‘But why am I here?’ he asked.
‘You have not told us all you know,’ said Owen. ‘So we are giving you the opportunity to do so.’
‘You call me a liar?’
‘I have learned from a trusted and well-respected citizen of York that you accompanied the vicar Ronan on his visits to merchants, that you witnessed him consulting his account book, which he called his psalter, and know much about his threats to merchants and how often they rebuked him for exaggerating and making false claims. Tell me about this account book of his. Where did he keep it? Where else did he hide the items and money he collected, besides what you say was stolen from the chest? He was a careful man, Beck, he would not have hidden everything in plain sight.’
The man was sweating as he shakily reached for the bowl of ale. Owen leaned forward and assisted him.
‘I do not know his hiding places. He trusted no one with that, I think.’
‘And the account book, his so-called psalter. Why did you pretend you did not know what the men were searching for in his lodgings?’
‘He made me swear I would never speak of it. Never. He said he would curse me.’
‘And you believe he is capable of that?’
‘He is not yet buried, is he?’
That made a difference? Owen glanced up at Jehannes.
‘It is not uncommon to fear that a soul does not rest until the body be buried in blessed ground,’ said Jehannes. ‘But the vicar has been placed in a temporary sarcophagus in the Bedern chapel, Beck. A sacred space equal to burial in blessed ground. He can no longer carry out such a threat, if he ever could. Churchmen are not trained to curse their fellow man.’
Beck frowned, as if taking this in.
‘If you refuse to speak truth to Captain Archer, you must leave my house,’ said Jehannes.
‘You would throw me out?’
‘I would hand you over to Master Adam, the precentor.’
‘Does Diggs frighten you?’ asked Owen. ‘Crispin Poole’s man?’
Beck squirmed in his chair.
‘If you tell me the tale, from the beginning, I will protect you from him,’ said Owen.
‘You can do that?’
‘He can,’ said Jehannes. ‘Tell him what he needs to know.’
‘Were you with Ronan when he left for the minster that evening?’ Owen asked.
Once again, Beck reached for the ale and Owen assisted him, giving him a moment, then took possession of the now empty bowl.
‘I grow impatient,’ said Jehannes.
Beck nodded as best he could. ‘I was there. I came after my pay. He had not paid me for a long while. He said he must meet someone, must not keep them waiting. I said but my pay and he said he would pay me the next day, ordered me to lock the door when I left, and hurried out. He knew I knew of the box of coins and jewels in the chest. Why would he trust me—?’ He bowed his head.
‘You stole it,’ said Owen.
‘God forgive me, I did,’ Beck said.
‘Did you return to his lodging that night?’
‘Passed it. Much later. Saw a light in his window and him watching the street. I thought he watched for me.’
‘Was anyone else on the street?’
‘One man. He stood beneath the eaves of the house across the way and growled at me when I passed, like an animal.’
‘Did you stay?’ asked Owen.
‘Would you? I went home and all night I feared every noise. When I heard of the vicar’s murder— Someone had been after his treasure, I guessed, and now I had it. Would they come for me? I could not rest until I put it back. I went to check if his door was locked or guarded. But you came, with the monk.’
‘Were you putting it back when Porter and Diggs found you?’
‘I was. I told them they could have it. But they beat me anyway. They wanted the account book. I did not know where it was.’
Is that what they later took from the chancellor’s hall? Or was it Marian’s prayer book? Or neither?
‘Did the vicar take anything with him when he left for the minster that afternoon? His account book?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Did he say who he was meeting?’
‘No.’
A knock on the door. ‘Yes, Anna, come in,’ said Jehannes.
‘The chancellor is here to speak with you and Captain Archer,’ the cook announced. ‘Shall I show him in?’
Owen rose. ‘No, Anna. We will speak with him out in the hall after we help Beck back to his bed in the kitchen.’
Jehannes signaled his agreement. ‘More ale for the fellow, Anna.’
‘May I stay in your home?’ Beck asked.
‘For now,’ said Jehannes, as he and Owen led the man by the arm.
‘Bless you, Father.’
Meaning to ask Ambrose if he had noticed whether Ronan had worn a scrip beneath his cloak, Owen looked for him in the kitchen. ‘Where is he, Anna?’
‘He stood in the doorway a long while, watching evening fall, and then he was gone.’
Damn the man. Bloody fool. ‘Did you see anyone else with him? Was he following someone?’
‘I did not know to look,’ she said with a sniff.
Inspired by Owen’s concern for his serving man, how he had tended to his shoulder after the burglars injured him, the chancellor wished at last to speak of his conversation with Ronan in the early evening before the vicar’s murder. Master Thomas had summoned Ronan to learn more of Sir John Neville’s tastes, what he might enjoy when he came to dine.
‘He had boasted of his connection to the family, so you can imagine my surprise – indeed my disappointment – when he confessed he had never met either Sir John or his wife. His only advice was that as Lady Maud was a Percy she might appreciate some of her kinsmen being included in a dinner.’
‘Lady Maud will be in attendance?’ This was news to Owen.
‘Unless he was still pretending knowledge he did not have. But
