Heresy: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery Read Online Free PDF

away from the possibility of having such a home and table of your own.”
    Solomon laughed at that. “I’ve begged you to stop thrusting these poor women at me. Have you no pity for them? Think what you’re asking them to take on.”
    “The opportunity to turn you back into a good, observant Jew?” Rebecca replied. “Any woman would consider it a worthy challenge. And,” she added considering him in the candlelight, “without meaning to give you cause for pride, you do bring other advantages to a marriage.”
    “Rebecca!” Abraham feigned shock.
    “I suppose you’re referring to my ability to acquire perfume and jewelry for less than the market price?” Solomon teased.
    “That reminds me,” Abraham shifted the talk again. Solomon had made it clear that he still wasn’t interested in a good match. Abraham would respect that, although he knew Rebecca would return to the subject if she saw an opening. “While you’re in the south, keep an eye out for the silks that the Sicilians looted from the Byzantines last fall. You might get a good price for them.”
    “More important”—Rebecca was serious now—“the Sicilians also kidnapped the silk weavers, some of them Jewish. No one has learned where those poor women have been taken.”
    Solomon agreed, grateful that they were no longer discussing his marriage prospects. “I’ll be alert for both silk and information,” he promised.
    Soon after, he took his leave and, carrying a small closed lantern, made his way as quickly as he could from the Île de la Cité to the bridge leading to the Grève. He was walking the narrow passage between the buildings that lined both sides of the bridge when he felt someone come up behind him. He swirled around, shining the lantern into the surprised face of a young man.
    “Who are you?” Solomon demanded.
    The man stepped back, trying to get out of the light.
    “Sorry, sorry…” He waved his hands, showing they were empty. “Are you Solomon the Jew?”
    “I repeat,” Solomon said firmly, “who wants to know?”
    “I was told to look for a tall, dark man with a beard and curls who walked through Paris as if he owned it,” the man replied. “I’m supposed to be careful not to make you angry.”
    “That much is correct,” Solomon admitted. “Who sent you, then?”
    The man looked sharply right and left, then up to the overhanging balconies.
    “Could we go back to the Île?” he asked. “I don’t know who’s listening here.”
    “So that your friends can attack me?” Solomon said.
    “No, no, no!” The man stepped back another pace. “I told him I wouldn’t be able to get you to come. But he begged me to try. A friend of yours is in trouble. He told me you were his best hope.”
    Solomon rolled his eyes. “You can’t expect me to be taken in by that one.”
    The man bit his lip. “He told me, what was it? He told me, ‘It makes sense that the son of a heretic should feel safest in the home of a halfhearted Jew.’ ”
    “ Edondu! ” Solomon’s face changed at once. “Why didn’t you tell me straight out? Where is he? What’s wrong?”
    “I escaped with him.” The man turned, assuming Solomon would follow him. “They came for us, saying that we were heretics. My master had told me that Peter wasn’t one of us. He tried to explain to the soldiers, but they didn’t believe him. So my master told me to free him and see that he got safely away. I had a small knife in my shoe. First I cut my ropes and then his, but someone saw me. I had to run a long time before I could look for Peter. At least he got away before they discovered that Cecile was dead.”
    “Whom did you escape from? Where? Why?” Solomon lowered the lantern to light the uneven ground. “Who is Cecile?”
    “He’ll explain,” the man said over his shoulder. “It’s not far. The owner of the Blue Boar gave us a room to hide in.”
    Solomon followed cautiously. It sounded as if the person in trouble was his old friend