Dissolution

CHAPTER 14

I had hoped to go into Scarnsea that afternoon, but it was now too late. In the last glow of the sunset I trudged again through the precinct to the abbot's house, to talk to Goodhaps. The old cleric was again bibbing alone in his room. I did not tell him that Novice Whelplay had been murdered, only that he had been very ill. Goodhaps seemed uninterested. I asked him what he knew of the account book Singleton had been studying just before his death. Singleton, he said, had told him only that he had prised a new book out of the counting house, which he hoped would be useful. The old man muttered in a surly tone that Robin Singleton kept much to himself, using him only to burrow in books. I left him to his wine.

A cold, keening wind had risen, cutting through me like a blade as I made my way back to the infirmary. As those loud bells pealed out again for Vespers I could not help reflecting that anyone who might have information was at risk: old Goodhaps, or Mark, or me. Whelplay's killing had been carried out with a cold and ruthless hand, and might have escaped detection had I not put Brother Guy in mind of belladonna by mentioning Simon's strange postures and gestures. We might be dealing with a fanatic, but not someone ruled by impulse. What if he was planning to put poison in my dinner plate, or sought to make a gap between my head and shoulders such as he had with Singleton's? I shivered and pulled my coat tighter around my neck.

Books were stacked on the floor of our room. Mark sat staring into the fire. He had not yet lit the candles, but the firelight cast a flickering glow over his troubled face. I sat opposite him; the chance to rest my poor bones by a warm fire was welcome.

'Mark,' I said, 'we have a new mystery.' I told him what Brother Guy had said. 'I have spent my life deciphering secrets, but here they seem to multiply and grow more terrible.' I passed a hand over my brow. 'And I blame myself for that boy's death. If only I had insisted, last night, in pressing him. And there in the infirmary, when he bent his poor body and waved his arms, all I could think of was that he might be mocking me.' I stared bleakly before me, momentarily overcome with guilt.

'You were not to know what had happened, sir,' Mark said hesitantly.

'I was tired, I allowed myself to be pressed to leave him. Lord Cromwell said in London that time was of the essence. Now here we are four days later with no answers and another death.'

Mark stood up and lit candles from the fire. I felt suddenly angry with myself; I should be encouraging him, not giving in to despair, but the novice's death had momentarily overwhelmed me. I hoped his soul had found rest with God; I would have prayed for it had I believed prayers for the dead made any difference.

'Do not give up, sir,' Mark said awkwardly as he set the candles on the table. 'We have this new matter of the bursar to investigate. That may take us forward.'

'He was away when the murder was done. But no,' I forced a smile. 'I shall not give up. Besides, I dare not, this is Lord Cromwell's commission.'

'I took the chance to look over the outhouses while you were in the church. You were right, they are busy places. The stables, the forge, the buttery, all in constant use. I couldn't see anywhere that large items might be hidden.'

'Those side chapels in the church might repay investigations. And I saw something interesting on the way out to the marsh.' I told him of the yellow gleam at the bottom of the pond. 'That's one place you might use to dispose of evidence.'

'We should investigate then, sir. You see, we have leads. The truth will prevail.'

I laughed hollowly. 'Oh Mark, you have not spent a lifetime around His Majesty's courts to say that. But you are right to encourage me.' I picked at a loose thread on the seat cover. 'I am become melancholy. I have felt my spirits weighing heavily on me for some months but it is worse here. My humours must be out of balance, too much black bile in my organs. Perhaps I should consult Brother Guy.'

'This is no place to cheer one.'

'No. And I confess I fear danger too. I was thinking of it now, in the yard. A footstep behind me, the swish of a sword through the air –' I looked up to where he stood over me. His boyish features were full of concern, and I was conscious of the weight this mission laid on him.

'I know. This place, the silence broken by those bells that make you start like a jack beetle.'

'Well, alertness is a good thing. I am glad you are ready to admit your fear. That is a good manly thing, better than the bravado of youth. And I should be less melancholy. I must pray for fortitude tonight.' I looked at him with sudden curiosity. 'What will you pray for?'

He shrugged. 'I am out of the habit of praying at night.'

'It should not be a mere habit, Mark. But don't look so worried, I am not going to lecture you about prayer.' I heaved myself upright. My back was tired, and sore again. 'Come, we should rouse ourselves, have a look at those account books. Then after supper we will tackle Brother Edwig.'

I lit more candles, and we set the books on the table. As I opened the first one, revealing lined pages filled with numbers and scratchy writing, Mark looked across at me seriously.

'Sir, could Alice be in danger because of what she told you? If Simon Whelplay was killed because he might divulge a secret, the same could happen to her.'

'I know. The sooner I confront the bursar about this missing book, the better. I promised Alice I would keep her involvement secret.'

'She is a brave woman.'

'And an intriguing one, eh?'

He reddened, then suddenly changed the subject. 'Brother Guy said the novice had four visitors?'

'Yes, and they are also the four senior officers who knew Singleton's purpose here – them and Brother Guy.'

'But it was Brother Guy who told you Simon was poisoned.'

'All the same, I must be wary of taking him entirely into my confidence.' I held up my hand. 'Now, these accounts. You are used to monastic accounts from Augmentations?'

'Of course, I was often set to audit them.'

'Good. Then look through these and tell me if anything strikes you. Any items of expenditure that seem too high, or do not tally. First, though, lock the door. God's death, I am becoming as nervous as old Goodhaps.'

We set to work. It was a dull task. Double-entry accounts, with their endless balances, are harder to follow than simple lists if one is not a figurer by trade, but so far as I could tell there was nothing unusual in the books. The monastery's revenues from its lands and the beer monopoly were substantial; low expenditure on alms and wages was balanced by high spending on food and clothes, especially in the abbot's household. There appeared to be a surplus in hand of some £500, a goodly sum but not unusual, augmented by some recent land sales.

We worked until the bells tolled through the frosty air, announcing dinner. I stood up and paced the room, rubbing my tired eyes. Mark stretched out his arms with a groan.

'It all seems as one would expect. A wealthy house; there is much more money than in the small houses I used to deal with.'

'Yes. There is much gold behind these balances. What could be in this book Singleton had? Perhaps everything is too much in order; maybe these figures are for the auditor and the other book shows the true ones. If the bursar is defrauding the Exchequer that is a serious offence.' I banged my book shut. 'Now come, we had better go and join the holy brethren.' I gave him a serious look. 'And make sure we eat only from the common dish.'

We crossed the cloister yard to the refectory, passing monks who bowed low to us. In doing so one slipped and fell, for many feet had passed across the yard now, turning it into a mass of packed slippery snow. As I passed the fountain I saw the stream of water had frozen in mid air, a long spike of ice protruding from the nozzle like a stalagtite.

Supper was a sombre meal. Brother Jerome was absent, presumably shut up somewhere on the prior's orders. Abbot Fabian mounted the lectern and made a solemn announcement that Novice Whelplay had died from his ague, and there were shocked exclamations and appeals to God's mercy along the tables. I noticed some venomous looks cast at the prior, especially from the three novices, who sat together at the furthest end of the table. I heard one of the monks, a fat fellow with sad rheumy eyes, mutter a curse on those without charity, glaring all the while at Prior Mortimus, who sat looking ahead with a stern, unbending gaze.

The abbot intoned a long Latin prayer for the departed brother's soul; the responses were fervent. This evening he stayed to dine at the obedentiaries' table, where a great haunch of beef was served with runcible peas. There were subdued attempts at conversation, the abbot saying he had never seen such snow in November. Brother Jude, the pittancer, and Brother Hugh, the fat little chamberlain with the wen on his face I had met in the chapter house, who always seemed to sit together and argue, now disputed whether the statutes obliged the town to clear the road to the monastery of snow, but without much enthusiasm. Brother Edwig alone became animated, talking worriedly about the pipes freezing in the privy and the cost of repairing them when the weather warmed and they burst. Soon, I thought, I will give you something worse to worry you. I was surprised at the strength of my emotion, and chid myself, for it is a bad thing to allow dislike to cloud one's judgement of a suspect.

There was another at table that night under the influence of even stronger emotions. Brother Gabriel barely touched his food. He appeared devastated by the news of Simon's death, lost in a world of his own. I was all the more shocked, then, when he suddenly lifted his head and cast a look at Mark of such intense longing, such burning emotion, that it made me shiver. I was glad Mark was attending to his plate and did not see it.

It was a relief when at last grace was said and everyone filed out. The wind had risen higher, sweeping up little waves of snow and sending them stinging into our faces. I signalled Mark to wait in the doorway as the monks raised their cowls and hurried off into the night.

'Let us tackle the bursar. You have your sword buckled on?'

He nodded.

'Good. Keep your hand on it when I talk to him, remind him of our authority. Now, where is he?'

We waited a few moments more, but Brother Edwig did not emerge. We went back into the dining hall. I could hear the bursar's stuttering tones, and we found him leaning over the monks' table where Brother Athelstan sat, looking sulky. The bursar was stabbing a finger at a paper.

'That balance is not c-correct,' he was saying. 'You have altered the payment for hops.' He waved a receipt angrily, then, seeing us, bowed and gave his insincere smile.

'Commissioner, good evening. I trust my b-books are in order?'

'What books we have. I would speak with you, please.'

'Of course. One moment, I pray.' He turned back to his assistant. 'Athelstan, I see as plain as day you have altered a figure in the left-hand column to disguise the fact your figures do not balance.' I noticed that his stutter seemed to vanish when he was angry.

'Only by a groat, Brother Bursar.'

'A groat is a groat. Check every entry till you find it, all two hundred. I will see a true balance or none. Now go.' He waved an arm, and the young monk scuttled past us.

'Pardon me, C-Commissioner, I have to deal with b-blockheads.'

I motioned Mark to guard the door, and he stood, hand on sword. The bursar gave him an uneasy glance.

'Brother Edwig,' I said severely. 'I have to charge you with concealment of a book of account from the king's commissioner, a book with a blue cover which you attempted to hide from Commissioner Singleton, which you repossessed after his murder and have concealed from me. What do you say?'

He laughed. But many men charged with a true bill of crime will laugh to disconcert their accuser.

'God's death, sir,' I shouted. 'Do you mock me?'

He raised his hands in demurral. 'No sir, I beg pardon, but – you are incorrect, this is a m-misunderstanding. Did the Fewterer girl tell you this? Of course, Brother Athelstan told me that malapert s-saw him arguing with Commissioner Singleton.'

I cursed inwardly. 'How I came by my knowledge is no concern of yours. I will have your answer.'

'Of c-c-course.'

'And do not tumble and spit your words to gain time to think up lies.'

He sighed and clasped his hands together. 'There was a m-misunderstanding with Commissioner Singleton, may God rest him. He asked for our ac-c-c –'

'Account books, yes.'

'-as you did, sir, and I gave them to him as I have to you. B-but, again as I have told you, he often came into the counting house on his own, when it was shut, to see what he could f-find. I do not deny his right, sir, only that it m-made for confusion. On the day before he was killed he came up to Athelstan as he was locking the doors, and waved a book at him, as the girl no doubt told you. He had taken it from my inner office.' He spread his hands. 'B-but, sir, it was not an account book. It contained mere jottings, p-projections of future income I made some time ago, as he would have seen as soon as he examined it properly. I can show it to you if you wish.'

'You took it back from the abbot's house after his death, without telling anyone.'

'No, sir, I did not. The abbot's servants found it in his room when they cleared it, s-saw my writing and returned it to me.'

'But when we spoke earlier you said you were unsure which book Commissioner Singleton took.'

'I – I had forgotten. The book is unimportant. I can s-send it to you, sir, you can see for yourself.'

'No. We will come with you now and fetch it.'

He hesitated.

'Well?'

'Of course.'

I motioned Mark to stand aside, and we followed him across the cloister yard, Mark taking up a lamp to light the way. Brother Edwig unlocked the counting house and we climbed the stairs to his private office. He unlocked his desk and pulled a thin blue book from a drawer.

'This is it, sir. See for yourself.'

I looked inside. Indeed there were no neat columns, only scrawled jottings and arithmetical reckonings.

'I will take this for now.'

'B-by all means. B-but may I ask, as this is a private office, if you would come to me before taking any more books? To prevent confusion?'

I ignored the question. 'I see from your other records that the monastery has a large surplus, larger this year than last. Sales of land have brought in fresh capital. Why then is there objection to Brother Gabriel's proposals for repair of the church?'

He looked at me seriously. 'Brother Gabriel would spend everything we have on the r-repairs. He would allow all else to f-fall down. The abbot will give him money for repairs, but we have to beat him down or he will take all. It is a matter of negotiation.'

It was all so plausible. 'Very well,' I said. 'That is all. For now. One thing more. You mentioned Alice Fewterer. The girl is under my special protection, and if any harm befalls her you will find yourself at once under arrest and sent to London for enquiry.' I turned and marched out.

'Ways of negotiation, indeed,' I said as we walked to the infirmary. 'He's as slippery as they come.'

'He could not have killed Singleton, though. He was away. And a fat little hog like that couldn't have struck his head off.'

'He could have killed Simon Whelplay. Perhaps there is more than one of them acting together in this business.'

Back in our room, we studied the account book. It seemed, as the bursar said, to contain nothing more than random calculations and jottings, all in his neat round hand, going back years by the faded look of the ink in the earlier part. I tossed it aside, rubbing my tired eyes.

'Perhaps Commissioner Singleton thought he had found something when he had not?'

'No. I don't think so. From what Alice said his accusation was specific, he said the book shed new light on the year's accounts.' I exclaimed and banged my fist into my palm. 'Where are my wits? What if he has more than one book with a blue cover? This may not be the one!'

'We could go back now, and turn the counting house upside down.'

'No. I am exhausted. Tomorrow. Now let's rest, it will be a busy day. There's Singleton's funeral to get through, then we must go to Scarnsea to see Justice Copynger. I want to talk to Jerome too. And we should investigate the fish pond.'

Mark groaned. 'Truly there is no rest for Lord Cromwell's emissaries. At least we may find ourselves too busy to be frightened.'

'With any luck. And now I am going to bed. Say a prayer for some progress tomorrow.'

We woke early next morning, just as dawn was breaking. I rose and scraped frost from the inside of the window. The rising sun was casting fingers of pink light across the snow. It was a beautiful but sterile scene.

'No sign of a thaw.' I turned to find Mark standing shirtless by the fire, a shoe in his hand, staring around the room with a puzzled expression. He raised a hand.

'What was that? I heard something.'

'I heard nothing.'

'It was like a footstep. I did hear it.' Frowning, Mark threw the door open. There was nobody there.

I sat down on the bed again; my back was stiff and sore that morning. 'You are imagining things. This place is unsettling you. And don't stand there half-bare. The world doesn't want to see your belly, flat as it may be.'

'Sir, I did hear something. I thought it was outside.' He thought a moment, then crossed to the cupboard, which served as a storage space for clothes. He threw open the door, but it contained only dust and mouse-droppings. I looked down at him, envying the play of smooth, symmetrical muscles down his back.

'Only mice,' I said. 'Come on.'

As we sat at breakfast we had a visit from the abbot, ruddy-cheeked and swathed in furs against the cold. He was accompanied by Dr Goodhaps, who cast nervous, rheumy eyes about the infirmary, a dewdrop on the end of his nose.

'I have sad news,' Abbot Fabian began in his pompous way. 'We must postpone the late commissioner's interment.'

'How so?'

'The servants have not been able to dig deep enough. The ground is hard as iron and now they have poor Simon's grave to dig as well in the monks' cemetery. Today will be needed to finish the task. Then we could have both funerals tomorrow.'

'It cannot be helped. Will the funerals be held together?'

He hesitated. 'As Simon was a religious that must be a separate ceremony. That is allowed in the injunctions…'

'I have no objection.'

'I wondered, sir, how your enquiries are going. The bursar really needs his books back as soon as possible, I fear –'

'He will have to wait, I am not finished yet. And this morning I am going into town to see the Justice.'

He nodded portentously. 'Good. I am positive, Commissioner, that poor Commissioner Singleton's murderer is to be found in the town, among the smugglers and ill-doers there.'

'When I return I would like to interview Brother Jerome. Where is he? I have not seen his smiling face.'

'In solitude, as a penance for his behaviour. I must warn you, Commissioner, if you talk to him you will only have fresh insults. He is beyond control.'

'I can make allowance for the mad. I will see him when I return from Scarnsea.'

'Your horses may have difficulty getting there. Last night's wind has blown the snow into great drifts. One of our carts has had to turn back, the horses could not manage.'

'Then we will walk.'

'That too may be difficult. I have been trying to tell Dr Goodhaps –'

The old man spoke up. 'Sir, I have come to ask, may I not go home tomorrow, after the funeral? Surely I can be of no more use? If I were to get to the town I could find a place in a coach, or I wouldn't mind staying at an inn till the snow melts.'

I nodded. 'Very well, Master Goodhaps. Though I fear you may have a wait in Scarnsea before this weather changes.'

'I don't mind, sir, thank you!' The old man beamed, nodding his head so that the dewdrop fell on his chin.

'Go back to Cambridge. Say nothing of what has happened here.'

'I want only to forget about it.'

'And now, Mark, we must go. My lord Abbot, while we are in town I would like you to sort out more papers for me. The deeds of conveyance on all land sales for the last five years.'

'All of them? They will have to be fetched –'

'Yes, all of them. I want you to be able to swear you have given me the deeds of every sale –'

'I will arrange it, of course, if you wish.'

'Good.' I got up. 'And now we must be on our way.'

The abbot bowed and left, old Goodhaps scuttling after him.

'That worried him,' I said.

'The land sales?'

'Yes. It strikes me that if there is any fraudulent accounting going on, it would most likely be the concealment of income from land sales. That is the only way they could raise large amounts of capital. Let's see what he comes up with.'

We left the kitchen. As we passed Brother Guy's dispensary we glanced in, and Mark suddenly grasped my arm.

'Look! What's happened to him?'

Brother Guy lay face down on the floor under the big crucifix, arms extended in front of him. Sunlight glinted on his shaven brown pate. For a moment I was alarmed, then I heard the murmur of Latin prayer, soft but fervent. As we went on I reflected again that I must be careful how far I took the Spanish Moor into my confidence. He had confided in me, and was the most agreeable of those I had met here. But the sight of him lying prone, making fervid entreaties of a piece of wood, reminded me that as much as the others he was muzzled in the old heresies and superstitions, enemy of all I stood for.