The Cheapside Corpse Read Online Free PDF Page B

sure why the question was being put.
    ‘The regicide,’ snapped the Earl. ‘Your namesake.’
    This was a sore subject. Thomas Chaloner the elder had been one of the fifty-nine men who had signed the old king’s death warrant, which impressed diehard Parliamentarians, but that had earned his family the eternal hatred of Royalists. The younger Chaloner had been a teenager at the time, powerless to influence events one way or the other. However, he had never thought that executing a monarch was a very good idea, and deplored his kinsman’s role in the affair. His uncle had died in Holland several years before, but his radical politics still continued to haunt the surviving members of his family.
    ‘I have not seen my cousins in years,’ replied Chaloner warily. ‘And—’
    ‘They live in Yorkshire,’ interrupted the Earl, and added pointedly, ‘Near the alum mines.’
    The Guisborough alum mines were the reason why the Chaloner clan had sided with Parliament in the first place. His grandfather had discovered rich deposits of alum – a mineral used for medicine and dyeing – on his land, and had turned them into a profitable business. This had attracted the envious attention of the old king, who had promptly decided to take them for himself. It was brazen theft, and the family had never forgiven the outrage, although Chaloner thought it was time the matter was forgotten – there was no point brooding over something that had happened so long ago and that was unlikely ever to be rectified.
    ‘Yes, they do,’ he conceded guardedly. ‘But the mines are nowhere near Hull.’
    The Earl regarded him balefully, and Chaloner felt a stab of alarm. While he disliked working for the man, he could not afford to be dismissed, especially now that Hannah had debts to pay off. ‘They did not support the insurgents?’
    ‘Of course not! My family do not involve themselves in politics these days. We are all tired of rebellion, and none of us want more of it.’
    ‘Buckingham claims otherwise,’ said the Earl with a grimace. ‘But he does not like you, and I should have known better than to believe him.’
    Chaloner’s last London-based investigation had caused the Duke some embarrassment, so he was not surprised that the nobleman had avenged himself with a few spiteful stories. ‘The sheriff has included a complete list of rebels with his letter,’ he said, nodding towards the table. ‘You will see that none of my family are on it.’
    ‘Good. I could not have kept you on if your kin were plotting to overthrow the government. Which would have been a nuisance, as there is something I need you to do for me.’
    ‘Talk to Baron about your last two pairs of curtains,’ predicted Chaloner heavily.
    Neve had reported the shortfall before the spy had been granted an audience, and it had been impossible not to hear the angry tirade that had blasted through the closed door.
    The Earl nodded. ‘I want them delivered tomorrow
at the latest
.’
    Chaloner had a sudden vision of his flamboyant, accomplished uncle, and was glad he would never learn what his nephew was reduced to doing for a living. He would certainly be unimpressed, and perhaps even ashamed. It was not an easy thought to bear.
    ‘Are you sure it is a good idea to do business with Baron, sir?’ he asked, aiming to duck the assignment. ‘He is almost certainly a criminal.’
    The Earl gaped at him, and Chaloner could tell his shock was genuine. ‘A criminal? No! Neve told me that he is a linen-draper.’
    Chaloner pulled the card from his pocket, feeling it was ample evidence of the kind of operation that Baron ran. The Earl read it, then handed it back.
    ‘I suppose he does sound a little unethical,’ he conceded. ‘I should have known that three thousand pounds was rather too cheap for such fine quality material.’
    ‘Three thousand pounds?’ Chaloner was stunned. It was an enormous sum and not cheap at all – at least four hundred times what the average