‘Yes.’ I stared at the tower of St Olave’s church, frowning hard.
‘Still wondering how the poison got to Broderick?’ he asked. I had told him of the events at the gaol.
‘Yes, I want to go to the castle tomorrow, look at his cell again.’
‘That cook was put there.’
‘He’ll be released now. Now we know the poison wasn’t in his food.’
‘You did well there,’ Barak said. ‘Maleverer should be grateful.’
I laughed. ‘That’s not in his nature.’ I sat up. ‘Barak, I have been trying to think, draw all the threads together.’
‘So have I. Till my head aches.’
‘Try this,’ I said. ‘Assume Broderick’s poisoning has no direct connection with the other events – the murder of Oldroyd, the attack on me when those papers were stolen and again the other night.’
‘Is that what you think?’
‘It’s possible. Let’s assume so for now.’
‘Well – all right.’
‘Look at those other matters. Oldroyd’s death first. Who was about that early morning when he was killed? Craike, to begin with.’
He looked at me and laughed uneasily. ‘Tamasin was about, for that matter.’
‘She said she had been asked to meet Jennet Marlin.’ I looked at him meaningfully. ‘Who apparently was not at the place they had arranged to meet. Mark that for the moment.’
‘It was a foggy morning, anyone from St Mary’s could have gone down to where Oldroyd was working and tipped over his ladder.’
‘Yes, they could. Craike, Lady Rochford, even young Leacon who came running up afterwards.’
‘Who in God’s name was it we disturbed in the chapterhouse?’ he asked, kicking at the leaves in frustration.
‘I caught only the glimpse of a black coat, or robe, as they ran out. Someone fleet of foot.’
‘Everyone is fleet of foot when their life’s at stake.’
‘Let us move on to when I was attacked and the papers stolen.’
‘That again could have been anyone with freedom to wander about King’s Manor unnoticed.’
‘And who saw us bring the box in. Craike again. Jennet Marlin again.’
‘Lady Rochford. Leacon again. And half a hundred people we don’t know, who could have seen us come in.’
‘Yes. Leacon, for instance, always seems to be around, but we notice him because we know him. There could have been a dozen soldiers around when we brought the box in, whom we haven’t noticed because to us they’re just another red uniform.’ I sighed.
‘By the same token Craike is the only official we know. And you’ve missed one person who saw us with that box.’
‘Who?’
‘Master Wrenne.’
I frowned. ‘Giles? But he was not at King’s Manor when Oldroyd was killed.’
‘How do we know? He has authority to be here. Who would notice another black-robed lawyer? He could have come in early that morning and killed Oldroyd. Sir, I know you have become good friends with that old man, and I do not blame you for there are few enough friendly faces here. But if you are looking for someone who has links to the town, who knew Oldroyd and has access to St Mary’s, he does.’
‘But is he a man capable of killing? And consider his state of health. He is dying. He cares about nothing except reconciling with his nephew before he dies.’
‘Yes, you are right.’
‘You are right too, though in principle we should exclude nobody.’ I frowned, remembering my uneasy thought that Martin Dakin could be linked to the conspiracy. ‘Do you remember the Pilgrimage of Grace?’ I asked.
‘Ay. Lord Cromwell set me and some others to listening around London, to see how much support the rebels had.’ He looked at me seriously. ‘More than he thought.’
‘And there was gossip among the lawyers that some from Gray’s Inn were involved. Many from the northern counties practise there; like Robert Aske.’
‘No one was prosecuted.’
‘No. But I am reminded that Jennet Marlin’s fiancé practised there, as does Giles’s nephew. I hope he is safe.’ I sighed. ‘I am sorry, I digress. Let us move forward, to the attack at the camp.’
Barak gave a hollow laugh. ‘Jesu, there were hundreds there. Dereham and Culpeper, for example. Young Dereham saw us and he’s a fierce brute.’
‘Yes, he is. Could he have a connection to the spring conspiracy? The Queen’s secretary? He was in York when Oldroyd was killed. Remember we saw him at the inn? He was part of the advance party. Yes, we should consider him.’
‘Leacon was there,’ Barak added. ‘Radwinter, too; he has it in for you.’
‘No. He’s loyal to Cranmer, I am sure. Anything he knew about the conspiracy would go straight to Maleverer or the Archbishop.’ I rubbed my chin. ‘Craike was not at the camp but I had just seen him and I told him I was going there. Let us go tonight and visit this inn where he went.’
‘I might be better going alone.’
‘No, I’ll come. I need to be doing something. I am still in the dark. There was another thought I had. What if the attack on me at the camp happened for a different reason than the first one?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Rich’s threat. I was attacked once, if I was attacked again it would be assumed it was connected to the stolen papers.’ I shook my head. ‘Yet would Rich go to the trouble and risk of employing some rough to kill me, just because I have been tenacious on the Bealknap case?’
‘Too tenacious.’ Barak looked at me seriously. ‘Rich is capable of putting someone out of the way if they cause him trouble. But I doubt he’d do it just to get a troublesome lawyer off his back, especially when given time he can find the right judge.’
I sighed. ‘You are right. But Jesu, what a tangle. ’Tis hard to be the hunted rather than the hunter.’
‘That Titulus you found did not help?’
‘No. Though there are things in it that puzzle me. And we are left with this dangerous knowledge about the Queen. I still think we should tell Maleverer.’
‘But if we do, and Lady Rochford and the Queen and Culpeper deny it, as they will, what proof have we? We will be punished as troublemakers. And I do not want to place myself in Maleverer’s hands. He lied, you know, when he said the Titulus was a forgery. Couldn’t you write to Cranmer, tell him all that’s happened, let him deal with it?’
‘A letter wouldn’t get out of here unread. And it would take ten days for a reply to get back.’ I looked at him. ‘No, we’re stuck here. And I can’t trust anyone. Except you.’
Barak sighed. ‘Well, I said I would see Tamasin. I ought to go, if I may.’
‘Of course.’
‘She is afraid.’
‘I know.’
‘I’ll walk you back to the lodging house?’
We returned and arranged that Barak would be back at nine and we would visit the tavern. I went into my cubicle and locked the door. It was starting to get dark. I sighed. I seemed to be making trouble for everyone: Barak, young Leacon over that arbitration, and Broderick, whose life I had saved for the torturer. I saw again in my mind’s eye the King’s face as he smiled cruelly at me at Fulford. I shook my head. How that image kept haunting me, biting into my guts, somehow at the centre of everything that had happened. The Mouldwarp.
Chapter Twenty-six
THE BELLS OF THE Minster sounded loudly as Barak and I passed it, booming through the damp night air. It was dark, and we stumbled on the unpaved streets as we headed down the Fossgate towards the corner from which Barak had seen Master Craike emerge.
‘This is the way,’ Barak said.
He pointed down a narrow lane, the sky almost hidden by the overhanging top storeys of the tumbledown houses. Doors and shutters were closed, only strips of yellow light showing through warped timbers. A white board creaked and flapped in the wind at the far end of the lane. ‘That’s the alehouse sign,’ he said. ‘The White Hart.’
I studied it. ‘Seems a mean place. You’re right, Craike wouldn’t put folk from the Progress up there.’ I wrinkled my nose at the strong stench of piss from the alley.