The obedentiaries were still in Gabriel's office, as dejected a group as I had ever seen. It struck me how disconnected they were from each other; the abbot in his increasingly fragile haughtiness, Guy's lonely austerity, the prior and the bursar the ones who kept the place functioning and yet, I sensed again, not friends. So much for spiritual brotherhood.
'You should know, Brothers, I am going to London. I need to report to Lord Cromwell. I will be back in about five days and Mark Poer is to deputize till I return.'
'How can ye get there and back in five days?' Prior Mortimus asked. 'They say these snows reach to Bristol.'
'I am taking a boat.'
'What have you to discuss with Lord Cromwell?' Abbot Fabian asked nervously.
'Private matters. Now, I have let it be known how Brother Gabriel died. And I have decided Orphan Stonegarden's body should be delivered to Goodwife Stumpe for burial. Please arrange it.'
'But then the town will know she died here.' The abbot frowned, as though he was finding it hard to puzzle things out.
'Yes. Matters have gone too far now for secrecy about that.'
He raised his head and looked at me with a touch of his old haughty manner.
'I must protest, Master Shardlake. Surely such a matter, affecting everybody here, should have been discussed with me first, as abbot.'
'Those days are done, my lord,' I said shortly. 'Now you may all go, except Prior Mortimus.'
They passed out, the abbot giving me a vacant, puzzled look as he went. I folded my arms and faced the prior. I dragged reserves of mental energy from somewhere, I know not where.
'I have been considering, Brother, who knew I was coming to the church. You were there, by the pond, when I told my assistant.'
He laughed incredulously. 'I had left you.'
I studied him, but could see only angry puzzlement. 'Yes, you had. Then the person who pushed the stone was not lying in wait for me at all, but had another purpose. Who could have had reason to go up there?'
'Nobody, not till the works are agreed upon.'
'I would like you to accompany me back to the walkway to take another look.' I had remembered the missing relic, the gold that must be concealed somewhere if I was right about the land sales. Could they be hidden somewhere up there, was that why the killer had been on the walkway?'
'As ye like. Commissioner.'
I led the way to the stairs and mounted again. My heart pounded as we came out on the walkway. Down below the servants were still cleaning, squeezing reddened mops into pails of water. This is what a man comes to. I was overcome with sudden nausea and clutched at the rail.
'Are you all right?' Prior Mortimus stood a couple of paces off. It suddenly occurred to me that if he should choose to seize me, he was stronger than I: I should have brought Mark.
I waved him away. 'Yes. Let us proceed.'
I looked at the little heap of tools where the blocks of stone had been, the workmen's basket suspended from its cradle of ropes.
'How long is it since any work was done here?'
'The ropes and basket went up two months ago, so the workmen could get to the statue, which was in a perilous state, remove it and examine the crack. That basket suspended from the wall and the tower by moveable ropes is an ingenious arrangement; the mason devised it. They'd hardly begun when Brother Edwig ordered the work stopped; he was right, Gabriel shouldn't have started before the programme was approved. Then he dragged his heels to show Gabriel who was in charge.'
I looked at the mesh of ropes. 'A dangerous task.'
He shrugged. 'Scaffolding would be safer, but can you imagine the bursar approving the cost?'
'You do not like Brother Edwig,' I ventured casually.
'He's like a fat wee ferret, hunting out pennies wherever he can.'
'Does he consult you much about the monastery finances?' I watched him carefully, but his shrug was casual.
'He consults no one but my lord Abbot, though he wastes my time and everyone else's making them account for every last farthing.'
'I see.' I turned away and looked up at the bell tower. 'How do you reach the bells?'
'There's another staircase leading up from the ground floor. I can take ye up if ye wish. I doubt the works will be continued now. Gabriel's lost that one by getting himself killed.'
I raised my eyebrows. 'Prior Mortimus, how is it that you were moved by the death of a servant girl, yet show no sorrow for the death of a brother you must have worked with many years?'
'I said before, a monk's obligations in this life are clear different from a mere woman's.' He gave me a steely look. 'One of those obligations is not to be a pervert.'
'I am glad you are not a judge in King's Bench, Brother Prior.'
He took me back down the stairs to the nave and through another door, to where a long spiral staircase led up to roof level. It was a long climb and I was breathless by the time we came out on a narrow wooden passageway leading to another door. An unglazed window gave a dizzying view out over the precinct and beyond, white fields and the forest in one direction and the grey sea in the other. It must have been the highest point for miles. A freezing wind whined mournfully, ruffling our hair.
'It's through here.' The prior led me through the door into a bare, wood-floored chamber where thick bell ropes hung to the floor. Looking up, I could see the dim outlines of the huge bells above. In the centre of the room, railed off, was a large circular hole. I looked over the rails and had another view of the church floor; we were so high now the men below seemed like ants. I could see the basket hanging twenty feet underneath, the outlines of tools and buckets visible inside it under a large cloth. The ropes led up through the hole into the room, where they were secured to more enormous rivets driven into the walls.
'But for the hole the sound of the bells would deafen those working the bell ropes,' the prior observed. 'They have to plug their ears as it is.'
'I can imagine; they almost deafen one at ground level.' I noticed a flight of wooden steps. 'Do those lead to the bell tower itself?'
'Yes, they're used by the servants who go up to clean and maintain them.'
'Let us go up. After you.'
The stairs led to another room, where a rail surrounded the bells themselves. They were indeed enormous, each larger than a man and fixed to the roof with huge rings. Nothing was hidden up here either. I went over to the bells, taking care not to go too close to the edge, for the railing was low. The nearest bell was covered with ornate metalwork and had a large plaque fixed to it, inscribed in a strange language.
'Taken from the belly of the infidel,' Prior Mortimus said. I started; I had not realized he was so close.
'Commissioner,' he said, 'I would ask you something. You saw the abbot earlier?'
'Yes.'
'He's a broken man. He's not fit for the office any more. When it comes to a replacement, Lord Cromwell will want a hard man who'll be loyal to him. I know he's been promoting supporters in the monasteries.' He looked at me meaningfully.
I shook my head in surprise. 'Prior Mortimus, do you really think this house will be allowed to continue? After what has happened here?'
He looked taken back. 'But surely – our life here – it can't really end. There's no law to make us surrender. I know people say the monasteries will come down, but that can't be allowed, surely.' He shook his head. 'Surely not.' He took another step closer, pressing me back against the railing, his foul body odour rancid in my nostrils. My heart began thumping wildly.
