Dissolution

by C. J. Sansom

  ‘If you find anything before you go, send the information to me. And Matthew—’

  ‘Yes, my lord.’

  He had moved out of the sunlight, the fierce anger and power were back in his eyes. ‘Make sure you find the murderer. I have kept this from the king too long. When I tell him I must have the killer’s name to give him. And get the abbot’s seal on that surrender. I suppose at least there you’ve achieved something.’

  ‘Yes, my lord.’ I hesitated. ‘When the house surrenders, what will happen to it?’

  He smiled grimly. ‘Same as with them all. The abbot and the monks will get their pensions. The servants will have to shift for themselves and serve them right, greedy lubbers. As for the buildings, I’ll tell you what I have planned for Lewes. I’m sending a demolition engineer down there; I’m going to have him raze the church and claustral buildings to the ground. And when all the monastery lands are in the king’s hands and we rent them out, I’m going to put a clause in every lease saying the tenant must take down any monastic buildings. Even if they just take the lead off the roofs and let the locals take the stone for building, it’ll be the same result. No trace left of their centuries of mummery, just a few bare ruins to remind people of the king’s power.’

  ‘There are some fine buildings.’

  ‘A gentleman can’t live in a church,’ Cromwell said impatiently. His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re not turning papist on me are you, Matthew Shardlake?’

  ‘Never,’ I said.

  ‘Then go. And don’t fail me this time. Remember, I have it in my power to build up a lawyer’s business, but I can also ruin it.’ He gave me his bull-like glare again.

  ‘I will not fail, my lord.’

  I picked up the sword and left.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  I LEFT WESTMINSTER with my mind in a whirl. I went over the names of everyone at the monastery, trying to find a possible link with the Smeaton family. Could John Smeaton have met Brother Guy in Spain thirty years ago? If he were an apprentice, then he and the sacrist would have been of an age.

  All the time I was turning these matters over, in my heart there was a dull, leaden feeling. I had believed Thomas Cromwell incapable of the unchristian acts attributed to him over Anne Boleyn’s fall. And now he had casually admitted they were true. And it was not Cromwell who had gulled me into false belief; I had done that for myself.

  The horse had been picking its way slowly over the icy ruts in the road, but halfway down Fleet Street it stopped and tossed its head anxiously. A little way ahead a crowd had gathered, blocking the road. Looking over their heads I saw two of the constable’s men struggling with a young apprentice. He was resisting fiercely, shouting out at his captors.

  ‘You are the forces of Babylon, you seize God’s chosen children! The righteous will prevail, the mighty shall be pulled down!’

  The guards pinioned his arms behind his back and hauled him away, still kicking. Some of the crowd yelled catcalls after him, others shouted support.

  ‘Be steadfast, brother! The Lord’s chosen will triumph!’

  I heard another rider at my elbow, and turned to see the sardonic features of Pepper, the fellow lawyer I had encountered the day I undertook the mission to Scarnsea.

  ‘Ho, Shardlake!’ he called amiably. ‘So they’ve taken another hot gospeller. An Anabaptist by the sound of him. They’d have all our property, you know!’

  ‘Is there a round-up of unlicensed preachers? I’ve been out of London again.’

  ‘There’s talk of Anabaptists in London, the king’s ordered all suspects to be taken. He’ll burn a few and just as well. They’re more dangerous than the papists.’

  ‘There is safety nowhere these days.’

  ‘Cromwell’s taken the opportunity to have a general round-up. Cutpurses, fraudsters, unlicensed preachers, they’ve all been lurking in their dog-holes in this fearsome weather and he’s rooting them out. Not before time. D’you remember that old woman with the talking bird we saw?’

  ‘Aye. It seems an age ago.’

  ‘It turned out you were right; the bird just repeats words it’s taught. They’ve brought in a couple of boatloads of the creatures and they’re the talk of the City, everyone with a town house wants one. The old woman’s been charged with fraud, she’ll probably be whipped at the cart’s tail. But where have you been, keeping by your fire in this cold?’

  ‘No, Pepper, I have been out in the country, Lord Cromwell’s business again.’

  ‘I hear he’s looking for a new bride for the king already,’ he said, fishing for gossip. ‘There’s talk of a marriage among the German princes, Hesse or Cleves. That’d tie us to the Lutherans.’

  ‘I have heard nothing. As I say, I have been away on Lord Cromwell’s business.’

  He looked at me enviously. ‘He keeps you busy. D’you think he might have work to spare for me?’

  I smiled wryly. ‘Yes, Pepper, probably he would.’

  AT HOME I LOOKED over the correspondence I had been too weary to do more than glance at the night before. There were letters about cases I was handling; people were becoming anxious for replies on several matters. There was also a letter from my father. The harvest had been poor that year, the farm would show little profit and he was thinking of running more land for sheep. He hoped my business was prospering and that Mark was doing well at Augmentations - I had said nothing of his disgrace. He added that it was said in the country more monasteries would come down. Mark’s father said that would be good, it would mean more work for Mark.

  I put the letter down and sat staring gloomily into the fire. I thought of Mark Smeaton on the rack under torture, guilty of no crime. And Jerome on the same rack. No wonder he hated the office I embodied. So all he had said was true. He must have known of the link between Singleton and Mark Smeaton, or why tell me the story? Yet he had sworn no one in the monastery had killed Singleton. I tried to remember his exact words, but I was too tired. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, and Joan came in.

  ‘A letter has just come, sir. From Lord Cromwell.’

  ‘Thank you, Joan.’ I took the thick letter from her and turned it over in my hands. It was marked ‘Most secret’.

  ‘Sir,’ she said hesitantly. ‘May I ask you something?’

  ‘Of course.’ I smiled at her; her plump face was anxious.

  ‘I have wondered, sir, is all well with you? You appear troubled. And Master Mark, is he safe down there on the coast?’

  ‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘I do not know about his future, though, he does not want to return to Augmentations.’

  She nodded. ‘That does not surprise me.’

  ‘Doesn’t it, Joan? It did me.’

  ‘I could see he was unhappy there. I have heard it is a wicked place full of greedy men, if you will forgive me.’

  ‘Perhaps it is. But there are so many such places. If we were to avoid them all and just sit by our fires, we should all be beggars, should we not?’

  She shook her head. ‘Master Mark is different, sir.’

  ‘Why different? Come, Joan, he has beguiled you as he does all women.’

  ‘No, sir,’ she said, stung. ‘He has not. Perhaps I see him more clearly than you. He has as gentle a nature as I have ever seen under that amiable surface, injustice pains him. I have wondered whether in a way he sought his disgrace with that girl, to get away from Westminster. He has strong ideals, sir, sometimes I think he has too many to survive in this harsh world.’

  I smiled sadly. ‘And I thought I was the one with high ideals. “And the veil was lifted from mine eyes.” ’

  ‘Pardon, sir?’

  ‘Nothing, Joan. Do not worry. I must read this.’

  ‘Of course, I beg pardon.’

  ‘No need. And, Joan - I thank you for your care.’

  I TURNED TO the letter with a sigh. It contained notes made by Singleton and letters to Cromwell about his progress with Mark Smeaton. They made it clear a coldly calculated plan had be
en set to trap the young musician with perjured evidence and kill him. Alleging the queen had bedded with someone of such humble origins would be particularly shocking to the public, Singleton said, so it was important to have him in the net. He referred to Smeaton mockingly as a silly creature, a lamb to be led to the slaughter. At Cromwell’s house they had smashed his lute against the wall before his eyes and left him naked in a cellar all night, but it had taken torture to make him swear a false confession. I prayed he was safe in heaven.

  There was a memorandum from Singleton about the boy’s family. His mother was dead and there was only his father; no other male relatives at all. John Smeaton had an older sister out in the country somewhere, but there had been a quarrel and he had not seen her for years. Singleton told Cromwell the lack of relatives with connections would make it easier to deal with the boy as they liked, without questions raised.

  I put the letter carefully back in its envelope. I recalled Singleton’s funeral, the sight of the coffin lid shutting on his face, and I confess now I was glad. I called for the horse to be brought round; it was time to set out for Whitechapel. I was glad to get into my coat and step out of doors again, with a goal to follow. It released me from the whirling chaos in my mind.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  IT WAS A LONG RIDE out to Whitechapel, well beyond London Wall; a fast-growing area, filled with the wattle-and-daub hovels of the poor. Thin smoke from a hundred fires rose into the still air. Here the bitter weather was more than just a serious inconvenience; looking at the pinched, hungry faces I reflected that for some here this would be one hardship too many. Such wells as they had must have frozen, for I saw many women carrying pails of water up from the river. I had changed into my clothes of cheapest cloth, for gentlemen were not always safe out here.

  The street where Smeaton had had his forge was one of the better ones, housing several workshops. Singleton’s papers said he had lived in a two-storey building next to a smithy and I found it readily enough. It was no longer a carpenter’s; the shutter covering the shopfront had been nailed down and painted over. I tied the nag to a post and rapped on the flimsy wooden door.

  It was opened by a poorly dressed young man with untidy black hair framing a pale, hollow-cheeked face. He asked what I wanted without much interest, but when I said I was a commissioner from Lord Cromwell’s office he shrank away, shaking his head.

  ‘We’ve done nothing, sir. There’s nothing here to interest Lord Cromwell.’

  ‘You are not accused of anything,’ I said mildly. ‘I have some enquiries, that is all. About the last owner of this place, John Smeaton. There will be a reward for those who help me.’

  He still looked dubious, but invited me inside. ‘Excuse my home, sir,’ he muttered, ‘but I’ve no work.’

  In truth it was a sorry chamber he led me into. It had obviously been a workshop in the recent past, for it consisted only of one long, low room, the brick walls blackened with years of soot. A carpenter’s bench now served as a table. It was cold; the fire consisted of a few stony coals that gave off as much smoke as heat. Apart from the bench there was no furniture save a few battered chairs and straw mattresses on the floors. Around the poor fire three thin children sat huddled together with their mother, who nursed a coughing baby in her lap. They all looked up at me with sullen, indifferent expressions. The room was dim, the only light coming from a small rear window now the old shopfront was nailed up. The place smelt strongly of smoke and urine, and the whole scene filled me with a chill sadness.

  ‘Have you been here long?’ I asked the man.

  ‘Eighteen months, since the old owner died. The man who bought it lets us this room. There’s another family in the living quarters upstairs. The landlord’s Master Placid, sir, he lives in the Strand.’

  ‘You know who the old owner’s son was?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Mark Smeaton, that lay with the great whore.’

  ‘I presume Smeaton’s heirs sold it to Master Placid. Do you know who they were?’

  ‘The heir was an old woman. When we moved in there was a pile of Master Smeaton’s belongings, some clothes and a silver cup and a sword—’

  ‘A sword?’

  ‘Yes, sir. They were in a pile over there.’ He pointed to a corner. ‘Master Placid’s man told us John Smeaton’s sister would be coming to collect them. We were not to touch them or we’d be out.’

  ‘Nor did we, sir,’ added the woman by the fire. Her child coughed harshly and she hugged it to her. ‘Quiet, Fear-God.’

  I fought to suppress my excitement. ‘The old woman? Did she come?’

  ‘Yes sir, a few weeks later. She was from the country somewhere, she seemed nervous in the city. Her lawyer brought her.’

  ‘Do you remember her name,’ I asked eagerly, ‘or what part of the country she came from? Might it have been a place called Scarnsea?’

  He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, sir, I only remember she was from the country somewhere. A little fat woman, past fifty, with grey hair. She only said a few words. They picked up the bundle and the sword and left.’

  ‘Do you remember the lawyer’s name?’

  ‘No, sir. He helped her with the sword. I remember her saying she wished she had a son she could give it to.’

  ‘Very well. I would like you to look at my sword - no, don’t be alarmed, I’m only taking it out to show you - and tell me if this might be the one the woman took.’ I laid it out on the bench. The man peered at it and his wife came over, still hugging the child.

  ‘That looks like it,’ she said. She eyed me narrowly. ‘We did take it out of its scabbard, sir, but only to have a look, we didn’t do anything with it. But I recognize that gold-coloured handle, and those marks on the hilt.’

  ‘We said it was a fine piece,’ the man added. ‘Didn’t we, Elizabeth?’

  I sheathed the weapon. ‘Thank you both, your information has been helpful. I am sorry your child is ill.’ I reached out to touch the baby, but the woman raised her hand.

  ‘Don’t stroke her, sir, she’s alive with nits. She won’t stop coughing. It’s the cold, we’ve lost one already. Quiet, Fear-God.’

  ‘She has an unusual name.’

  ‘Our vicar is strong for Reform, sir, he’s named them all. He said it would help us in the world now, to have children with such names. Here, children, stand up.’ The other three stood on rickety legs, revealing bloated wormy stomachs, and their father pointed to them in turn. ‘Zealous, Perseverance, Duty.’

  I nodded. ‘They shall each have sixpence, and here are three shillings for your help.’ I counted out the contents of my purse. The children grabbed the coins eagerly; the father and mother looked as if they could not believe their good fortune. Overcome with sudden emotion, I turned and left them quickly, mounted the horse and rode away.

  THE PITIFUL SCENE at the house haunted me, so it was a relief to turn my thoughts back to what I had discovered. It made no sense. The person who had inherited the sword, the only person with a family motive for vengeance, an old woman? There were no women over fifty at the monastery, apart from a couple of old serving women, tall thin old crones who did not answer the young man’s description. The only person who did that I had encountered in my time at Scarnsea was Goodwife Stumpe. And no short old woman could have dealt that blow. But Singleton’s papers had been definite there were no male relatives. I shook my head.

  I realized that in my preoccupation I had let the horse wander and it was heading down towards the river. I did not feel like going home yet and let the nag take the lead. I sniffed the air. Was it my imagination, or was it, at last, getting warmer?

  I passed an encampment on a snowy piece of waste ground, where a group of workless men had made a camp. Presumably they had lighted here in the hope of finding casual labour at the docks; they had built a lean-to from pieces of driftwood and sacking and sat huddled round a fire. They gave me unfriendly looks as I passed, and a thin yellow cur ran from the camp and barked at the nag. She tossed her
head and neighed, and one of the men called the dog to heel. I rode away quickly, patting the horse until she calmed.

  We were down at the riverside; ships were drawn up and men were busy unloading. One or two were as dark as Brother Guy. I brought the nag to a halt. Directly ahead a great ocean-going carrack was drawn up at the quay, its square prow ornamented with an obscenely grinning naked mermaid. Men were hauling crates and boxes from the hold; I wondered from what far reach of the round globe it had come. Looking up at the great masts and the mesh of rigging I was surprised to see mist curling round the crow’s nest. Wreaths of fog, I now saw, were floating up the river and I could feel distinctly warmer air.

  The nag was showing signs of anxiety again and I turned and headed slowly back towards the City, through a street of store-houses. Then I paused. An extraordinary babel of noise was coming from one of the wooden buildings; screeches and yells and a host of voices in strange tongues. It was bizarre, hearing those unearthly sounds in the misty air. Overcome with curiosity, I tied the nag to a post and went across to the warehouse, from which a sharp smell issued.