Dissolution

'Yes. I built a false pattern around Brother Gabriel, but this is the truth. What you tell me about the boat seals matters. Edwig is a great murderer and thief. In all conscience you cannot let him escape.'

For a second I saw him waver. 'You are certain Brother Edwig killed the girl?' Alice asked.

'Certain. It had to be one of the obedentiaries who visited Simon Whelplay. Prior Mortimus and Edwig had a history of troubling women; Mortimus bothered you, but Brother Edwig did not – because he feared he might lose control of himself as he had done with Orphan.'

Mark bit his lip. 'Alice, we cannot allow him to

go free.'

She looked at me desperately. 'They'll hang me, or more likely burn me. They'll accuse me of witchcraft because I killed that cock.'

'Listen,' Mark said. 'When we reach the boat we can tell them not to wait, leave tonight. Then he won't get away with his pestiferous gold. They won't want to wait on a murderer.'

'Yes,' she said eagerly. 'We can do that.'

'He will still be at large,' I said.

Mark took a deep breath. 'Then you must catch him, sir. I am sorry.'

'We must go now,' Alice said urgently. 'The tide will be turning.'

'There is time. It is eight by the abbey clock, half an hour to full tide. We still have time to get across the marsh.'

'Across the marsh?' I said, unbelieving.

'Yes,' Alice said, 'by the path I showed you. The boat is waiting in the estuary.'

'But you can't!' I said. 'Have you not seen the weather? The snow is almost melted, the marsh will be naught but liquid mud. I came in through the channel this afternoon, I saw what it was like and it'll be worse now. Meltwater is pouring off the Downs. And there's a heavy mist coming down. You'll never make it! You must believe me!'

'I know the paths well,' she said. 'I can find my way.' But she looked uncertain.

'Mark, in God's name believe me, you will go to your deaths!'

He took a deep breath. 'She knows the way. And does not death wait for us here?'

I took a deep breath. 'Let her escape. Let her go now and take her chance where she will. I will say nothing of your involvement, I swear. God's death, I'm telling you I'll be an accomplice after the fact, I'll put my own life at risk for you both! But don't go out on the marsh!'

Alice looked at him desperately. 'Mark, don't leave me. I can get us through.'

'I tell you, you can't! You haven't seen what it's like out there!'

He looked between us, his face an agony of indecision. I see it now, and think, how young he was, how young to have to decide his fate and hers in an instant. His face set hard and my heart sank.

'We must bind you now, sir. I will try not to hurt you. Alice, where is your nightshirt?'

She took the garment from under her pillow, and Mark cut it into long strips with his dagger.

'Lie on your front, sir.'

'Mark, for pity's sake-'

He grasped my shoulder and twisted me over. He bound my arms fast behind me, then my legs, before rolling me over again.

'Mark, don't go out there-'

They were the last words I ever said to him, for then he stuffed a great rag of the shift into my mouth, nearly choking me. Alice threw open the door of the little cupboard and they bundled me inside. Mark paused, looking down at me.

'Wait a moment. His back troubles him.'

Alice watched impatiently as he took the pillow from the bed and wedged it behind me, supporting my back as I lay crouched in the cupboard. 'I am sorry,' he whispered. Then he turned and shut the door, leaving me in darkness. A moment later I heard the outer door close gently.

I wanted to vomit, but I knew if I did I would surely choke. I leaned back against the pillow, taking deep breaths through my nose. Alice had said Brother Guy would not look for her until she failed to appear in the dispensary at seven. I had eleven hours to wait.

CHAPTER 32

Twice during that long, cold night I thought I heard distant shouts; people would be looking for Mark and me, and for Edwig as well. Somehow I must have slept, for I had a dream of Jerome's face looking down at me as I lay tied, cackling maniacally, then woke with a start to the thick darkness of the cupboard and the bonds chafing at my wrists.

I had been awake some hours when at last I heard footsteps in the room outside. I summoned up enough energy to kick my heels on the door and a moment later it opened. I winced and blinked at the sudden daylight as Brother Guy looked down at me, his mouth an 'O' of astonishment. Irrelevantly I thought he had done well to keep a full set of teeth to middle age.

He untied my bonds and helped me to my feet, telling me to move slowly lest I injure my stiff back with sudden movement. He led me to my room, where I was glad to sit before a fire, for I was frozen. I told him what had happened, and when he learned Alice had been Singleton's murderer he sat down on the bed with a groan.

'I remember telling her of that passage when she first came. I was trying to make conversation; she seemed so lost and alone. And to think I gave her the care of my patients.'

'I think it was only Singleton who was ever in danger from her. Brother Guy, tell me, is Edwig still at large?'

'Yes, he has vanished as completely as Jerome. But he might have escaped. Bugge left his lodge unattended last night when the hue and cry broke. Or he could have got out at the back, by the marsh. But I did not understand why you were so keen to have him arrested. You have heard worse words than his since you have been here.'

'He killed Gabriel, and Simon, and I believe the girl Orphan as well. And he has stolen a fortune in gold.'

Guy sat stunned, then put his head in his hands. 'Dear Jesu, what has this house become that it has nourished two murderers?'

'Alice would not have been a murderess but for the times we live in. And Edwig would never have got away with this fraud had things been more stable. You might as well ask what a country England has become. And I have been a part of it.'

He looked up. 'Abbot Fabian collapsed last night. After you ordered Brother Edwig arrested. He seems unable to do anything or talk to anyone; he just sits in his room staring into space.'

I sighed. 'He was never capable of dealing with this. Brother Edwig took his seal and used it on the deeds when he sold those lands. He swore the buyers to secrecy and they must have assumed the abbot knew.' I heaved myself up. 'Brother Guy, you must help me. I need to go to the back of the monastery. I need to see whether Alice and Mark could have got away.'

He doubted I was fit for such a journey, but I insisted and he helped me to my feet. I took my staff and we went outside. The monastery lay under a cloudy sky, the air mild and muggy. Its appearance had changed utterly. Everywhere in the courtyard lay little pools of water and piles of dirty slush that only yesterday had been mounds of snow.

People going to and fro stopped and stared as I limped by. Prior Mortimus hurried over. 'Commissioner! We thought ye dead like Singleton. Where is your assistant?'

Again I told the story as a shocked audience of monks and servants surrounded us. I ordered Prior Mortimus to send for Copynger; if Edwig had escaped, the country must be roused to find him.

I do not know how I made it through the orchard. I would not have done without Brother Guy's support for my back was an agony after that night in the cupboard and I felt faint. At last, though, we reached the rear wall. I unlocked the gate and passed through.

I found myself staring at a lake half a mile wide. The whole marsh was covered in water, the river distinguishable only as a ribbon of rapidly flowing current in the centre of an expanse that reached almost to our