Dark Fire

Barristers were striding purposefully around the precincts; the Trinity law term began the following week and there were cases to set in order. Among the black robes and caps there were also, of course, the usual young gentlemen in bright doublets and exaggerated codpieces strutting around, sons of gentry who joined the Inns only to learn London manners and make social contacts. A pair of them walking by had evidently been rabbiting in Coney Garth, for a pair of hounds frisked at their heels, their eyes on the furry bodies dripping blood from poles slung over their masters' shoulders.

Then, ambling down the path from Lincoln's Inn Hall with his customary amiable smile on his beaky features, I saw the tall, thin figure of Stephen Bealknap, against whom I would be pleading in King's Bench in a few days. He halted in front of me and bowed. The courtesies require that barristers, even when opponents in the bitterest of cases, must observe the civilities, but Bealknap's friendly manner always had something mocking in it. It was as though he said: you know I am a great scamp, but still you must be pleasant to me.

'Brother Shardlake!' he declaimed. 'Another hot day. The wells will be drying up at this rate.'

Normally I would have made a curt acknowledgement and moved on, but it struck me there was a piece of information he could help me with. 'So they will,' I said. 'It has been a dry spring.'

At my unaccustomed civility, a smile appeared on Bealknap's face. It seemed quite pleasant until you came close and saw the meanness in the mouth, and realized the pale-blue eyes would never quite meet yours no matter how you tried to fix them. Beneath his cap a few curls of wiry-looking blond hair strayed.

'Well, our case is on next week,' he said. 'June the first.'

'Ay. It has come on very quick. It was only in March you lodged your writ. I am still surprised, Brother Bealknap, that you have taken this up to King's Bench.'

'They have a proper respect for the rights of property law there. I shall show them the case of Friars Preachers v. the Prior of Okeham.'

I laughed lightly. 'I see you have been ferreting in the Assize of Nuisance Rolls, Brother. That case is on a different point and it is two hundred years old.'

He smiled back, his eyes darting around. 'It is still relevant. The prior pleaded that matters of nuisance such as his faulty gutter were beyond the council's jurisdiction.'

'Because his priory came directly under the king's authority. But St Michael's priory comes under yours now. You are the freeholder and you are responsible for the nuisance your priory causes. I hope you have better authority than that to hand.'

He would not be drawn, bending to examine the sleeve of his robe. 'Well, Brother,' I said lightly, 'we shall see. But now we are met, I would ask a question on another matter. Will you be at the gaol delivery on Saturday?' I knew that running compurgators in the bishop's court was one of Bealknap's disreputable sidelines, and he often lurked around the Old Bailey justice hall looking for clients. He flicked a curious glance at me.

'Perhaps.'

'Judge Forbizer is on, I believe. How quickly does he deal with the cases?'

Bealknap shrugged. 'Fast as he can. You know the King's Bench judges; they think dealing with common thieves and murderers beneath them.'

'But Forbizer has good knowledge of the law for all his hardness. I wondered how open he would be to legal argument for the accused.'

Bealknap's face lit up with interest and his eyes, bright with curiosity, actually met mine for a moment. 'Ah, I had heard you were retained for the Walbrook murderess. I said I didn't believe it, you're a property man.'

'The alleged murderess,' I replied flatly. 'She comes up before Forbizer on Saturday.'

'You won't get far with him,' Bealknap said cheerfully. 'He has a Bible man's contempt for the sinful, wants to hasten them to their just deserts. She'll have little mercy from Forbizer. He'll want a plea or a kill.' His eyes narrowed and I guessed he was thinking whether he might turn this to his advantage. But there was no way, or I should not have asked him.

'So I thought. But thank you,' I added, as lightly as I could. 'Good morning!'

'I shall look out for you on Saturday, Brother,' he called after me. 'Good luck: you will need it!'

* * *

IT WAS IN NO GOOD temper that I entered the small set of ground-floor rooms I shared with my friend Godfrey Wheelwright. In the outer office my clerk, John Skelly, was studying a conveyance he had just drawn up, a lugubrious expression on his thin face. He was a small, weazened fellow with long rats' tails of brown hair. Although not yet twenty he was married with a child and I had taken him on last winter partly from pity at his obvious poverty. He was an old pupil of St Paul's cathedral school and had good Latin, but he was a hopeless fellow, a poor copier and forever losing papers as I had told Guy. He looked up at me guiltily.

'I have just finished the Beckman conveyance, sir,' he mumbled. 'I'm sorry it is late.'

I took it from him. 'This should have been done two days ago. Is there any correspondence?'

'It is on your counting table, sir.'

'Very well.'

I passed into my room. It was dim and stuffy; dust motes danced in the beam of light from the little window giving onto the courtyard. I removed my robe and cap and sat at my table, breaking the seals on my letters with my dagger. I was surprised and disappointed to find I had lost another case. I had been acting on the purchase of a warehouse down at Salt Wharf, but now my client wrote curtly to say the seller had withdrawn and he no longer required my services. I studied the letter. The purchase was a curious one: my client was an attorney from the Temple and the warehouse was to be conveyed into his name, which meant the purchaser must want his own name kept secret. This was the third case in two months where the client had suddenly withdrawn his instructions without reason.

Frowning, I put the letter aside and turned to the conveyance. It was clumsily written and there was a smudge at the bottom of the page. Did Skelly think such a mess would pass? He would have to do it again, with more time wasted that I was paying for. I tossed it aside and, sharpening a new quill, took up my commonplace book, which held years of notes from moots and readings. I looked at my old notes on criminal law, but they were scanty and I could find nothing about peine forte et dure.

There was a knock at the door and Godfrey came in. He was of an age with me. Twenty years before we had been scholars and ardent young reformers together, and unlike me he had retained his zealous belief that following the break with Rome a new Christian commonwealth might dawn in England. I saw that his narrow, delicate-featured face was troubled.

'Have you heard the rumours?' he asked.

'What now?'

'Yesterday evening the king rowed down the Thames to dinner at the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk's house with Catherine Howard beside him under the canopy. In the royal barge, for all London to see. It's the talk of the City. He meant to be seen – it's a sign the Cleves marriage is over. And a Howard marriage means a return to Rome.'

I shook my head. 'But Queen Anne was beside him at the May Day jousts. Just because the king has his eye on a Howard wench doesn't mean he'll put the queen aside. God's wounds, he's had four wives in eight years. He can't want a fifth.'

'Can't he? Imagine the Duke of Norfolk in Lord Cromwell's place.'

'Cromwell can be cruel enough.'

'Only when it is necessary. And the duke would be far harsher.' He sat down heavily opposite me.

'I know,' I said quietly. 'None of the privy councillors has a crueller reputation.'

'He is a lunch guest of the benchers here on Sunday, is he not?'

'Yes.' I made a face. 'I shall see him for myself for the first time. I do not greatly look forward to it. But, Godfrey, the king would never turn the clock back. We have the Bible in English and Cromwell's just got an earldom.'