Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [288]
‘I don’t need to,’ Nicholas said. ‘You are going to tell me. And, of course, prove it.’
‘Have you not had enough clues?’ Wodman said. ‘Did no one ever tell you what Vatachino represents in Italian? It means Walter. A good Breton name, like St Pol. As good as Simon, or Jordan.’
‘I see,’ Nicholas said. There was a long space. Then he said, ‘Always good to men of the Guard. So you mentioned.’
Kathi said, ‘Say it. Who was the owner?’ But she knew.
Her uncle still smiled. Wodman glanced at him, grinning, but said nothing. Nicholas said, ‘It seems that the man behind the Vatachino is Jordan de Ribérac. My—’ He bit off the word, but Kathi knew what it was to have been. Jordan de Ribérac, his own unproved grandfather.
‘That is so,’ Wodman said. A prosaic man, he did not linger over the implications, but ploughed on heartily with the matter in hand. ‘I have proof. Nothing you can use against the old man; I’m not David. But it means that de Ribérac could never deceive you again.’
‘David de Salmeton turned against him?’ Nicholas said. He had returned to the tone of a man calmly engaged in debate.
‘David strayed, and was dismissed in short order. Now he wants to return and take over the business. Once he has killed the vicomte, that is.’ Wodman grinned again. ‘I thought you would be interested.’
‘And now we trust you?’ Kathi said. She cleared her throat.
The Conservator turned his smile on Adorne once more. ‘You can trust me to help get rid of David. I don’t work for de Ribérac now. Sometimes I think he’s the world’s greatest bastard. But he was a good captain once, and at least he is what he is, with no pretence about it.’
‘Perhaps we should leave them to kill one another,’ Nicholas said. ‘Or no, the vicomte has been exiled to his Portuguese island. We shall have to do it ourselves after all. You didn’t manage to catch him in Scotland?’
‘He has a great many powerful friends. I scared him, though,’ Wodman said. ‘The old woman would tell you.’
Kathi reflected. The old woman? Bel. Bel, who had been with Jodi that day in Edinburgh when Raffo was killed. She saw Nicholas make the deduction, and glance at the other man.
‘So you agree?’ Adorne said. ‘We need protection, and Andro can help us. I think he has proved his credentials.’
‘I can go back to Russia,’ Nicholas said.
‘In due course,’ Adorne said. ‘I am sure you wish to stay now and see this man dealt with. Meanwhile, we should let Andro return to his desk. At least you can see, I am sure, that he had a genuine care for your Jordan.’
‘I realise that. How shall I thank you?’ Nicholas said. Kathi could not read the look in his eyes.
Wodman returned it unsmiling. ‘By making mincemeat of David de Salmeton,’ he said. ‘If you get to him first.’
He left. She had no chance even to say to her uncle: You already knew about Jordan de Ribérac. For, of course, Wodman had told him beforehand. Today’s trenchant exposé had not been wholly for Wodman’s benefit, or for hers. There were some things that Adorne did not forgive.
THEY LOCKED HIM into his room. Nicholas discovered it as soon as the supper tray had been laid on his table, and the unsmiling servant had withdrawn. He was waiting, a billet by his hand, when the man returned later, but this time the door swung ostentatiously open and there was an armed man standing in attendance outside. The tray was removed and the door locked again. The window was barred and at an interesting height from the courtyard, which also held armed men. If David de Salmeton arrived, they were all going to be heroically safe.
It became fully dark, and extraordinarily cold. He had already noticed that there were no kindling materials in the room, although the bed was well provided with blankets, and there was the civilised equivalent of the toleta plank, to which no doubt he could make his way by the light of the moon. The room had been used as a prison before.