Free Murder at Hatfield House by Amanda Carmack Page B

her fireplace. “I fear my friends suffer so much for their kind services to me. But be assured I will always help whenever I can. I do not forget loyalty.”
    Elizabeth sat down in the cushioned cross-backed chair farthest from the window and gestured for Kate to sit on the low stool beside her. “What news in the village?” she asked quietly.
    “Little enough, I fear, Your Grace,” Kate answered. She told her of the scraps of gossip she’d heard in the shop and from Anthony, and of seeing Master Payne in the churchyard and of what she found in his house. She wished she could have provided more news, that she could have found more.
    “Could the parson have done this thing, do you think?” Elizabeth said, tapping her fingertips anxiously on the armrest.
    “I am not sure, though I did try to find out. I think perhaps he did see something—it is difficult to make sense of his ramblings. He ran away before I could question him further.” She didn’t mention the bit about fornicators.
    “Aye, he has been sadly out of his right wits for some time, even when he was parson,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. “It was brave of you to even try to question him; most people won’t go near him. And you say Lord Braceton was at Bacon’s house before he came here?”
    “That is what I heard. No one could be sure what he was doing there, as none of the servants from Gorhambury have been to the village. I do wonder if perhaps he or the servant who was killed found out something there someone would go to extreme measures to conceal,” Kate mused. “Shall I go out again tomorrow, Your Grace, and try to find out more? I could surely come up with some pretext to call on the local farms.”
    Elizabeth frowned and shook her head. “Not as yet, I think, Kate—especially if there is a matter someone would kill to protect. We mustn’t call undue attention to Hatfield. I will write to Sir William Cecil, who is surveyor of my properties and thus has a fine excuse to visit us. He is Bacon’s brother-in-law, and might very well know something.”
    Kate felt a touch of excitement at the thought that something could be discovered soon. They had been isolated at Hatfield for so long. “Surely Lord Braceton will be gone soon, Your Grace, just as the others before him.”
    “I do hope so. But there is something overbold about Braceton, as if he knows something we don’t—or thinks he knows something. He has some errand here, beyond merely finding heretical books, that I cannot yet see, and he is most determined to carry it out.”
    Elizabeth sat in silence for a long moment as she stared into the empty fireplace. Kate could hear Lady Pope shifting restlessly on the cushioned seat, but even she dared not try to tell Elizabeth what to do in that quiet tension. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, and the air felt heavy.
    “Aye, I shall write to Cecil this very night,” Elizabeth said, loudly enough for the other ladies to hear. “It is past time I looked over the accounts for my properties. You must go see to your father, Kate. I will have more wine sent to him.”
    “You should dine soon yourself, my lady,” Lady Pope said. She was always particular about keeping to set mealtimes. “The hour grows late. Should I order the food served in the hall tonight?”
    “I will have something in here,” Elizabeth said. “My head still aches, and I doubt the kitchen staff is in any order to prepare a large meal after their treatment this afternoon. You and Sir Thomas may dine with our—guests, if you so choose.”
    As Lady Pope tried to argue with Elizabeth that all due courtesy must be shown to the queen’s emissary, Kate quickly curtsied and hurried out of the room. She wanted to find the quiet of her own small room, to try to make some sense of the strange day just past. To try to piece together something from the scraps of information floating in her mind.
    She met Peg hurrying up the stairs. The maid held a letter clutched