‘Thank you, it is a little early for me.’
He sat down again. ‘I hear you are retained to advise in the Wentworth case. An unpleasant business. Not much unguentum auri there, I’d guess.’
I smiled tightly. ‘No. A small fee. In fact, it is another killing I have called to see you about. Michael Gristwood and his brother have been brutally murdered.’
I watched carefully for his reaction, but he only nodded sadly and said, ‘Yes, I know. A dreadful business.’
‘How did you know, sir?’ I asked sharply. ‘This has been kept quiet on Lord Cromwell’s orders.’
He spread his arms. ‘His widow came to see me yesterday. Said you had told her the house was hers, asked for my help in getting it transferred into her name since I knew her husband.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Is the Greek Fire formula gone?’
I paused; the words seemed to hang in the stuffy air for a moment. ‘Yes, Serjeant. That is why Lord Cromwell wants the matter investigated quickly and secretly. She was quick off the mark,’ I added. ‘I wonder she didn’t go to Bealknap. He was nearer her husband in station.’
‘She has no money. Bealknap would turn her away in a second if she couldn’t pay him, but she knew I do charitable work sometimes.’ He gave a self-satisfied smile. ‘I’ve long since stopped doing minor estate work myself, but I know a junior fellow who will help her.’
Yes, I thought, Marchamount was the sort to do charitable work in the hope it would bring him merit with God, in accordance with the old religion’s tenets. He would enjoy having the old ways back, too, the rich ceremonial and sonorous Latin.
‘Tell the barrister nothing about the circumstances,’ I told him. ‘Lord Cromwell doesn’t want this news leaking.’
He bridled a little at my peremptory manner. ‘I could work that out for myself. I said nothing of Greek Fire to Goodwife Gristwood. Of course, she merely said her husband and his brother had been murdered. Not that that is unusual in these times.’ He paused. ‘There is to be no inquest?’
‘The matter is to stay in Lord Cromwell’s hands. And I am instructed to talk to all who knew about Greek Fire. I have to ask you to tell me everything about your involvement, Serjeant.’
Marchamount settled himself in his chair, linking his hands together. Square strong hands, yet soft and as white as his face was red. A gold ring containing an enormous emerald glinted on one middle finger. He adopted a look of judicious consideration, yet I sensed fear there. Goodwife Gristwood’s news would have been a shock - Marchamount would guess Cromwell would be making enquiries and know that if he did not satisfy him he could find himself in the Tower, for all his airs.
‘I did not know Michael Gristwood well,’ he said. ‘He approached me to see if I needed a solicitor’s assistance a couple of years ago. He had been working with Brother Bealknap, but they had quarrelled.’
‘I had heard. What was that about? Do you know?’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Michael was not above a little sharp dealing, but he found the way Bealknap cheated everyone as a matter of daily routine hard to stomach. I told him there’d be no sharp practice if he dealt with me.’
I nodded, acknowledging his point.
‘I farmed some small pieces of work out to him, but to be frank they were not well done and I gave him no more. I heard he’d gone to Augmentations and that did not surprise me, for there are easy profits there. God have mercy on his soul,’ he added sonorously.
‘Amen,’ I said.
Marchamount sighed. ‘Then one day last March Brother Bealknap came to my office asking to see me. He told me what Michael had found at St Bartholomew’s. He wanted an introduction to Lord Cromwell.’ He spread his hands. ‘I thought it was all some mare’s nest and I laughed at Bealknap. But when he brought me the papers I could see there was something here that should at least—’ he hesitated - ‘be taken further.’
‘Yes, I have the papers now.’ I frowned. ‘March, you said. But Michael Gristwood found those papers last autumn. What happened in the six months between?’
‘I wondered about that. Michael told me he and his brother had spent the winter building the apparatus used to project the stuff from old plans and experimenting to make more of the Greek Fire.’
I remembered the burn marks in the Gristwoods’ yard. ‘Had they succeeded?’
He shrugged. ‘They said so.’
‘So, you helped Michael Gristwood to a meeting with Lord Cromwell. Did Gristwood offer to pay you?’