Revelation ms-4

by C. J. Sansom

  'I am sorry I did not come to see you after the baby died, Tamasin. I wanted to, but Jack said you were both better alone.'

  'I used to get upset a lot. Jack would not want you to see.' She sighed, frowning a little. 'And you, are you in good health, sir?'

  'Yes. Working hard and doing well, with Jack's help.' I smiled.

  'He looks up to you, sir. Always saying how Master Shardlake managed to win this case by undermining the opposition, that one by turning up new evidence.'

  'Does he?' I laughed. 'Sometimes the way he talks, I feel he thinks I am a noddle.'

  'That is just his way.'

  'Yes.' I smiled at her. When we first met two years before, on the King's Great Progress to York, I had been suspicious of Tamasin's confidence and lively personality, which had seemed unwomanly. But in the course of shared perils I had developed an almost fatherly affection for her. Looking at the tired housewife before me, I thought, where has all that spirit gone?

  Something of my thoughts must have shown in my face, for her mouth trembled, then two large tears rolled down Tamasin's cheeks. She lowered her head.

  'Tamasin,' I said, half rising. 'What is the matter? Is it still the poor child?'

  'I am sorry, sir.'

  'Come, after all we went through in Yorkshire a few tears are nothing. Tell me what ails you.'

  She took a shuddering breath and wiped her eyes on her sleeve before turning her tear-stained face to me. 'It began with the child,' she said quietly. 'His death was a shock to Jack as well as me. They say when a child dies his mother will always have him quick in her heart, but he is in Jack's too. Oh, he is so angry.'

  'With you?'

  'With everything. With God himself, he felt it cruel of Him to take his child. He was never much of a churchgoer but now he does not want to go at all. It is Easter tomorrow, but he has refused to go to service or confession.'

  'Will you go?'

  'Yes, though — though I feel the faith has been squeezed from me too. But you know me,' she added with a touch of her old humour. 'I prefer to keep on the right side of the powers that be.'

  'That is wise these days.'

  'Jack says I only go to show off my best clothes.' She looked down at her apron. 'Well, 'tis true that after wearing these things all week I like to go out in something nice. But I fear if Jack absents himself continually, questions will be asked, he could be in trouble with the churchwardens. Especially as he is known to have Jewish blood.' She set her lips. 'He wanted to carry on his bloodline through our child. It comes out when he is drunk.'

  'Is he drunk often?' I remembered his dishevelled look that morning.

  'More and more. He goes out with his old friends and sometimes does not come back all night. That will be where he is now. And I think he goes with other women too.'

  I was shocked. 'Who?'

  'I do not know. Perhaps with female neighbours. You know what some of them are here.'

  'Can you be sure?'

  She gave me a direct look. 'From the smell of him some mornings, yes.'

  I sighed. 'Is there no sign of — another child?'

  'No. Perhaps I am like old Queen Catherine of Aragon, and cannot produce healthy children.'

  'But it is only — what — six months since your baby died. That is no time, Tamasin.'

  'Time enough for Jack to turn away. Sometimes when he is drunk he says that I would rule him, make him into some weak domesticated creature.' She looked around the room. 'As though you could domesticate anyone in this place.'

  'Sometimes Jack can be insensitive. Even cruel.'

  'Well, at least he does not beat me. Many husbands do.'

  'Tamasin—'

  'Oh, he apologizes when he is sober again, he is loving then, calls me his chick and says he did not mean his words, it is only his fury that God took our child. That I can share. Why does God do such cruel things?' she asked, in sudden anger.

  I shook my head. 'I am not the man to answer that, Tamasin. It puzzles me too.'

  'Sir,' she said, sitting up and looking at me. 'Can you speak to Jack, find out what is in his mind? He is so unpredictable these days, I do not know whether — whether he still wants me at all.'

  'Oh, Tamasin,' I said. 'I am sure he does. And talking to him of such matters would be no easy thing. If he even discovers you have been talking to me of his marriage he will be angry with us both.'

  'Yes. He is proud. But if you could try to find out somehow.' She looked at me beseechingly. 'I know you have a way of making people talk. And I have no one else to ask.'

  'I will try, Tamasin. But I will have to pick my time carefully.'

  She nodded gratefully. 'Thank you.'

  I stood up. 'And now I should go. If he were to come in now and find you telling me your sorrows he would certainly be cross.' I laid a hand on hers. 'But if things become too much, or you want someone to talk to, a note to my house will bring me.'

  'You are kind, sir. Some days I just sit staring mopishly at that damp patch for hours, I have no energy and wonder what is wrong with me. The mould will not go away. However I clean it the black spots are soon creeping over the wall again.' She sighed. 'It is not like the old days, when I worked in poor Queen Catherine Howard's household. Oh, I was only the lowest of servants, but there was always something of interest to see.'

  'Danger, too,' I said with a smile. 'As it turned out.'

  'I know.' She paused. 'They say there will be a new queen soon. A widow. Catherine, Lady Latimer. She will be the sixth. Fantastic, is it not?'

  'Strange indeed.'

  She shook her head wonderingly. 'Was there ever such a king?'

  I left her. As I descended the dark staircase, I remembered when Barak and Tamasin had married, on a fine spring day the year before. I had felt envious of their content. A single man can easily assume all marriages are blissful, the couple devoted like Roger and Dorothy. But tonight I had seen the sad things that could lurk beneath the surface. I had been right to guess something was amiss, but had not known things were as bad as this. 'Damn Barak!' I said aloud as I stepped out on to the road, startling a gentleman going into the Barge, perhaps to see one of the prostitutes.

  I SPENT MOST OF Good Friday and Easter Saturday at home, working on papers. I did not go to church on Easter Sunday. The weather remained unseasonably cold, with a further light fall of snow. I was in an unsettled, restless mood. On Saturday I even took out my pencils and drawing pad; this last year I had gone back to my old hobby of painting and sketching, but that day I could think of nothing to draw. I looked at the blank paper but nothing came to mind but vague circles and dark lines and a sane man could hardly make a drawing of those. I went to bed but could not sleep. I lay thinking how I might broach the subject of Tamasin to Barak without making matters worse. Then when I did get to sleep I dreamed of poor mad

  Adam Kite. I came into his wretched room at the Bedlam to find him crouched on the floor, praying desperately. But as I approached I realized it was not God's name nor Jesus' that he was invoking, but mine — it was 'Master Shardlake' that he was begging for salvation. I woke with a start.

  It was still dark, but dawn was not far off and I thought I might as well go into work, even though it was Easter Sunday. There was more paperwork to do in chambers. My housekeeper was already up, chivvying the boy, Peter, to light the fire and bring some heat to the cold morning. I breakfasted, then donned my robe and wrapped myself in my coat to walk up Chancery Lane to Lincoln's Inn.

  As I turned out of my gate I fancied it was less cold again, the remaining snow turning once more to muddy slush. I looked back at my house. The tall chimneys rising from the tiled roof were outlined against a strange-coloured sky, streaks of faint blue interspersed with banks of cloud tinged pink underneath by the rising sun. I set off, turning my mind to the cases to be heard on Tuesday, including Adam Kite's. I passed under the Great Gate, past the still-shuttered porter's lodge, and walked across the slushy yard towards my chambers.

  It w
as not yet full day. Almost all the windows were unlit, but to my surprise I saw a light in my own chambers; Barak must have come straight here from wherever he had been last night, not gone home at all. Damn the wretch, I thought.

  Then I jumped at the sound of a cry. A man's voice, yelling out in terror. I made out two figures standing by the fountain, looking into the water. 'Oh God!' one cried.

  I turned and crossed to them. I saw the ice was broken into pieces. The water under the ice was red, bright red. My heart began thumping painfully.

  By their short black robes, the two young men standing staring into the fountain were students. One was short and thickset, the other tall and thin. They looked red-eyed, probably returning to their quarters from some all-night roister.

  'What is it:' I asked sharply. 'What is happening:'

  The thickset student turned to me. 'There's — there's a man in the fountain,' he said in a trembling voice.

  The other student pointed at something sticking out of the water. 'That - that's a foot.'

  I looked at them sharply, wondering if this was some prank. But as I stepped close I saw in the growing light that a man's booted leg was sticking out between the chunks of ice. Taking a deep breath, I leaned over. I made out the shape of a long dark robe billowing out in that bright red water. This was a lawyer. I felt a moment's giddiness, then pulled myself together and turned to the students. 'Help me get him out,' I said sharply. The one who had spoken shrank back but the tall thin one approached.

  'You'll have to pull on that leg,' I said. 'Then I'll take hold of him.'

  The student crossed himself, then grabbed the leg by the ankle, took a deep breath, and pulled. The ice heaved up in big fragments as the leg emerged, then the body. The other student joined me in seizing hold of the stone-cold corpse.

  We hauled it out, then laid it on the slushy ground. The gown had ridden up over the head, hiding the man's face. I looked at the body: a small, thin man.

  'Look at that water.' The tall student spoke in a whisper. It was almost full light now, showing a bright vermilion circle.

  'It's full of blood,' the other said. 'Sweet Jesus.'

  I turned back to the body. I was shivering, and not just from the cold water that had soaked me as we pulled the body out. I crouched down, took the hem of the robe and pulled it away from the face.

  'Oh Christ Jesus!' one of the students cried out. He turned away and I heard a retching sound. But I sat transfixed by what was, for me, a double horror. The first was the great gaping wound in the man's throat, red against the dead-white skin and stretching almost from ear to ear. The second was the face. It was Roger.

  Chapter Six

  FOR A FEW MOMENTS I stood transfixed, staring at that awful corpse, the terrible wound in the throat. Roger's eyes were closed, the alabaster face looked peaceful. I thought, surely his face should be contorted with horror as he suffered that appalling death; For a second, in the shadowy early morning light, I hoped madly that the thing on the ground might not be Roger at all, but a plaster figure some crazed artist had created as an evil joke. But even as I watched, some dark blood from the ripped neck seeped on to the snow.

  'Please, sir, cover him!' the stocky student called in a shrill voice. I removed my coat and bent down to the body. Suddenly I was overcome by emotion. 'Oh, my poor friend!' I cried out, tears starting to my eyes as I gently touched Roger's face. It was icy cold. I covered it with my coat and knelt by him, letting the tears come.

  A hand on my shoulder made me jump. I looked up at the anxious face of the tall student who had helped me. 'Please, sir,' he asked tremulously. 'What shall we do? People will be coming in soon.'

  I rose shakily to my feet and took a deep breath. 'Go and tell the gatekeeper to rouse the constable, who must fetch the coroner. Can you do that, lad?'

  'Yes, sir.' The boy nodded and ran off towards the lodge. I turned and stared again at that great stone bowl of bright red water. The sun was almost fully risen now, bringing an unaccustomed warmth but showing the corpse and the fountain in their full horror. The other boy, who was leaning against the fountain, his back to that awful red water, was shivering violently. 'You,' I said, 'will you run across the court to my chambers — see, there where there is already a light? My assistant is there; tell him to come at once. His name is Barak.'

  The boy gulped, nodded and staggered away. I looked up at the windows of the Elliards' quarters. There were no lights; I prayed Dorothy was still abed. I realized with sinking heart that I would have to tell her that Roger was dead. I could not leave that task to some stranger.

  Moments later, to my relief, I saw Barak running towards me; the student was following more slowly. His mouth fell open when he saw the body by the fountain.

  'Judas' bowels! What the devil's happened here?' He looked red' eyed and smelled of drink; he must have been out all night again. But for all that there was no one I would rather have by me now. 'Roger Elliard is dead,' I said, my voice shaking. 'He has been murdered.'

  'Here?' Barak asked disbelievingly.

  'During the night. Someone cut his throat and put him in the fountain.'

  'Jesu.' Barak bent gently, twitched back the corner of my coat and stared at the dead face. He quickly replaced the coat. He looked at the fountain. 'His throat must have been cut in there. There's no blood on the ground.' He frowned, puzzled. 'And no signs of a struggle in the snow. Unless. . .' he hesitated.

  'What?'

  'Unless he did it himself. Didn't you say he feared he was ill?'

  'He wasn't ill, not seriously. I took him to Guy on Thursday. Do you think anyone would kill himself like this, in the middle of Gatehouse Court?' I heard my voice rising. 'Don't be so stupid! Roger was as content as any man I know. He had everything to live for! He was planning a campaign to build a hospital, he was happily married to the best of women—' I realized I was shouting, and broke off. I put one hand to my damp brow and raised the other in a gesture of apology.

  'I am sorry, Jack.'

  'It's all right,' he said quietly. 'You've had a shock.'

  'No,' I said, and heard my voice tremble. 'I am angry. This was meant as a terrible display.'

  Barak thought for a moment. 'Yes,' he said slowly. 'If those students hadn't come by, he would have been found when the resident barristers left chambers to go to the Easter services.'

  I looked again at the body. I clenched my fists. 'Who could do such a monstrous thing to a good and peaceful man, cut his throat and let him to bleed to death in there? On Easter day. And why?'

  I heard a murmur of voices. Three or four barristers had emerged from their quarters and were approaching. Perhaps they had heard my shouting. At the sight of the body one cried, 'By Our Lady!'

  A tall elderly man in a silk robe pushed through. I was relieved to see the Treasurer, Rowland. His unbrushed white hair stuck up over his head.

  'Brother Shardlake?' he asked. 'What is going on? The porter roused me—' He broke off, looked at the covered body, then his eyes bulged in horror at the red fountain.

  I told him what I knew. He took a deep breath, then bent and uncovered Roger's face again. I fought an urge to tell him to leave him alone. There was a murmur of horror from the onlookers, a dozen of them now. I saw Bealknap among them. Normally eager for scandal, he stood looking on silently, still pale and sick4ooking. I thought, Dorothy will hear their gabbling, I must tell her. Then Barak spoke quietly at my elbow. 'There is something you should see. Over here.'

  'I must tell Roger's wife—' I said.

  'You should see now.'

  I stood undecided for a moment, then nodded. 'Master treasurer,' I said. 'Could you excuse me for a moment?'

  'Where are you going?' he asked crossly. 'You and those boys, you were the first finders, you must stay for the coroner.'

  'I will be back in a minute. Then I will tell Mistress Elliard what has happened. I am a friend.'

  The old man turned as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a newly arrived student ap
proaching the body. 'Get back, you crawling clerk!' he shouted. I took the chance to get away.

  Barak led me to a point twenty feet away. 'See these footprints?' he asked.

  I looked down. Around the fountain the students and I had churned the snow to slush, and the onlookers had left a mess of prints converging on the murder scene. But Barak was pointing to a separate double trail, one approaching and another leading away from the fountain, that went round the side of the building where the Elliards lived. It was the spot where I had heard the unknown intruder a week before.

  Barak bent to study the footprints. 'Look how deep the ones leading to the fountain are. Deeper than the ones returning. Like he was carrying something heavy.'

  'I heard someone there on New Year's Night,' I breathed. 'He got over the wall—'

  'Let's follow the prints.'

  'I have to tell Dorothy—'

  'These will melt soon.' In truth the morning sun had brought the first real warmth of spring; I could hear meltwater dripping from the eaves. I hesitated, then followed Barak round the side of the building.

  'They look like prints of a man of ordinary size,' Barak said.

  'Bigger than Roger, anyway.'

  The footprints went up to the wall, then turned sharply right. They ended at a heavy wooden door. 'He got through here,' Barak said.

  'He came over the wall last time. If it was him the other night.'

  'He wasn't carrying a body then.' Barak tried the gate. 'It's locked,' he said.

  'Only the barristers have keys. The orchard is on the other side, then Lincoln's Inn Fields. I've got a key, but it's in chambers.'

  'Help me up,' Barak said. I made a stirrup of my hands and Barak climbed up, resting his elbows on top of the wall. 'The footsteps go on into the orchard,' he said. He jumped down. 'He carried poor Master Elliard in from the orchard? Jesu, he must be strong. Tell me which drawer the key's in and I'll run and get it.'

  I hesitated. 'I should go back. It should be me that tells Dorothy. The fountain is visible from her window—'