Chapter Twelve
Harcourt wondered what the punishment was for beating a sheriff.
The man seated at the table eating and drinking too much from Glencullaich’s larder was not going to be any help.
It had been a waste of time to even send for the man.
Sir Thomas MacQueen was not actually interested in doing his job.
That he was kin to Sir Adam should have warned him that the man would do nothing, but other sheriffs dealt justice out to their kinsmen all the time and without hesitation when it was deserved.
It was possible, he thought, that Sir Adam had bribed the oaf in some way.
“The mon kidnapped the laird of Glencullaich and twice tried to take Lady Annys as weel,” said Harcourt. “Ye cannae just ignore that.”
“I am nay ignoring it but ye have no proof any of that was done by Sir Adam.”
“They were his men. Ye spoke to the mon we hold, the one who stampeded the cattle. He told ye he was hired by Sir Adam MacQueen.”
“Aye”—the sheriff sat back and rubbed his rounded belly—“but Sir Adam wasnae the one who told him to do that, was he. And that lass? Weel, she wasnae talking to Sir Adam, either, was she. Best ye have is the right to accuse Sir Adam’s man Clyde and t’will still be that mon’s word against some witless kitchen maid. ”
“Get out,” Harcourt said, wanting the man out of his sight as quickly as possible.
“What?” The sheriff lumbered to his feet looking a strange mixture of shocked and afraid.
“Ye heard me. Get out.”
“Why so harsh? Because I willnae let ye falsely accuse a mon who has been cheated of what is rightfully his by some wee bastard?”
Harcourt was not surprised when the sheriff paled for he suspected the glare he sent the man revealed just how murderous he was feeling.
“Nay, because ye have no respect for the law. I suspicion Sir Adam has bought ye, although I hope he didnae pay verra much. Sir Adam has no claim here, nay by any law, for Sir David MacQueen, the laird, clearly declared Benet his son, born within the bounds of marriage to Lady Annys. And, Sir Adam will lose this game. Ye will have disgraced your office and your name for naught. Now, leave.”
After the man hurried away, Harcourt poured himself a tankard of ale. He had almost finished it all before his fury receded. He sighed when Nicolas and Callum arrived and joined him at the table.
“No help at all, was he,” said Callum as he helped himself to some cider.
“Nay. He sits firmly in Sir Adam’s pocket,” replied Harcourt.
“Then we will deal out justice on our own.”
“I was trying to avoid that tangle.”
“I ken it, but that fool has tossed it all right into our laps. He will regret that.”
“Oh, aye, he will.” Harcourt heard the force of a vow behind his words and could see that the other two men did as well. “I cannae understand how the mon e’er became a knight, let alone a sheriff. His corruption runs bone deep.”
“Happens more often than ye may think,” said Nicolas.
“Any more from that idiot of a maid?” he asked.
“Nay. She still does naught but cry and she continues to claim she didnae ken what she was doing. Geordie demanded he be moved to someplace quieter or just to get his hanging over and done so he can get some peace.” Nicolas grinned when the others laughed.
“Ye dinnae believe her.”
“Nay, dinnae believe a word she says. If it had been a quick poison she gave David, I might, but it was a slow one. She may be dull of wit but no one is so much so that they wouldnae see what they were doing was causing a terrible sickness in the mon.”
Callum nodded. “I think she kens verra weel what she did, e’en what she was helping Sir Adam to do. When I spoke to her about an hour past, she said something to make me think she believed she was about to better herself, that she would come out of all this placed far above a mere kitchen maid.”
Harcourt shook his head. “Witless lass. Annys said she heard something similar when she listened to what Clyde and Biddy said to each other. It appalled her. Biddy is an utter fool to have ever thought she would get what was being promised. Within minutes after Sir Adam set his arse in the laird’s chair all she would have been is dead. ”
“Weel, what she is now is gone,” said Gybbon as he entered the hall. “Someone set her free.”
“How?” asked Harcourt.
“Nay certain but do suspect it was one of her sisters who did it. They must have given Geordie something because he is surrounded by tankards and snoring loud enough to shake the mortar out of the walls. The lass was facing a hanging and mayhap they couldnae bear the thought.”
Rubbing his head to ease a growing ache there, Harcourt said, “Pick some men and try and find her.”
“She will try to reach her lover,” said Callum.
“And if she reaches him before we find her, she will die.”
“Aye, probably ere she e’en finishes asking for help.”
Harcourt sighed and rubbed his leg. His stitches were out now and the wound fully closed, but it still ached from time to time.
It had been exactly a fortnight since he had been wounded and he knew he had healed well, even quickly, considering the severity of the wound, but that reminder did not always still his irritation over a lingering weakness.
“Any word from those two idiots?”
“Just that they are still alive. Hard to kill MacFingals. Sometimes ’tis hard to realize ye probably should kill them.”
Harcourt smiled briefly. “Still alive is enough although I hope they can give us some useful news soon. I best go and report all of this to Annys,” he said, reluctant to give her what could only be called bad news.
“I think a part of her will be a bit relieved that Biddy has fled,” said Callum. “She wasnae looking forward to having to mete out the justice needed.”
Standing up, Harcourt nodded. “I ken it. ’Tis a hard thing for anyone with heart to see done nay matter how certain they are of the person’s guilt. But, I also think she was hoping for some answers, some reason for why Biddy did what she did.”
“She heard the reasons. She just doesnae want to believe that could be all.”
“It will be hard for her to accept that sometimes greed is all there is that makes some people do the evil they do.”
No one argued that and Harcourt left to go talk to Annys. She, too, was healed now, although the signs of all the bruises she had suffered still lingered as did a faint limp. He smiled as he rapped on her bedchamber door. They now had matching gaits.
Annys called out an invitation to enter and he let himself in, quietly shutting the door behind him.
He stood and savored the sight of her for a moment.
She still wore her hair unbound though he knew the ache in her head caused by her fall had faded.
A simple green gown flattered both the blood-red color of her hair and her green eyes.
When she smiled a greeting at him, his heart skipped and he had to smile back at her, a little amused by how besotted he was.
“I saw the sheriff ride away,” she said.
“Aye, that proved to be a great waste of my time,” he said as he moved to sit beside her on the bench by the window. “Ye have these benches everywhere.”
“I like the natural light to do my sewing and needlework. Joan likes to say that she just looks to see where the sun is in the sky if she needs to find me.”
“Something to remember.” He ignored the wary look she gave him “The sheriff isnae only a kinsmon of Sir Adam’s.
I strongly suspect he is bought and paid for by the mon.
He had no interest in what I was telling him, the accusations and proof I offered, and is obviously a believer in Sir Adam’s claim that Glencullaich is his by right. ”
“So yet another MacQueen does his duty by Adam whilst giving no blood or coin to the fight.” Annys shook her head as she put her needlework aside.
“They are all in league with him if nay actually armed and standing by his side. They are like carrion crows, sitting about in the trees waiting for the winner of the fight to emerge so that they may get a few scraps to feed on. I cannae believe David or Nigel shared blood with those people.”
“Aye, their relationship is hard to see.” He took a deep breath and said, “Biddy has escaped.”
“Och, nay.” Annys shook her head, her pleasure in the day quickly dimming. “We should have banished her sisters from the keep, but I dinnae have the heart to do it since I kenned Biddy would hang. She will be running to her lover, aye?”
“That is what I think.”
“Then she will soon pay for David’s death, just nay at our hands.”
Harcourt put his arm around her and held her close. “Unless we find her first. We will search for her. Callum told me they will begin the search for her. We may find her before she foolishly seeks out her lover.” He kissed her temple, savoring the light brush of her against his face.
“And then we will be forced to hang her. There is no victory to be found here.”
“She chose her path, Annys. And she is no innocent, for all she claims she didnae ken the laird would die. Her reasons for what she did are nay innocent ones, either. Nay honorable at all. She was doing all of it for her lover because he told her she would find herself in a position far above the one a mere kitchen maid holds.”
“She would be but one step below a laird’s wife,” Annys murmured.
“Clyde spoke of how he was going to raise her that high. I wanted there to be more reason, e’en if that more made no sense to me.
I wanted David’s death to have been for a reason, nay just greed.
’Tis so hard to believe he was murdered because a cousin wants more coin and a foolish kitchen maid wants finer gowns and someone to cook for her as she has always cooked for others.
Murdering a good mon for such petty reasons makes it all seem far more evil. ”
“Aye, it does. But, Annys, greed and envy kill many a good mon. Always has. Always will.”