‘I then put the jug on the table. The bread and cheese were passed round.’
‘And Brother Hamo’s ale was poisoned?’ Corbett asked. ‘But no one knew which tankard Hamo would take?’
‘Of course not,’ the almoner replied. ‘They are all the same. No one gave it a second thought.’
‘And when was this tray brought up?’ Corbett demanded. ‘Before the Concilium met or during it?’
‘Just after we’d begun,’ Prior Cuthbert replied. ‘We were busy taking our seats when Brother Oswald brought it in.’
Corbett nodded at Chanson who scurried away. They sat in silence. Corbett deliberately wanted that. The pool is being stirred, he reflected, yet its calm surface still hides a lot. One of these men was an assassin but which? Prior Cuthbert, now looking so worried? Aelfric, preening himself as if pleased at the way things were going? Francis the librarian, who kept glancing over his shoulder at Corbett? Richard the almoner, hands clasped together as if reciting his beads? Brother Dunstan, with that faraway look in his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what was happening? Archdeacon Adrian sat with his head down, moving backwards and forwards in his chair. Beside him Perditus, his eyes screwed up, stared across at the corpse as if fascinated by it. There was a knock on the door: a grey-haired, ashen-faced lay brother was ushered in. He immediately fell to his knees, hands clasped.
‘Father Prior! Father Prior!’ he wailed. ‘I brought the ale and tankards up.’
‘Speak to me,’ Corbett said gently.
The man turned, still on his knees.
‘You are Oswald the scullion?’
The man blinked through rheumy eyes and nodded, clearly terrified out of his wits.
‘You have nothing to worry about,’ Corbett reassured him. ‘Who told you there was a meeting of the Concilium?’
‘Hamo. He came down to the kitchen. I laid out the usual platter of bread and cheese, tankards and a jug of ale. I covered the jug with a napkin and left them there. I sent up one of the kitchen boys, a lad from the village. He came back and reported that the meeting had begun, so I brought up the tray.’
‘And no one stopped you?’
A shake of the head.
‘Father Prior and the others were just getting ready. The meeting hadn’t really begun. I placed the tray on the table and left immediately.’
‘Prior Cuthbert,’ Corbett demanded, ‘did anyone go across to the table whilst the meeting was taking place?’
‘Not till I did,’ Brother Dunstan answered.
‘In which case,’ Corbett turned to Oswald, ‘when the tray was in the kitchen, who came in?’
The lay brother waved his arms in exasperation.
‘Sir, how can I say?’
‘Try and think,’ Corbett urged. ‘Look around this chamber. Study each face carefully.’
Oswald moved restlessly on his knees.
‘There were some strangers,’ he declared. ‘Well, visitors. Talbot the taverner from the Lantern-in-the-Woods, with that saucy-eyed daughter of his. What’s her name?’
‘Blanche,’ Prior Cuthbert provided the name. ‘They often come here to buy provisions. Talbot is a good customer.’
‘He is,’ Oswald said abruptly. ‘But she’s bold-eyed and sniggers too much.’
‘Did they go near the table?’ Corbett asked.
‘I can’t tell you. Anyway, why would they do something like that?’ Oswald’s eyes were now shifting about the chamber. ‘We had brothers coming in and out, a stack of wood was brought for the ovens but none of the Concilium entered.’ Oswald licked his lips. ‘Though he did!’ He shifted and pointed to Archdeacon Adrian.
‘God’s teeth!’ Wallasby bellowed. ‘I was hungry, I wanted some ale, something to eat. I was preparing to leave.’
‘But now you’re not,’ Corbett smiled.
‘Yes, he came in,’ Oswald clambered to his feet, fingers shaking, ‘demanding this and demanding that. He had words with Taverner Talbot, asked if he could stay at the inn for the night on his journey back to London.’
Archdeacon Adrian simply waved his hand. Corbett could tell he was furious.
‘I will not deign to answer this. I am a priest, Sir Hugh, a high-ranking official of the Church. I was only here at Abbot Stephen’s insistence and that of the Dominican Order.’
‘Were you?’ Corbett asked. ‘Were you really?’ He turned. ‘Brother Oswald, you may go.’
Ranulf let him out and closed the door. He leaned against it, arms crossed, head back, staring at these assembled notables under heavy-lidded eyes. Ranulf watched Corbett like a cat: sometimes old Master Long Face infuriated him with his brooding ways and taciturn speech. Ranulf had never met a man so self-contained. Corbett was closer than any brother but, over the years, Ranulf had learnt little about this enigmatic clerk. The only passion he showed was when he was with his beautiful wife Maeve. Ranulf smiled to himself. Lady Maeve, with those piercing blue eyes, always frightened Ranulf. It was as if she could stare directly into his soul, and read his thoughts, his secret desires. Oh yes, Corbett’s only passions were Lady Maeve, his children and the law. Always the law! Corbett had once told him that he had seen the work of wolf’s-heads in Wales, an entire hamlet destroyed: women gutted from crotch to neck; men hanging from trees; children butchered. He had never forgotten the sight and learnt a bitter lesson.
‘If the law is removed,’ Corbett declared, ‘that’s what we become, Ranulf: animals in the dark tearing at each other.’
Corbett loved the King but this was tinged with a deep cynicism and wariness, and that was the difference between them. In Ranulf’s eyes whatever the King wanted was the law. Ranulf recalled Taverner and the cunning man’s description of his early days. Ranulf-atte-Newgate was determined on one thing: he would never go back to that. Corbett was his friend and companion but he was also his master and mentor. Ranulf studied Corbett like a hunting dog did its quarry. He glanced at Corbett who sat, elbows on the table, hands clasped over the lower part of his face: a favourite trick, to sit in silence and make the guilty nervous.
‘Murderers always talk,’ Corbett had once remarked. ‘They begin by being secretive but, after a while, the power they have grasped goes to their heads. When they talk, they make mistakes.’
Ranulf also liked to see the powerful ones, the great and the so-called good, squirm before his master’s gaze.
‘Sir Hugh, are you praying?’
‘Yes, Brother Aelfric, I am.’
A bell began to toll.
‘It is time for divine office,’ Brother Dunstan declared, his hand against the table as if ready to rise.
‘Sit down,’ Corbett ordered. ‘I have read the rule of St Benedict. In times of danger and crisis, the office of the day can be suspended. This is the divine office we must address: the matins of murder, the prime of malice, the vespers of death, the nones of justice, the compline of law. I don’t think God wants to hear your prayers. He wants to see justice done. Prior Cuthbert, I suggest you hold a chapter meeting and tell your community that, until these matters are resolved, everyone should walk warily with an eye to his own safety.’
‘We are all in the hands of God,’ Prior Cuthbert declared.
‘Some of us are,’ Corbett retorted. ‘But others?’ He stirred in the chair.
‘What of others?’ Prior Cuthbert demanded.
‘There’s an assassin in this abbey,’ Corbett replied. ‘It will take time for the Hand of God to grasp him and mark him like he did Cain.’
‘And Brother Hamo?’ Prior Cuthbert demanded.
‘Shall I tell you something?’ Corbett pushed his chair back. He got to his feet and, hands down, leaned against the table. ‘Your brother was poisoned. I am no physician so I cannot tell you the substance. Aelfric, in your infirmary you must have many jars, phials, boxes of powder. In the fields outside grow plants which, if ground and drained, would slay a man within a few heartbeats. What chills me about Hamo’s death is that it wasn’t planned.’
‘What?’ Aelfric demanded.
‘The assassin is playing a game with us,’ Corbett continued. ‘Abbot Stephen’s puzzling death; Gildas branded, his corpse left sprawling on the burial mound; the cat, its throat slit, fastened to the rood screen; Taverner killed by an arrow. I think the assassin could have killed all of you this morning. Somehow or other he put that poison in the tankard. He really didn’t care who drank from it, as long as one of you did.’