К Сэнсом - Revelation

‘And determined. And vicious.’

I shook my head. ‘And an educated man. From what you say he has knowledge of the medical profession and perhaps the legal world too, if he could fake a letter from a solicitor well enough to take Roger in, which it seems likely he did. But why? Why kill a man who has harmed no one, and leave that terrible spectacle?’

‘He had no enemies?’

‘None.’ I looked at Roger’s boot again, and suddenly it was all too much. My stomach lurched violently.

‘Your privy, Guy –’ I gasped.

‘You know the way.’

I went to the privy at the rear of the house, the usual wooden shack over a cesspit, yet less noisome than most, something scented in the air to minimize the stinks. There I was violently sick. As I walked back to the house I felt weak, my legs shaking.

Low voices came from the consulting room. The door was open and I saw Guy and the boy Piers sitting close together at the table. They had brought the candle over and were looking, rapt, at an open book. I recognized Vesalius’ horribly illustrated anatomy book. Piers brushed a lick of dark hair from his face and pointed to the drawing. ‘See,’ he said eagerly. ‘That illustration is just like Elliard’s heart.’ Piers broke off suddenly, his face reddening, as he saw me. ‘Master Shardlake! I–I did not know you were still here. I brought in the book –’

‘I saw,’ I said curtly. ‘Poor Roger. I wonder what he would have thought if he knew the intimate details of his body would become chatter for apprentices. Well, perhaps he would have been amused, though I cannot say I am.’ I looked with distaste at the picture, a human abdomen torn open, all the organs exposed.

‘’Tis only to gain better knowledge, sir,’ Piers mumbled. I gave him a cold look, thinking Guy gave him far too much latitude.

‘No, Piers, it was my fault.’ Guy for once looked discomfited.

‘You will be giving evidence at the inquest tomorrow morning?’ I asked him.

‘Yes. Of course.’

‘And Adam? Do you know when you may be able to visit him? I ought to come too. The court is not sitting on Friday morning, if that would be convenient for you.’

He brought a little leather-bound notebook from his pocket and studied it. ‘Yes, Friday at noon?’

‘Then I will leave you,’ I said, with an angry glance at the book, which still lay open on the desk, and at Piers, who still stood quietly at his master’s side. Guy raised a hand.

‘No, Matthew, stay, please.’ I hesitated. Guy closed the Vesalius book and handed it up to Piers. ‘Take it out, my boy, and bring some wine. Then continue studying the book if you wish.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Guy patted Piers’ shoulder in an affectionate gesture, and he left the room. ‘I am so sorry, Matthew,’ he said. ‘We meant no disrespect to Roger Elliard. It is just – the implications of Vesalius for the practice of medicine are so great – but Matthew, even as I investigated how your friend died, as you asked me to do, I prayed for his departed soul.’

I smiled. I knew Guy too well, knew his goodness, to be angry for long. ‘Is Vesalius so very remarkable, then?’ I asked.

‘Oh yes, yes. It is a change of approach that is much needed, study based on observation, not merely acceptance of blind doctrine.’

‘It will not be popular among physicians, then.’

‘No. It challenges their monopoly of arcane knowledge. And who knows where it may end?’ He looked at the chart on his wall. ‘The very doctrine of the humours itself could be challenged and tested.’

I followed his gaze to the chart, with its complex equations and symbols. The notion that the human body was composed of four humours, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood, corresponding to the four elements of earth, fire, water and air that made up everything in the world, was so universally accepted I could not imagine it ever being challenged: nor the doctrine that every human ailment was caused by imbalances between the four elements in the individual body. I remembered discussing our respective humours with Roger, on the last evening I saw him.

‘Then I will not be recommended to eat salad when I am low in spirits,’ I said. ‘To moisten the dryness of black bile. That would be a relief.’

Guy smiled sadly. ‘I would rather recommend attending a musical evening, or a long walk over Lincoln’s Inn Fields.’

‘Not Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Guy. It seems that was probably where Roger met his assailant.’

Piers knocked at the door and brought in a large jug of wine and two glasses. When he had gone I said, ‘I have promised Dorothy to find the killer, but I do not know how he can be caught.’

‘You have resolved such matters before, as I know better than anyone. You underestimate yourself. I know that too.’

‘I would be a fool to underestimate the difficulties of this case. And because of Easter and the wretched politics of the coroner’s offices, the inquest will be four days after the murder. Four days with no official investigation. I thought the royal coroner might hurry things up, but he has not. Ten to one the murderer is out of London now; though for all the chance we have of finding him he could still be in the city, laughing at the coroners and the constables and their stupidity.’ I shook my head.

‘If he is an educated man, that must limit the numbers. You know as well as I that both the law and medicine are closed worlds, their practitioners seeking to keep their secrets to themselves.’

‘Perhaps. But many of our class have some knowledge of both. Though the knowledge of dwale is unusual.’

‘And how to administer it. Wait until the inquest tomorrow, see if anything more is revealed.’

I nodded, took a drink of wine from my cup. I saw that Guy had finished his already, which surprised me for he was a believer in moderation in all things.

‘Thank you for taking on Adam Kite,’ I said.

He nodded slowly. ‘Salvation panic. A strange obsession. How prone people are to become fixated on ideas, or religion, or people. And of course fanatic religion is everywhere. Perhaps the surprise is there are not more people like Adam.’ He turned his cup in his hand pensively.

‘A wherryman told me today that those huge fish they found in the river are the Leviathans, and foretell the second coming of Christ, the end of the world.’

Guy shook his head. ‘There was only one Leviathan.’

‘So I thought.’

‘It has become a world of black and white, Matthew, a Manichean world where preachers encourage everyone to rush towards a conflict between good and evil. Each knowing, of course, that their own side is entirely in the right.’

I smiled, inclined my head. ‘Protestants and Catholics alike?’

‘Yes. Do not forget my parents were moriscos , Moorish Spaniards made to leave Spain by the Inquisition. I too have seen the wildness that follows when fanatics without self-doubt gain power.’ He looked at me gravely. ‘But mark this. Whatever wrongs it has done, the Catholic Church has always believed in free will, that men by their actions as well as their faith may choose to come to God. This new Protestant radicalism will not allow for that, everyone is either saved or damned through God’s will, not free will. They may pray to be saved once and for all, may feel they are saved once and for all, but for them it is God’s decision, not man’s. And so we have Adam Kite, who thinks that God will not have him.’

‘And his wretched vicar, because he cannot cure him, believes he is possessed.’

‘It is a way of explaining failure.’

‘I never supported Luther on predestination, Guy. I was on Erasmus’ side in their debate on free will.’ I looked at him seriously. ‘I saw a nonlicensed preacher taken to St Paul’s in sackcloth and ashes this morning. Bonner is going to crack down on the Protestants, and they will not take it quietly. It is not going to be a good time for outsiders.’