Dissolution

CHAPTER 13

Mark and Brother Guy carefully lifted Simon's body out of the bath and carried it back into the infirmary hall. Brother Guy took the shoulders, and a pale-faced Mark the bare white feet. I followed behind with Alice, who after her brief outburst of sobbing had regained her usual composed demeanour.

'What is happening?' The blind monk was on his feet, waving his hands before him, his face piteous with fear. 'Brother Guy? Alice?'

'It is all right, Brother,' Alice said soothingly. 'There has been an accident, but all is safe now.' I wondered again at her control.

The body was laid in Brother Guy's infirmary, under the Spanish crucifix. He covered it with a sheet, his face set hard.

I took a deep breath. My mind was still reeling, and not just with shock at the novice's death. What had passed just before had shaken me to my bones. The echoes of childhood torments have great power, even when not brought to mind in such an inexplicable and horrifying way.

'Brother Guy,' I said, 'I never met that boy before yesterday, yet when he saw me he appeared to – to mock me, imitating my bent posture and – certain gestures I sometimes make in court, waving my hands. It seemed to me l-like something devilish.' I cursed myself, I was stammering like the bursar.

He gave me a long, searching look. 'I can think of a reason for that. I hope I am wrong.'

'What do you mean? Speak plainly.' I heard myself snap peevishly.

'I need to consider,' he replied as sharply. 'But first, Commissioner, Abbot Fabian should be told.'

'Very well.' I grasped the corner of his table; my legs had begun to shake uncontrollably. 'We will wait in your kitchen.'

Alice led Mark and me back to the little room where we had breakfasted.

'Are you all right, sir?' Mark asked anxiously. 'You are trembling.'

'Yes, yes.'

'I have an infusion of herbs that eases the body at times of shock,' Alice said. 'Valerian and aconite. I could heat some if you wish.'

'Thank you.' She remained composed, but there was a strange, almost bruised-looking sheen on her cheeks. I forced a smile. 'The scene affected you too, I saw. It was understandable. One feared the Devil himself was present in that poor creature.'

I was surprised by the anger that flashed into her face. 'I fear no devils, sir, unless it be such human monsters as tormented that poor boy. His life was destroyed before it began, and for such we should always weep.' She paused, realizing she had gone too far for a servant. 'I will fetch the infusion,' she said quickly, and hurried out.

I raised my eyebrows at Mark. 'Outspoken.'

'She has a hard life.'

I fingered my mourning ring. 'So have many in this vale of tears.' I glanced at him. He's smitten, I thought.

'I spoke with her as you asked.'

'Tell me,' I said encouragingly. I needed a distraction from the memory of what had just passed.

'She has been here eighteen months. She comes from Scarnsea, her father died young and she was brought up by her mother, who was a wise woman, a dispenser of herbs.'

'So that's where she gets her knowledge.'

'She was to be married, but her swain died in an accident felling trees. There's little work in the town, but she found a place as assistant to an apothecary in Esher, someone her mother knew.'

'So she's travelled. I thought she was no village mouse.'

'She knows the country round here well. I was talking to her about that marsh. She says there are paths through if you know where to find them. I asked her if she would show us and she said she might.'

'That could be useful.' I told him what Brother Gabriel had said about the smugglers, of my own visit there and my accident. I displayed my muddy leg. 'If there are paths, any guide had better be careful. God's wounds, this is a day of shocks.' My hand lying on the table was trembling; I seemed unable to stop it. Mark, too, was still pale. There was silence for a moment, a silence I was suddenly desperate to fill.

'You seem to have had a long talk. How does Alice come to be here?'

'The apothecary died, he was an old man. After that she came back to Scarnsea, but her mother died too shortly after. Her cottage was on a copyhold and the landowner took it back. She was left alone. She didn't know what to do, then someone said the infirmarian was looking for a lay assistant. No one in the town wanted to work for him – they call him the black goblin – but she had no choice.'

'I have the impression she does not much admire our holy brethren.'

'She said some of them are lascivious men, forever sidling up and trying to touch her. She is the only young woman in the place. The prior himself has been a problem apparently.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'God's wounds, she did speak freely.'

'She is angry, sir. The prior made a nuisance of himself when she first came.'

'Yes, I noticed she disliked him. Fie, the man's a hypocrite, punishing other people's sins and chasing the women servants himself. Does the abbot know?'

'She told Brother Guy and he made the prior stop. The abbot seldom intervenes; he supports the prior's strong discipline and leaves him to do much as he will. Apparently all the monks are terrified of him, and those who were guilty of sodomy before are too terrified of him to follow their base hearts.'

'And we've seen the results of that discipline.'

Mark passed a hand over his brow. 'Yes, we have,' he agreed sombrely.

I thought a moment. 'Disloyal of Mistress Alice, to speak so to the commissioner's assistant. Is she of reformist persuasion?'

'I don't think so. But she does not see why she should keep the secrets of those who have pestered her. She has strong feelings, sir, but fine ones. She is no malapert. She spoke warmly of Brother Guy. He has taught her much and protected her from those who trouble her. And she is fond of the harmless old men she looks after.'

I looked at him thoughtfully. 'Don't form too much of an attachment to the girl,' I said quietly. 'Lord Cromwell wants the surrender of this monastery, and we may end up putting her out of house and home again.'

He frowned. 'That would be cruel. And she's not a girl, she's twenty-two, a woman. Could not something be done for her?'

'I could try.' I mused a moment. 'So the infirmarian protects her. I wonder whether she would protect him in turn.'

'You mean Brother Guy may have secrets?'

'I don't know.' I stood up and walked to the window. 'My head spins.'

'You said the novice appeared to be imitating you,' Mark said hesitantly.

'Did it not seem like that to you?'

'I don't see how he could have known –'

I gulped. 'How I wave my arms around when speaking in court? No, neither do I.' I stood looking out of the window, biting my thumbnail, until I saw Brother Guy reappear, striding along with the abbot and prior beside him. The three figures passed quickly by the window, kicking up little clouds of snow. A few moments later we heard voices from the room where the body lay. There were more footsteps, and the three monks entered the little kitchen. I sat studying each in turn. Brother Guy's brown features were expressionless. Prior Mortimus's face was red, filled with anger but I saw fear too. The abbot seemed to have shrunk into himself; the big man looked somehow smaller, greyer.

'Commissioner,' he said quietly, 'I am sorry you had to witness such a terrible scene.'

I took a deep breath. I felt more like curling up in a corner somewhere than trying to exercise authority over these wretched people, but I had no choice.

'Yes,' I said. 'I come to the infirmary looking for peace and quiet while I carry out my investigations, and I am confronted with a novice frozen and starved till first he catches a fever that almost kills him, then goes stark mad and falls to his death.'

'He was possessed!' The prior spoke in hard, clipped tones, the sarcasm gone. 'He allowed his mind to become so polluted that the Devil possessed it in his hour of weakness. I confessed him, I put him to penance to mortify him, but I was too late. See the Devil's power.' He set his lips and glared at me. 'It is everywhere, and all arguments between Christians distract us from it!'

'The boy spoke of seeing devils in the air as thick as motes,' I said. 'Do you think he saw true?'

'Come, sir, even the most ardent reformers do not dispute the world is filled with the Devil's agents. Is it not said Luther himself once threw a bible at a demon in his room?'

'But sometimes such visions can come from brain fever.' I looked at Brother Guy, who nodded.

'Indeed they can,' the abbot agreed. 'The Church has known that for hundreds of years. We must have a full investigation.'

'Ah, there's nothing to investigate,' the prior burst out angrily. 'Simon Whelplay opened his soul to the Devil, a demon took him and made him throw himself into that bath, kill himself like the Gadarene swine going over the cliff. His soul's in hell now, for all I tried to save it.'

'I do not think the fall killed him,' Brother Guy said.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. 'How can ye tell that?' the prior asked contemptuously.

'Because he did not strike his head,' the infirmarian replied quietly.

'Then how –'

'I do not know yet.'

'In any event,' I said sharply, looking at the prior, 'he appears to have been driven into a seriously weakened state by excess of discipline.'

The prior looked at me boldly. 'Sir, the vicar general wants order brought back to the monasteries. He is right, the former laxity placed souls in peril. If I failed with Simon Whelplay it is because I was not severe enough; or perhaps his heart was already too cankered. But I say with Lord Cromwell, only by stern discipline shall the orders be reformed. I do not regret what I did.'

'What do you say, my lord Abbot?'

'It is possible your severity went too far in this case, Mortimus. Brother Guy, you and I and Prior Mortimus will meet to consider matters further. A committee of investigation. Yes, a committee.' The word seemed to reassure him.

Brother Guy sighed deeply. 'First I should examine his poor remains.'

'Yes,' the abbot said. 'Do that.' His confidence seemed to be returning as he turned back to me. 'Master Shardlake, I must tell you that Brother Gabriel has been to see me. He remembers seeing lights out on the marsh in the days before Commissioner Singleton was killed. It seems to me our local smugglers may have been responsible for the murder. They are godless people: if you break the law's commandments, it is but a further step to breaking those of God.'

'Yes, I have been out to look at the marsh. It is something I shall raise with the Justice tomorrow; it is one line of enquiry.'

'I think it is the answer.'

I made no reply. The abbot went on. 'For the moment, it might be best simply to tell the brethren that Simon died as a result of his illness. If you agree, Commissioner.'

I thought a moment. I did not wish to spread more panic abroad. 'Very well.'

'I will have to write to his family. I will tell them the same –'

'Yes, better than to tell them the prior is sure their son is roasting in hell,' I snapped, suddenly disgusted by them both. Prior Mortimus opened his mouth to argue further, but the abbot interjected.

'Come, Mortimus, we must go. We must arrange for another grave to be dug.' He bowed and took his leave, the prior following with a last challenging stare at me.

'Brother Guy,' Mark said, 'what do you think killed that boy?'

'I am going to find out. I will have to open him.' He shook his head. 'It is never an easy thing to do with one you have known. But it must be done now, while he is fresh.' He bowed his head and closed his eyes a moment in prayer, then took a deep breath. 'If you will excuse me.'

I nodded, and the infirmarian left, his footsteps padding slowly towards the dispensary. Mark and I sat in silence for a few moments. The colour was starting to return to his cheeks, but he was still paler than I had ever seen him. I still felt as though stunned, although at least my shaking had stopped. Alice appeared, bearing a cup of steaming liquid.

'I have prepared your infusion, sir.'

'Thank you.'

'And the two clerks from the counting house are in the hall, with a great pile of books.'

'What? Ah, yes. Mark, would you see they are taken to our room?'

'Yes, sir.' As he opened the door I heard a sound of sawing from the direction of the dispensary. He shut it again, and I closed my eyes with relief. I took a sip of the liquid Alice had brought. It had a heavy, musky taste.

'It is good for shocks, sir, it settles the humours.'

'It is comforting. Thank you.'

She stood with her hands clasped before her. 'Sir, I would apologize for my words earlier. I spoke out of turn.'

'No matter. We were all troubled.'

She hesitated. 'You must think me strange, sir, that I said I did not fear the work of devils after what I saw.'

'No. Some are too ready to see the Devil's hand in every piece of ill they do not understand. It was my own first reaction to what I saw, but I think Brother Guy has some other explanation in mind. He is – investigating the body.'

She crossed herself.

'Although equally,' I continued, 'we must not be blind to Satan's workings in the world.'

'I think –' She paused.

'Go on. You may speak freely with me. Sit down, please.'

'Thank you.' She sat, fixing me with her keen blue eyes. They had a watchful quality. I noticed how clear and healthy her skin was.

'I think the Devil works in the world through men's evil, their greed and cruelty and ambition, rather than possessing them and driving them stark mad.'

I nodded. 'I think so too, Alice. I have seen enough of the qualities you mention in the courts. Not just among the accused either. And the people who possessed them were all too sane.' Lord Cromwell's face suddenly appeared in my mind's eye with startling vividness. I blinked.

Alice nodded sadly. 'Such evil is everywhere. Sometimes it seems to me the wish for money and power can turn men into roaring lions, seeking what they might devour.'

'Well put. But where can a young maid have encountered such evil?' I asked gently. 'Here, perhaps?'

'I observe the world, I think upon things.' She shrugged. 'More than is proper in a woman, perhaps.'

'No, no. God allowed reason to women as well as men.'

She smiled wryly. 'You would not find many here to agree with you, sir.'

I took another swig of the potion. I felt it warming and relaxing my tired muscles. 'This is good. Master Poer was telling me you are skilled in the healing arts.'

'Thank you. As I told him, my mother was a wise woman.' Her face darkened a moment. 'Some in the town associate such work with the dark arts, but she merely gathered knowledge. She had it from her mother, who had it from her mother in turn. The apothecary often sought her advice.'

'And you became an apothecary's assistant.'

'Yes. He taught me much. But he died and I came back home.'

'To lose your house.'

She set her lips. 'Yes, the tenancy expired on my mother's death. The landlord demolished the house and enclosed our bit of land for sheep.'

'I am sorry. These enclosures ruin the countryside. It is a matter of concern to Lord Cromwell.'

She looked at me curiously. 'Do you know him? Lord Cromwell?'

I nodded. 'Yes. I have served him a long time, in one way and another.'

She gave me a long, deeply curious look, then dropped her gaze and sat silent, her hands in her lap. Work-roughened hands, but still shapely.

'You came here after your mother died?' I asked her.

She raised her head. 'Yes. Brother Guy is a good man, sir. I – I hope you will not think badly of him for his strange looks, sir. Some do.'

I shook my head. 'I must look deeper than that, if I am to be any good as an investigator. Though I confess I had a shock when I first saw him.'

She gave a sudden laugh, a flash of white even teeth. 'So did I, sir. I thought it was a face carved in wood, come to life. It was weeks before I came to see him as a man like others. He has taught me a great deal.'

'Perhaps one day you will be able to put that knowledge to use yourself. I know in London there are women apothecaries. But they are mostly widows, and doubtless you will marry.'

She shrugged. 'Maybe one day.'

'Mark said you had a swain who died. I am sorry.'

'Yes,' she said slowly. The watchful look was back in her eyes. 'Master Poer seems to have told you much about me.'

'We – well, we need to learn all we can of all who live here, as you must realize.' I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

She stood up again and walked over to the window. When she turned her shoulders were tensed and she seemed to have come to a decision.

'Sir, if I were to give you some information, would you keep it in confidence? I need my position here –'

'Yes, Alice, you have my word.'

'Brother Edwig's clerks, they said that they had brought all the current account books, at your request.'

'That is so.'

'But they have not brought all, sir. They have not brought the account book Commissioner Singleton had the day he died.'

'How do you know?'

'Because all the books they carried are brown. The one the commissioner was studying had a blue cover.'

'Had it indeed? How do you know this?'

She hesitated. 'You will keep it to yourself that I told you?'

'Yes, I promise. I would like you to trust me, Alice.'

She took a deep breath. 'On the afternoon of Commissioner Singleton's death I had been into town to buy some supplies. On the way back I passed the bursar's young assistant, Brother Athelstan, and the commissioner standing outside the counting-house door.'

'Brother Athelstan?'

'Yes. Commissioner Singleton was holding a large blue book in his hands, shouting at Athelstan. He did not bother to lower his voice as I passed.' She gave a sardonic little smile. 'After all, I am only a woman servant.'

'And he said?'

'"He thought he'd keep this from me, hidden in his drawer?" I remember his words. Brother Athelstan stuttered something about his having no right to ferret about the bursar's private room while he was away, and the commissioner replied he had the right to go everywhere, and the book put a fresh light on the year's accounts.'

'What did Brother Athelstan say to that?'

'Nothing. He was in a great fright, he looked like a dog thrown from a window. Commissioner Singleton said he was going to make a study of the book, then he stalked off. I remember the triumphant look on his face. Brother Athelstan just stood there some moments. Then he saw me. He gave me a glare, then went inside and banged the door shut.'

'And you heard nothing more about this?'

'No, sir. Night was just falling when this happened, and the next I heard the commissioner was dead.'

'Thank you, Alice,' I said. 'That could be very helpful.' I paused, studying her carefully. 'By the way, Master Poer told me you have had some trouble with the prior.'

The bold look came back to her face. 'In my early days here he sought to take advantage of my position. It is not a problem now.'

I nodded. 'You speak straight, Alice, I admire that. Please, if you think of anything that may help my enquiries, come to me. If you need protection, I will give it. I will follow up this missing book, but I will take care not to mention that you have spoken to me.'

'Thank you, sir. And now, with your pardon, I should assist Brother Guy.'

'That is a grim job for a maid.'

She shrugged. 'It is part of my duties, and I am used to dead flesh. My mother used to lay out people who died in the town.'

'You have more stomach than I, Alice.'

'Yes, my life has left me few gentle qualities,' she said with sudden bitterness.

'I did not mean that.' I raised a hand in protest. As I did so my arm brushed against my cup, almost knocking it over. But Alice, who had walked back to the table and stood opposite me, reached swiftly across and grasped it, setting it upright again.

'Thank you. By heaven, you have a quick hand.'

'Brother Guy is forever dropping things in the infirmary. And now, sir, with your leave I must go.'

'Of course. And thank you for telling me about the bursar.' I smiled. 'I know a king's commissioner can be an intimidating figure.'

'No, sir. You are different.' She looked at me seriously a moment, then quickly turned and left the room.

I nursed my potion, which slowly warmed my vitals. The thought that Alice appeared to trust me also sent probing fingers of warmth through me. If I had met her in another context, and if she had not been a servant –

I thought on her last words. How was I 'different'? I supposed what she had seen of Singleton had led her to think all commissioners were hectoring bullies, but had I sensed something more in her words? I could not imagine she felt attracted to me in the way I realized I was to her. I realized too that I had revealed that Mark had repeated all she told him. That might undermine her trust in him; a thought that I was alarmed to realize gave me a twitch of pleasure. I frowned, for jealousy is one of the deadly sins, and turned my mind to what she had said about the account book. That sounded a promising line of enquiry.

After a while Mark reappeared. I was relieved to note, as he opened the door, that the sawing had stopped.

'I have signed for the account books, sir. Eighteen great tomes. There was much grumbling from the bursar's men about how this will disrupt their work.'

'A pox on their work. Did you lock our room behind you?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Did you happen to notice whether any of the books had a blue cover?'

'They were all brown.'

I nodded. 'I think I know why Brother Edwig has been giving young Athelstan a hard time. There was something he did not tell us earlier. We will have another talk with our bursar, this could be important –' I broke off as Brother Guy came in. His face was drawn and pale. Under his arm was a stained apron which he threw into a basket in the corner.

'Commissioner, might we have a private word?'

'Of course.'

I rose and followed him. I feared he would take me to poor Whelplay's body, but to my relief he led me outside. The sun was beginning to set, casting a pink glow over the white herb garden. Brother Guy picked his way among the plants until he came to a large, snow-covered bush.

'I know now what killed poor Simon, and it was not possession by a demon. I also noticed him twisting his body over and waving his hands. But it was nothing to do with you. The spasms are characteristic. And the loss of voice, the visions.'

'Characteristic of what?'

'Poison from the berries of this bush.' He shook the branches, to which a few black dead leaves still clung. 'Belladonna. The deadly nightshade, as it is called in this country.'

'He was poisoned?'

'Belladonna has a faint but distinctive smell. I have worked with it for years, I know it. It was in poor Simon's guts. And in the dregs of the cup of warm mead by his bed.'

'How was it done? When?'

'This morning, without doubt. The onset of symptoms is rapid. I blame myself, if only Alice or I had stayed with him all the time –' He passed a hand over his brow.

'You could not have known this would happen. Who else spent time alone with him?'

'Brother Gabriel visited him last night late, after you retired, and again this morning. He was most upset, I gave him permission to pray over the boy. And the abbot and bursar came to see him later.'

'Yes. I knew they were coming.'

'And also this morning, when I went in to check on him, I found Prior Mortimus there.'

'The prior?'

'He was standing by the bed, looking down at him, a worried look on his face. I thought he was worried about the consequences of his harsh treatment.' He set his lips. 'Belladonna juice is sweet-tasting, the smell too faint to be noticed in mead.'

'It is used as a remedy for some ailments, is it not?'

'In small doses it relieves constipation, and has other uses. There is some in my infirmary, I often prescribe it. Many of the monks will have some. Its properties are well known.'

I thought a moment. 'Last night Simon began to tell me something. He said Commissioner Singleton's death was not the first. I intended to question him again today when he woke.' I gave him a sharp look. 'Did you or Alice tell anyone what he had said?'

'I did not, and nor would Alice. But he might have rambled deliriously to his other visitors.'

'One of whom decided his mouth must be stopped.'

He bit his lip and nodded heavily.

'Poor child,' I said. 'And all I could think of was that he was mocking me.'

'Things are seldom what they seem.'

'Here least of all. Tell me, Brother, why have you told me this rather than going straight to the abbot?'

He gave me a bleak look. 'Because the abbot was among his visitors. You have authority, Master Shardlake, and I believe you seek the truth, however much I suspect we might disagree on matters of religion.'

I nodded. 'For the moment I instruct you to keep secret what you have told me. I must think carefully how to proceed.' I looked at Brother Guy to see how he would take orders from me, but he only nodded wearily. He looked down at my mud-caked leg.

'Have you had an accident?' he asked.

'I fell in the bog. I managed to get myself out.'

'The ground is very unsafe out there.'

'I think there is no safe ground under my feet anywhere here. Come inside, or we'll catch an ague.' I led the way indoors. 'Strange that my misplaced fear he was mocking me should lead to this discovery.'

'At least now Prior Mortimus cannot say that Simon is surely in hell.'

'Yes. I think that may disappoint him.' Unless he is the killer, I thought, in which case he knows already. I gritted my teeth. If I had not allowed Alice and Brother Guy to dissuade me from talking to Simon last night, not only might I have had his full story, not only might I have been led to the killer, but Simon would still be alive. Now I had two murders to investigate. And if what the poor novice had muttered in his delirium about Singleton not being the first was true, then there were three.