Dissolution

'I had n-no idea anyone was here, Commissioner. You startled me.'

'I am surprised you did not call out.'

'I w-was too astonished.'

'I am allowed all access. I decided to have a look at some of these ledgers you have round the walls. I had just begun.' Had he seen me at his desk? No, or I would have felt the draught before.

'I fear those are only old accounts.'

'So I see.'

'I am g-glad to see you, sir,' he said, giving his quick mirthless smile. 'I wanted to ap-pologize for my outburst this morning. I was upset by the ceremony's interruption. I beg you will take no note of w-words spoken in thoughtless heat.'

I replaced the ledger, inclining my head. 'I know many think as you do, even if they do not say it. But you are wrong. Such moneys as go to the Exchequer will be used by the king to benefit the commonwealth.'

'Will they, sir?'

'You think not?'

'In these days when all men are consumed by greed? Is it not said covetousness was never more attacked nor more seductive? His friends will pressure the king for largesse. And who can hold the k-king to account?'

'God. He has placed the welfare of his people in the king's hands.'

'But kings have other p-priorities,' Brother Edwig said. 'Pray do not misunderstand me, I do not criticize King Henry.'

'That would be unwise.'

'I mean k-kings in general. I know how they throw money to the winds. I have seen for myself how it is wasted on armies, for example.' There was an animated light in his eyes that I had never seen before, an eagerness to talk that made him appear at once more human.

'Have you?' I encouraged him. 'How is that, Brother?'

'My father was an army paymaster, sir. I spent my childhood as a camp-follower while I learned his trade. I was with King Henry's army in the war against France twenty years ago.'

'When the Spanish king deceived him, promising support and then abandoning him?'

He nodded. 'And all done for the sake of g-glory and conquest. I saw the armies rampaging through France, I s-spent my childhood looking at dead soldiers laid out in rows in camp, sir, their bodies going green, prisoners hanged at the g-gate. I was at the siege of Therouanne.'

'Warfare is a terrible thing,' I agreed. 'For all that many say it is noble.'

He nodded vigorously. 'And always the priests moved among the wounded, giving unction, trying to mend what man had torn as-s-sunder. I decided then to become a monk, put my f-figuring skills at the service of the Church.' He smiled again and this time it was a smile with life in it, a wry smile. 'People say I am mean, do they not?'

I shrugged.

'To me, every groat that goes to the Ch-Church is won for God from the sinful world. Can you understand that? It goes to support prayer and charity. But for what we give them the p-poor would have nothing. We have to give alms, because of our faith.'

'And for kings it is a choice, one they may choose not to make?'

'Just so. And the payment we receive for Masses for the dead, sir. It is good in God's eyes, it helps the dead in purgatory and brings merit for the giver.'

'Purgatory again. You believe in it?'

He nodded vigorously. 'It is a real place, sir, we disregard it at the peril of many pains to come. And does it not make sense, that God weighs up our merits and sins and casts us in the balance as I balance my accounts?'

'So God is a great figurer?'

He nodded. 'The greatest of all. Purgatory is real; it lies beneath our feet as we stand. Have you not heard of the great volcanoes in Italy, where purgatory's fires spew out on the land?'

'Do you fear it?'

He nodded slowly. 'I believe we should all fear it.' He paused, collecting himself and eyeing me carefully. 'Forgive me, but the Ten Articles do not deny purgatory.'

'No indeed. What you have said is permissible. And interesting. But were you not also implying just now that the king might not act responsibly in his headship of the Church?'

'I told you, sir, I s-spoke only of kings in general, and I said the Church, not the pope. With respect, m-my views are not heretical.'

'All right. Tell me, with your background in the army, would you know how to use a sword?'

'Such as killed the commissioner?'

I raised my eyebrows.

'I guessed that was how it was done when I heard how the body looked on my return from the estates. I saw enough men beheaded when I was young. But I forswore that world as soon as I reached manhood. I had seen more than enough blood by then.'

'The life of a monk has its drawbacks though, does it not? The vow of celibacy, for example, that must be hard.'

His composure faltered. 'W-what do you mean?'

'As well as the death of the commissioner I now have to investigate the death of a young girl.' I told him whose body was found in the pond. 'Your name was given, among others, as one who had behaved improperly towards her.'

He sat down at the desk, bowing his head so I could not see his face. 'Celibacy is hard,' he said quietly. 'D-do not think I relish the urges that come over me, as some do. I hate these d-devilish passions. They tear down the edifice of a holy life it takes such labour to build. Yes, sir, I w-wanted the girl. It is as w-well I am a timid man: each time she gave me harsh words I went away. But I would come back. She seemed to tempt me just as the lust for glory tempts men to war.'

'She tempted you?'

'She could not do otherwise. She was a woman, and what are women on earth for if not to tempt men?' He took a deep breath. 'D-did she kill herself?'

'No. Her neck was broken.'

He shook his head. 'Sh-she should n-never have been allowed here. Women are the D-Devil's instruments.'

'Brother Edwig,' I said quietly. 'You may call yourself timid, but I think perhaps you are the hardest man here. And now I will leave you, you will have figuring to do.'

* * *

I stood outside on the landing, collecting my thoughts. I had been certain Gabriel was the murderer and had killed in hot passion. But if the book I had found was the same one Singleton had uncovered then Brother Edwig had a clear motive for my predecessor's death. Yet Singleton had been killed in a passion, and I could see no passion in the bursar save for figuring and money, though a fraud he almost certainly was. And he had not been at Scarnsea that night.

As I turned to the stairs, a light on the marsh caught my attention. I made out two yellow flickers, far out on the mire they seemed. I remembered reflecting there would be half a chestful of gold in those land sales, and that Brother Edwig had come upon me the day I went out on the marsh. And if one wanted to move gold, who better to turn to than professional smugglers? I caught my breath and hurried back to the infirmary.

* * *

Alice was seated in the prior's kitchen, cutting the roots from some herb. She looked at me with sharp hostility for a second, then forced her features into a smile.

'Preparing one of Brother Guy's potions?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Is Master Mark returned?'

'In your room, sir.'

The hostility in her aloof courtesy saddened me. Mark, then, had told her what I had said to him.

'I have been at the counting house. I saw lights out on the marsh from an upper window. I wondered whether the smugglers may be busy again.'

'I do not know, sir.'

'You told Master Mark you would show us the trackways.'

'Yes, sir.' Her voice was wary.

'I would be interested to see them. I wonder if you would take me tomorrow.'

She hesitated. 'I have duties for Brother Guy, sir.'

'If I were to speak to him?'

'As you instruct.'

'And – there are one or two matters I would like to talk to you about, Alice. I would be your friend, you know.'