Study of Murder, The (Five Star Mystery Series) (28 page)

I raced across the floor to the structures. The scent grew stronger, the scent of despair and fear. There were two of them, rough cages built of wooden sticks, closed with iron padlocks. And in one of them I found my wife.

“Mariota!” I cried and the figure in the cage turned and looked at me. I held my breath, not knowing what to expect, and my heart bounded with joy when I saw recognition in her eyes.

“Muirteach.” She smiled a little, her voice faint. “You’ve come for me at last.”

I fumbled with the padlock, but although it was not too complex, it was strong iron and I could not get it open. I reached in through the wooden bars and grabbed my wife’s hand, tight. I had feared I would never hold it again.

“
Mo chridhe
, you’re alive. You’re alive,” I repeated like some fool.

“Aye, I am,” my wife replied with some of her old spirit, “but I’d like to get out of here. Muirteach, get me out and away from this place.”

The coop was a small thing, and there was barely room for my wife to crouch in it. Surely she could not stand upright. She wore a linen shirt and nothing else, and her face was wan and frightened.

“Who put you here,
mo chridhe
,” I asked, loath to release the warmth of her hand in order to get tools to break her out.

“Eusebius,” she answered. “And I am not alone here.” She turned her head to the structure next to her and I saw that coop also held a human figure, crouching and staring at me with large silent eyes. “See,” my wife said, “it is Jonetta.”

I felt at my belt for my knife. “Just a wee moment,
mo chridhe
, and I will be getting the both of you out of here and away from this place. But I may need to be leaving you a moment to do it.”

I let go of my wife’s hand and turned to the woman in the other cage. “Mistress Jonetta, I am a friend.”

Jonetta said nothing. The rush light fell on her white face in the darkness. She huddled there, unresponsive, clad only in her linen smock.

I pushed the rush light in through the bars of the cage to my wife. “
Mo chridhe
, I will just be going up to get a tool to break these bars and get you out of this place. I am not going far, just up the ladder.”

Mariota nodded tautly and I sprinted through the darkness of the cellar to the ladder. Above, the little dog still stood guard, ears cocked. I climbed the ladder and reached for the rock and grabbed the dog as well, then made my way back down again into that hell-like cavern. When my feet were firmly on the floor, I set the little dog down and made my way back to the horrid cages at the far corner, followed by Rufous.

“Now, we will be just getting the both of you out of here.” The padlocks looked hopeless. I hacked at the wooden bars with my dagger and was able to weaken them in two spots. Then I smashed at the weakened bars with the rock, until finally I made an opening in my wife’s prison. Rufous whined and yapped while I worked.

“It won’t be long, now, white love, and you’ll be away from this. And that will be time enough to find out how you came to be here.”

“It was Eusebius,” my wife repeated. “He accosted me that morning—how many days has it been, Muirteach? I’ve no way of knowing.
Och
, Muirteach, he may be back, he will be back—you must be swift.”

“I am trying to be,” I muttered as I knocked in the last of the wooden bars. The splintering sound provided some satisfaction. “Now, my love, let’s get you out.”

I took the rush light and set it on the floor, then grabbed my wife and helped her out. Mariota could not stand but collapsed on the earthen floor, shivering. I took off my mantle and wrapped it around her, but she still shook violently, I do not think from the cold. Rufous jumped in her lap and she held on to the squirming dog tightly while I turned my attention to Jonetta’s cage.

“This will not take too long,” I said, hoping my voice would reassure the silent figure. “Your parents will be aye glad to see you, Mistress Jakeson. Folk had near given up hope, yet here you are.”

I looked at Jonetta’s face and thought I saw a tear trickle down her cheek. Encouraged, I kept babbling while I sawed at the wooden bars of the cage. Finally, I judged them weak enough to begin battering at them with my makeshift mallet, and my relief was great when I heard them begin to crack. “It will not be long now, Miss Jonetta,” and with that the bars gave way. “Now we must get you out. You must help me, if you can.”

With some effort, I extricated the tavern keeper’s daughter from her hateful cage. It was more like moving a large doll or poppet as she passively let me move her. Yet I was relieved to see her free from that prison. Jonetta could not stand at first and sank against me. I held her and lowered her to sit on the dank floor.

“Now, ladies, we must get you out and away from this place. But to do that you must stand and walk. Can you?”

Mariota nodded assent, pushed herself up with my help, and then shook free the mantle, glancing at Jonetta. I wrapped it around the lass and chafed at her body, seeking to warm her and get her upright. Finally, Jonetta also stood. She looked at me and I began to find hope the girl had not gone mad from her ordeal.

“Come then, let us be away from here.”

We made our laborious way across the dimly lit cavern to the ladder. “Mariota, can you climb?”

My wife nodded and began making her grim way up the wooden rungs. Jonetta also seemed able to climb and began the ascent. Although the ladder was only a few feet tall, the way seemed endless as I watched the women. Finally, assured they were safe, I grabbed Rufous and climbed up myself, emerging finally into the little room off of the great hall.

The two women stood blinking in the light, clad only in their linen shifts. Jonetta held my brat over her head; I surmised the light hurt her eyes after her long confinement. Mariota held her hands over her own eyes to shield them from the daylight, while Rufous, calm for once, sat expectantly at their feet.

I had neither food nor drink with me to give them and sorely wished I did. Yet I grabbed my wife and embraced her tenderly, holding her close and feeling her heart beat against mine for a moment.

“I am all right, Muirteach,” she said after an instant. “But we must be away from here. He may be coming back.”

“Eusebius?”

She nodded. “He came at odd times. At least, in that darkness we had no way of telling when he would come, or how long he would stay. Oh, please, let us be away from this horrid place.”

And so we left.

We quit that place through the window. I bundled the two women up with my brat wrapped around the both of them, and we made our way down the street to the Widow Tanner’s, Rufous trailing at our heels. We ignored for the most part the curious looks of the few passersby. We did not see Brother Eusebius, which may have been a good thing, as I would have knifed him on the spot. When we got to safety I sent Crispin to the Jakesons’ with word to come quickly and sent Donald to tell Grymbaud what I had found, while Anthony was put back in Donald’s chamber.

The widow gave orders for a bath to be prepared and after a short time, despite all my protests, she banished me to the front hall while she and Avice bathed and fussed over the two women. When she finally allowed me to return, both women were looking somewhat better. Widow Tanner had found clothes for Jonetta while Mariota was back in her own garb. While the widow left to fetch a warm posset I finally had a better chance to speak with the women and, although Jonetta had little to say, my wife was in full possession of her wits and all too eager to talk.

“And so what happened?” I asked.

“It was that morning—how many days ago was it?”

“Four days,” I said. “
Mo chridhe
, it has been four days.”

“Is that all? It feels like I have lived a life in Hell since that time.”

I took my wife’s hand again and sat down next to her on the bed. Jonetta lay near us, covered with blankets, but I paid her little mind, intent on Mariota who continued speaking.

“I had left the lecture and was nearly home, thinking to change and meet you at Berwyk’s funeral mass as we’d planned. And I was nearly home, when I realized Eusebius was following me. He stopped me, speaking to me as if I was William of Uist, and spoke of some experiment in natural science he wished to show me.”

“And you went with him?” It was on the tip of my tongue to call my wife a fool but she shook her head before I could utter the words, which was no doubt a good thing.

“No, I said I had another lecture to attend and must be on my way. But he grabbed me, very persistent, and then I felt a knife at my side. And he told me to come quietly and not to scream, or the sound would be my last. And so I went with him then, for I did not want to die.”

I shuddered.

“He pulled my hood over my face so I could not rightly see where he led me. I knew it could not be far and saw from the dirt when he led me off the street. I tried to lose my ring, as a sign—I do not think he saw that but then he struck me on the head and I do not remember what came after. When I came back to myself I was as you saw me, in that little coop. But there was no light and Eusebius had gone.”

“And Jonetta?”

“It was all blackness, and I could not see a thing. It was only when Eusebius returned, later, with a light, that I knew she was there.”

“Why did you not cry out?”

“I did, Muirteach, but no one came. And there was one time we heard noises, as though someone was in the house, and I did cry out, but no one heard us.”

I thought of the day when Phillip and I had explored the ruined house, and how close we had come, and cursed that we had not found her then. But at least she was now free.

“And when he did come,” I said, hesitant.

“He did not mistreat us. And he fed us a little, some stale bread. And would leave a light, but that burned out quickly, and then it would be all dark. Muirteach, the man is mad. He would make notes on those parchments of his, and brought vats in, trying to assemble something—conduits of some kind and the vats—all the while muttering to himself about the feminine essence. I do not know what exactly he planned but I thank the Blessed Mother you found us before he had all ready. For I do not know what he would have done with us, in the end.”

Just then we heard the front door of the house open and the widow’s voice, speaking to the undersheriff. His heavy tread came up the stairs, and the door to our chamber opened.

“And so you have found them both. Well done, Muirteach, indeed.”

I nodded, and we told the story to the undersheriff.

“And the girl’s parents?” asked Grymbaud.

“Are on their way, no doubt. I sent Crispin for them.”

Just then we heard more commotion downstairs and a moment later the door opened again, and Jonetta was reunited with her parents. At which point the girl, stoic until now, burst into floods of tears and I began to pray she had not lost her wits entirely. But after a time, when things had settled and our little chamber was quite crowded, she managed to find the voice to tell her own story, not all that different from my wife’s. Jonetta had been at the market when she had felt a knife against her side and was cautioned to come quietly or she would die. And she also had gone with Eusebius.

“And you also were not assaulted?” the undersheriff asked. “No violence was done to your body.”

“No sir, but I was made to stay in that coop, in the blackness. I thought I would go mad indeed, from the lack of light and the fear.”

“Brave girl,” said Grymbaud, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder while Mistress Jakeson fussed over her daughter and sat next to her on our now very crowded bed, and her father swore vengeance to the undersheriff.

“We must make plans, I think,” said Grymbaud, and both Master Jakeson and myself were well inclined to agree. “Not many folk saw you return?”

“There were not so many folk about.”

“Well, perhaps Eusebius does not yet know his birds have flown. So we will catch him in his own nest,” said the undersheriff as he scratched at his beard. And so we plotted. The afternoon sun was not yet far to the west, and I remembered Eusebius’s evening rambles. We made haste to set our trap before the day was over.

I was loath to part from my wife again, but the thought of vengeance lured me away from her company. The widow gave her a sedative draft, and the Jakesons agreed, once we had settled on a course of action, to leave Jonetta at the widow’s and put out the story that Crispin’s fetching them earlier in the day had been but some false alarm. For we did not want our quarry to learn of what had transpired.

Mistress Jakeson remained with her daughter while Master Jakeson, Donald, Crispin, and I, along with Grymbaud and some of his men, made our way to the abandoned house.

“Well, Walter of York, at the least, will be happy of this day’s work,” Grymbaud remarked to me in an undertone as we approached the building. “He will be a free man.”

We made our way into the house through the broken window and hid ourselves in the house, waiting while the sun sank lower in the sky. Grymbaud had some of his men positioned down in the undercroft with shuttered lanterns while the rest of us hid in some of the side rooms off the hall. Then we waited, silent, for our quarry.

The light had mostly faded from the sky and we rested in the hall in growing darkness. My nerves were taut and my eyes strained in the twilight as I stood immobile. After what seemed like an eternity in Purgatory I heard footsteps approaching the house and a key in the lock, which sounded well oiled and turned easily. We heard the door open and footsteps cross the hall to the room with the trap door.

The sound of the chest scraping the floor as it was pushed aside came next, then the raising of the trap door. A scuffing sound told us that our quarry had descended into the undercroft.

I felt Grymbaud next to me give the signal and we followed Eusebius to the cellar, going down after him. The undersheriff’s men had unshuttered their lanterns and we saw Eusebius standing in the middle of the undercroft, looking back and forth at the armed men and then at us, behind him at the foot of the ladder. The flickering light from the lanterns—his and our own—illuminated his tall frame and pale face, and I fancied he looked confused.