‘No, no, that’s not possible!’ Isaac turned and ran towards the synagogue. Judith followed more slowly. Her legs felt as weak as a newborn calf, and it was all she could do to walk, never mind run. Isaac had already raced up the stairs and was flinging open the door of the study chamber before Judith had crossed the garden.
Almost at once he emerged again at the top of the stairs. ‘I thought you said Nathan was in here.’
Judith pulled herself up the stairs. As she stepped cautiously inside the chamber, Isaac followed. Everything was exactly as she had left it, except for the body. Nathan’s corpse had vanished.
‘But… he was right there in the corner,’ Judith protested, turning in bewilderment to her brother.
Isaac gently squeezed her shoulders. ‘Perhaps you only thought Nathan was dead. He may simply have fainted and then recovered and has taken himself home.’
Judith closed her eyes tightly. ‘You didn’t see his face, Isaac, his eyes. There was a cord tied around his neck, cutting into his throat.’
‘A cord? Aaron was using a red cord two nights ago. He left it here, after Nathan…’ Isaac’s gaze darted around the room. ‘Are you sure you saw a cord? It’s not here now.’
‘Of course I am,’ Judith yelled at him. ‘And the stench. Can’t you smell it?’
Her brother sniffed. ‘That rotten stink from the butchers’ market — everyone can smell that. Look, little sister, dead men don’t get up and walk. A corpse can’t just vanish.’
‘Isaac, listen to me. I thought I saw someone watching this chamber. What if it was Nathan’s murderer and he came back while I was gone and moved the body?’
‘But why risk discovery by moving a corpse in broad daylight when they could simply leave it here?’ Isaac suddenly clapped his hand to his mouth and began frantically to search the room, tossing parchments aside, flinging out the contents of the small chests. ‘Is there something else missing, Judith? Something you saw in the room before that isn’t there now?’
‘Like what?’
But he didn’t answer her and she didn’t need an answer. She knew he was looking for the stone. And if the stone was missing…
‘Isaac, you said that Aaron had a red cord in this chamber. Is it possible that Aaron could have… murdered Nathan?’
Her brother gaped at her. ‘Aaron is the rabbi’s son. We’ve all grown up together. They may have quarrelled but…’ Isaac hesitated. He shook his head as if trying to rid himself of the idea and said firmly, ‘No. This is nonsense. You must have imagined it. You were always seeing monsters in the corners of the room in the dark when you were a child. You probably ate too much cheese last night.’
He bent over to kiss her forehead, but Judith furiously pulled away. It was the closest she had ever come to slapping him since they were children.
‘And what about whatever you were searching for: is that here?’ she demanded.
Isaac gnawed at the skin of his needle-calloused finger. ‘Nathan must have taken it home with him. I’ll go to his house straight away. That’ll put your mind at rest.’ He tried to smile. ‘Nathan’s probably sitting there right now swigging his ale, and all your fears will be for nothing.’ But he didn’t sound convinced by his own words.
Nathan was not in his house or his shop, and by the time the city gates were closed for the night and fires damped down in hearths he had still not returned. Anxious enquiries among all the Jews in the city revealed only that no one remembered seeing him since the eve of Shavuoth. There was no doubt that, dead or alive, Nathan had vanished and he was not the only one missing; Aaron likewise had disappeared.
Monday 27 May, the ninth day of Sivan
Isaac and Benedict came in from the yard, their hands still dripping with water from the ritual washing before meals. Judith ladled the thick bean and mutton potage into rough wooden bowls, fishing out an extra piece of mutton from the iron pot to put into Benedict’s bowl. There were more green herbs in the potage than meat or dried beans, for the stores in her kitchen were dwindling fast. Shavuoth may have been the wheat harvest festival for their ancestors in Israel, but here in the northern lands it was a time of hunger, for it would be many weeks before grain and fruit were ready to harvest.
Judith took her own bowl and sat at the end of the table. She could see that Benedict was bursting to say something, but silence had to be kept between the washing of hands and the blessing over the meal, so he was forced to bite his tongue until Isaac had finished mumbling the prayer. Then he burst out, ‘But what if Aaron’s been murdered, too?’
Isaac glanced uneasily at his sister. ‘We’ve no proof that Nathan is dead. Judith was probably mistaken in what she saw. It’s very dark in the study chamber.’
‘I know exactly what I saw,’ Judith blurted out furiously. ‘I’m not a child.’
Benedict held up his hands. ‘We believe you, don’t we, Isaac?’ he said, kicking his friend hard under the table. ‘The point is,’ he continued hastily, ‘both Nathan and Aaron have vanished. What if they were both killed in that room and the murderer had time only to move one of the bodies before Judith arrived?’
Isaac pushed his bowl aside. ‘Look, just suppose that my sister is right and Nathan has been killed. Then the murderer would have to be the same bastard who killed Jacob, but he’d not have been able to take the two of them. Aaron never left the house without a knife. No, most likely when Aaron got home, his father blistered his ears over that business on Erev Shavuoth and Aaron stormed off. He’s just lying low somewhere until the old man calms down.’
Benedict shook his head. ‘I spoke to Rabbi Elias and he said he hadn’t seen Aaron since he told him to go home that night. Anyone can tell he’s worried sick about his son.’
Judith nodded and turned to her brother. ‘If you’re so sure that Aaron isn’t dead, then he must have run off for some other reason, and why would he do that unless he’d killed Nathan?’
Isaac sprang to his feet. ‘No, if Nathan is dead then this is the work of the Christians.’
‘And what would Christians want with a stone?’ Benedict asked quietly. ‘The stone is missing — or have you forgotten?’
‘The stone is here,’ a shaky voice whispered from the doorway.
All three of them turned around. Aaron was standing in the low doorway, one hand clinging to the door frame as if he feared he would fall if he didn’t hold on to something. His face was pale, a dark bruise stained his cheek and one of the seams of his cloak had been ripped open, but in his right hand he held the sacred stone. Judith knew she should go to help him, but she couldn’t move.
‘I killed him,’ Aaron said, almost in wonder. ‘I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t let him take it… you understand that. He was a traitor, a blasphemer. I couldn’t let him take this stone from us, too. You would have done the same, wouldn’t you, Isaac? Benedict?’ he begged desperately.
He staggered forward and would have fallen had Benedict not caught him in his arms and lowered him gently on to the bench.
Judith hurried across the room to the flagon of wine they kept for the Shabbat meal on Friday evening and swiftly returned with a large measure. Benedict gently prised the stone from Aaron’s fingers and laid it on the table before clasping the man’s stiff fingers around the beaker of wine. Aaron stared at it as if he couldn’t understand what he was holding, then he lifted it and drank so fast Benedict had to pull it away from him to stop him choking.
Isaac opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but no words came out.
Judith could contain herself no longer. ‘What did Nathan do to betray us? He couldn’t, not Nathan. He was such a gentle, honest man.’
Aaron turned to her, his gaze unfocused. ‘What do you mean, Nathan? Nathan’s a bloody fool at times, but he’s no traitor.’
‘But you said you killed him.’
Aaron buried his head in his hands. ‘I told you, I didn’t mean it. They’ll hang me. Worse than that. Who knows what they’d do to a Jew who killed a man in holy orders. You have to help me get out of Norwich before they find me.’