Lina Walkenden welcomed the arrival of Andrew Needham at Sir Walter Pendennis’s lodgings in Blackfriars not so much because she liked her friend’s husband’s friend but because her companions were slowly driving her mad. Jennet Jaffrey, always forward even for an upper servant, let her disapproval show in every comment she made, every look she sent in Lina’s direction. Lady Appleton, although she tried to hide it, was deeply disappointed in her former charge. Lina had disregarded all those lectures she’d given the girls in her household, the ones about thinking through the consequences before taking action.
It was not my fault, Lina thought. I knew what I wanted and went after it.
She had miscalculated only in thinking that she could put up with Alessandro Portinari’s embraces. At his age, she had not expected her marriage to be of long duration. He’d die – of natural causes – and leave her a wealthy widow, the best of all possible conditions a woman could hope for. Then she’d met Tommaso and discovered that physical attraction was a more powerful force than she’d imagined. Tommaso had spoiled her for other men. Even before Cecily Kendall’s horrifying revelations, Lina had been dreading the nights she would have to spend in her elderly husband’s bed.
‘And so,’ Andrew was saying when she began to listen again, ‘it seems that Master Portinari is not the murderer. Rob sent me to tell you this while he searches for the watchman who passed by that night.’ He considered the expression on Lina’s face, his own most solemn. ‘I thought this news would please you. We have made progress.’
‘You have eliminated as a suspect the person I would most like to see blamed.’ She spoke slowly, half convinced Needham was a lack-wit.
‘But if the apprentice saw that much, someone else may have seen more, if not the watch, then the link boy Portinari hired.’
Lina did not hold out much hope. She cursed the inconvenient feelings of guilt that had driven her to return to London just to tell Rosamond something she had already discovered on her own. It would have been better to remain in Kent and even more prudent to have stayed locked in her chamber on that fateful night when murder had been done. That way, no suspicion would have fallen on her, and someone else would have discovered Hugo’s body.
A sob escaped her. Had she done anything right?
She gave a start when Andrew Needham’s arm came around her shoulders and he drew her to him, cradling her head against his chest. ‘No tears, I beg you. I cannot stand to see you so unhappy.’
Lina might have appreciated the gesture and the sentiment more if the braiding on his doublet had not bitten painfully into her cheek. She pushed him away, words of rejection trembling on her lips. They never made it out of her mouth. At that moment, the door to Sir Walter’s lodgings flew open and a half dozen armed men burst into the outer chamber.
Jennet screamed.
Lady Appleton cursed.
Lina stumbled to her feet, backing away from the intruders. She held her hands up in front of her as if to ward off a blow.
Needham stepped in to shield her with his own body. ‘Who are you? What do you want?’
Lina heard the sneer in the officious voice of the man who answered. ‘We have come to arrest a fugitive. Give us Godlina Walkenden.’
Lady Appleton swept forward. ‘I am Lady Appleton of Leigh Abbey in Kent. What authority do you have to take my young friend?’
‘She is accused of murder, madam. What more reason do I need to arrest her?’
Lina mustered sufficient courage to peer out from behind Andrew Needham’s bulk. The speaker was no one she had ever seen before. He towered over Lady Appleton, tall and skeletal. Even from the side, she could see that his lips were thin and lightly pursed. Then he turned his head to stare at her and she gasped. The cold, merciless expression on his face struck terror into her heart.
‘The right of sanctuary still exists in Blackfriars precinct,’ Lady Appleton announced. ‘No London authority has jurisdiction here.’
‘The queen’s writ runs everywhere. Stand aside.’ He directed this last command to Needham.
‘I will not.’
A scuffle ensued. Lina covered her eyes and kept them closed even when she heard her protector cry out in pain and exclamations of distress from Lady Appleton and Jennet. By then brutal hands had hold of her and she was being hauled out of Sir Walter’s lodgings by two great hulking brutes in leather jerkins. The others of the company formed a circle around them, making it impossible for Lina to see anything but large male bodies.
Lina’s two captors grasped her by the elbows and lifted her right off the ground. Moving at a fast trot through the precinct, they carried her in this manner all the way to Blackfriars Stairs and onto a small row barge. She was deposited on a bench and told to remain there by the leader of the ruffians. Since the vessel was already moving away from shore, she had little choice but to obey. She was not so desperate as to throw herself into the Thames in an effort to escape.
They did not travel far by water. Lina recognized the large landing place as Paul’s Wharf. She was taken ashore by way of the common stair at the bottom of Paul’s Wharf Hill and marched east for a short distance before the party turned north and went up a steep, hilly lane. Their destination was a large and ancient house currently undergoing renovations. She was escorted straight into a small room and there left alone with the leader of her captors. Eyes of such a pale blue that they were almost colorless regarded her with distaste.
‘Sit down.’ His imperious manner set her teeth on edge, but she obeyed as he seated himself on the other side of a small table.
An unobtrusive clerk slipped into the room to sit in a corner, ready to take notes. The inquisition began not with a question about Hugo Hackett’s murder but with an inquiry into her betrothal to Alessandro Portinari.
‘Why did you agree to marry someone who is not a native-born Englishman?’
‘I did not have any choice,’ Lina lied. ‘The decision was made by my sister’s husband.’
Her captor did not seem interested in Hugo. His next questions concerned her loyalty to queen and country and her willingness to, as he put it, ‘do a small service to earn your freedom.’
‘What service?’
‘It is a secret matter. I must be certain we can trust your discretion.’
Hugger-mugger, she thought. That could not be good. ‘I wish to clear my name,’ she said aloud.
‘If you do as you are told, you will be assured of a pardon, even if you are charged with so heinous a crime as murder.’
That was not quite the same thing, but given that no one knew where she had been taken, Lina feared she could be made to disappear forever if she refused to cooperate. ‘What is it you want me to do?’
‘Nothing so very onerous. You must contrive to befriend a man who will shortly be brought to this house under guard. Report everything he says to you, most especially if he requests that you take a message to his friends.’
The task sounded simple enough. ‘What do you hope I will learn from this man? And who is he?’
‘You need know nothing more at present.’
With that, he had her escorted to a bedchamber where food and drink had already been set out for her. It was a large, comfortable room … with bars on the windows.
Just before the door closed, Lina heard raised voices. One of them sounded familiar, but she told herself she must be mistaken. What possible dealings could Tommaso Sassetti have with the men who were holding her prisoner?