C. Sansom - Lamentation

Barak shook his head firmly. ‘The King would never surrender his authority back to Rome.’

‘Yes,’ Leeman agreed. ‘Master Vandersteyn was mightily shocked when his emissary from Flanders brought him the news.’ He looked at me, his dark eyes hard. ‘But his people can always be trusted. Bertano is now at the French court, and he will arrive here within a few days. It has been done secretly, only a few men at court know, and nobody with any sympathy for reform. Certainly not the Queen.’

I glanced at Barak, who sat stroking his beard, frowning hard. It was an outlandish, extraordinary story, yet it fitted what Lord Parr had told me — that despite their failure to destroy the Queen and those around her, the conservative faction were not downcast, were rather comporting themselves as though they had something else up their sleeves. If this was their trump card, the stakes could not be higher.

‘When did the news about Bertano come?’ I asked.

‘Just after I told our group about overhearing the Queen’s argument with Cranmer over the Lamentation . And we all agreed: if the King decides to go back to Rome, it surely follows that the Queen must be replaced. The Pope would insist on it. But if the Lamentation were published, the populace would see the King had executed a good and true woman.’

I got up and walked to the window. I was horrified. If what Leeman said about Bertano was true, the Queen was in deadly danger from another source, too, and was a dispensable pawn in a far bigger game. It was hard to take in. But at least it seemed Greening’s group had made a majority decision not to publish the Lamentation before the Queen fell, but only to keep it in Greening’s shop. Safe, they supposed.

Barak spoke bluntly to Leeman. ‘Making public that the King was about to receive a secret emissary from the Pope would surely have roused popular anger, perhaps prevented the visit taking place at all.’

‘Ay,’ Nicholas nodded agreement. ‘The outrage among reformers would be tremendous.’

Leeman replied, ‘That is what I said when we discussed Bertano in the group. We argued over it for days.’

I came back to him and sat down again. ‘But Curdy and McKendrick opposed it? I ask, Master Leeman, because I think one of your group might have been a spy in the pay of a third party, I know not who. I am fairly certain, by the way, that we were followed to the docks tonight, and that events there were watched.’

He nodded sadly. ‘That is what we also came to think, after Master Greening was murdered and the Lamentation disappeared. That is why we all fled. Vandersteyn had Anne Askew’s writings, ready to take abroad, so at least the killers would not get them. Afterwards, we realized there must have been a spy, for nobody else knew what we were doing.’ He shook his head. ‘But we thought it was Elias, as he was the only one that refused to leave the country.’

‘He had not been told about the Lamentation , he was too young for such a secret but he could have. .’

‘He could have overheard. That is what we thought, afterwards. And he needed money, with his family to support.’ Leeman shook his head. ‘Poor Elias.’

‘If there was a spy, it wasn’t him.’ I thought quickly; that left only Curdy, who was dead, Vandersteyn, who was gone, and McKendrick. And I could not see it being Vandersteyn; he had too long a history as a radical and had been at the very centre of the conspiracy. That left Curdy and McKendrick, who had lived in the same house and had both been against exposing Bertano before his arrival. I asked, ‘What was Curdy’s and McKendrick’s argument against making Bertano’s visit known immediately?’

‘Curdy said we had no clear evidence, and if we set the story abroad it would simply be denied, and the negotiations would take place anyway. McKendrick agreed, he said stronger evidence was needed, perhaps more detail of where the negotiations were to take place, and with whom. He said he knew from experience in Scotland how rumours can fly, only to be quickly quelled if there is no evidence. He suggested Vandersteyn try to get more information from the Continent, and then break the news in detail, when Bertano was actually here. We knew only that he was coming around the start of August. In the end we agreed to wait, and Vandersteyn sent letters to his associates abroad, in code, to try to get more information.’

‘Was there any reply?’

‘No.’ He sighed. ‘Vandersteyn’s agents could discover no more. And then came Master Greening’s murder; we fled, hid in secret in the houses of good friends, keeping separate, moving from place to place while Master Vandersteyn arranged for a ship to come over and take us to Flanders. We knew we were being hunted. One of the households which sheltered Master McKendrick was attacked by ruffians just after he left.’ He looked at me. ‘None of that was arranged by you or your confederates?’

‘No.’

‘How did you know we would be at the docks tonight?’

‘It was not difficult to work out that you would try to get yourselves, and perhaps both books, abroad. Spies were placed at the docks. You were too confident, going through the customs house. You should have smuggled yourselves on board the ship.’

Leeman bit his lip.

‘Let’s get this clear,’ Barak said. ‘Your little group were Anabaptists, who want to overthrow not just the whole of established religion, but society itself-’

‘As we one day will! It is clear in the Bible-’

Barak cut in. ‘A group which was put together by the Dutchman Vandersteyn, who is part of a similar circle on the Continent, and whose particular goal was to obtain information that could incite the people to rebellion.’

‘Ay. The people are deceived by the lies of popes and princes. But believers such as ourselves are the leaven in the yeast.’ Leeman spoke as though chanting a prayer.

‘But,’ I said, angry now, ‘because you did not realize there was a spy in your group, someone — almost certainly working for a leading figure on the conservative side — has the Queen’s book in their possession, ready to give to the King at any moment, with the intention of making him angry with the Queen again just as this papal emissary arrives!’ Leeman lowered his head. I went on, ‘You needed money for bribes and materials in order to steal and publish the Queen’s book. Substantial sums. Where did you get them?’

‘Master Curdy has money. From his business.’ A spark appeared in Leeman’s eyes again. ‘You see, Master Shardlake, we practise what we preach, the holding of all goods in common.’

I sighed, and turned to Barak and Nicholas. ‘Both of you, a word in private. Nicholas, can you bring the candle?’ I turned to Leeman. ‘Do not even think of running, we will be near. Lie here and think on what you have brought about with your foolishness.’

We went out, leaving him in darkness.

We walked downstairs to the dusty little entrance hall. I set the candle in its holder on the wall. Noises from the street came to us faintly. I had lost track of time — it must be far past midnight. I wondered when Lord Parr’s people would arrive.

‘Well,’ I asked Barak, ‘what do you think? The Bertano story first.’

Barak stroked his beard. ‘ If it’s true, and the news got out, then Leeman is right, there would be unrest in the streets. I don’t mean a revolution, but trouble certainly. You have to hand it to them, their tactic of placing spies in sensitive places paid off. But — ’ he looked intently between us — ‘if you’re going to have a tightly controlled group, with secret knowledge, you have to be sure everyone in it can be completely trusted. But with some of the wilder radicals — ’ he shrugged — ‘duping them is easy. Provided the person concerned continually parrots the right phrases, I imagine they’re all too ready to believe they’re genuine.’