Langelee sat at the end of the table, his nose buried in a cup that Bartholomew was fairly sure did not contain the customary small ale, but something a little stronger. As soon as he could, Michael made his apologies to Kenyngham and asked to be excused, leaving the other Fellows curious as to what could be so important as to make the monk rise from the table while there was still bread to be eaten and the egg-mess bowl to be scraped.
‘We will go to St Michael’s Church immediately,’ said Michael, as Bartholomew followed him down the spiral stairs and into the yard. ‘We will look behind this altar of Runham’s, and bring any soap we find back to the College. And then we will decide what to do next.’
They were about to open the front gate when Walter came hurrying out from the porter’s lodge, his gloomy face anxious. He was working days at Michaelhouse in the hope he would be reappointed. ‘I would not open that, if I were you, Brother,’ he advised. ‘Some of your choir are outside.’
‘So?’ asked Michael irritably. ‘What do you think they might do? Sing to me?’
‘That would be a good enough reason to stay behind locked gates in itself,’ said Walter without the flicker of a smile. ‘But I do not think they have come to sing: I think they have come to fight.’
‘Fight?’ asked Michael. ‘Why would they want to fight? I plan to reinstate them as soon as I have resolved this business with Runham. I should have done it before, but first I was ill, and then I was busy.’
‘They do not know that, do they?’ Walter pointed out. ‘But they are outside, and they look as though music is the farthest thing from their minds.’
A flight of steep, narrow steps led to the top of the wall that separated the College from Foul Lane. Bartholomew climbed it quickly, and was startled to see that Walter was right: there was a large gathering of townsfolk outside the College gates. None of them carried weapons as far as he could see, and he supposed that they had only come to beg for the reinstatement that Michael proposed to arrange anyway. They did not seem to be the menacing throng that Walter had claimed.
‘You should talk to them,’ he said to Michael, climbing down again. ‘Tell them that the next practice will be at the usual time, and I imagine they will disperse quite peacefully.’
‘Very well,’ said Michael, striding towards the gate. Before he could reach it, there was a tremendous hammering. He stopped and gazed at Bartholomew in surprise.
‘Michaelhouse!’ came a loud voice from the other side of the wall. ‘Open up.’
‘Who is it?’ demanded Walter in an unsteady voice. Standing well to one side, he eased open the small grille in the door that would allow him to see out.
‘It is me and Adam de Newenham,’ came Robert de Blaston’s voice. ‘And a few others who are prepared to stand by us and see justice done. We want our money for working on your buildings.’
‘You said tomorrow,’ said Michael, aggrieved. ‘Then we will have a week’s wages for every man at the rate agreed by Master Runham.’
‘But we want all of it,’ shouted Blaston. ‘We want the entire month’s pay in advance – today, not tomorrow.’
‘Michaelhouse will pay you for a week,’ said Michael firmly. ‘That is already twice what you would have earned from Bene’t.’
‘We have heard rumours – put about by your own servants – that Michaelhouse was robbed when Runham died,’ shouted Blaston. ‘We do not trust you to pay us later. We want all our money now.’
Walter immediately started to inspect his fingernails, while one of the cooks who had been listening to the exchange seemed to be similarly guilt-stricken. Bartholomew did not blame either of them: they had been summarily dismissed after years of service, and it was only human nature to gossip and gripe about it in the taverns – and to speculate that the College did not have the money to pay for the services it had requested.
‘It is not common practice to pay everything in advance,’ argued Michael. ‘We will pay you for the week of work that you have already done, and then you can return to Bene’t. The scholars there are keen for you to complete their building first. You can finish ours later.’
‘The rumours were right!’ cried Newenham in disbelief. ‘You do not have the funds to pay us what we are due.’
‘I will not shriek out this matter with you like the constable of a besieged castle,’ snapped Michael irritably. ‘I will open the door, and you and Blaston can enter. We will discuss this like civilised men, not like vendors at a fish market.’
Reluctantly, Walter opened the gate to admit Blaston and Newenham, flinching as though he anticipated the horde outside might come crashing in. Michael’s beadle, Meadowman, was with them, white-faced and tense as he contemplated the widening rift between the University that paid his wages and the town in which he lived.
Curious scholars had gathered in the yard, and they ringed Michael and the two carpenters, watching the exchange with interest. The other Fellows arrived, too, Langelee in a foul enough mood to join in any fight going, and Clippesby and Suttone, unused to the occasional spats between town and University, looking nervous. William was gripping a heavy bible like a lethal weapon, and Bartholomew had the unnerving impression that he was either about to pronounce the start of a holy war or hurl the book at someone and brain them with it.
‘Oh, hello, Doctor,’ said Blaston amiably to Bartholomew as he spotted the physician. ‘Did I tell you that my Yolande was very pleased with her ribbon?’
‘What is this?’ demanded William, glaring challengingly at Bartholomew. ‘You gave Yolande de Blaston a gift? I thought she was a whore.’
‘Only on certain nights of the week,’ objected Blaston, offended.
‘Then what is that smell?’ demanded William, gazing around him with the glare of a fanatic. ‘I detect the unmistakable odour of brothel!’
Bartholomew moved away from him.
‘And how would you know, Father?’ asked Langelee archly. ‘You have some personal experience of brothels, do you? Perhaps you can recommend me a couple.’
‘Come into our hall,’ said Kenyngham quickly to the craftsmen, sensing a confrontation in the making that had nothing to do with wages and broken contracts. ‘Share some wine with us, and we will discuss this in a dignified way.’
‘No, thank you,’ said Newenham hastily. ‘We hear that Michaelhouse has laid in a supply of Widow’s Wine. I would not drink that stuff if I were dying of thirst in a desert.’
‘It is a splendid brew,’ said William indignantly. ‘It is a good, honest man’s drink, not this weak and watery rubbish that I hear is served in other Colleges. I must see about ordering more of it.’
‘We did not come here to talk about wine,’ said Newenham impatiently. ‘We came because we want our money. We want the ninety pounds right now – for the supplies that we will have to buy and for our labour over the next three weeks, as well as what we are already owed.’
‘It is not customary to pay for work before it is completed,’ argued Michael again. ‘I can assure you that our College–’
‘Show us, then,’ interrupted Blaston. Michael regarded him uncertainly. ‘Give us our week’s wages now, and show us the rest. We heard it was all in a large coffer in Master Runham’s room. Show us this coffer, and we will be back within the hour with our tools to complete the work we started. We only want to make sure we will not be cheated.’
‘Michaelhouse does not cheat people,’ began William, offended. Kenyngham put a cautionary hand on his shoulder to quieten him.
‘Please,’ said Suttone, stepping forward and raising his hands in a placatory gesture. ‘Michaelhouse scholars are honest men, and none of us has any intention of cheating you.’
‘No?’ demanded Blaston. ‘Then show us the gold.’
‘We are clerics,’ continued Suttone, in the same reasonable tones. ‘Friars and monks. I promise you we are honourable men who will see you are paid what you agreed with Runham. Even if I have to work as a common scribe in St Mary’s Church for the rest of my l
ife, I assure you that Michaelhouse will make good its debts.’
Blaston gazed at him, aware of the sincerity in the Carmelite’s voice. ‘Then show us the gold, Father. Prove to us that you have it. That is all we are asking.’
‘When Master Runham died, we thought it was unsafe to have so much money in one place,’ said Michael smoothly, ‘so we deposited it with various people around the town. We cannot show it to you, because it is no longer here.’
‘Lies!’ spat Newenham. He turned to Blaston. ‘The rumours were true: Michaelhouse will not pay us at the rate we were promised. They want to give us a week’s money, when we were promised four times as much. I am not standing here to have my intelligence insulted!’
He stamped towards the gate, which Walter hastily fumbled open. After a moment, Blaston followed. Before he left, he turned and addressed the assembled scholars.
‘You will regret this, Michaelhouse. You are trying to cheat honest workmen. You will regret it.’
‘No!’ cried Suttone, distressed. ‘Please wait! There is no need for violence that may lead to bloodshed. Come back, so that we can talk about this.’
But although Blaston may have believed that Suttone did not intend to cheat him, he was clearly not convinced of the honesty of the other Michaelhouse men. With an apologetic shrug to the Carmelite, he turned and stalked away. Beadle Meadowman grabbed Michael’s sleeve and muttered in his ear before following.
‘He means what he says, Brother. Michaelhouse had better show them what they want, or you can expect every working man in the town to fall in behind them to see justice done.’
‘I hope you are not threatening us,’ said William coldly.
Meadowman shook his head. ‘I have been with these men for a week now, and I know what they think. I am only warning you that they mean what they say: pay up or face the consequences.’
He turned to run after Blaston before Walter locked the gate. Bartholomew climbed to the top of the wall and was relieved to see that the people assembled in the lane were dispersing. He was about to descend when Blaston turned and howled at the top of his voice.
‘You have trouble coming your way, Michaelhouse!’
Bartholomew knelt next to the small altar near Wilson’s tomb and tugged with all his might. Next to him, Michael was casting anxious glances up the nave, as though he anticipated that a horde of furious townspeople would descend on him at any moment. Not far away, and covered by a sheet of silk, was the body of Runham, lying in its own coffin – not the parish one that served everyone else – and looking as smug and complacent in death as it had in life.
‘I keep thinking he is watching me,’ said Bartholomew, glancing over at the body as he pushed and pulled at the portable altar. ‘It is not a pleasant sensation.’
‘Do not be fanciful, Matt. And hurry up! I do not feel safe here.’
‘No one will attack the church,’ said Bartholomew reasonably. ‘It is Michaelhouse they want, and that has withstood attacks before – far more violent ones than a few masons, carpenters and out-of-work singers will manage.’
‘Do not be so sure,’ said Michael. ‘You know how the apprentices love to join in any kind of rioting and looting. They will willingly add their numbers and their belligerence to the mob.’
‘Then stop it before it starts,’ said Bartholomew, easing himself into a better position and trying again. ‘You have already warned the Sheriff’s men and your beadles to be ready, but perhaps you need to call a curfew or close off St Michael’s Lane.’
‘I know how to attempt to prevent a riot,’ said Michael stiffly. ‘I am the Senior Proctor and have far more experience of this sort of thing than you do.’
‘Well, stop fretting about it, then,’ said Bartholomew. ‘Come and help me with this. I think it must be mortared into place. I cannot budge the thing.’
Michael elbowed him out of the way and lent his considerable strength to prising the small altar from Wilson’s tomb. With a snapping of ripped wood, it came free and they peered behind it. It was stuffed to the gills with blocks of soap, the scent so powerful that Michael backed away and immediately started to sneeze. Bartholomew removed one and began to pare the soap away with one of his knives. Concealed within it was a ring.
‘That is the gold ring Sam Gray placed as a pledge in one of our hutches,’ said Michael, taking it from him and wiping his running nose on a piece of linen.
Bartholomew gazed at him in confusion. ‘I do not understand. I thought Runham had sold all those things. That list we found in his room told us how much he had been paid for each item.’
‘We were wrong, Matt,’ said Michael tiredly. ‘In the light of what we have just discovered, I suggest that the list was not Runham itemising how much he had been paid, it was predicting how much he thought he was going to be paid.’
‘But that means the chest in his room never contained ninety pounds at all,’ said Bartholomew. ‘It must have contained the thirty he borrowed from the guilds, the thirty he begged from benefactors, and some undetermined amount.’
‘Do you think he planned to abscond with it?’ asked Michael, turning the ring over in his fingers. ‘It is possible, you know. Runham was very partial to money, as was his thieving cousin.’
Bartholomew sat back on his heels and considered. ‘I wonder if the fact that the bowl of yours that Wilson stole later made an appearance in Runham’s room suggests that Runham knew his cousin was a thief and came to Michaelhouse specifically to claim these ill-gotten gains.’
‘I wonder,’ said Michael thoughtfully, sitting on the damaged altar. ‘It makes sense.’
‘Does it?’ asked Bartholomew, not absolutely certain he was right.
Michael nodded slowly. ‘Runham came to Michaelhouse a year ago, and it seemed to me as though he always intended to make a bid for the position of Master when it became vacant.’
‘But Roger Alcote, who died this summer, was generally considered Kenyngham’s successor.’
‘No one liked Alcote,’ said Michael. ‘I am not sure I would have voted for him, and I am very sure you would not.’
‘True. But I would not – did not – vote for Runham, either.’
‘But you might have done if the alternative was Alcote. We all knew Runham was smug and superior, but none of us knew how truly dreadful he was until he was in a position of power. He must have been hiding his real character all this time.’
‘So, he presented us the charming side of his personality – his arrogance and condescension – for a year, and then made a bid for the Mastership?’ said Bartholomew.
Michael nodded again. ‘And all that time, the unworldly Kenyngham was residing in the Master’s quarters. Stolen treasure could be dripping from the walls and Kenyngham would not notice. Do you remember Runham ordering Kenyngham out of his room as soon as he was elected Master?’
‘He did occupy the Master’s quarters with unseemly haste,’ agreed Bartholomew. ‘Usually, the outgoing Master shows a little respect for his predecessor by allowing him a few weeks’ grace, but Runham wanted Kenyngham gone within a day.’
‘And the reason was that he could not wait to search it, to see if he could find the treasure he knew Wilson had stolen. We assumed he was flexing his new muscles of power, but it was because he was desperate to get his greedy fingers on Wilson’s room.’
‘But the only evidence we have that Wilson was a thief is your little bowl,’ said Bartholomew. ‘I hardly think a man like Runham is going to bide his time for a year on the off-chance that a few crystal bowls might be hidden up the chimney.’
‘You are wrong, Matt,’ said Michael. ‘There were other pieces I suspected Wilson had pilfered. Alcote lost some silver spoons, while the Oliver brothers – remember that dreadful pair, who were students during the Death? – had a purse of gold stolen. Wilson was seen near both rooms just before these items went missing, although this was insufficient evidence to confront him with.’
‘Dunstan and Aethelbald, the rivermen, told m
e that there was a rumour in the town that Wilson’s room was stuffed full of stolen gold and silver when he died,’ said Bartholomew thoughtfully, recalling what had been said when the choir had been dismissed.
Michael shrugged. ‘There is often a grain of truth in some of these tales.’
‘And then there were the last rites Matilde told me about,’ said Bartholomew. ‘She said Wilson absolved rich people who died during the plague, and then relieved them of as many of their worldly goods as he could carry.’
‘Did he indeed?’ breathed Michael, his eyes bright with interest. ‘No wonder he caught the disease, if he went rummaging about in the houses of the sick looking for their treasure.’
Bartholomew recalled vividly the night Wilson had died – how he had been burning papers and leaving his business affairs in the way he wanted them found. He had probably been hiding things, too, secreting them away behind weak plaster or old wall hangings, perhaps even imagining that he might return from the hereafter to retrieve them.
‘And then Runham must have started to spirit Wilson’s goods out of the College to sell,’ said Michael. ‘He hid them in the soap so that he would not be caught red-handed. But it is already dusk. We should leave these items here – they have been quite safe so far, and I do not want to carry them back to the College in the dark – and prepare ourselves for our foray to Bene’t tonight.’
Bartholomew sighed. ‘I am not sure we are within our rights to–’
‘We are perfectly within our rights,’ interrupted Michael. ‘We are doing well, Matt. We have found part of Michaelhouse’s missing treasure, and by tomorrow we will have the Bene’t murderer in the proctors’ cells. And then all we need to do is to discover which of us killed Master Runham.’
Chapter 11
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS, BARTHOLOMEW was faced with a clandestine nocturnal expedition without the comforting presence of Cynric. He seriously considered asking the Welshman if he would go anyway, but knew that he had no right to make that sort of demand on their friendship. Trying to recall all that Cynric had taught him about sneaking around in the dark, he sat in the kitchen, watching Agatha mend one of his shirts.
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