace. Chapman, my dependence is all on you, now that I have lost my only contact with the Brotherhood.'
 

'I promise to do what I can,' I replied, 'and there is something I must tell you. I believe that Master Arrowsmith was followed to his meeting with Thaddeus Morgan at Holy Trinity Priory.' And I told him of that other figure in the shadows.

He cursed roundly, demanding to know why I had not mentioned the circumstance before.

I shrugged. 'It could only have distressed Master Arrowsmith still further, and as I was unable to see the man's face it made no difference. I could not possibly identify him and it might have been no more than chance that another soul was abroad so late at night.'
 

Timothy snorted in derision. 'And pigs might fly, chapman! You don't fool me. You don't entertain the notion for an instant!'

I sighed. 'I admit to thinking it highly improbable. Nevertheless, there might be just the slenderest of hopes that such is the case, if Master Arrowsmith's injuries are indeed the result of carelessness on his part. You promised last night to show me the staircase where they happened.'
 

Timothy rose and led me out of the room, along several passages and down a flight of stairs before stopping at the head of yet another flight which I had descended that very morning, and which I recognized as leading down to the chamber where the Duke of Gloucester had been working.

'On each occasion,' Timothy went on, 'Lal had been summoned by His Grace and was in a hurry. The first time was last Friday, when he slipped on the top stair and fell to the landing below, breaking his right arm, and was very fortunate, as the surgeon needlessly pointed out, to escape so lightly.'

'And you accepted it as an accident?'

Timothy shrugged. 'Why not? The edge of the top step is badly worn, as you may observe for yourself, and, as I have already told you, Lionel favours the fashionable mode in shoes: long pikes, sometimes so long that they have to be chained about his knees, a danger to life and limb. I used to warn him - and so did the duke - that one day they could prove harmful.'

'And was he wearing long pikes when he slipped and broke his ankle some time yesterday?'

Timothy glanced at me, momentarily frowning, but then his brow just as suddenly cleared. 'Of course! You saw him on Monday night, when he talked to Thaddeus Morgan.'
 

I nodded. 'And then only his arm was injured. But by the time Philip Lamprey and I entered the Three Tuns yesterevening, Master Arrowsmith had sustained a further mishap.'

Timothy grunted. 'Yesterday morning exactly the same thing happened. He was again summoned to the duke and again tripped and fell, this time breaking his left ankle.' I made no comment but knelt down and carefully examined the first tread of the staircase. The edge was indeed badly worn away by the passage of countless feet over many years and the stone was as smooth and shiny as a pebble. The light, too, was poor, what there was of it coming from a lancet window on the landing below us. On either side of the staircase the walls rose sheer to the roof of this particular storey and I peered closely at both of them.

At last I raised my head to find Timothy Plummer watching me expectantly, but half-hoping, I think, that there was nothing to find. I was forced to disappoint him.

'See here,' I said, beckoning him to crouch down beside me. When he had done so I indicated two places, one on either side of the top step and both at an equal height, where the mortar between the stones had been disturbed, shedding a few loosened crumbs on the floor beneath. 'My guess is that two nails have been driven in, one here and one over there, and a piece of fine wire or twine strung tautly between them. Anyone then descending in a hurry, not looking where he was going, would trip and fall. And if the nails were hammered in only lightly, the force of the fall would pull them and the string loose, allowing free passage for anyone following. Master Arrowsmith undoubtedly set up a shout–'

'Loud enough to be heard in Hell,' Timothy murmured.

'–and the setter of the trap,' I continued, 'would have been waiting close at hand to pocket the tell-tale evidence before anyone else had a chance to notice it and draw their own conclusions. Tell me, who summoned Master Arrowsmith to the duke's presence each time, and who was first on the scene?'

Timothy shook his head, his face set in grim, grey lines.

We both straightened our legs and stood upright. 'You'll have to ask him that, chapman, because I don't know the answer. Not suspecting anything wrong, I naturally didn't question him.'

'But did His Grace really summon Master Arrowsmith?' I pressed.

Timothy flung wide his hands. 'Again, I don't know the answer. No one would have asked the duke, neither would His Grace have thought to enlighten us on such a matter. For, as I say, the falls were simply put down to Lal's own carelessness.'

'But you don't think so now?'

Timothy shivered. 'No. Someone tried to injure Lionel seriously, and when he failed, made a second attempt, with more success on that occasion.' He drew a long, shuddering breath. 'And it demonstrates one thing most clearly, chapman - that Thaddeus Morgan was correct. The assassin is already installed within our ranks and waits only for the right moment to strike at His Grace.'

Chapter Nine

'That may be,' I said, 'but I doubt our murderer will strike until he's ready. And that means until he's certain he can do the deed and get clean away, or remain without falling under suspicion. For it's my experience that people who are prodigal with other people's lives are very loath to part with their own.' I thought for a moment before asking, 'Is there no possibility of persuading His Grace to rid his household of suspected persons? Of all those you mentioned to me last night, who are thought to be in the pay of other masters?'
 

'None whatsoever!' Timothy Plummer was adamant on that score. 'You've seen and spoken to the duke yourself and must realize how anxious he is to keep this matter quiet. A dismissal of five or six of his followers would draw everyone's attention to the fact that something was amiss.'
 

'Better that, surely,' I urged, 'than finding himself at the wrong end of an assassin's dagger or drinking from a poisoned chalice!'

Timothy dragged a hand through his thinning hair. 'Try telling that to His Grace. It may seem the sensible answer to you. It may seem the sensible answer to me. (Oh, yes! It's certainly what I'd do if I were allowed my way.) But these Plantagenets are an obstinate, high-stomached race; and my lord would no more let himself be cowed by a threat from an enemy than he'd take a knife to his lady mother and hold it at her throat.' Timothy glanced around, suddenly aware that we were perhaps talking too loudly and too freely. 'Ssh! Lower your voice. Fortunately, up here it's mostly sleeping quarters.'

'Where does that lead?' I asked, indicating a door in the wall behind us.

For answer, Timothy opened it and beckoned me into a small room no bigger than many a closet that I've seen in some great houses. Inside were two narrow pallets, on one of which the injured Lionel Arrowsmith was lying. He reared up on one elbow as we entered.

'What–?' he began, but Timothy, closing the door behind him, waved him to silence.

'Better we speak in here, where no one can overhear us. Lal, I've much to tell you, but be patient a moment. As you see, chapman, this room has been put at the disposal of those two of His Grace's Squires of the Body who are not on duty. The two who are sleep on truckle beds in His Grace's chamber. You can guess that, with two households sharing the castle, arrangements tend to be somewhat cramped.'

'The other three Squires of the Body,' I demanded, 'can they be trusted?'

Lionel Arrowsmith's glance was scornful. 'They've been in the service of His Grace as long as, and in two cases longer than, I have. Squires of the Body are the most carefully chosen of all a lord's servants, whoever the master. And amongst royalty they are the scions of families who have proved their loyalty over several generations.

Now, what is it that you have to tell me?'

He listened with a gathering frown as, between us, Timothy Plummer and I told him of our discovery: how the staircase immediately outside this room, which he had to descend in order to reach the duke, showed signs of having been booby-trapped in an effort to cripple him and so prevent his meeting with Thaddeus Morgan. When we had finished he hauled himself into a sitting position and reached for his crutch.

'The duke must not be left alone for an instant,' he said. 'One of the Squires has to be with him, and alert for danger, every moment, day and night. I must see His Grace urgently. He must be persuaded to admit the other three to his confidence.' Lionel chewed his underlip. 'At least this proves for certain that the rumours circulating among the Brotherhood, and brought to us by Thaddeus, have foundation.'

Timothy snorted. 'I had no lingering doubts of that once Thaddeus was murdered.'

'But how,' Lionel wondered, 'does our assassin know what we know? How did he find out where Thaddeus and I were to meet yesterevening?'

Timothy jerked his head towards me. 'Tell him, chapman!'

I repeated what I had seen the night before last at Holy Trinity Priory. 'So,' I finished, 'I misdoubt me now that the man, whoever he was, was a chance interloper like myself. Rather, he was someone who had followed you from Baynard's Castle.'

The Squire took the news as badly as I had feared he might, covering his face with his free hand and sinking into gloom.