“Annys’s kitchens are a true pit of sin from what ye say. Can ye trust your lass?”
“Aye,” Callum said without hesitation. “I havenae told her why I ask so much, but she isnae a fool and I think she has guessed my game. She quickly began to tell me anything and everything about each one who works there. Peg grew even more of a fount of information after Benet was taken. The shades of outrage within the kitchens was another way I have fixed my interests and suspicions on but three of them, although I do believe Minna is innocent of betrayal. ’Tis only her closely held secret that makes me wonder.”
“Ye didnae discover this all between here and the great hall. Why come to tell me right now? Did ye e’en get a bite to eat?”
“Peg was waiting for me just inside the door of the great hall to quietly say that she had thought long and hard on what I was trying to discover and it suddenly occurred to her that ’tis nay just the problems with Sir Adam that have me asking questions. She said she thinks I have decided the laird was killed and am looking for the killer. Seems someone might have overheard our talk of poison. She told me that only three women dealt with the laird’s food.”
“The three ye already watch?”
“Aye. Biddy, Minna, and Adie.”
“Do ye ken why it is the maids in the kitchens who are the only ones amongst who a traitor has emerged?”
“Aside from the fact that the easiest way to poison someone ye badly want dead is to get to him through his food?”
“Aye, aside from that.”
“Weel, they are nay watched verra closely, are they. They go where they want as long as the meal is done weel and on time.” Callum smiled faintly. “No one wishes to cause trouble for the ones who feed them. ’Tis also verra easy for one of them to slip in and out of the keep. There are always errands to run and supplies needed. No one questions what they are doing. The entrance to the bolt-hole is verra close at hand so it is easy to sneak into. Those two things alone were why I set after one of those lassies.”
“Have ye found who nay longer has the key to the bolt-hole?”
“Dunnie found his. Nicolas found his yet seems to think something isnae right about it. It works so it is the key. Or a key. Joan found hers. So, Nicolas and I are thinking it may have been his key, stolen, and used to have another made. I have also made certain that the place where the tunnel comes out is weel guarded, but not too obviously.”
“We need to find which one of them is the guilty one as quickly as we can. Sir Adam is preparing for something, I am certain of it, and we cannae have anyone here who is willing to help him,” said Harcourt.
Callum nodded and stood up. “I mean to follow each one of them. May e’en get Nicolas to help. First will be Minnie. I need to ken what her secret is before I can dismiss her as the traitor.”
Harcourt settled back against his pillows after Callum left. They were close, he could feel it. Ending Sir Adam’s ability to get information about them would be the first true victory they had gained. Most everything else they had done had been little more than successful acts of defense. More was needed.
He greeted Nicolas with relief when the man arrived. Although he would do his best not to do too much that might risk aggravating the healing wound in his leg, he had to get out of the bed he had been trapped in for a sennight. Laughing at Harcourt’s eagerness, Nicolas helped him dress. When the man handed him a walking stick, Harcourt swore but took it.
It did not take many steps for Harcourt to realize a week in bed sapped a man’s strength. He should have remembered that, he thought as he almost collapsed in the seat at the table in the great hall. A few drinks of ale, set before him by a freckle-faced maid, were enough to revive him and he was pleased when the others joined him. They needed to make plans because he could not shake free of the certainty that Sir Adam would soon attack Glencullaich in force.
Annys scowled at what remained in the spice cupboard. Either Maura, the cook, had been too caught up with the troubles they were suffering from to notice how low their supply was getting or was just old enough now to become forgetful. There had also been a lot of the villagers staying at the keep who had needed to be fed, although most of those had been able to return home by now. If their spices were not replenished soon they would all be eating some very bland food.