Dark Fire (56 page)

Grey was at his desk, working on a bill to be presented to parliament, running a rule down the long sheet of parchment. He looked up sharply. ‘Master Shardlake, I was beginning to fear you
would be late. The earl is – is not in a patient mood today.’

‘I am sorry, the river was busy—’

‘I’ll take you in.’ He got up with a sigh. ‘My master is sending so many bills to this parliament that his work lacks its usual level of care.’ He shook his head.
‘He is very preoccupied.’ He knocked on Cromwell’s door, and ushered us inside.

The earl was standing by the window, looking out at Whitehall. He turned a dark, frowning face towards us. He was dressed magnificently today in a robe of red silk such as the rules allowed only
barons to wear, edged with sable fur. The star of the Order of the Garter hung from a colourful ribbon round his neck.

‘Well,’ he said grimly, ‘you’ve come.’ He strode to his desk, which was heaped high with papers. He must recently have thrown down his quill in anger, for it lay in
the middle in a pool of ink. He sat down heavily in his chair and stared at us, his face set hard.

‘Well, Matthew, it seems you have sent me on a fool’s errand.’

‘My lord?’

‘Sir Richard Rich,’ he snapped. ‘I called him in here on Saturday night.’ He linked his hands together and banged them down on the table. ‘The reason Rich has been
making threatening remarks to you and the reason Bealknap thought he was safe from me have nothing to do with Greek Fire.’

‘Then what?’

‘You have been acting for the Common Council, have you not, on a case involving whether a monastic property may be exempt from the City statutes?’

‘Indeed. It is going up to Chancery.’

‘No,’ he said heavily. ‘It is not.’ He took a long breath. ‘Many influential people have bought monastic properties in London, Matthew. The City was full of the
pestilential places before we dissolved them. Unfortunately, there are so many on the market now that the value of land has fallen. I have had complaints from several people that they were induced
to make bad investments. When the case over that damned cesspit of Bealknap’s arose, Rich came to me and said it was important Bealknap won. Otherwise the council would use the case as a
precedent and make life difficult for the new owners, some of whom can only turn a profit by converting their properties into housing of the cheapest type. Do you see now?’ He raised his
eyebrows. ‘Many of these are men whose loyalty I am trying to keep, in these days when all are ready to turn against me.’

‘Oh.’

‘Rich did not tell me you were the lawyer acting for the council, or I would have guessed what all this was about long ago. I agreed to his bribing Judge Heslop to get the right judgement,
which owners of monastic properties could then use as a precedent in any future cases. Rich tells me he put pressure on some men who are his clients to take cases they had with you to other lawyers
as a warning. A Chancery judgement against Bealknap could upset the whole applecart – do you see?’ He spoke coldly, distinctly, as though to a foolish man. ‘That’s what his
threats were about and that’s what Bealknap thought you were pressuring him about. And you didn’t realize.’

I closed my eyes.

‘It’s a dog’s breakfast, isn’t it?’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘Weren’t you worried, Matthew, that cases were being taken from you? Didn’t you
investigate? You would soon have seen all the clients were Sir Richard’s men.’

‘I have been too busy, my lord,’ I said. ‘I have thought of nothing but Greek Fire and the Wentworth case. I have had to leave my work with my chambers fellow.’

He gave me a sharp look. ‘Oh, yes, Master Wheelwright. His holiness will carry him into the fire one day.’ He closed his jaw hard. Once Cromwell could have protected radical
reformers, but no more. He stood up abruptly and walked over to the window, looking at the courtiers and clerks milling outside. Then he turned back to me.

‘It seems clear to me, from their reactions, that neither Bealknap nor Rich is holding anything back about Greek Fire. Rich didn’t even know about it. I managed to elicit that
without alerting him to its existence. Just.’

‘I see. I am sorry, my lord.’ I felt a fool, a dolt.

‘That leaves Lady Honor and Marchamount.’ He began pacing the room, his head bent. ‘So, next, what about Lady Honor? I gather you and she have been having a merry time
together.’

I glanced at Barak, who gave a shrug.

‘There was something she was holding back,’ I said. ‘Something between her and Marchamount and the Duke of Norfolk. It has taken some digging, but that too was nothing to do
with Greek Fire.’

‘What was it?’ he asked sharply.

I hesitated a moment. I had promised to tell nobody. But when Cromwell raised his head and gave me a look of great fierceness, I told him.

He only grunted. ‘Well, let Norfolk chase her all over London instead of plotting against me. So, there is no evidence to link her with Greek Fire either?’

‘No, my lord. None.’ My stomach was knotted with shame for betraying Lady Honor’s confidence.

He turned and paced the other way. ‘And Marchamount?’

‘Just a feeling he was not telling all, my lord. Barak said you would summon him.’

‘I did.’ He stopped and looked at me. It surprised me to see his face was not angry, only filled with a desperate weariness now. ‘Marchamount has disappeared.’

‘He is not always easy to find. Last week I could not reach him – he was out of London on a case.’

Cromwell shook his head. ‘I sent a couple of men to his chambers. They found his clerk in a state because he had not turned up for a case, had not been in his rooms all night.’ He
stared at me. ‘Did you threaten him with my wrath?’

‘Not directly.’

‘But he may have guessed he was not out of the woods and fled. Or has he gone the way of the Gristwoods?’

I shivered. ‘If he is not safe, Bealknap and Lady Honor may not be either.’

Cromwell sat down again, shaking his head. ‘They’ve been one step ahead of you all the time, haven’t they?’ he said in the same quiet tone. ‘Whoever is behind this
is the most cunning, clever rogue I’ve ever encountered and I’ve met many.’ A smile flickered across his granite face. ‘In another context I could admire him. Or her.’
Then, to my relief, he shrugged his heavy shoulders. ‘You’ve done your best. The game’s almost done. There are only three days till the demonstration and we’re no further
forward in finding the formula, or the apparatus. Where in Jesu’s name have they hidden that?’ He turned to Barak. ‘Jack, try once again to trace Toky and Wright. Tell your
contacts I’ll pay the pair anything if they’ll come over to me.’

‘I will, my lord. But even if I trace them, I doubt they’d risk changing sides at this stage.’

‘Well, try again. I think I must tell the king tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. Matthew, Barak reported the prostitute who died said the whole thing was a plot against me from the
beginning.’

‘Yes, my lord.’

‘Well, there have been enough of those. Don’t give up yet. Put your
mind
to it.’ There was desperation in his voice. ‘And go to Lincoln’s Inn. They’ll
maybe tell you things they won’t tell my men. Search Marchamount’s rooms.’

‘Give me until Wednesday, my lord. I will do what I can. Do not tell the king till then.’

‘Have you some lead?’ His eyes bored into mine. I swallowed.

‘I – no. But I will think, as you ask.’

He looked at me hard for another long moment, then turned back to his desk. ‘Go then,’ he said. ‘God’s death, Grey will bury me in papers.’

His resigned, almost gentle manner so surprised me that I stood there a moment, fighting a sudden urge to tell him I had found some Greek Fire and given it to Guy. I realized that my old loyalty
to him was not quite dead, after all. Barak motioned to the door and, to my surprise, I heard footsteps scurrying away as he opened it. We stepped out to see Grey sitting down at his desk, his face
flustered.

Barak grinned. ‘Been eavesdropping, master secretary?’

He did not reply, but reddened.

‘Leave him, Barak,’ I said. I thought: Grey is terrified of what may be about to happen. He is right to be. And I have found some Greek Fire and hidden it from Cromwell. For a moment
I felt faint again.

B
ARAK AND
I
SAT
on the steps of Westminster Hall, each deep in gloomy thought.

‘I expected he’d be furious,’ I said, ‘but he seems – almost resigned.’

‘He knows what will happen if he has to tell the king Greek Fire is lost,’ he said quietly.

‘What in God’s name has happened to Marchamount? Is he villain or victim?’

Barak shrugged despairingly. ‘Jesu knows. I’ll try again for news of Toky and Wright, but I fear I’ll find nothing. I think some of my contacts are being paid to keep their
mouths shut.’

‘Isn’t it strange how, every time we approach the truth, the person we seek is killed? Almost as though someone was telling the enemy of our movements. And who took those books from
Lincoln’s Inn, and frightened the librarian?’

He frowned. ‘I don’t see that. It was Madam Neller that betrayed Bathsheba and her brother. The founder disappeared long before we got there. And Marchamount may have fled of his own
accord.’

I nodded. ‘That would mean he was the one behind it all. It starts to look that way.’

‘It does. But we need more evidence.’

‘We could go through his rooms.’

‘I must look for Toky first. I’ll come with you later.’

I stood up. ‘Very well.’ I looked at him. ‘Be careful. It could be dangerous for you.’

‘I can look after myself.’ He stood and dusted himself down. ‘It’s letting my master down, that’s what’s hard.’

‘There’s still time,’ I said. ‘I’ll meet you at home later.’ I took a deep breath. ‘My arm hurts.’

‘My shoulder’s better. He knows a few things, that old Moor.’ He stood looking out over the river a moment. I followed his gaze. Something bright and fiery on the water made me
start for a moment, then I saw it was only a ray of sunlight falling through the light cloud, flecking the little waves tossed up by the wind a flickering bright yellow.

I
COULD SEE NOBODY
through the window of Guy’s shop and feared he had gone out, but when I knocked footsteps sounded in the furthest reaches of the
building and he appeared. He looked tired.

‘You got my message, Matthew?’

‘Yes.’ I slipped inside and he closed the door.

‘How is Elizabeth?’ he asked. ‘I am going to visit her later.’

‘Better. In body at least.’ Briefly, I told him what we had found down the well and of my conversation with her. He gave me a penetrating look.

‘And you intend to confront the family?’

‘Yes. And it must be very soon. Elizabeth is back before Forbizer on Thursday.’

‘Be careful,’ he said. ‘There is something of pure evil in this story.’

‘I know.’ Suddenly I felt faint again and I sat down quickly in a chair.

‘What is the matter?’

‘A moment’s faintness. The heat.’

He came and looked down at me. ‘Have you had this before?’

‘Yesterday.’

‘You have taken on more than a man can reasonably bear.’

‘Barak seems able to manage.’

Guy smiled. ‘I talked with Master Barak when he brought you here after the fire. He improves somewhat on acquaintance.’

‘Ay, he said you gave him something to put in the dogs’ meat.’

‘Yes. But do not compare yourself to him. He is a man of the streets, a lot younger than you. And he has an adventurer’s disposition.’

‘And a straight back.’

‘That need not trouble you so much if you would do my exercises. I suppose you will say you have had no time.’

‘God’s truth, I haven’t.’ I looked him in the eye. ‘All my leads have run into the ground. And one of our suspects has disappeared, the lawyer Marchamount. We
don’t know yet if he’s the man behind it all or if he’s been killed like the others. Guy, the one thing I have left is that Greek Fire.’

He nodded. ‘Come through to my workshop.’

I followed him to a back room. With its bottles and retorts full of strange fluids, its bench and complex apparatus of oddly shaped distilling glasses, it reminded me of Sepultus
Gristwood’s workshop.