Wicked Weaves (26 page)
Authors: Joyce Lavene,Jim
“It appears to me that she was here first.” Mary spoke without looking up from the bone that moved quickly around the coils of new grass. “Jessie’s a fine assistant, and she’s learning a craft. You sweep the shop. We’ll see what else we can find for you to do when you’re done.”
I sat back down and picked up some pine needles to thread with my sweetgrass. It wasn’t a good beginning for the mother-child reunion. “It would be all right if he worked with you.”
She huffed at me. “Maybe for you. Not for me. He can’t just come in and tell me how to run my shop. He may be my son, but he has a lot to learn.”
I heard a customer come into the shop and left Mary working on her basket. It was actually a man and woman dressed like Robin Hood and Maid Marion. It was probably one of the most popular costumes for visitors. “Can I help you, my lord and my lady?”
“We’re looking for a basket,” Marion told me. “It can’t be more than a foot high.”
“I think I see something for you, my lady.” I led them to the smaller baskets. “These baskets are made right here by our expert basket weaver.”
“Who doesn’t mind selling out her own people,” Jah said quite clearly.
“Ignore him, good sir and lady. He is only a simpleton who cleans this shop.” I glared at him but apparently not hard enough.
“My people were making baskets when your people were still gathering eggs in their skirts,” he growled. “None of you deserve to touch these works.”
Robin and Marion looked unsure and were about to leave when Mary came in through the back door. “Don’t pay him no mind. The boy is all mouth and no brain. I made these baskets to sell. My ancestors did what they had to do with theirs. I do what I want with mine.”
Jah opened his mouth to speak again, his hands still on the broom. Before he could say anything, Mary grabbed him by one ear and took him out the back door like a naughty child. It was amazing to see her, barely reaching his shoulder, yet she was in command.
I smiled at Robin and Marion again. “Have you decided, my lady?”
Marion bought three small baskets. Even though they were small, they were nicely priced. Of course, the price could never really equal the work that went into each piece, but I thought Mary made a fair living.
I crept toward the back door to find Jah sitting on the ground with the beginning of a basket in his lap. He and Mary weren’t saying anything to each other, but I thought that would change.
I watched his long fingers weave the sweetgrass around the bottom knot, sewing with the bone as he went. He fed the new grass into the coil with a uniformity only time and experience could achieve. I couldn’t tell yet what kind of basket he was creating, but I knew he was already a master of the craft.
I wanted to throw myself at his feet and ask him to teach me everything he knew until my hands moved with that same dexterity between the sweetgrass and the black rush. I knew better; the peace between Mary and her son was fragile. They’d have to find a way to get back what was lost between them before I could declare him my weaving idol.
Wicked Weaves’ front door opened again. It was Chase with Officer Grigg. “What do you think?”
I looked at Grigg. Chase had found a red hat and tunic with green breeches and matching boots for Grigg. He looked every inch the piper’s son from the rhyme. The only thing missing was a real pig, but I was sure Chase would find a way to supply that. “He looks great! Where are you going to put him?”
“He’ll be stationed near Mother Goose, but he’ll be free to wander the Village.”
“Queen Olivia sent her page to summon me to court this afternoon. Maybe you’d like to come with me?” I smiled up at Chase but was rudely interrupted by Grigg.
“Is that the woman who found the body?”
“Yes. But I doubt if that’s what she wants to talk about.” The piper’s son was going to have to learn his place in the hierarchy of the Village. Merchants were under royalty, but piper’s sons, especially those who stole pigs, were on the lower rung.
“I’ll walk over there with you,” Chase volunteered.
“So will I.”
We both stared at Grigg, then took turns trying to talk him out of going with us. I’d had a more leisurely pace in mind while traveling to the castle; one that would take us by the dungeon for a while. But that wasn’t going to happen if Grigg came along.
Grigg brandished his badge, which was stapled into the underside of his shirt. “If there’s any intelligence to be had about this crime, I want to be there to gather it.”
Chase finally gave up and shrugged. “Fine. Come along then. But don’t forget Village protocol; you have to walk ten paces behind us.”
Grigg nodded and tucked away his badge.
There was nothing more to say.
Grigg kept his respective distance behind us as we walked past the privies, Peasant’s Pub, and Bawdy Betty’s. “Good move,” I told Chase. “At least he’s not all up in our faces.”
“Yeah. Better than nothing,” Chase agreed. “I didn’t know he still had his badge.”
I giggled. “I wasn’t sure for a minute what he was going to pull out.”
Chase laughed with me and put his arm around my shoulders. It was hot and humid as it can only be on the southern coast. The fairies gave me dirty looks as we strolled down the King’s Highway. Adora at Cupid’s Arrow, a Renaissance boutique for lovers, smiled and waved a little. Beth Daniels from Stylish Frocks raced past us toward the castle with an arm full of dresses no doubt destined for Livy’s closet. The pirate ship was in full sail across Mirror Lake, which was only a few acres wide. But it made a gorgeous sight with the white sails blossoming against the clear blue sky and the turrets of the castle.
The master-at-arms greeted us at the gate. “I heard she’d sent for you. Go on in. You’re late already.”
“I did the best I could,” I argued. “I work for a living, you know.”
He shrugged brawny shoulders beneath leather padding. Gus Fletcher was a professional wrestler before he came to work at the Village. “Don’t matter to me. Explain it to
her
.”
her
.”
One of Livy’s ladies-in-waiting took us through the main entrance to the private quarters after taking a look at Grigg’s badge. The castle was divided into public and private sectors along with the King’s Feast and joust area. The biggest difference between the two areas was that the elaborate wall hangings and other ornamentation in the public sector were cheap fakes. In the private sector, Livy and Harry had the expensive Renaissance decorations, they thought were still faux.
Livy turned on me the minute I walked into her domain. “You took your own time about getting here, Jessie. I suppose my life being in danger because of what I know about that man’s death means nothing to you.”
Eighteen
I tried to calm Livy down, but even when she’s not using the royal
we
, she’s still pretty high maintenance. That day she was worse than usual, wringing her hands and pacing the floor. “Really, Livy, why would anyone want to kill you?”
we
, she’s still pretty high maintenance. That day she was worse than usual, wringing her hands and pacing the floor. “Really, Livy, why would anyone want to kill you?”
Her white face was blotchy from crying, and her red hair was a mess. “Because of what I know. I should’ve told the police, but I didn’t think anything of it until today.”
“What happened today?” Chase asked politely.
“The killer, aka Roger Trent, tried to get rid of me. He knew what I saw and must’ve been afraid I’d talk.”
Chase and I exchanged meaningful glances. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I remembered the monk’s robe I saw hanging in Roger’s shop. “Slow down and start at the beginning,” I encouraged. “We don’t know what you saw, so we don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She stared at Officer Grigg. “Who is this man, and why have you brought him into our presence?”
“I’m a police officer, ma’am.” Grigg stepped forward. “I’m here to solve this crime and set the Village to rights.”
Sensing a new and untried audience, Livy managed to swoon languidly on the brown brocade sofa behind her. “It’s all so terrible. I don’t know where to start.”
“How about at the beginning,” Chase suggested. “I assume that was the day we found Joshua Shift next to Wicked Weaves.”
“That’s right.” Livy’s lady-in-waiting fetched her a glass of water. “I was taking one of my usual strolls through the Village. I was wearing my new gown; it’s quite beautiful, really. The little seed pearls make all the difference.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “Sometime today would be nice.”
“You have become quite rude, Sir Bailiff. Methinks it may be your close association with Mistress Jessica. It has not gone beneath our notice.”
“In just a minute, I’m walking out, and if someone wants to kill you, they have my blessing.” Chase got to his feet.
Livy looked at Officer Grigg imploringly. “You see what we have to endure here, sir. Perhaps you can be of assistance to us.”
Grigg all but prostrated himself at Livy’s silk-slipper-clad feet. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
This was almost too much for me to watch. If it wasn’t for my curiosity about what Livy thought she saw the day Joshua was killed, I would’ve left. Instead, I took a deep breath and tried to be patient. “Tell us what you saw, please, Livy. We all want to help.”
“As I was saying, we were strolling through the Village when we saw Roger Trent slipping away from behind Wicked Weaves. He looked right at us, then put his head down and crossed the street to his glass shop.”
“Why was this mysterious?” Chase wondered.
“He was right where we found the body a few minutes later. If we wouldn’t have walked up the alley, we wouldn’t have seen anything. But Roger knows we saw him there and that we’ve realized he killed that poor man.”
“Just because he was there doesn’t mean anything,” I argued with her. “His shop is right across the street. He was probably walking around.”
“We might have believed that except today, someone followed us back to the castle. We barely made it inside before he pounced on us.”
“What made you think it was Roger?” Chase played with one of Livy’s snuff boxes that were on the table beside him.
“What about this?” She held up a blue polishing cloth. “This is the same kind of cloth Roger uses after he makes something.”
I had to admit she was right. When I was watching him at his shop, he had a dozen of them on his worktable. “But this really doesn’t prove anything. He walks around the Village. One of the cloths could’ve gotten lost.”
“Jessie’s right,” Chase agreed. “We have to have more proof before we accuse anyone of trying to hurt you. Especially since we have no proof he killed Joshua.”
Livy cried prettily into her lace hankie. “Do I have to die before someone takes action?” She completely forgot the royal
we
. She had to be upset.
we
. She had to be upset.
“No!” Grigg jumped to his feet with surprising agility. “I’ll go and talk to this man. If he’s the killer, I’ll know right away. I have instincts about this kind of thing. They trained me to spot liars and other criminals.”
“Oh brother,” Chase groaned. “Has it occurred to you, Grigg, that if you accuse Roger of something before we have any proof, we may never know what happened?”
“Something needs to be done,” Grigg reiterated. “We’ll find a way, Your Majesty.”
Livy held out her hand and let him kiss it. “We rely on you, Sir Officer. Our life is in your hands.”
Some people can handle the melodrama of day-to-day life in the Village, and some people can’t. I was afraid Grigg was one of the latter.
We left Livy in her sitting room and went back outside where the pirates were attacking the Lady of the Lake Tavern. They had a nice crowd of spectators for the fake cannon fire and smoke. The noise was deafening as the tavern surrendered to the band of thieves and blackguards.
“This place is really something.” Grigg looked more like a twelve-year-old first-time visitor than a hardened police officer. “I don’t know why I’ve never been here before. It’s great!”
“Let’s get back to this thing about Roger,” Chase said. “I don’t think he’s involved in this. He’s an ex-cop himself. If he was up there by Wicked Weaves that day, I’m sure there was a good explanation.”
“For one thing, his glass shop is right there where they found the body,” I agreed with him. “For another, what would his motive be? I can see Abraham, even Jah. But Roger? How would he be involved in this?”
“Maybe we should ask him,” Grigg said. “I can tell if he’s lying.”
Chase rolled his eyes as we walked past the swan swing and frog catapult. “Even if that’s true, unless you plan on arresting him, it won’t be much help. If there are any clues he left behind, he’ll just cover them up.”
Grigg stared at him. “Besides being a play sheriff here, Mr. Manhattan, what experience do you base this on?”
“Gut instinct,” Chase replied. “I know this place. We need to figure out what happened before we accuse anyone else of anything. I think Detective Almond said the same thing.”
It was good, rational thinking, but he’d already lost Grigg’s interest. “Look at that! Is that really a sword in a stone, just like the myth? I have to try that.”
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