Equinox

Chapter 20

They were sitting in a room adjoining the Inner Chamber. It was a small room, a pocket of air encased in stone sixty feet beneath the Bodleian Library. The walls were smooth, the floor polished and with a large Khotan rug covering the centre of the space. On this stood a mahogany table bare except for a silk runner stretching the length of the table and spilling over the ends. The room was lit by two dozen candles in a metal chandelier suspended from the centre of the curved ceiling. Two men sat opposite each other.

'I'm extremely disappointed in you,' said the Master, his voice devoid of emotion.

The Acolyte, dressed in a cream linen Armani suit, wide-collared white shirt and a green-and-red-striped Louis Vuitton silk tie arranged in a Windsor knot and nestled close to his Adam's apple, was seated in an identical chair. He stared across the table separating him from the Master and felt the colour drain from his face. 'I was going to explain.'

'I'm glad.'

'I was disturbed at the house. Someone was there.'

The Master raised an eyebrow.

'It was not an easy procedure, Master. I did not want to make an error and time was pressing.'

'You have been trained well, no?’

'I heard a sound from downstairs. I thought the girl's parents were returning early. I was obviously wrong.'

'Yes, you were.'

'I had not completed the removal. I took the body into the garden, but that was not suitable. Then I noticed the mooring for the family's punt. It seemed appropriate.'

'But why did you then move the punt along the bank?'

The Acolyte took a deep breath. 'I had the woman arranged in the punt. I had removed her brain when the tether came loose and the punt started to move away from its mooring. I tried to stop it, but I realised that if I was to scramble along the bank or fall in I would disturb the scene too much. I could do nothing but let it go. It must have become stuck in the bank a short way from the house.' The Acolyte looked down at his perfectly manicured nails.

The Master considered the other man's handsome face. He thought how much younger than his years he looked. He had been lucky with his genes — high cheekbones, a well-shaped mouth and eyes so blue that he could have been wearing coloured contract lenses. 'You haven't heard, have you?' 'Heard what, Master?'

'Your mistake may yet have very serious consequences. Thames Valley CSI have found physical evidence close to the house on the river.'

'That's impossible. I. .'

'They have a partial print, as well as traces of leather and plastic'

The Acolyte shook his head. His eyes were ablaze with indignation.

'Did you check your protective suit before disposing of it?'

The Acolyte closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

'Well?'

'No.'

'So, it is not impossible, then.'