Dissolution

His face set. The candlelight flickered strangely over his long nose and narrow dark features. 'I had forgotten that door was in your room. Sir, this passage hasn't been in use for nearly two hundred years.'

'It was used this morning! And you gave us the one room where a spyhole could be cut in the wall!'

'It is not the only room,' he said calmly. His gaze was level, the candle held in a steady hand. 'Did you not see? This passage runs behind the panelling of the infirmary wall, behind all the rooms on that corridor.'

'But there is a spyhole only behind ours. Are visitors normally put in our room?'

'Those who do not stay with the abbot. Usually messengers, or officials from our estates come to discuss business.'

I waved my hand around the dank little cell. 'And what in God's name is this horrible place?'

He sighed. 'This is the old monks' prison. Most houses have them; in years gone by abbots used to imprison brethren who had sinned grievously. In canon law they still have the power, though it's never used.'

'No, not in these soft times.'

'Prior Mortimus asked a few months ago whether the old cell still existed; he was talking of bringing it back into use for punishment. I told him so far as I knew it did. I haven't been here since an old servant showed it to me when I took over as infirmarian. I thought the door was sealed off.'

'Well, it wasn't. So Prior Mortimus asked about it, did he?'

'He did.' His voice hardened. 'I would have thought you would have approved, the vicar general seems to want our life to be hard and cruel as can be.'

I let a moment's silence fall between us. 'Be careful what you say before witnesses, Brother.'

'Yes. It is a world full of new marvels, where the king of England will hang a man for speaking words.' He made an effort to collect himself. 'I am sorry. But Master Shardlake, for all that yesterday we had a scholarly discussion about the new ways, there is a weight of fear and anxiety on everyone here. I only want to live in peace, Commissioner. We all do.'

'Not all, Brother. Someone could have come through this passage to the kitchen to kill Commissioner Singleton. It means they would not have needed a key to get to the kitchen. Yes, of course – that makes the kitchen the ideal place for someone to arrange to meet him, lie in wait and murder him.'

'Alice and I were up all that night tending old Brother James. No one could have come past us without being seen.'

I took his candle and held it up to his face. 'But you could have done it, Brother.'

'I swear by Our Lord's holy blood I did not,' he said passionately. 'I am a physician, my oath is to preserve life, not take it.'

'Who else knew of the passage? You said the prior spoke of it. When?'

He put a hand to his brow. 'He raised it at an obedentiaries' meeting. I was there, the abbot, Prior Mortimus, Brother Edwig and Brother Gabriel. Brother Jude the pittancer was there too and Brother Hugh the chamberlain. Prior Mortimus was talking as usual of how discipline needed to be stronger. He said he'd heard tell of an old monk's cell somewhere behind the infirmary. He was half-joking, I think.'

'Who else in the monastery might know of it?'

'New novices are told there is an old cell hidden in the precinct, to scare them, but I don't think anyone quite knew where it was. And I had forgotten till you mentioned it the day you came. I told you, I thought it locked up for years!'

'So people knew it existed. What about your friend, Brother Jerome?'

He spread his hands. 'What do you mean? He is not my friend.'

'I saw you helping him yesterday with his book, in service.'

Brother Guy shook his head. 'He is a brother in Christ, and a poor cripple. Has it come to such a pass that to aid a cripple turn the pages of his book becomes the basis of accusations? I had not thought you such a man, Master Shardlake.'

'I seek a murderer, Brother,' I said curtly. 'All the obedentiaries are under my watch, including you. So, anyone at that meeting could have had his memory stirred and decided to go ferreting for this passage.'

'I suppose so.'

I looked round the dank cell again. 'Let us go. This place makes my bones ache.'

We returned up the passage in silence. Brother Guy went out first, and I bent to retrieve my handkerchief. As I did so I saw something glimmering faintly in the candlelight. I scraped the stone flag carefully with a fingernail.

'What's that?' Mark asked.

I held my finger close. 'God's death, so that's what he was about,' I whispered. 'Yes, of course, the library.'

'What is it?'

'Later.' I wiped my hand carefully on my robe. 'Come on, my bones will freeze before I get to sit by a fire today.'

When we regained our room I dismissed Brother Guy, then stood warming my hands at the grate.

'God's nails, that place was cold.'

'It surprised me to hear Brother Guy speak against the vicar general.'