‘I’ll set Eloise on to do it,’ I said. ‘She likes to exert her charms. In which case, I must tell her all that I’ve told you.’
John Bradshaw shifted his position on the hay. ‘I think it would be as well,’ he agreed. ‘But not all of it. Just about Lackpenny and the Armigers. As for the rest, I can only reiterate: trust nobody, be suspicious of everyone, including Mistress Gray, and watch your back at all times. Even the Armigers may not be as innocent as they seem. But regarding this man you thought you saw being landed at the castle in the early hours of Wednesday morning, are you sure about this? You might have imagined it.’
‘No.’ I was definite. ‘I did see someone. And I’ve told you what followed. There was the murder of the boatman Jeremiah Tucker and then, the same evening, the fellow in the common hall who went to great lengths not to be seen by me. Too much of a coincidence, you must agree.’
My companion pursed his lips but didn’t contradict me. Instead, he sighed and stared in front of him for a moment or two before finally saying, ‘There’s a great deal going on here, Roger, that either makes perfect sense or none at all, depending how you view things.’ He gave vent to a fat chuckle that started somewhere deep in his throat and emerged as a sort of chortle. He slapped me on the thigh. ‘Which,’ he went on, ‘is about as unhelpful a remark as you could ever wish to hear. I’m sorry, lad! You did right to tell me. Two of us on our guard is better than one. I might even instruct Lamprey to report if he notices anything he thinks vaguely suspicious. I shan’t say why, of course.’
‘How is he? He won’t let me near him, not even to express my regrets.’
John Bradshaw snorted. ‘He says barely anything. I’m beginning to think he’s enjoying his grief, wallowing in it. Oh, all right!’ This as I made a gesture of protest. ‘Maybe I’m wrong. If I remember aright, he was always a bit of a surly beggar when we were young, soldiering together in France. He certainly seems to have thought the world of this young woman he married. Her death must have been a great blow to him.’ He slid from the bale of hay as he spoke and I followed suit.
‘I’d better get back,’ I said. ‘Eloise will be suspicious of my protracted absence. There will be questions.’
Again came that throaty chuckle and another slap, this time on the shoulder. ‘My, my! You and she are really entering into the spirit of the thing. You’re beginning to sound like an old married couple. You’ll have to be careful, Roger.’
I realized with a shock of dismay that John Bradshaw was right: I should have to be careful. I waited while he checked on the horses: then we walked together the length of the stables. It was as we were passing the last stall, which also appeared to be empty, that I stopped suddenly, causing John to bump into me and tread hard on my heels.
‘What’s the matter?’ he hissed.
‘I thought I heard someone moving in there. Don’t worry! I’m just jumpy. If it’s anything at all, it’s most likely to be rats.’
‘We’ll see about that,’ he whispered. ‘Just take your leave as loudly as you can and bang the outer door.’
I did as he bade me, adding a yawn for good measure as I called, ‘Goodnight!’ He grunted in reply, then placing a finger to his lips, pounced forward, pushing the stall door wide and entering, his candle held aloft, the flame illuminating the narrow interior and flickering in some unidentified draught. I peered over his shoulder, but his bulk filled the doorway and all I could see were the shadows dipping and curtseying across the walls.
‘There’s no one here,’ he said at last. ‘It must have been a rat, like you said.’ He snuffed the candle-flame between thumb and forefinger, grimacing at me as he did so. ‘Calm yourself, lad.’ We emerged into the cold night air. ‘If you start jumping at every sound, you’ll put yourself in danger. You won’t hear the ones you ought to be listening for.’
With which parting shot, he went off to the kitchens, where he and Philip were sleeping, and I made my way back to the inn parlour to find a noisy game of three men’s morris in progress.
‘You were a long time in the stables, talking to John Bradshaw.’ Eloise accused me as we undressed for bed.
It was an embarrassing situation. Last night, we had been too tired to be conscious of anything but the need to tumble between the sheets and fall into an exhausted slumber. Tonight, however, we were uncomfortably aware of each other’s every move. Eloise had drawn the bed-curtains and vanished behind them, occasionally asking me to pass her things, like her night-rail, that she had forgotten to take with her. I was careful to thrust my arm between the drapes no further than just above the wrist, and retired to the furthest, darkest corner of the room to shed my own clothes, except of course for my shirt. I was quite glad, therefore, to divert my thoughts of spending a night by her side with a little conversation.
‘There were things we had to discuss,’ I said.
‘Such as?’
‘I’ll tell you in a moment or two, when I’ve cleaned my teeth.’
I found the piece of willow bark I always carry with me and rubbed it around the inside of my mouth, by which time Eloise had drawn back one of the curtains and was revealed sitting propped against the pillows, her fair hair curling attractively over her neat, shapely little head. She wrinkled her nose when she saw me. ‘Don’t you ever change your shirt to go to bed? Don’t you have a night-shift?’
‘I usually sleep naked,’ I answered shortly and not altogether truthfully, but it had the desired effect of quietening her. ‘Besides,’ I went on, ‘you’ve grown very nice all of a sudden, haven’t you? What about all those sweaty soldiers you slept amongst while you were masquerading as a boy? I’ll wager they didn’t bother with night-shifts.’
‘Oh, get into bed,’ she retorted irritably, ‘and stop evading my question. What were you and Master Bradshaw talking about all that time?’
I did as she said, ostentatiously keeping to my side of the mattress as far as possible without actually falling out again, and sitting bolt upright. Since leaving John at the kitchen door, I had had time to consider the advisability of following his instruction not to tell Eloise everything, only what I had seen concerning William Lackpenny and Jane Armiger. Indeed, I couldn’t think how I had been foolish enough to suggest otherwise. I still knew nothing more about her and where her true sympathies lay than I had done five days ago. I realized with a shock that, in spite of the past, I was beginning to like and trust her, and that both emotions could be fatal to my safety and to the mission I was employed on for Duke Richard. I was going to have to watch myself and guard against the strange fascination she was starting to have for me. I reminded myself that sorcery was one of the charges against her dead master, the Scottish Earl of Mar.
‘Well?’ she demanded when I continued to be mute.
‘If you must know,’ I told her at last, ‘we were talking about Master Lackpenny and Mistress Armiger, both of whom I’ve seen before.’ I proceeded to tell her about their meeting on the water-steps of Baynard’s Castle and how I had noticed the former landing on Wednesday evening from Edward Woodville’s barge.
She was immediately intrigued, as I had known she would be, by the implied romance, but she was quicker-witted than that. ‘And you said nothing to Master Plummer?’ she queried with raised eyebrows and a little accusatory smile hovering on her lips.
‘It didn’t seem important at the time,’ I excused myself, saying nothing of having seen my smart young gent in Stinking Lane.