The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse

Author:Kate Mosse [Mosse, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2018-05-02T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY

CARCASSONNE

Blanche pressed another coin into Marie’s hand. ‘I have no further need of your assistance.’

‘If there was a position in your service, my lady, would you consider me? I am a hard worker, I would travel anywhere, the further away from Carcassonne the better, and I—’

‘Enough.’ Having gathered the information she needed, Blanche wanted rid of the girl. ‘I have no need of a lady’s maid.’

Marie flushed. Blanche waited for the girl to vanish into one of the alleyways leading from the square. She then summoned her manservant, who had been following at a discreet distance since they had left the bishop’s palace.

‘Prepare the carriage for immediate departure. We will continue to Puivert as soon as my business here is concluded.’

He bowed and took his leave.

Blanche walked to the Joubert house. A wild rose trailed, uncut, above the lintel. From Marie, she knew the household was made up of Joubert himself – his wife having died in the last plague epidemic some five years previously – and his three children: a nineteen-year-old called Marguerite, known as Minou, who was unmarried and still lived at home; a thirteen-year-old boy by the name of Aimeric, and a younger girl called Alis.

Blanche considered the possibilities. It was frustrating to discover the two oldest were currently in Toulouse. At seven years old, Alis was too young to be of interest. If only Blanche had known this, she would not have come to Carcassonne.

No matter. God was at her side. All things happened for a reason and in accordance with His plan.

Blanche crossed herself, then knocked on the door. Marie Galy had a low opinion of the Joubert maid, dismissing her as dim-witted and clumsy. She did not therefore anticipate any difficulty in gaining access. Beyond that, she had no plan. She waited. When the maid did not come, she tried the handle and discovered the door was unlocked.

Her first impression was of a well-kept house. The maid was clearly not as much of a slattern as Marie had led her to believe. The hooks in the passageway shone, a wooden chest polished as bright as a looking glass. Blanche opened the lid, releasing the familiar smell of beeswax. A pile of neatly folded linen lay inside, threadbare but carefully stitched. A possible hiding place for a document of value? She lifted the cloth, but her eye saw nothing of interest.

She followed a smell of burnt milk to the kitchen, prepared to confront the maid at work, but that room was empty too. The blackened pan stood just outside the open back door. Beyond the small yard, a gate to the street was swinging. Had the maid been in her service, Blanche would have had her beaten for such slackness.

She opened the dresser and started to search through the drawers, finding nothing of note. She regretted not going first to the Joubert bookshop in the Bastide. It was more likely any legal documents would be kept there, rather than in the family home. Then again, it was Minou she wanted.

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