‘I am sorry.’
‘I was thirty before I found anyone to marry me. Or rather, my father did. Father was a master carpenter and Michael advised him once over an unpaid debt. Michael had a few unpaid bills himself, he’d been involved in one of his crazy money-making schemes and my dowry saved him from the debtors’ prison.’ She sighed. ‘But God does not forget a sin, does he? He goes on punishing, punishing.’ She balled her work-roughened hands into fists.
‘The founder,’ I said.
She sat there a few seconds more, her fists clenched. When she spoke again there was tense resolution in her voice.
‘They made me give my son away to the nuns at St Helen’s. The nuns wouldn’t let me near, but I bribed a washerwoman to give me news. When he was fourteen the nuns got him an apprenticeship as a founder.
‘And then, when he was free of the nuns, I made myself known to David. I’ve visited with him every week since then.’ She smiled then, a triumphant little smile.
‘And then Sepultus took house with you and was looking for a founder to help in his work?’
Her eyes widened. ‘How do you know that?’
‘I guessed.’
‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want David involved in this terrible thing.’
‘Madam, your son could be in danger if others know of his involvement. And he has nothing to fear if all he has been doing is honest work.’
She half rose. ‘Danger? David in danger?’
I nodded. ‘But if you tell me where he is, Lord Cromwell will protect him as he has you.’
She spoke quickly. ‘His name is David Harper. It was my maiden name. He is junior to another man, Peter Leighton of Lothbury. It was Leighton that Sepultus worked with.’
‘Does Master Leighton work on repairing the conduits?’
She looked at me sharply. ‘How did you know?’
‘Another guess.’
She stood up. ‘I’ll go to David now. Warn him. I’ll have to prepare him before he’ll see you—the founders are a close bunch.’
‘Very well, but I must see him and this man Leighton.’
‘Can I send word to you?’
I nodded and gave her my address.
‘You will help us, sir?’ she asked tremulously, an anxious mother, all her harshness gone.
‘I will do all I can, I promise. And I will see that watchman of yours, make sure he stays alert. Take him to Lothbury with you. Keep all your doors locked.’ I remembered the crossbow. ‘And shutter the windows.’
‘But it’s so hot—’
‘It would be safer.’ Pockface and now this young man; I remembered the two sets of bloody footsteps. I had known there were two of them.
Chapter Seventeen
IT WAS A RELIEF TO reach the river stairs. The tide was full, temporarily drowning the stinking mud, and a welcome breeze came off the river. There was no sign of Barak, so I left Chancery at the stables and stood looking at the high warehouses of the merchants of the Hanseatic League, for whom Brother Bealknap acted. The ancient privileges to trade with Baltic ports of these German merchants were increasingly flouted by English merchant adventurers, such as the one who had brought the strange drink from the far reaches of that cold sea. Bealknap could have known about the Polish stuff from his mercantile contacts, it could have been through him that it came to the Gristwoods.
I hitched my satchel over my shoulder. The river was crowded, not only with passengers going up and down and across to Southwark but with people of the wealthier sort who had hired tilt boats to ride upon the water and enjoy the breeze. Everywhere brightly coloured sails passed to and fro. I glanced over them, wondering if Lady Honor and her maids might be among them.
There was a touch at my shoulder; I turned to see Barak there.
‘Did you find anything at the Guildhall?’ I asked curtly, for I was still annoyed by his treatment of Guy.
‘Ay, I got a list of names of founders who work on the conduit.’ He looked shamefaced and I wondered whether he was beginning to realize that his rough ways with people were not suited to the delicacy of this investigation.
‘And I was able to get the information I needed from Goodwife Gristwood.’ I told him all she had said. He passed me the list and I nodded. Peter Leighton’s name was prominent.
‘Good, that’s useful. It confirms we’re on the right track.’
‘I called in at the Old Barge, too,’ Barak said. ‘I’ve asked for any messages to be sent both there and to your house. There’s a note from Cromwell’s clerk. Bealknap does do a little work for the Hanse merchants and also some French ones—routine stuff declaring imports at the Custom House.’
‘I wonder how much he rakes off.’
‘The link with the French is dangerous.’ He looked at me seriously. ‘Imagine French fireships sailing up the Thames.’
‘I’d rather not.’
‘I’ve remembered where I saw Bealknap before, by the way.’