Chapter 17: Seven Wicked Maids

I smiled as I walked behind Ann and the young merchant courting her. He was always polite and attentive and listened when she spoke. This time we were walking through a large common market. I slowed when I saw a maid slip something into a drink while the man was looking away. She slipped back into the ale stall as if she had never been there.

I reached out and caught the Ann’s shoulder, “wait.”

I spun and started for the tables as the man turned back and drank from the ale. I had several people get between us so I was not able to reach him in time. When I reached the table he was coughing and shuddering before trying to stand. He fell as everyone turned to look and I moved around the table.

He was convulsing as I started for the shop, “no one touch the ale.”

I walked in as the woman was leaving through the back, “STOP!”

The stall owner spun as the woman turned and her face went white. I strode to her and shoved the stall owner out of my way, “I think the magister will need to speak to you about murder.”

I spun her as she cried and squirmed but I had seen enough women crying to know her tears were not real. I tied her hands and looked at the stall owner, “If you helped...”

He shook his head quickly, “she said she wanted to surprise her brother.”

I pulled her out and saw a guard crossing and pushing people out of the way. I waited until he reached us and looked at the body, “this woman put something in his ale.”

He looked at her and nodded, “take her in.”

I reached for the tankard, “sorry Ann.”

She nodded as she hugged the merchant’s arm. Before we reached the guard building the woman was promising me anything and everything to let her go. I turned her over to a guard and wrote out a report and stood as I looked at the commander, “the tankard has the poison in it.”

He nodded, “we have a cleric that can tell us what she used.”

I turned to head for the door, “how about a nice meal at the Yellow Pheasant on me?”

Ann grinned as the merchant looked at her and nodded. Lunch was fresh baked bread, slices of hot roast mutton and cold cheese with mugs of spiced cider. We had finished and the merchant and Ann were deciding where they wanted to go. I glanced across the room as voices were raised. One of the servers was arguing with two men.

I glanced at the tavern keeper as he came out and headed across the room. He was too late, the maid pulled a wicked looking kitchen knife and lunged into one of the men as she began stabbing him. I sighed as I stood and started across the room. The tavern keeper had pulled the maid back and taken the knife.

The man she had been stabbing was on the floor and his friend had backed away. I knelt and checked him before standing, “dead.”

The maid spit on him, “good.”

I turned her and yanked her hands back before I tied them, “why did you kill him?”

She was struggling, “the pig was with another woman.”

I sighed as I took the knife from the tavern keeper, “tell it to a magister.”

I paid the tavern keeper for our meal before I pulled the maid out. I glanced back as Ann and her merchant followed, “perhaps we should find Marie at the tea shop.”

She grinned, “okay.”

When I pulled the maid into the guard building the commander turned from speaking with a magister, “another one?”

I nodded, “she stabbed a man in front of the whole tavern.”

He shook his head, “I hate spring.”

I pushed her towards a guard and sat to write out the report. When I was done I led Ann and the merchant out. They had stayed together and whispered the whole time and I smiled as I led them through the streets and to the tea shop. Marie was with two other ladies as they talked. I stopped to kiss her cheek and she grinned at me, “tired already?”

I grinned as I looked around outside and stopped when I saw the maid. I growled as I started walking and caught up to her in the middle of the marketplace. I grabbed her wrist and twisted after she finished cutting a man’s purse. She spun and began yelling and screaming and I twisted her wrist again and turned her.

People were moving away as I held her arm behind her back, “put the other arm back.”

She cursed and kept yelling and a man stepped out of the crowd, “let the woman go.”

I ignored him as I caught her other arm and pulled it behind her. The man reached for me and grabbed an arm as I was trying to tie the maid’s wrists. I leaned the other way and snapped a kick out and across into the man’s far leg.

He went down and I finished what I was doing and looked at him, “first I am a thief taker. Second the woman is a cutpurse and has stolen at least four purses.”

I looked at the crowd around me and sighed as I bent and picked up her large bag. I turned it over and dumped out a dozen purses and looked around as they shifted and mumbled. I bent to scoop everything back into the bag before taking the woman’s arm and pulling her in front of me.

I pushed her and kept her moving as she began to beg and plead and then entice. By the time I pushed her into the guard building she was threatening me. The guards looked and I pushed her towards one as I moved to the table, “she is a cutpurse.”

I dumped her large bag on the table before pulling a sheet of parchment closer. After I was done I headed back to the tea shop, I did not reach it. Halfway there a shopkeeper’s wife began arguing with a customer. I would have kept going but she pulled a dagger and backed the man against the wall as she took his purse.