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sat back. I realized there was a thread of steel under Bess’s pain.
    I asked quietly, ‘What do you think your son found in Hampshire that could have driven him to kill himself?’
    â€˜God rest and quiet his soul, I do not know, but I believe it was something terrible.’
    I did not answer. I wondered if Bess needed to believe that now, had turned pain outwards into anger.
    â€˜Show Master Shardlake the summons from the court,’ the Queen said.
    Bess reached into her dress and pulled out a large paper, folded many times, and handed it to me. It was a summons from the Court of Wards, ordering all parties with business in the matter of the wardship of Hugh William Curteys to attend the court on the twenty-ninth of June, in five days’ time. It was addressed to Michael Calfhill as petitioner - they would not know he was dead - and I noted a copy had also been delivered to Vincent Dyrick at the Inner Temple. It was dated near three weeks before.
    â€˜It reached me only last week,’ Bess said. ‘It arrived at my son’s lodgings, was taken to the coroner, then he sent it to me as Michael’s next of kin.’
    â€˜Have you seen a copy of Michael’s actual application? It is called a Bill of Information. I need to know what he said.’
    â€˜No, sir. I know only what I have told you.’
    I looked at Bess and the Queen. I decided to be direct. ‘Whatever the application says, it is Michael’s, based on facts within his knowledge. But Michael is dead, and the court might not hear the case without Michael there to give evidence.’
    â€˜I know nothing of the law,’ Bess said, ‘only what happened to my son.’
    The Queen said, ‘I did not think the courts were sitting, I heard they were dissolved early because of the war.’
    â€˜Wards and Augmentations are still sitting.’ The courts that brought revenue to the King, they would sit all summer. The judges there were hard men. I turned to the Queen. ‘Sir William Paulet is Master of the Court of Wards. I wonder if he is sitting himself, or has other duties connected with the war. He is a senior councillor.’
    â€˜I asked Master Warner. Sir William goes to Portsmouth soon as governor, but he will be sitting in court next week.’
    â€˜Will they make Master Hobbey come?’ Bess asked.
    â€˜I imagine Dyrick will attend on his behalf at the first hearing. What the court will make of Michael’s application will depend on what it says and whether any witnesses can be found to help us. You mentioned that when Master Hobbey applied for the wardship Michael sought the help of the Curteyses’ vicar.’
    â€˜Yes. Master Broughton. Michael said he was a good man.’
    â€˜Do you know whether Michael saw him recently?’
    She shook her head. ‘I asked him that. He said not.’
    â€˜Did anyone else know about this application?’ I asked. ‘A friend of Michael’s perhaps.’
    â€˜He was a stranger in London. He had no friends here. Apart from me,’ she added sadly.
    â€˜Can you find out?’ the Queen asked. ‘Can you take the case? On Bess’s behalf?’
    I hesitated. All I could see here was a bundle of intense emotional connections. Between the Queen and Bess, Bess and Michael, Michael and those children. No facts, no evidence, maybe no case at all. I looked at the Queen. She wanted me to help her old servant. I thought of the boy Hugh who was at the centre of it all, only a name to me, but alone and unprotected.
    â€˜Yes,’ I answered. ‘I will do the best I can.’

Chapter Four
    I LEFT THE QUEEN an hour later, with the suicide note and the summons in my pocket. I had arranged with Mistress Calfhill for her to call on me later in the week so that I could take a full statement.
    Warner was waiting in the presence chamber. He led me up a flight of winding steps to his office, a cramped room with shelves of