Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [401]
‘Burned them?’ Julius said. ‘Burned a conventual record of births? They’ll excommunicate the lady.’ He had begun by smiling, and then had ceased to smile, although his voice was still rallying.
‘Is that what they were?’ Kathi said. ‘You’d better report it to the Cistercians, or Bishop Prospero. Although he isn’t very reliable either. He wanted to bring you your Bologna papers, but someone else had got rid of those, too. It’s mysterious, isn’t it? It’s like Nicholas, really. Without records, people just don’t exist. And if they don’t exist, they can’t claim anything.’
‘What is she talking about?’ Julius said.
Nicholas lowered the back of his hand to her neck, and let it rest there, half curled, as if in gentle admonishment. His eyes had changed to the look that was hers, mixed with other things. Understanding. Compassion. He said, ‘She is rather drunk. What do you think she is saying?’
‘I don’t know. I think we’d better all go,’ Julius said.
Nicholas didn’t move. He had given her the initiative. It was the greatest gift he had ever given her. Kathi said, ‘I was talking about identity. And the habit of killing. All those hunting mishaps in Poland. The dove in the church—do you remember? Ludovico da Bologna had his doubts about that. Do you think he removed the papers at Bologna? Or was it even Bessarion?’
Although an educated man, Julius had never been excessively quick. He was just coming to realise what she was telling him. He had not yet fully grasped what he was being told about Nicholas. He said, ‘Poland! I’ll tell you what I remember about Poland. I recall lying between life and death because that fool tried to kill me.’ He flung himself down in Dame Euphemia’s chair with an angry half-laugh. ‘What is all this?’
Nicholas said suddenly, ‘That was true. I did try to kill you. Most of the time, though, it wasn’t worth while. Avoiding you was a game. I didn’t mind, or not much. But sometimes, you and Adelina together were insufferable. Did you tell her, before you killed her, that you always knew who she was? Just as I’m telling you now?’
He had come into the open. Avoiding you was a game. He would know that Julius would never stand for that. At last, at last, Nicholas was compelling Julius to confront him. And before someone else. Before her, a witness.
It was no time to be morbidly thankful. It was time to attack, even with guesses. Kathi said, ‘And the fight in the High Street, the other day, Nicholas. You knew Julius had tried to kill Simon before, and that he had hounded his sister to death. But you didn’t denounce him before, and you didn’t then, even though you had just carried Simon and Henry to Kelso. You had just come from Kelso, and yet you didn’t call him to account! Why? What excuse could you possibly have?’
She waited. When he answered her, he didn’t look at her at all, and the answer wasn’t for her. ‘I had made a promise,’ Nicholas said. ‘To someone who was trying to spare me, she thought, from a lifetime of conflict. I was also arrogant enough to think that I could lead him away from it. But he couldn’t leave it alone: it was too exciting. Wasn’t that the way of it, Julius?’
‘What are you saying?’ said Julius.
Nicholas said, ‘What Kathi knows. What everyone will now get to know. That you and I are second cousins. That you have been trying to extinguish my family, and I have done nothing about it. Until now.’
Julius frowned. He had flushed with surprise and resentment. He said with open belligerence, ‘No one will get to know unless you two leave the room.’
Kathi said, ‘Open the second drawer. That’s the outer cover of a note Nicholas left when he walked out to surrender to Purves. The letter names you. I found it, and I’ve given it to everybody.’ She fixed him with a cold, hazel eye. She had had no chance to give it to anyone. It was stuck in the cuff of her sleeve. She prayed that he couldn’t see it.
Julius’s face never changed very much. He stood, looking angry and peevish, and then said, ‘You just said: it was a game. So we stop. You keep your promise. I’ll go away.’
Rigid, she waited.