Dark Fire

I avoided a reply. 'You were here on that day, madam?'

'I was in my room. Needler ran up and told me what had happened. It was I ordered him to go down the well. I felt Ralph's poor dead face when he brought him up.' She waved a bony hand in the air, as though touching that dead face again. Her harsh features softened for a moment.

I turned to the girls. 'You agree with what your father and grandmother have said?'

'Yes, sir,' Avice said.

'I wish to God it were not so,' Sabine added. She passed a hand over her eyes. 'Grandam,' she said meekly, 'my vision is blurred. Do I have to use the nightshade?'

'Belladonna is good, child. By expanding your pupils, it makes you look more comely. But perhaps a smaller dose.'

I looked at the old woman with distaste. I had heard of drops of deadly nightshade being used in this way for cosmetic purposes, but it was poisonous stuff.

I thought a moment, then stood up. 'I wonder if I might see Elizabeth's room, and perhaps the garden, before I go? I will only take a few minutes.'

'This is too much-' Sir Edwin began, but once more his mother interrupted.

'Get Needler to take him. Take Joseph too, then afterwards they can both leave.'

'Mother-' Joseph had risen and taken a step towards the old woman. She tightened her grip on her stick and for a moment I thought she might strike him, but she only turned her head abruptly away. Joseph stepped back, his face working. Sir Edwin gave him an angry look, then rang a bell. The steward appeared, so quickly I wondered if he had been listening at the door, and bowed low to his master.

'Needler,' Sir Edwin said heavily, 'Master Shardlake wishes to visit the room that was Elizabeth's and then the garden. Show them, then show them out.'

'Yes, Sir Edwin.' Needler's manner was obsequious. 'And cook says he has a dish of blackbirds for tonight, if that pleases you.'

'Not too much sauce in it this time,' the old lady said sharply.

'Yes, madam.'

Neither Sir Edwin nor his mother made any move to say farewell, and the girls lowered their heads, though not before I saw Sabine glance at Needler and redden. I wondered if she could have a fancy for the boor: there was no accounting for young girls' fancies.

The steward led us out, closing the door with a snap. I was glad to be out of that room. Joseph was pale. Needler looked at us enquiringly.

'The murderess's bedroom, is it?'

'The accused's room,' I replied coldly. 'And mind your tongue, fellow.' Needler shrugged and led us up a further flight of stairs. He unlocked a door and we passed inside.

Whatever else had happened to her in that house, Elizabeth had had a fine room. There was a four-poster bed with a feather mattress, a dressing table with a mirror of glass, and chests for her clothes. There was good rush matting on the floors that gave off a pleasant scent in the warm air. Several books stood on a shelf above the dressing table. I read the titles with surprise: Tyndale's Obedience of a Christian Man, the Coverdale New Testament, and several devotional works as well as The Castel of Health and Latin poetical works by Virgil and Lucan. A learned little library.

'Is Elizabeth a religious girl?' I asked Joseph.

'A good Bible Christian like all the Wentworths. She liked to read.'

I examined the Testament. It was much thumbed. I turned to Needler. 'Did Elizabeth speak much of religion?'

He shrugged. 'Perhaps she reflected on her sins, the way she was treating her family, and asked for God's help.'

'She does not seem to have received it.'

'There is still time,' Joseph murmured.

'Did Elizabeth have a maidservant? A woman to help her wash and dress?'

Needler raised his eyebrows. 'Wouldn't have one, sir. Said the servants mocked her.'

'And did they?'

'Perhaps – at her odd ways.'

'What happened to Grizzy?' Joseph asked suddenly. He pointed at a basket in the corner, filled with straw. 'Elizabeth's old cat,' he explained. 'She brought it from Peter's house.'

'It ran away,' Needler said. 'Cats do when they come to a strange house.'

Joseph nodded sadly. 'She was devoted to it.' So she was deprived even of that company, I thought. I opened one of the chests; it was full of dresses, neatly arranged. I indicated I had seen enough and we left the chamber. The smell of the warm rushes clung to my nostrils; I thought of the contrast with the foul stink in Newgate Hole.

Needler led us downstairs again, through a side door and into the garden. It was a peaceful place in the sunshine, insects buzzing lazily round the flowers. He led us across the lawn, the grass dry under our feet. He paused at the well and pointed to the bench, shaded by the large oak. 'That's where she was sitting when I came out after I heard the young mistresses screaming. Mistress Sabine and Mistress Avice were standing by the well, wringing their hands. "Ralph's gone," Mistress Sabine screamed at me. "Elizabeth's put him in the well."'

'And Elizabeth said nothing?'

'Just sat there with her head bowed, a dark look on her face.'

I went over to the well. Joseph hung back. A round wooden board was fixed over it, secured by padlocks to metal rings driven into the brickwork.

'This looks newly done.'

'Yes, sir. The master had the cap put on last week. Bit late really: it should have been done before.'

'I would like to see inside. Do you have keys to those locks?'

He looked at me evenly. 'Sir Edwin ordered them thrown away, sir. Nobody will be using that well again. The water's been poisoned for years. Not that there was any when I climbed down, we've had so little rain this spring.'

I bent down. There was a space of an inch or so between the wood and the rim on one side. I bent close and then pulled back at the smell that came from the gap; it was the stench of something dead, rotting. I remembered what Joseph had said about the smell on Ralph's body – like a cow's head left out in the Shambles a week. I looked across at him; he had taken a seat on the bench and was staring up at the window of the room we had left. His treatment from his family must have upset him greatly. I turned to Needler, who stood looking on impassively.

'There's a mighty stink coming from that well.'

'Like I said, the water's poisoned.'

'How did it smell when you went down there?'

'Bad enough.' He shrugged. 'But I wasn't worrying about smells, I was feeling for poor Master Ralph's body and hoping the rope ladder I'd let down wouldn't break. If that's all, I ought to be supervising the lunch.'

I stared at him a moment, then smiled. 'Yes, thank you, I have seen all I need.'

His eyes narrowed. 'Is there anything you'd like me to tell the master? Perhaps you won't be representing the girl now?'

'If I've anything to tell him I'll contact him myself, Needler. Now, Joseph, we should go.'

He rose wearily and followed me back to the hall. Needler opened the front door and we went out to the street. Needler said he would have my horse brought round, then closed the door with a snap. As we stood waiting on the step, Joseph gave me a direct look.

'Do you believe Elizabeth is guilty now, as my mother said?'

'No, Joseph, I think more and more that she is innocent.' I frowned. 'There is something wrong in that house.'

'My mother is an uncommon woman. Stronger than most men. She was beautiful when she was young, though you wouldn't think it now. She always loved Edwin most, thought me a poor creature to be content with the farm.'

I touched his arm. 'It was a brave thing you did, subjecting yourself to that for Elizabeth's sake.'