He took his hand from his mouth and stared at me in puzzlement.
'But Commissioner, there is nothing else to tell. My shame was my secret. Everything else I told you was true, I know nothing of these terrible deeds. I was not spying. The only reason I used that passage was to — to watch the young men who came.' He drew a shuddering breath. 'I only wanted to look.'
'And you are concealing nothing else?'
'Nothing, I swear. If I could do anything to help you solve these terrible crimes, by Jesu I would.'
He crouched against the wall, shamed almost beyond bearing. I felt a wave of anger that I had, once again, followed a trail that led to a dead end. I shook my head, expelling my breath angrily.
'God's death, Brother Gabriel, you have led me a dance. I had thought you the killer.'
'Sir, I know you would have the monastery down. But I beg you, do not use what I have done. Do not let my sins cause the end of Scarnsea.'
'God's blood, you exaggerate these sins of yours. Such solitary vice is not even enough to justify prosecuting you. If this house closes, it will be for other reasons. I only wonder sorrowfully that a man should waste his life on such a strange idolatry. You are as silly a creature as any under heaven.'
He closed his eyes in shame, then looked up and I saw his lips move in prayer. Then his mouth fell open and his eyes, still looking upward, seemed to bulge from his head. Puzzled, I edged closer. So quickly I had no time to move, he turned and, with a shout, launched himself at me with arms outflung.
What happened next is etched into my mind so vividly my hand trembles as I write. He shoved me violently in the chest. I fell over backwards, landing on the stone with an impact that knocked all the breath from me. For a moment I thought he had gone mad and would kill me. I looked up and for a second I saw him standing there, his eyes wild. Then something else appeared, descending from above in a rush of air, a great figure of stone that landed where I had been standing a moment before, smashing Gabriel to the earth. I can hear it now, the great ringing crash of the stone hitting the floor mingling with the dreadful crunching of Gabriel's bones.
===OO=OOO=OO===
I raised myself on my elbows and lay there stupidly, mouth open, staring at the painted statue of St Donatus, now shattered into pieces on top of the sacrist, whose arm stuck out underneath as a lake of blood spread out across the floor. The statue's head had broken off and lay at my feet, staring at me with an expression of pious sorrow, painted tears white under the eyes.
Then I heard Mark's voice, a yell such as I had never heard.
'Get away from the wall!'
I looked up. The plinth the statue had stood on was teetering on the edge of the walkway, fifty feet above. I could just make out a cowled figure behind it. I scrabbled away just before it hit the ground where I had lain. Mark grabbed me and helped me up, his face deathly pale.
'Up there!' he cried. I followed his gaze. A dim figure was heading away along the walkway, towards the presbytery.
'He saved me.' I stared at the wreckage of the sacrist's limbs under the stone, the lake of blood. 'He saved me!'
'Sir,' Mark whispered urgently. 'We have him. He's on the walkway. The only way down is the stairs either side of the rood screen.'
I collected my scattered wits, and looked at the stone staircases at either side of the screen. 'Yes, you're right. Did you see who it was?'
'No. Just a figure in a habit, with the cowl up. He's gone towards the top of the church. If we go up the stairs, one on each side, we can cut him off. We'll have him, there's no other way down. Can you do it, sir?'
'Yes. Help me up.'
Mark helped me to my feet. He drew his sword and I grasped my staff, taking deep breaths to try and calm my pounding heart. 'We'll go parallel and keep each other in sight.'