The Westminster Poisoner by Susanna Gregory Read Free Book Online

where you tend not to encounter ones that have been poisoned. Then I come to London, and within three days,
     I lay eyes on two: Chetwynd and Vine.’
    ‘I thought Greene found Chetwynd’s body.’
    ‘He did,’ said Turner, rather hastily. ‘I saw it later, along with a host of other courtiers who were curious to see the mortal
     remains of a murdered man. I never knew Chetwynd – when I looked at his corpse, his face was unfamiliar – but I did have the
     misfortune to meet Vine. He was a sanctimonious old fool who called me a libertine, just because I have twenty-eight children.
     I assured him they are all legally begotten, but he did not believe me.’
    Chaloner laughed. ‘I wonder why! Are you a bigamist, then?’
    ‘I married young,’ replied Turner, with another wink. ‘My
illegitimate
offspring are another tally altogether, butI had better keep that number to myself. How about you? How many do you have?’
    ‘Vine,’ prompted Chaloner, wondering whether Haddon had been gossiping about the family Chaloner had had, and lost to plague,
     in Holland more than a decade before. Regardless, he was not about to discuss them with a man he did not know. ‘You were telling
     me how you came to find his body in a part of Westminster that is usually deserted at night.’
    ‘Was I indeed?’ asked Turner, with one of his rakish grins. ‘Well, as we are colleagues, I suppose I can trust you with a
     confidence. I went to the Painted Chamber for a midnight tryst with a lady who works in the laundry. We arranged to meet there
     because it is usually empty at that hour. But when I arrived, I found not the lovely Meg, but Vine. Stone dead.’
    ‘Is the lovely Meg the kind of woman to poison someone?’
    Turner shook his head vehemently. ‘She is a gentle child, and would never harm a soul.’
    Chaloner would make up his own mind about that when he interviewed her. After all, it was not inconceivable that Vine had
     happened across her while she was waiting for her lover to arrive, and had made disparaging remarks about her morality. Some
     women in White Hall were sensitive about that kind of accusation, and men had been killed for far less.
    ‘But you found Vine a long time before midnight,’ Chaloner pointed out. ‘Why did you arrive so early for this assignation?’
    ‘Because I hoped she would come a bit ahead of schedule, and I was at a loose end, with nothing else to do. Now I wish I had
     visited Lady Castlemaine instead,although you had better not tell her so – I doubt she will appreciate knowing I view her as somewhere to kill time between
amours
.’
    Chaloner was sure she would not. ‘Where is Meg now?’
    Turner frowned. ‘I have not seen her since we made the arrangement, and I can only assume she has decided to keep a low profile,
     lest someone start pointing accusing fingers. You see, it was not the first time she and I used the Painted Chamber for a
     nocturnal romp.’
    ‘When you found Vine, what were your immediate thoughts? Death by poison is rare, so I doubt it was the first thing that entered
     your mind.’
    ‘Actually, it was – because of Chetwynd. I noticed spilled wine on Vine’s chin, indicating he had been drinking when he died,
     but there was no sign of a goblet, which struck me as odd. It told me someone else had been there – someone who had taken
     the cup with him. The killer, no less.’
    Chaloner studied him thoughtfully, aware that here was a man whose powers of observation equalled his own, and it reinforced
     his initial impression – that there was more to Turner than met the eye. ‘Do you think Greene did it?’
    ‘I do not. It takes courage to commit murder, and Greene is a mouse. Besides, he believes everything in life is preordained,
     so he never bothers to do much of anything, on the grounds that it will make no difference to the general scheme of things
     anyway. You have met him – you know this is true. His Portliness refuses to be convinced, though.