Dissolution

'It had a maker's mark. Swords like that are made to order. If I can find the maker, I should be able to find whom he made it for. And it's the only lead I have now.'

'Except to question Brother Edwig when we have evidence about the land sales.'

'Yes. You know, I cannot see Brother Edwig working with an accomplice. He seems too self-contained.'

Mark hesitated. 'Brother Guy could have killed Singleton. He's stringy, but looks fit enough, and he's tall.'

'He could, but why him particularly?'

'The hidden passage, sir. He could so easily have slipped away that night and gained access to the kitchen. He wouldn't have needed a key.'

I kneaded my brow again. 'Any of them could have done it. The evidence all points in different ways. I need more; I pray I find it in London. But I need a presence here; I want you to move into the abbot's house. Check the letters, keep an eye on what's happening.'

He gave me a sharp look. 'You want me away from Alice.'

'I want you safe away from the precincts, like old Dr Goodhaps. You can take his room, it's a finely appointed place for someone of your age to sit in state.' I sighed. 'And yes, I would prefer you away from Alice. I have spoken to her, I have told her that involvement with you could damage your prospects.'

'You had no right, sir,' he said with sudden vehemence. 'I have the right to decide my own path.'

'No, Mark, you do not. You have obligations, to your family and to your own future. I order you to move to the abbot's house.'

I saw ice in the wide blue eyes that had captivated poor Gabriel. 'I have seen you look lustfully after her yourself,' he said, and there was contempt in his voice.

'I control myself.'

He looked me up and down. 'You have no choice.'

I set my teeth. 'I should kick your arse out on the road for that. I wish I did not need you here while I am away, but I do. Well, are you going to do as I say?'

'I shall do all I can to help you catch the man who has killed these people. He should be hanged. But I make no promise for what I do afterwards, though you disown me utterly.' He took a deep breath. 'I am minded to ask Alice Fewterer for her hand.'

'Then I may have to disown you,' I replied quietly. 'By God's flesh I would not, but I cannot ask Lord Cromwell to take back a man married to a servant girl. That would be impossible.'

He did not answer. I knew in my heart that if it came to the worst, even after what he had said, I would take him as a clerk; find him and Alice a room in London. But I would not make it easy for him. I met his gaze with a look as steely as his own.

'Pack a bag for me,' I ordered curtly. 'And saddle Chancery. I think the road is clear enough to ride to town. I will see the prior now, then leave for London.' I walked away; I would have wished for his company in tackling Prior Mortimus, but after what had passed we were better apart.

***

The obedentiaries were still in Gabriel's office, as dejected a group as I had ever seen. It struck me how disconnected they were from each other; the abbot in his increasingly fragile haughtiness, Guy's lonely austerity, the prior and the bursar the ones who kept the place functioning and yet, I sensed again, not friends. So much for spiritual brotherhood.

'You should know, Brothers, I am going to London. I need to report to Lord Cromwell. I will be back in about five days and Mark Poer is to deputize till I return.'

'How can ye get there and back in five days?' Prior Mortimus asked. 'They say these snows reach to Bristol.'

'I am taking a boat.'

'What have you to discuss with Lord Cromwell?' Abbot Fabian asked nervously.

'Private matters. Now, I have let it be known how Brother Gabriel died. And I have decided Orphan Stonegarden's body should be delivered to Goodwife Stumpe for burial. Please arrange it.'

'But then the town will know she died here.' The abbot frowned, as though he was finding it hard to puzzle things out.

'Yes. Matters have gone too far now for secrecy about that.'

He raised his head and looked at me with a touch of his old haughty manner.

'I must protest, Master Shardlake. Surely such a matter, affecting everybody here, should have been discussed with me first, as abbot.'

'Those days are done, my lord,' I said shortly. 'Now you may all go, except Prior Mortimus.'

They passed out, the abbot giving me a vacant, puzzled look as he went. I folded my arms and faced the prior. I dragged reserves of mental energy from somewhere, I know not where.

'I have been considering, Brother, who knew I was coming to the church. You were there, by the pond, when I told my assistant.'

He laughed incredulously. 'I had left you.'

I studied him, but could see only angry puzzlement. 'Yes, you had. Then the person who pushed the stone was not lying in wait for me at all, but had another purpose. Who could have had reason to go up there?'

'Nobody, not till the works are agreed upon.'