Eventually, she smiled and said, ‘I have always wanted to see your home. I will go and ask Tilly to prepare food for us. How soon shall we leave?’
They crossed to Boulogne the next day, finding an adequate inn at the port where they spent the night. The inn was full, and the only accommodation was in the big communal sleeping area. Helewise, wrapped up warmly in her robe and her cloak, tried not to think about the hundreds of people who had slept on the bed before her. Meggie had given her some lavender bags against the busy insects and, as far as she could tell, they appeared to work.
They made an early start and reached Acquin as the sun was setting. Josse, as excited as a boy, pointed out to her the tall watchtowers and the strong wall that surrounded the house and the outbuildings. There was a note of pride in his voice. Even though he had left his ancestral property in the care of his brothers many years ago, she reflected, still the homecoming clearly meant a great deal to him.
She reined in her horse and let him ride ahead of her into the courtyard. He called out, ‘Halloa, the house!’ and a round-faced, brown-haired man emerged from a door at the top of a short flight of steps.
Helewise recognized Yves, for he had once come to Hawkenlye to seek out his elder brother. She watched as Josse leapt off his horse and the two men embraced. But then, almost immediately, Josse broke away and, his hands on his brother’s shoulders, said, ‘Where’s Ninian?’
She knew, even before Yves spoke. She saw his face fall as he shook his head. He said something she did not catch.
‘How long?’ Josse demanded and, when Yves muttered his answer, Josse spun away from him and violently punched his fist into his opposite palm.
He came to stand by her horse. ‘He’s gone,’ he said. ‘We missed him by just a few days.’
She felt his crushing disappointment as if it were a fever in him. She put out her hand and gently touched his face. ‘Josse, dearest Josse, we will go after him,’ she said. ‘We will not give up. Not yet.’
Yves came over to them, greeting her with a low bow. Straightening up, he frowned in puzzlement. ‘My lady?’ he said.
‘No longer an abbess, as you rightly surmise, I think.’ She smiled down at him, and he held out his hand, helping her to dismount.
Yves was far too polite to question her, although she saw the interest and curiosity in his face. ‘Whatever your condition, lady, it is a pleasure to welcome you here,’ he said.
Josse, clearly impatient with his brother’s good manners, could contain himself no longer. ‘He was here, then? Ninian reached Acquin safely?’
Yves turned to him. ‘He did. He was here for a couple of days, and then something happened.’ Briefly, he told them the stark details of how his own stable lad had sold information concerning Ninian to the man who had come looking for him. ‘We fully believed more men would follow, for if one knew to look for him at Acquin, others would surely do so too. I took steps to protect my family, for we had seen one death already. But nobody else came!’ He raised his shoulders and spread his hands in a gesture of amazement. ‘We could not understand it.’
‘I believe I can,’ Josse said grimly. He looked at Helewise. ‘We know that Olivier de Brionne is missing. Whoever it was who came here hunting for Ninian appears to have been alone. It is likely, I would suggest, that the man was Olivier.’
‘Why would he be hunting Ninian?’ Helewise asked, very aware of Yves watching, his face screwed up in incomprehension.
‘He tried as hard as he could to make everyone believe that Ninian was responsible for Hugh’s death,’ Josse replied. ‘He must have realized that Ninian would protest his innocence and, all the time he was alive, there was always the chance that he would succeed. Then, as indeed has happened, we would look round to try to see who else might have killed Hugh.’
Helewise, horrified, whispered, ‘You think he has come here to kill Ninian?’
‘What better way is there of silencing a man?’ Josse said bitterly. ‘We know why Ninian had to flee but, for someone trying to implicate him in a crime he did not commit, the fact of his flight could be used to argue his guilt. We must go-’
‘You will go nowhere this evening but into the great hall of Acquin, where we will do all we can to refresh and restore you,’ Yves said firmly. ‘Yes, I know you want to turn round and set off right this instant, Josse, but it’s getting dark and it will be a cold night.’ He looked at Helewise, smiling. ‘You will persuade him, my lady, to be sensible?’
Despite everything, she laughed. ‘I have rarely been able to do that,’ she said. ‘But I do think you are right, Yves. Josse?’
To her relief, he grunted his agreement.
Helewise was very impressed by the speed with which Josse’s family made arrangements for a feast. Only a short time after their arrival, she and Josse found themselves the guests of honour in the great hall at Acquin, seated on sturdy chairs padded with cushions and set either side of Yves and his wife Marie at the top of the table. Dish after dish appeared, borne along the passage from the kitchens by a line of servants. The wine was French and a great improvement on anything that was available to all but the very wealthy back in England. It was a shame that neither she nor Josse felt much like eating. For the sake of these kind and generous people who were clearly so delighted to have the head of the family back with them, they accepted everything they were offered, but Helewise could see Josse did not really want to be there. He wanted to be off on the road, following Ninian.
Josse waited until the rest of the household had retired for the night and only Yves remained. The brothers were finishing the last of the wine. Josse turned to Yves and said, ‘Helewise and I will leave early in the morning. We will-’
But it became apparent that Yves was not going to pass up this chance of a private conversation. ‘When did she leave Hawkenlye?’ he demanded. ‘And where does she live now?’
Josse sighed. He did not want to discuss the thorny question of Helewise but, on the other hand, his brother had a right to ask. ‘She has her own quarters in my household,’ he said. ‘She left the abbey in the summer, although she was allowed to stand down as abbess some years before that. For her final years as a nun, she lived in a little cell and tended a chapel close to the abbey. And, before you ask, I’m not going to discuss exactly why she left, for I am not entirely sure I understand.’
‘She loves you,’ Yves murmured. ‘And I know you love her, too.’
‘Aye,’ Josse said heavily.
Yves, ever sensitive and tactful, thankfully did not press him further.
After a while Josse said, ‘Where has Ninian gone, Yves? We’ll go to him, wherever he is, and take him home.’
Yves looked down at his hands, slowly turning the empty wine goblet. ‘He would not tell me. He said it was better for all of us if nobody here knew where he was heading.’
Josse nodded. ‘Aye, I can imagine why. But, Yves, surely he gave some hint?’
Now Yves looked slightly happier. ‘As a matter of fact, I was able to extract a clue from him. I asked him what I was to do if ever you came looking for him, and I pointed out that I should feel wretched if I could offer you no help in finding him.’
‘And he saw the sense of that?’
‘He did. He told me to tell you that he’s going to the place you suggested. He said you’d know what he meant.’
‘The place I suggested,’ Josse repeated. He thought hard. ‘But I suggested that he came here. I didn’t-’