Lamentation (The Shardlake Series Book 6) (76 page)

M
Y APPOINTMENT WITH
R
OWLAND
was for two o’clock, and it was almost that now. My stomach rumbling with hunger, I left the house and walked down to Lincoln’s Inn. When I was shown into his chamber the Treasurer was sitting behind his desk as usual. He smiled at me, quite unashamed. ‘So the Privy Council let you go, Brother Shardlake?’

‘Yes. They recognized Mistress Slanning’s accusations for the rubbish they were.’

He inclined his beaky head, stroking the ends of his long beard. ‘Good. Then the matter is over, with no disgrace to Lincoln’s Inn. Secretary Paget sent a message asking me not to see you before today.’ He smiled. ‘They like to do that, ensure that the people to be brought before them have no advance warning.’ My anger must have shown in my face, for he added, ‘Take care what you say next, Brother Shardlake. Do not abuse me as you did once before: remember who I am.’

I replied quietly, ‘I know exactly who you are, Master Treasurer.’ He glared at me with his flinty eyes. ‘As the Slanning matter is over,’ I continued, ‘I take it there is nothing more to discuss. Except that, in light of my arrest, I presume someone else will attend the ceremonies to welcome the admiral later this week.’

Rowland shook his head. ‘You do presume, Brother Shardlake. The message from Secretary Paget was that if your appearance before the council led to your arrest for heresy I should find a substitute, but if you were released you should still attend. They want someone of serjeant rank and you are the only one in town, except old Serjeant Wells, who is entering his dotage and would probably turn up on the wrong day. So you will attend as planned, starting with the parade through the city on Friday. I take it you have the requisite robes and chain.’

‘The robes, no chain. Who can afford a gold chain these days?’

He frowned. ‘Then get one, Serjeant, in the name of Lincoln’s Inn, which you will be representing.’

I could not resist one piece of insolence. ‘Perhaps the Inn could provide me with one. After all, it has recently acquired the late Brother Bealknap’s estate. You will have his chain, surely.’

‘Gone to the Tower mint to be melted down like the rest of his gold,’ Rowland snapped. He waved a hand. ‘Now, that is enough, Brother.’ He pointed a skinny, inky finger at me. ‘Get a chain. And a shave as well. You look a mess.’

I
NEEDED TO GET THE NEWS
about Brocket to Lord Parr as fast as possible, but I was hungry, and exhausted already. As I crossed the square to the refectory I realized both my hands were clenched tight into fists. Timothy’s stupidity, Brocket’s betrayal and Rowland’s insouciant rudeness had left me in a state of fury.

Feeling a little better for my meal, I went into chambers and asked Barak and Nicholas to come to my room. From the expression on Nicholas’s face Barak had told him about my arrest. When the door was closed behind us Barak said, ‘Thank God you’re out.’

‘No reply to the message you took?’

‘Nothing.’

I sat looking at him. It hurt that those I had served seemed to have abandoned me. The Queen most of all. I said, ‘Well, I must get another message to Hampton Court now. Something else has happened. It had best go direct to Lord Parr.’

‘Perhaps it might be better for me to take this one,’ Nicholas said. ‘The guards there may have instructions to hold Jack off; another messenger may get through more easily.’

I looked at him; the boy seemed himself again, after the dreadful hurt his father’s letter had caused. Yet I sensed a new sadness and seriousness in him.

Barak nodded agreement. ‘God’s blood, Nick boy, you’re learning the ways of politics fast.’ He gave him a mocking look. ‘So long as it’s not just a chance to see all the ladies inside Hampton Court.’

He answered quietly. ‘On my oath, after what has just happened to Master Shardlake, I have no wish to step into a royal palace.’

‘Thank you, Nicholas,’ I said. There was still loyalty in chambers at least, and my spirits rose a little.

‘But what happened at the council?’ Barak asked.

I told them about my appearance there, Rich’s unexpected help, and Martin’s disloyalty, concluding with my encounter with Rowland. I asked ruefully, ‘Has either of you a spare gold chain you don’t need?’

‘Rowland’s an arsehole,’ Barak said. ‘The way he cheated Bealknap, it almost makes me feel sorry for the old rogue.’ He looked at Nicholas. ‘If you make a career in the law, be sure you don’t turn out like either of them.’

Nicholas did not reply. I studied him. What would he do when his period with me came to an end in a few months? Run for the hills, if he was wise. But I hoped he would not.

‘So you still have to go to the ceremonials?’ Barak said. ‘I’m going with Tamasin to see the admiral arriving at Greenwich on Friday. She insisted.’

‘I should like to see that,’ Nicholas said.

‘I wish it were all over, these ceremonies that I must attend.’ I looked at him. ‘Try all you can to get the message through that I am about to write. It may be possible, now, to set up a meeting between Brocket and Stice at the house and then grab Stice. We may be able to find out exactly what Rich has been doing.’

Barak raised his eyebrows. ‘How? He won’t willingly betray his master. He’s not some youngster who got himself involved with crazy Anabaptists, like Myldmore and Leeman.’

‘I’ll leave that to Lord Parr,’ I answered grimly.

He looked at me askance. ‘I quite agree; but that’s a bit ruthless for you, isn’t it?’

‘I have had enough.’

‘What is Rich up to? We all thought he’d changed tack after the heresy hunt ended and Anne Askew’s book was taken. That he was helping you. But it was him, through Stice and Brocket, who reported your burning those books.’

‘Rich can never be trusted. And yet I can’t see either why he would report my burning the books to the council now. It was risky, I could have spilled the truth about Anne Askew.’

‘Rich always turns with the political wind, doesn’t he?’

‘Yes. He started as Cromwell’s man.’

‘What if this was a double-bluff? Rich gets the matter onto the council agenda along with the Slanning complaints because he knew that your burning the books wasn’t illegal, and that the Slanning charges were all shit?’

‘Why would he do that?’ Nicholas asked.

‘Because he is turning with the tide towards the reformers,’ Barak answered excitedly. ‘The whole performance could have been intended to show a shift of loyalty on his part, by siding with Lord Hertford and the Queen’s brother.’

‘That sounds too devious to be credible,’ Nicholas said doubtfully.

‘Nothing is too devious for those courtiers,’ I replied vigorously. ‘But the problem with that idea is that Rich knew nothing of the Slanning case. He didn’t know Isabel would have no evidence and make a fool of herself as she did. And he seemed genuinely worried afterwards.’ I sighed. ‘Only Lord Parr can help to sort this out. And he ought to be told about it.’

Barak said, ‘The Queen’s brother will have told him.’

‘Not the whole story.’

‘What role is Secretary Paget playing in all this?’ Nicholas asked. ‘They say he is the King’s closest adviser.’

‘No: his closest
servant
. There is a difference. He is the King’s eyes and ears, the ringmaster, if you like. From all I understand, he never challenges the King over policy. He remembers Wolsey and Cromwell too well.’ I smiled wryly. ‘He is the Master of Practices, not Policy.’

‘He must have an eye to the future; when the King is no longer here.’

‘Well said,’ Barak agreed. ‘He’ll be looking out for his own interest; he’ll no doubt jump to whichever faction is most likely to win.’

‘He is like all of them,’ I said angrily. ‘He will do anything to anybody. And people like me are the pawns, useful in the game but dispensable. And now, Nick, smarten yourself up a little, while I write this letter.’

I
DID NO WORK FOR
the remainder of that afternoon. After sending Nicholas with the message, I went out and sat in the shade on a bench under an old beech tree, occasionally nodding to colleagues who passed by. Nobody, thank God, knew I had been in the Tower a second time, though doubtless the news would get out as it always did. Exhausted, I closed my eyes and dozed. After a time I heard something fall onto the bench beside me and, opening my eyes, saw it was a leaf, dry and yellow-tinged. Autumn would soon be here.

I turned at the sound of someone calling my name. John Skelly was running towards me. I stood. It was too early for a reply from Hampton Court. ‘Master Coleswyn has called to see you, sir,’ he said as he came up. ‘He seems agitated.’

I sighed. ‘I will come.’

‘I thought you no longer represented Mistress Slanning, sir. I thought your involvement in that case was over.’

I said with feeling, ‘I wonder, John, if that case will ever end.’

But it was about to, and for ever.

Chapter Forty-five

P
HILIP WAS WAITING IN MY OFFICE
. He looked haggard. ‘What has happened?’ I asked breathlessly. ‘Not more accusations?’

It was more a tremor than a shake of the head. ‘No, not that.’ He swallowed. ‘Edward Cotterstoke is dead.’

I thought of the desperate figure in the boat that morning. Edward was not young, and the last few days had turned his world upside down. ‘How?’

Philip took a deep breath, then started to sob. He put a clenched fist to his mouth, fought to bring himself under control. ‘By his own hand. I took him home, fed him and put him to bed, for he seemed at his last gasp. He must have taken the knife from the kitchen. A sharp one.’ He shuddered, his whole solid frame trembling. ‘I went to see how he was, two hours ago, and he had slit his throat, from ear to ear. It must have taken great force.’ He shook his head. ‘There is blood everywhere, but that is the least of it. His soul, his soul. He was in great torment, but such a sin . . .’ He shook his head in despair.

I remembered Cotterstoke’s words on the boat, talking of the disgrace that confessing to his stepfather’s murder would bring his family. He had said he knew what had to be done. I said, ‘He felt he deserved death for what he did, and believed he was damned anyway; he did not want his family to suffer.’

Philip laughed savagely. ‘They will suffer now.’

I answered quietly, ‘Suicide is a terrible disgrace, but less than murder. His family will not see him hang, nor will his goods be distrained to the King.’

‘There could have been some other way; we could have talked about it, talked with our vicar. This is – is not – sane.’

‘After what had just happened to him, anyone might lose their reason. Perhaps God will take account of that.’