Sovereign ms-3

by C. J. Sansom

  ‘I let myself become obligated to the Archbishop.’

  He nodded, then said, ‘They will not make me talk in London.’

  ‘They will, Broderick,’ I answered quietly.

  ‘No.’ A faint smile, one that chilled me, the smile of one who has secret knowledge. He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘They will not. And remember, Master Shardlake, what I told you once. The time of the Mouldwarp is almost over.’ He looked at me sadly. ‘You know, I think you could have been one of us. You may be yet.’

  I turned away. Sergeant Leacon was standing nearby.

  ‘I have never seen him so calm,’ I told him.

  ‘He is in a strange mood. Did he say anything of importance?’

  ‘He said they will not break him.’

  ‘They will.’

  ‘I know.’

  I walked away to the hatch. Radwinter was still leaning over the rail, staring out to sea.

  THAT EVENING, after supper eaten from bowls on the deck, I sat on the bench as the sun sank below the horizon. The sea was quiet, only a little swell. A red sun, in a sky that had begun to fill with clouds. I hoped more bad weather was not coming. Tamasin had gone to her cabin and Barak was talking to a group of servants a little way off.

  There was more of a wind now, enough to make some headway. I was glad, for I was increasingly worried about Giles, who still spent most of his time asleep in his cabin. All around dim forms, huddled against the evening cold, dozed or spoke quietly or played at cards or chess. The moon rose, a silvery line on the sea. A man swathed in furs came up the stair-ladder from below to take the air. Beneath a jewelled cap I recognized the thin features of Richard Rich. He walked down the deck, head sunk on his chin, thinking. The sailors working on deck moved quickly out of his way as he passed. Then he walked up the deck again. As he reached the bench where I sat his eyes held mine for a second. Then he gave his little smile, turned and walked away again. He descended the steps, his footsteps fading away. When he had gone I rose. Barak came over to me.

  ‘That arsehole.’

  ‘Ay.’ I was pleased by his concern.

  ‘Did he say anything?’

  ‘No, just gave me an evil look. I think I will go down.’

  ‘Ay, it is getting cold.’

  ‘I feel colder still for seeing Rich.’

  Below decks all was quiet. As I passed Broderick’s cell, though, I noticed with surprise that the two soldiers standing outside were drinking beer from a flagon they were passing between them. Seeing me, the one holding it tried to hide it behind his back. I frowned and went on to my room. As I was settling on to my bunk I heard raised voices outside. I rose and quickly opened the door. Other doors were opening, people looking out.

  ‘What in God’s name do you think you are doing?’ It was Sergeant Leacon’s voice, furious. The two soldiers stood red-faced, one holding the flagon at his side. The sergeant kicked it out of his hand and it crashed on the floor, the beer spilling out. The soldier staggered.

  ‘God’s wounds, you’ll suffer for this. You’ll both come with me to Maleverer, now.’

  The soldiers paled. The door to the cell opened and Radwinter looked out. ‘What in hell is going on?’ he snapped.

  Leacon turned to him, red-faced. ‘These churls are drinking on duty. I’m taking them to Maleverer.’ And with that he grabbed the two men by the collars and marched them away. Radwinter watched him go, smiling at his rival’s discomfiture. I shut my door before he saw me.

  A ROUGH HAND, shaking me hard. I opened my eyes, blinking. Someone holding a lamp. My cabin door was open. Outside, voices were murmuring excitedly. I sat up, and found myself looking into Maleverer’s grim face. In the shadows behind him I saw Barak in his shirt, his hair tousled.

  ‘Wake up!’ Maleverer snapped his fingers angrily in my face. ‘Come on! Get up!’

  I rose to my feet. In the doorway I saw Giles, clutching blankets around his big form and looking bemused, and Tamasin with Barak’s coat draped round her. Maleverer turned and shouted at them and the other people who had wakened and come into the corridor.

  ‘Get back to bed!’ he bawled. ‘I’ll have the lot of you arrested!’

  ‘What is this commotion?’ Giles asked, a new querulousness in his voice.

  ‘Come back to bed, Master Wrenne,’ Tamasin said. She took his arm and led him away. Other doors closed. Barak alone stayed in the doorway. Maleverer turned back to me.

  ‘You spoke to Broderick yesterday,’ he rasped. ‘What did he say to you?’

  My heart jumped as I remembered Broderick’s words: you could have been one of us. I think you may be yet. ‘I – nothing of note,’ I said. ‘I tried to question him about Jennet Marlin but he made no answer, as usual. What has happened?’

  ‘I’ll show you. Come with me.’

  He shouldered his way out of the cabin. I got up; fortunately I had gone to bed in my shirt and hose. ‘What is it?’ I asked Barak.

  ‘I don’t know. I was woken up by voices and footsteps down there.’ He nodded down the corridor to Broderick’s cell. To my surprise the door was ajar. Radwinter sat slumped on the floor outside, his head in his hands, Sergeant Leacon standing over him.

  ‘Here!’ Maleverer called. I followed him reluctantly down the corridor. He threw open the door of Broderick’s cell and stood aside. Barak had followed me; I felt warmed by the fact he was still loyal.

  The cell was one of the larger rooms, a bunk against each wall and some space between. In that space Broderick hung from the ceiling. He was bare to the waist; his shirt had been twisted into a thick length of material and one end slung over a large beam. The other end had gone round his neck. He was dead, his body swinging in the light swell, the chains that bound his arms and legs making a slight rattle. His feet hung two or three inches above the floor. If he had been any taller he could not have done it in the low cabin. His eyes were closed and his head was bent over at a sickening angle. I looked away from his emaciated, lacerated chest. ‘Dear God.’ I looked at Maleverer. ‘How -’

  ‘The soldiers got drunk. Leacon brought them to me and I sent them to sleep it off. They’ll suffer later. He and Radwinter were left alone to guard Broderick. Later Leacon came to me to discuss what was to be done with the soldiers. When he came back Radwinter was lying on the ground by the bench. Radwinter says someone knocked on the door. When he stepped out he saw no one there, then someone struck him from behind, knocked him out, stole his keys, then unlocked the chains and killed Broderick.’ He stepped over to Radwinter, who looked up at him. He seemed stunned, confused. Ironically, that made him look normal, human, for the first time since I had known him.

  ‘Couldn’t he have killed himself?’ I asked.

  ‘No.’ Maleverer almost snarled. He had lost his prisoner, this would go hard for him. ‘Look at his wrists, they’re manacled together behind him, there’s only six inches of chain between them. Broderick was manacled if ever he was left alone, precisely so he could not harm himself. Someone helped him to this. They tied the rope to the rafter, helped Broderick to stand on the bed, got the rope round his neck. Then he jumped.’

  I nodded. ‘Yes.’ I made myself look at the body again. ‘And his helper pulled on his feet when he was dangling, to break his neck and stop him from strangling slowly. They were merciful. They helped him kill himself. He did it after all.’ I looked at Broderick’s face again. It was turned slightly away, his expression oddly peaceful. At last he had shut us all out, for ever.

  ‘Radwinter’s story doesn’t add up, to me,’ Maleverer said, glowering down at the gaoler. ‘He says he was hit on the head from behind but I see no mark of a blow.’ He addressed Radwinter. ‘I am placing you under arrest for the murder of your prisoner. And by God, when we get to London we will find out why, one way or another.’

  Radwinter stared up at him, then let out a terrible sound, somewhere between a screech and a moan. Maleverer nodded to Leacon. ‘Lock him up, then take the body down. And by Jesu, you and your
men will have to make answer too, for this mess.’ Maleverer turned to me. ‘So that’s it,’ he hissed. ‘The last chance of finding out more about the conspirators. Gone!’

  But it had not been Radwinter, I was sure. Maleverer merely needed a culprit and he had found one. I realized something that set my heart hammering against my ribs. I had been right that it was not Jennet Marlin who had knocked me out at King’s Manor. It was someone else. They were on this ship, and now they had helped Broderick die.

  Chapter Forty

  BAD WEATHER HIT US next morning, rain and wind and heavy seas that had the passengers retching all over the ship. After lunch the rain stopped, and I came up and sat alone on the bench on deck, looking out at the heaving grey wastes of the German Ocean. Mountainous seas heaved and rolled, giant waves capped with white foam, the sky only slightly less dark than the sea. I watched a herring gull swoop above the water. How did they survive out here, I wondered.

  I had felt a need to be alone, to get away from the shocked, anxious atmosphere that Broderick’s death and Radwinter’s arrest had created below decks. I could not rid myself of the memory of Broderick’s face, turned away as he swung gently. I wondered how God would judge him; suicide was a great sin but Broderick had only anticipated and eased his passage to death. And I had been, however reluctantly, an agent of those who had abused him so that killing himself with another’s help was the only way left. I had come to admire him, for all that his intensity had sometimes frightened me.

  I looked down the deck, beyond the billowing sails, to where the captain was running between the sailors, shouting and looking over the side. I wondered if something was wrong. I turned as the hatch to the lower decks banged open and Barak, swathed like me in a heavy coat, emerged and came over, grasping at the rails as the ship bucked and heaved. He sat beside me.

  ‘How is Master Wrenne?’ he asked.

  ‘Still in bed. He says he’s all right, but he looks weak to me. I worry this voyage may be too much for him.’

  Barak sighed. ‘He’ll make it or he won’t. There’s not much we can do. Poor old arsehole.’ We were silent a moment as he looked down the deck to where the captain was still pacing. ‘There’s a problem with the rudder. They think they’ve broken a pintail, it’s some sort of a bolt.’

  I looked at him. ‘Serious?’

  ‘It needs attending to. We’re putting in at Ipswich now. We’ll be later than ever, just when we’ve got a favourable wind. The sailors are even more convinced this voyage is cursed.’

  ‘Sailors are a superstitious lot. What day is it? I lose track.’

  ‘October twenty-third. We’ve been out seven days already. The sailor said Rich is furious, he’s going to leave the ship at Ipswich and ride back to London.’

  ‘The King will be back before us at this rate. Though with Broderick dead I suppose that matters little now.’

  He nodded, screwing up his eyes against the spray as a large wave crashed over the side of the boat. I looked at him. ‘Thank you for standing by last night,’ I said.

  ‘That’s all right.’

  I hesitated. ‘How is Tamasin?’

  ‘Fine.’ He looked down a moment, then back at me. ‘But I have told her she must stop mourning for Jennet Marlin. That however kind she was to Tamasin, the woman was a murderess. And she can’t blame you for resenting her sorrow for her. Jesu, Jennet Marlin would have killed Tamasin if she had got in her way.’

  ‘Yes. She would.’

  He smiled sadly. ‘Tamasin has so little security in her life, she cleaved to Jennet Marlin. As she cleaved to the idea of her father having good blood. If it turns out he hasn’t, I’ll say nothing.’

  ‘Even if he has, he probably wouldn’t want to know her.’

  ‘No.’ He looked at his feet for a moment. ‘It’s a pickle.’ He looked up again. ‘But I care for her. I am sorry, though, for what I said to you in Hull.’

  ‘It is all right. We have been cooped up together too long.’ I thought of the rosary, but our reconciliation was too fragile to mention that now.

  ‘I suppose Radwinter will go to the Tower when we land,’ Barak said.

  ‘Yes. To be questioned.’

  ‘The way Broderick would have been questioned?’

  ‘Probably.’ I shook my head. ‘I do not believe Radwinter killed him. Maleverer is wrong. He is so bull-headed, he sees only what is straight ahead, like a blinkered horse.’

  ‘Yet it all points to Radwinter. He was the only one with Broderick at the time, he said he was knocked on the head but there was no sign of a blow.’

  ‘You know it is possible to knock someone out without leaving a mark. Then there’s motive. Why on earth would Radwinter do it?’

  ‘Maleverer thinks he’s gone mad, doesn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. That was partly my fault.’ I sighed. Maleverer had questioned me after Broderick’s body had been taken away, railing with furious anger against Radwinter. Leacon had told him I had said Radwinter was mad, and Maleverer had seized on that, believing the erosion of his authority had sent the gaoler out of his wits until he went berserk and killed Broderick. I had protested that I had not meant I thought Radwinter would kill his prisoner, but Maleverer had been in no mood to listen.

  ‘Maleverer has more reason than just what you said to think Radwinter mad,’ Barak said. ‘I’m told he’s collapsed since he was locked up in the cell, shrieking and crying and calling down plagues on Maleverer. And who can tell what goes on in a man’s mind when it runs mad?’

  ‘It still doesn’t add up to me. How could he have done it alone?’

  ‘Perhaps he knocked Broderick out, then hanged him.’

  ‘I can’t see him taking Broderick unawares.’ I paused. ‘You know what I think happened?’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘When I last saw him, Broderick seemed calm, almost resigned. What if someone had already been to see him, to offer him this way out if he still wanted to kill himself?’

  Barak whistled.

  ‘Then when Leacon sent those drunken soldiers away and went to report to Maleverer, that someone was waiting in his cabin. You can hear what’s going on outside. He knocked Radwinter out -’

  ‘Took his keys, strung Broderick up, then pulled on his feet and broke his neck.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Barak looked out at the heaving, bitterly cold sea. ‘It’s an awful way to choose to die. Broderick must have had some courage.’

  ‘We knew that.’ I followed his gaze. Broderick’s body was under those heaving waves now. The captain had refused to take a dead body back to London, fearing even more bad luck. He had said the burial service over the corpse and then it had been thrown overboard, tied in a sheet, landing with a splash among the grey waves then disappearing for ever.

  ‘So someone here on board killed him?’

  ‘Oh, I think so. Someone he knew already, I would guess.’

  ‘The person who knocked you out at King’s Manor?’

  ‘Yes.’ I told Barak what Broderick had said the day before. ‘I am sure he knew who knocked me out at King’s Manor and took the papers. If he hadn’t, he would have denied it. He was different yesterday, quieter. No longer afraid of the Tower, which I think he always was before, however he tried to hide it. I think he had already made arrangements.’

  ‘But how? He was guarded all the time.’

  ‘That’s the one thing I can’t work out.’

  ‘Have you told Maleverer what you suspect?’

  ‘Ay. He dismissed it, and me too, with oaths. He believes he’s got his man. He needs to, for he will be in disfavour now. First letting those papers be stolen, now letting Broderick be killed.’ I smiled bitterly. ‘I doubt he will have the great career he was looking for after this. Nor does he deserve it. He’s all brute force, no time for thought, no subtlety.’

  ‘Unlike Lord Cromwell.’

  ‘Oh yes. He could see round corners.’ I glanced at Barak. ‘You think I’m wrong?’

  ‘I don�
�t know. If you are right, whoever helped Broderick die could be anyone on this ship. Even a crewman.’

  ‘Yes.’ I hesitated. ‘Last night, before Broderick died, I was sitting here and Rich came up and walked the deck. He saw me, gave me one of his nasty smiles.’

  ‘Why would Rich kill Broderick? Deprive his master the King of his pet prisoner?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Well, at least we can exclude Lady Rochford this time.’

  ‘Yes.’ I bit my lip. ‘There is one other possibility. There is one person who had the perfect opportunity to plan with Broderick and then help him die. A man from Kent.’

  ‘Sergeant Leacon?’ Barak’s voice was astonished.

  ‘Perhaps there is more to him than meets the eye. Since I spoke to the old lawyer in Hull I have been wondering, what of the archer Blaybourne’s family? Presumably he must have returned to them in Kent when he came back from France. How much did they know? The confession could have been made to a relative down in the south, kept in the family, brought to London and then up to York when the rebellion was planned.’

  Barak shook his head. ‘I can’t see Sergeant Leacon as a killer.’

  ‘He doesn’t have to be. Whoever knocked me out at King’s Manor might have meant not to kill me, only take the papers. And he didn’t kill Broderick, he helped him kill himself. Leacon could have knocked out Radwinter and helped Broderick die before he went to make his report to Maleverer. He could even have given those soldiers access to drink.’

  Barak blew out his cheeks. ‘It fits. And yet…’

  ‘I know. He seems so unlikely a candidate. I already feel bad about my part in his parents’ problems. I have offered to try and help them.’

  Barak pondered a moment. ‘He’s guarding Radwinter now, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Perhaps you ought to tell Maleverer.’

  I shook my head. ‘He wouldn’t listen. There’s no point.’

  ‘You ought to.’

  I sighed. ‘One day I will provoke that man too far and I will be in trouble. But you are right.’