Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake Mysteries) (24 page)

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Authors: C J Sansom

BOOK: Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake Mysteries)
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‘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.’

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