Murder at Hatfield House: An Elizabethan Mystery

by Carmack, Amanda

  “Princess Elizabeth says so as well. But I know we have to find who is really behind these murders before the queen’s men will free my father. Her Grace has asked for my help, yet it seems such a tangled knot.” A knot she was most determined to unravel.

  “What do you know so far? Here . . .” Anthony found some blank sheets of paper, a quill, and ink in the writing desk, and righted a fallen stool for her. “Write down everyone you suspect and why. Perhaps we can find some connection between them, or with Braceton.”

  Kate laughed. “Your lawyer’s mind at work again, I see.”

  “We must be logical, even as events would seem to have no logic at all. It’s the only way we can begin to unravel your tangled knot.”

  “‘We’?”

  “I’m here to help you however I can, Kate. I’m your friend, am I not?”

  Kate glanced up at him as he leaned against the table next to her, his jaw tight and his eyes darkened as he looked down at the paper. Her friend—aye, he had long been that, and she was grateful for it. She’d had few enough friends in her life. But now she felt doubly happy to think she was not alone. That Anthony would stand with her, that in the midst of all the fear and confusion, she could hold on to him.

  Yet she felt something else as she looked up into his eyes, something new and strange—yet another confusion. She thought of a line from one of her favorite songs, a plaintive tale of lost love and impossible hopes.

  There was no time now to dwell on such things. No time ever, really. He had a future as a prosperous lawyer to look forward to, and he needed money and connections to do that. She was merely a musician singing for her supper. No matter how handsome and kind he was, how much she liked him, they could never be a match. Better to focus on what she did have some hope of solving—the mystery of Braceton’s murder, not to mention the other tragedies that had fallen upon Hatfield recently.

  She turned away from Anthony’s steady gaze and dipped the quill into the inkwell. Her thoughts were racing.

  “The main difficulty is that we know nothing of Lord Braceton’s life at court,” she said. “He made so many enemies here, in the short time he was among us, that I’m sure he must have dozens of them in London.”

  “Anyone who lives by the monarch and the court makes enemies,” Anthony said. “But who is near enough physically to have done this thing? Let us just start with what we do know.”

  Kate nodded. “There is the vicar, Master Payne. I saw him just before we found Braceton’s body, and he seemed wilder than ever, damning all the sinners. Braceton was a Catholic, a queen’s man, surely associated with those who ousted Master Payne from his church and his comfortable vicarage. If he thought Braceton had something to do with leaving Ned in the church in such a vile way—”

  “What if he killed Ned himself to leave a strong message for the papists?”

  Kate glanced up to find him frowning down at her so far blank page. “Would he do such a thing? A churchman? I am sure they are connected, but I know not in what way yet.”

  “If his mind is disordered, who knows what he might do? Perhaps he thinks one sin would remedy a greater one, would punish the wicked Catholics and show them what he sees as the evil of their ways. A necessary sacrifice for the greater good. And when that did not work, he killed Braceton himself.”

  Kate could see in his words a terrible kind of logic. So many people, Catholic and Protestant, had been willing to die terrible deaths for their beliefs. Would not some kill for them as well? Especially those like Master Payne, so obsessed with sin and sinners. She wrote “Master Payne” on the list, as well as her reasons for suspecting him.

  But would the vicar have been cool and steady enough to fire those arrows so accurately? Kate tapped the quill on her chin as she considered that, and then added it to her list with a question mark.

  “Who else could there be?” Anthony said.

  “There is Ned’s father, I suppose. He vowed revenge on whoever killed his son, and now he has vanished. Perhaps he thought Braceton was responsible for Ned’s death and killed him before fleeing.”

  “Most plausible. But surely he did not kill his son, or shoot Braceton’s servant with that arrow before they even arrived at Hatfield.”

  “He could have used the arrows to kill Braceton to throw people off his trail and make them think it was someone else, if he was involved in some plot.”

  “What do you know of the man before he came here?”

  Kate shrugged. She had asked around the kitchens just such questions, but there weren’t many answers. “Not much. Poor Ned couldn’t speak, and I took little notice of the man, for I didn’t know he was Ned’s father. He worked in the stables at the Rose and Crown, I think. It was the innkeeper who asked Princess Elizabeth to take Ned into her household for kindness.” She tried to remember what she had been told since Ned’s murder. “I think he was in the army, perhaps with King Philip and Robert Dudley in France. And surely Elizabeth would take in anyone who knew Dudley.”

  “If he was a soldier, he would have the skills and nerve to do such a thing,” Anthony said. “And the first bowman could have just been a highwayman, a random crime.”

  “Possibly,” Kate said. “But it would be a strange coincidence indeed if Braceton was attacked with an arrow twice. It must be someone with some military expertise of some sort. And then there is Master Cartman, the actor. He has also disappeared.”

  “Ah, yes. The actors,” Anthony said wryly. “They must always be considered.”

  “What have you against Master Cartman and his men, Anthony?” Kate said, unaccountably piqued that he would so dismiss the Cartmans. Rob especially.

  “Did you not think it strange, the way they appeared so fortuitously at Hatfield while Braceton was there?”

  “Sir William Cecil sent them.”

  “And did Cecil have them perform that play you told me about? The one that made Lord Braceton so angry?”

  Kate shook her head. “Master Robert said that his uncle claimed so, but Sir William has ever been a prudent and cautious man in the past.”

  “Aye. How else has he stayed out of Queen Mary’s prisons?”

  “He would not have brought Jane Grey to Braceton’s attention, or the princess’s, surely. But who would have sent that play? And for what purpose?”

  “To make trouble, of course. Yet trouble for the princess, or for Braceton? What did Braceton have to do with Lady Jane?”

  “I don’t know. We must find out.” Kate wrote Master Cartman’s name on her list, along with a question mark. Master Cartman himself might have vanished, but perhaps Rob knew more than he had said thus far. “They have gone to Leighton Abbey, where they were engaged to perform before Master Cartman disappeared.”

  “Leighton Abbey. The members of the Eaton family are firm Protestants, and have lived most quietly since Mary took the throne. I wonder why they would want plays and merriment now.”

  “Their home was once one of the largest religious houses in the area, I think,” Kate said. “At Brocket, the cook told me many Catholics have been trying to seize Protestant estates before Queen Mary makes them forfeit to the church again. Perhaps the Eatons were one of the families so targeted. Maybe Braceton even had his own eye on the property. And Lady Eaton was great friends with the Duchess of Suffolk, Lady Jane’s mother. Surely something would be known there about this scheme for grabbing estates before it’s too late.”

  Anthony glanced down at her sharply. “You aren’t thinking of going to Leighton yourself, Kate?”

  “I might have to. The princess said I should find out whatever I can, and there isn’t much to discover here.”

  “You will not go alone, then. I will go with you.”

  “Anthony, nay! You must stay here and watch over Master Hardy’s offices.” Kate suddenly realized she had taken over her friend’s time to help with her own troubles, when he had plenty of trouble of his own.

  “Master Hardy has been swept up in the events just as every
one else has. I can best help him by helping you.” He quirked his brow at her. “And as your friend, I can’t let you go running around the countryside by yourself. It isn’t safe.”

  Kate knew better than to argue with him when he sounded like this, so assured and determined. It was the lawyer’s mind again, not to be swayed. And truth be told, she would be very glad not to be alone now. “Very well. Tomorrow we will go to Leighton Abbey. For right now, our list is very small.” She read aloud what she’d written. “Master Payne. Ned’s father, who as far as we know is still at his sister’s house recovering from his grief. Someone who wants an estate that belongs to someone else, or an owner who wants to hold on to it. Master Cartman, or someone connected to him who gave him that play. Lord Ambrose, perhaps, or one of his enemies? He is a queen’s man.”

  “Very possibly. He is said to be in France now, but he was one of the jurors who convicted Lady Jane and her husband.”

  “And surely Lord Ambrose knew Lord Braceton. Yet another question to answer.” Kate added it to the bottom of her list. “I will think on this more tonight. Surely there must be somewhere else we need to go after Leighton.”

  After she sanded and blotted the list and tucked it away in her purse, she left Anthony to clean up the last of the papers from the office and right the furniture as best he could. They promised to meet outside the village the next morning to make their way to Leighton Abbey, and she hurried back to Hatfield before it could grow dark.

  But at the kitchen door, she found a sight that had become too familiar of late. Maids weeping, and guards everywhere.

  “Oh, Mistress Haywood, thank heavens you have returned safely!” Cora cried, wringing her gnarled hands on her apron.

  “I only walked into the village on a few errands,” Kate said. “Why, what has happened?”

  Cora gestured toward Peg, who sat on a bench by the door, crying into her sleeve. Her hair was in disarray, her skirt stained, and Kate feared that something bad had indeed happened. Again.

  “Peg went into the woods to gather some mushrooms for the princess’s dinner,” Cora said, her face drawn and creased with worry. “And she found Master Cartman’s body under a pile of leaves. The poor man was stabbed right through the heart.”

  CHAPTER 17

  “I don’t think it is a good idea for you to look for this man alone, Kate,” Anthony said with a scowl.

  Kate laughed, even though this was all far from a lighthearted matter, what with Rob needing to be informed about his uncle’s death. But she couldn’t quite help it when she saw the black frown on Anthony’s face. He had insisted on going with her to Leighton Abbey when he learned of her intentions to find Rob and tell him herself, and also take the opportunity to look for clues. To see Rob’s reaction to the news.

  “I am not alone, Anthony,” she said as they turned a corner on the lane and found themselves just at the edge of Leighton’s stone walls. “You are with me. I feel quite safe.”

  And she did feel safe, with him beside her. His presence seemed to comfort her. And she had to admit she would like to hear his reactions to whatever they found at Leighton.

  “Only because I discovered what you intended and insisted on going with you,” Anthony said, still scowling. “You should not be alone with that actor. I do not trust him, especially after this nasty business with his uncle. How can you be sure the nephew is not also involved?”

  Kate shook her head. She could not be sure—of course she could not. But she wanted to be sure. “I don’t think—”

  “Who goes there? Show yourself!” someone suddenly shouted from beyond the wall, cutting off her words.

  Kate peeked around the corner of the garden wall, but Anthony held on to her arm to keep her back. The sun was sinking below the chimneys of Leighton Abbey, and they had only just found where the actors were staying. The cart was lodged just beyond the formal gardens in a copse of trees, its paint brilliant red and yellow against the dark gray gloom. Trunks and cases were scattered around it, and a recently doused fire smoked, but it seemed most of the troupe was already in the house. Only Robert and a couple of others were still there.

  “I demand that you show yourself!” Rob called out again. His fist closed around the hilt of the sword at his belt.

  Kate tossed a reassuring smile at Anthony and slid away from his restraining hand to step around the wall. “’Tis only me, Master Robert.”

  Rob’s gaze narrowed and he drew his sword free. “Who are you? What do you want here, lad?”

  Kate had forgotten she wore a disguise, a boy’s hose and doublet she had borrowed from one of the Hatfield pages. She quickly snatched off her cap and let some of her brown hair fall free. “It’s Kate, Rob. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

  “Kate! What are you doing here?” Rob quickly put away his sword and hurried toward her. “And dressed like that. Not that it doesn’t become you very well.”

  “We had to travel fast, and it seemed we would attract less attention if I was a boy. And we didn’t know if you would really be here. We had to be very careful.”

  “‘We’?”

  Kate gestured toward Anthony, who moved to stand close behind her, watchful and protective as always. “My friend, Master Anthony Elias. He brought me here.”

  A crooked smile touched the corner of Rob’s mouth. “Ah, yes. The lawyer’s boy. Quite the lady’s squire, I hear.”

  Anthony scowled. “’Tis more meet to find honest work in the law than roam the countryside like a vagabond. Kate insisted on coming here, and being her friend, I would assist her.”

  “And you took a most eager interest in her—insistence, I see.”

  Kate glanced between them. They watched each other with a taut, tense wariness that made her think of a bearbaiting. She didn’t understand it at all. Surely they hardly knew each other? Yet they showed every sign of wanting to duel.

  Kate gave an impatient sigh. There was no time now for such manly nonsense.

  “Never mind that now,” she said, stepping between them. She felt a bit silly, considering they were both so much taller than she was. “We have much to do and very little time.”

  Rob turned away from Anthony to smile down at her. “Why are you here, fair Kate? Dare I hope you missed me?”

  “None of that now,” she answered sternly. “I fear we bring you unwelcome news.”

  “Unwelcome news?”

  “Aye.” Kate took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Rob, I am afraid there is no sweetened way to say this. It concerns—well—your uncle was found dead in the woods near Hatfield. He was murdered. I am so very sorry. I insisted on coming here to tell you myself.”

  Rob’s teasing grin vanished and his eyes went dark. After a long moment he said, “I feared as much when he did not return.”

  “And Braceton too was killed. Which makes four deaths in only a few days.”

  “And you came all this way to tell me this? That was kind of you, Kate.”

  “She came because the Lady Elizabeth wants to be sure you had naught to do with these crimes, Master Cartman,” Anthony interjected in a hard voice. “Your appearance at Hatfield, the play you performed—”

  “Do you dare accuse me?” Rob said, his hand going again to his sword hilt.

  “We wish only to find out all we can to discover the murderer,” Kate said. She wished she could box both their ears. Time was wasting, and there was much she needed to discover. “Your uncle is dead, Rob, and my father and Anthony’s employer have been arrested. The princess is confined to her rooms. We must find out what is happening, and quickly, before anyone else is hurt.”

  Rob fell back a step and rubbed his hand over his eyes. “You’re quite right, Kate. Yet I fear I’m baffled.”

  “As are we all,” Kate confessed. “Was your uncle in some sort of trouble, then? In debt to someone who could force him to show that play?”

  “I know nothing about the play, except what I’ve already told you,” Rob said. “My uncle brought the manuscript
back from one of his journeys to London and seemed most insistent we learn it quickly. But once we were here, he seemed to change his mind. He was restless, angry. He had always been quick-tempered, but was more so than ever.”

  “Yet he did have you perform it in the end.”

  “And you saw what happened.”

  Kate nodded. “It infuriated Lord Braceton. And seemed to frighten him as well. Most strange. Had he anything to do with Jane Grey?”

  Rob shrugged. “He knew our patron, Lord Ambrose, I think, but Ambrose has been in France for some time now.”

  “And Lord Ambrose was on the jury that convicted Lady Jane,” Anthony said.

  “We had naught to do with any of that,” Rob insisted. “We are merely vagabond players, as you so aptly point out, Master Elias. We can’t afford to be mixed up in court plots.”

  “Yet it seemed your uncle was, in some way,” Kate said. She carefully studied Rob’s face. He did seem baffled and saddened by his uncle’s death, but he was an actor. And he had been in too many places at too convenient a time.

  Rob’s face suddenly darkened, as if he sensed her suspicious thoughts. “I had naught to do with any of this. I did my best for my uncle because he took me in when my parents died. But I could not be a traitor.” He reached inside his loosened doublet and took out a ripped and smeared note, holding it out to her. “I was meeting a lady when my uncle was killed, a lady whose company I have enjoyed before. She sent me this, and others, to tell me when it was safe to meet her. If needs be, she will vouch for me to your princess, but I would rather not involve her in any of this.”

  Kate felt a most unwelcome stab of what seemed horribly like jealousy as Rob told her about his mistress. But she made herself glance at the note, which was written in a pretty hand that surely meant the lady had some education.

  “It does seem as if he was at an assignation,” she murmured. Rob tucked the note away with a curt nod, and Anthony’s frown eased the merest amount.

  Kate turned to study the house, outlined by the setting sun. It was typical of a grand house built from monastic structures, its gray stone austere and chilly. The church was gone, but the living quarters were built over the old cloisters, which still stared out with blank arched windows. Two new octagonal towers stood at either end, no doubt built for banqueting and festivities. Not that people like the Eatons had found much cause for merriment since Mary became queen. She must get in there somehow.