Conspiracy

‘Then who has access?’ I asked, eyeing the ring at his belt.

‘Myself, for the books. The almoner, Frère Joseph – he keeps the dry goods here that we distribute to the poor once a week at the back gate. And the sacristan.’ He paused, reluctant. ‘Frère Albaric. I believe you met him.’

I recalled that prickle of distaste I had felt on encountering Frère Albaric in the infirmary; his snide expression and shiny skin, the impatience with which he had tried to nudge me away from the dying priest’s bedside as he administered the last rites. Dio cane – had that been because he was afraid of what Paul might say to me? I looked down at the bloodied mess on the base of the statue. I must not jump to conclusions just because I had taken a dislike to the man.

‘And this Frère Joseph,’ I said. ‘What kind of man is he?’

Cotin snorted softly. ‘One that should not be in holy orders, in my view. The usual story – surplus son of a wealthy family. The one they give back to God, but no less full of worldly ambition for that. Joseph is a cold man. He barely troubles to disguise his contempt for the poor – hardly a desirable quality in an almoner. Of course, that may be why the Abbé appointed him,’ he added. ‘He has a reputation for frugality. The abbey’s profits have certainly improved since he began to review the distribution of alms to the needy.’

‘What age is he?’

‘A little younger than you. Not yet thirty-five, I think.’

‘Which family?

‘His name is de Chartres. Parisians. He’s a cousin of the Duke of Montpensier. Well connected.’

‘Ambitious, you say. Is he – let me speak bluntly – a man who might be persuaded to take a life if he thought it would help advance him?’

‘I could not swear to that, Bruno. Who knows what any of us might do, given the right incentive? By temperament, perhaps …’ He hesitated, looking at the statue.

‘But?’

‘Joseph has an affliction of his right hand. Some weakness from a childhood illness, he says. He can do everyday tasks competently enough with his good arm, but he lacks the strength for manual labour.’

‘So …’ I held the statue by the neck with my left hand and attempted to swing it through the air as if striking a blow. Paul Lefèvre was a tall man; if he had been standing when he was first hit, the assailant would have had to raise the statue above shoulder height before bringing it down. Saint Denis was heavy and unwieldy when held aloft with one hand. A strong man might be able to muster enough force for a killing blow one-armed, but it would be difficult to aim with any precision. Paul’s attacker could not have afforded to miss and risk the priest trying to fight back – especially if he lacked the strength to fight.

‘And Albaric?’

‘Two good arms, as far as I know.’

‘I meant, is he ambitious too? Political?’

Cotin looked unconvinced. ‘I do not know him well enough to say. I’m not sure anyone does, though he has been here eight or more years. He is devout in his duties, and that is all I can tell you, except that he guards his privacy, as far as one can in a community such as this. If he has political interests, I have no idea what they might be.’

For all that, he is certainly not politically naïve, I thought, recalling Albaric’s throwaway remark about looking to the Louvre to find the killer. It had struck me as an odd comment, given that at first Paul was assumed to be the chance victim of street robbers. He had known who Paul was, too, though he had affected only a vague recognition.

‘What about the back gate? Who has the key?’

‘All the senior officials whose work concerns deliveries to the abbey,’ he said. ‘Various goods come in by river to be unloaded at that jetty. So the two I have mentioned, but also the cellarer, the bursar, the infirmarian, among others. But it is not impossible that copies have slipped into other hands over the years.’ He allowed himself a half-smile. ‘In my day it was not unknown for younger friars to find their way out at night.’

‘In my day, too,’ I said, remembering my own nocturnal sorties in Naples. I looked back at the statue in my hands. ‘But why did he – whoever he was – not simply throw these in the river so they would not be found?’

‘Perhaps he was interrupted,’ Cotin suggested. ‘If a boat came too close and he needed to hide himself, he may not have had time to throw the statue into deep water. Or perhaps he was afraid it would be noticed missing. He may have meant to clean it later and return it to its place.’ He dragged a hand across his beard, covered his mouth. ‘God have mercy.’

‘Either way, he will be back for it,’ I said. ‘I am going to wait for him.’

He peeled his fingers away from his face and his mouth pinched. ‘You should not involve yourself in this any further, Bruno.’ He sighed. ‘By which I mean, I would prefer not to find myself in any more trouble with the Abbé as a result of your meddling. I have already defended you once.’

‘Defended?’

‘The Abbé advanced the theory that the priest had spoken your name repeatedly not because he was asking for you, but because he was trying to accuse his killer. I insisted that was impossible, that you had been sitting under my nose in the library all afternoon. Even then I’m not sure he was persuaded. Either way he wants you questioned.’

‘Thank you.’ I wondered who had planted that helpful idea in the Abbé’s mind. ‘But listen to me, Cotin. What are your choices? Will you go to the Abbé and tell him what you found here, or will you keep quiet in the knowledge that one of your brothers is a killer?’

The old man looked stricken. Neither prospect held much appeal. ‘It could have been a servant,’ he faltered. ‘A stolen key—’

I clicked my tongue, impatient. ‘Whoever struck Paul Lefèvre did it on behalf of someone more powerful, you can be sure. I’d be surprised if that person would have entrusted such a task to a servant. The Abbé will not thank you for drawing his attention to the scandal, if it was one of his friars. He may even have an interest in protecting the murderer. No one was supposed to find this evidence—’ I lifted the statue into his line of sight. ‘If you speak up about it, you may put yourself in danger. That’s why I should be the one to confront whoever comes back for this. Once I know who he is for certain, it will be for others to deal with and no one will connect it with you.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t be absurd, Bruno. Everyone will know I let you in here.’

‘You just said yourself, a key might be stolen. Supposing you had left yours unattended in the library? I might well have helped myself. It’s the sort of thing they would expect of me.’

I cocked an eyebrow, waiting to see if I had convinced him. He regarded me with a tired smile.

‘You are relentless, Bruno. You propose to conceal yourself in here until he returns to dispose of the evidence. Then what? Will you accost him yourself? By whose authority?’

‘You can guess,’ I said quietly.

He pulled at his beard, looking doubtful. ‘You know the religious houses outside the city walls have their own jurisdiction. Unless you are carrying a royal seal, Henri’s name will not mean much here. It will be your word – a known heretic who has broken into abbey property – against that of a senior official of the order. Do you think the Abbé will meekly send for the royal guard at your request? Or is it more likely that you are the one who will end up detained?’

I sucked in my cheeks. He had a point. ‘Then I will not confront him. I will merely make sure I can identify him beyond doubt, and report what I know. It will be in the King’s hands after that. You’ll need to give me the key to the back gate, so I can escape.’

‘And by the time you have passed on what you know and the King’s guard arrives, that evidence will be gone, if you do not intervene.’ He spread his hands to indicate helplessness. ‘So it will be your word against the perpetrator’s once more. Henri will not send his soldiers barging into a powerful abbey and accusing a friar of murder without proof, not with rumours already flying that it was he who had the priest killed in the first place.’

‘Damn you, Cotin – you are right again.’ I closed my eyes for a moment while I considered. ‘Very well – we will do it this way. You must send a message to the Louvre palace as soon as possible. Address it to Jacopo Corbinelli, sign it from me. Tell him to ask the King to send two of his strong men, the two that know me, have them wait outside the abbey gate after Compline tonight. I don’t think our man will come looking for this until he can be sure he won’t be seen. Tell them to be discreet, and I will deliver the killer into their hands, with proof. I can pay you,’ I added, seeing his discomfort, though I knew that was not the issue.

‘I don’t want your money.’ He tutted, turning his head away. ‘This is your notion of keeping me out of it, eh?’ He hunched his shoulders, weighing up the price. ‘I know you need the King’s favour again, Bruno, but tell me – can you be certain he is blameless in this?’

I passed a hand over my face. ‘I can be certain of nothing, Cotin. Except that it seems beyond doubt that Paul Lefèvre was bludgeoned with this statue by someone who has access to this building and your back gate. That man is the only one who can tell us the truth about this business, and I mean to find him.’

‘I would face severe discipline if the Abbé learns I was part of your escapade – which he will. I could lose my position. I know I owe you, but …’

He lowered his eyes. He did not need to say more; I knew what the risk meant to him. When I had first met Cotin, during my last stay in Paris, he had dreaded losing his office as librarian; too proud to admit that his sight was failing, he did his best to hide his deficiency from his brothers, living in fear of the day he could no longer read his beloved manuscripts. Through my friend Jacopo’s connections, I had had made for him a pair of eyeglasses that could magnify the smallest script; not such a great expense for my pocket at the time, but a luxury beyond the means of a friar sworn to a life of poverty. The instrument had restored Cotin to his work; now I was the one threatening it again.

‘I will not persuade you against your better judgement,’ I said, affecting unconcern. ‘Only consider this: how will it feel to look across the chapel every day during the office and catch the eye of one of your brothers, knowing he killed a man in cold blood?’

‘God’s tears, Bruno.’ He made a soft noise that might have been a curse, or a rueful laugh. ‘You know how to pluck at my conscience. Where do you want to hide yourself, then? I had better hurry with this message – they will be ringing the bell for Vespers any minute.’

I gripped his shoulder. ‘God will reward you, my friend. Or at least, I will, when I get the chance. Let us pile up those crates at the back and I’ll squeeze in behind them. That would give me a view of the door between the two stacks, providing he has a light with him.’

I indicated a recess at the back of the storeroom; together we pulled away misshapen sacks of root vegetables and shifted the crates of old masonry and ornaments into a stack the height of a man to cover it. I pressed in behind the boxes and the wall; cobwebs moulded across my mouth and nose and there was barely space to expand my lungs, but I would be concealed from anyone searching in the opposite corner behind Cotin’s boxes of books.

‘You’re well hidden,’ he said, standing back. ‘Now you just have to stay there for as long it takes, without needing a piss or falling asleep. Rather you than me.’ He eased a heavy iron key from the ring at his belt as I scraped out from the recess. ‘That’s for the back gate. For the love of God, don’t lose it. And you’d better take this one for the door here, in case your fellow locks it behind him when he leaves.’ He shook his head again. ‘I don’t like this, Bruno. If you should be caught off guard – this man is a killer, after all.’

‘I can put up a fight against any friar. Wouldn’t be the first time.’ I grinned, bending to show him the knife hidden in my boot; no weapons were permitted inside the abbey precinct, but the gatekeeper was usually too lazy or too bone-headed to bother with more than a cursory check of my belt. Cotin jumped back in alarm.

‘For Jesus’ sake, try not to shed more blood inside these walls. Come.’ He replaced the statue of Saint Denis, carefully wrapped in the cloak, in its original hiding place behind the boxes of books in the opposite corner. When it was secure, he opened the door a crack and held up his lantern, peering out and listening for any movement. ‘Quick.’ He nodded towards the path. ‘All quiet for now.’