“When was the last time you ate? Come to the kitchen and I will get you something.” She led him into the stone room and picked him up and sat him on a stool at Cook’s counter.
Cook brought him some bread and butter, cheese, and cold pork. He started stuffing the food in his mouth faster than he could chew it.
“Not too fast or you’ll choke.” Odette brought him a cup of water, but he ignored it as he continued to pick up the food and push more into his already overstuffed cheeks.
Tears pricked her eyes. “When was the last time you ate some of my deer meat, Hanns?”
He chewed and chewed and finally swallowed. “The last time you brought it to our house.”
“But that was weeks ago!”
He looked at her with wide eyes, stuffing his mouth again.
“Have the boys been bringing anyone else any meat?”
Hanns shook his head. “We thought you ceased hunting.”
Her heart stopped.
“I came to ask,” Hanns said, after swallowing noisily, “if you could give me some money to get the doctor to come and save my mother.” Tears welled up in his eyes again.
“Of course I will.” Odette asked Cook to pack up some food for Hanns to take with him while she ran upstairs to fetch some money. As she hurried, she noticed the fine tapestry that hung at the top of the stairs was no longer there. When had it been taken down?
Heinke was passing through the corridor, and Odette stopped her. “Heinke, what happened to the tapestry that was here?”
Her eyes grew round as fear flickered across her face. She shrugged. “I do not know.”
“And what about the Oriental vase that was always downstairs?”
Heinke shook her head. “Perhaps Master Rutger knows.” She dropped a tiny curtsy and hastened down the corridor.
A feeling of dread ripped through Odette as she hurried the rest of the way to her room. She fetched the small purse of coins that she kept hidden in a secret compartment in her trunk. Thank goodness it was still there. She poured out enough money for a doctor and a little extra, put her purse back in its hiding place, and ran back down the stairs. Next she called their servant Sigfried and asked him to go with Hanns to fetch the doctor.
Odette hugged Hanns tightly, then sent him on his way with a promise to check on him and bring some venison as soon as she was able.
As she watched him hurry off, she whispered, “Oh, God, what is happening here?” Was someone stealing valuable items from their home? The venison she was shooting? She had to find out what was going on.
As Jorgen stood beside the fountain in the town square, his friend, Dieter, walked toward him with a big smile on his face.
“Jorgen! So good to see you.” Dieter clapped him on the shoulder.
They talked and asked about the health of their families. “I have a request to make of you, Dieter. You were always a shrewd ally when we were boys, and I have need of a pair of shrewd eyes.”
Dieter and Jorgen sat on the side of the fountain while people milled all around them, buying and selling in the Marktplatz.
“Someone has been selling poached meat at the back of The Red House. And there is a poacher who has been taking so many of the deer from Thornbeck Forest that they are becoming scarce. I must find this poacher and capture him.”
“What can I do, Jorgen?”
“I want you to help me catch who is selling the poached meat. If you can discover who is behind this black market, I believe he will lead us to the poacher.”
Jorgen discussed with him the days the black market was operating. “I also need you to track Rutger Menkels and find out what he does every day. Follow him when he leaves his house early every morning, and tell me where he goes and who he sees.”
Dieter readily accepted the quest, and they agreed to meet again the next day at the same time and place.
Jorgen felt a little stab of guilt when he asked Dieter to follow Odette’s uncle, but if Rutger had schemed to have someone steal Odette’s mask and trick Jorgen into making a fool of himself with the imposter, then he and Odette both needed to know. And if he was not responsible, Jorgen hoped Odette would never find out that he had asked Dieter to follow him.
23
ODETTE WAS RUNNING. Behind her she could hear a large stag crashing toward her, getting closer and closer. Over her shoulder she could see it was the stag she had injured weeks ago. Her arrow was sticking out of his haunch.
She kept running. He let out a loud snort, so close she could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. She tried to make her legs move faster, but they were weighed down by something thick and sticky around her ankles.