Tombland

‘Yes. Not long after I came, the barns needed new locks, and a man came from Norwich. I remember I went to watch him work, I’ve never seen locks fitted before. I asked him questions, but he told me to stop bothering him. Though later I saw him laughing with the twins, drinking beer. He seemed to get on with them .’

‘Do you know if Master Boleyn had ever used this man before?’

‘I think so. Yes, I remember his steward, Master Chawry, told him it was good to see him at Brikewell again.’

‘Do you remember his name?’

Scambler frowned. ‘It was unusual. It was –’ he brightened – ‘Snockstobe.’ He laughed. ‘A silly name –’ He broke off, and looked at me with something like horror. ‘Oh, sir, do you mean the twins took the key to get a copy made?’

‘It is possible.’

His jaw dropped.

‘It is just a possibility,’ I repeated quietly.

‘Then if I’d spoken, Master Boleyn might not be in the castle. Oh Jesu, I’ve made an awful mess again.’ He raised a hand to his mouth and began chewing on his knuckles.

‘If that is what the twins did,’ Nicholas said, ‘we will find out, and put things right.’

‘That we will,’ Barak agreed firmly.

I took a deep breath. ‘I meant what I said, Simon. No trouble will come to you for this. In fact, what you have said may help us. But one important thing: do not tell anyone what you have just told us. Not even your aunt.’

The boy laughed bitterly. ‘I know they say I’ve a loose mouth, sir, but I’ll tell nobody. And I never tell her anything.’ A flash of anger entered his voice.

I took out my purse again. ‘Here are two shillings to seal the bargain.’

‘Thank you, sir. Since I left Brikewell, we have no money. My aunt used to spin, but her hands are too bad to work now. We’re going to have to plead relief from the parish, see if the great rich men will give us any pennies.’ He sighed.

‘If you remember anything else, I can be contacted at the Maid’s Head Inn. Ask for Master Shardlake.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Scambler attempted a crude bow. ‘Thank you.’

We left the wretched tenement. As I closed the door I heard Scambler’s aunt calling in her shrieking voice, ‘Sooty! Get yourself dressed! We’ll be late for service!’

Chapter Nineteen

We walked a little way up Ber Street, then stopped at a corner to confer. Church bells were still ringing, and people were hurrying to service in their best clothes, mostly Protestant black.

‘So,’ Barak said, ‘this could put it squarely on the twins. We have to find this locksmith.’

‘The Maid’s Head innkeeper will know the Norwich locksmiths,’ Toby said. ‘That snivelling little runt,’ he added sharply. ‘If he’d told his story weeks ago, Boleyn might never been arrested. I’d swear he was protecting his skin; he guessed what the twins had done.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘He didn’t think it through. He’s only – what – fifteen or so? And – not normal, though in a way which I do not understand.’

‘Crying like a gal. I’d have given him a good culp, got it out of him that way.’

‘I expect he’s well used to that.’ I looked at Toby sharply. I was getting to see more and more that, despite his radicalism, he had a hard, unsympathetic side.

‘There’s certainly something amiss with Scambler,’ Barak said. ‘The tears, the way he speaks so fast. And his aunt says he goes about singing. He can’t seem to – control himself.’

‘But he’s not a wantwit,’ I said. ‘Did you notice his voice? He speaks with less of a local accent than you’d expect. And he talked of going to school.’

‘Maybe they chucked him out,’ Toby said.

‘Or maybe after his parents died there was no money for the fees,’ Nicholas said, raising an eyebrow at Toby. ‘If the twins planned this,’ he went on, ‘they must have known their mother’s whereabouts when she returned to Norwich, and killed her despite everyone saying they were miserable when she left them as children. Killed her, and set up their father.’

‘But what would they gain?’ I asked. ‘If their father is hanged, the lands they would have inherited go to the King’s escheator, and they become wards of court till they reach twenty-one.’

‘They’ve got their grandfather’s protection.’ Barak looked at me.

‘We must find that locksmith tomorrow,’ I said.

‘The twins could have used another one,’ Nicholas said.

‘We’ll try every locksmith in Norwich if we have to. I can say I have an expensive chest that needs mending. Now, Toby, take us to Conisford to find Josephine. Then go back home. Come to the Maid’s Head again at seven tomorrow.’

* * *