‘Remarkable, but how did you know that I was both left-and right-handed?’
‘The handwriting in your translations was that of a right-handed man, and so at first I discounted you as the note writer, but when I heard you play the organ, you played your left and right hand with equal strength. Most right-handed organists play the left hand always a little softer, but this was not the only indication. That morning we met you in the church when you were with Sacar, you made the sign of the cross, and mistakenly used your left hand.’
‘Did I? How careless of me, and how fortuitous for you. Tell me more . . .’
The earth shook above us, but my master went on as though he was immortal. ‘Brother Setubar must have known that bringing the inquisitor here would mean the end for him and the other three Cathars. He was convinced that they would be discovered, so a week before our arrival, when word of the inquiry reached the abbey, he began to poison the raisins and wine with herbs provided by Asa, a potent mixture of substances, one of which is arsenic and the other atropa belladonna and so the delusions of flying.’
‘If that filthy cook had not taken the herb for his own use, you may have never guessed.’
‘Perhaps not.’
‘If only Asa had listened to me.’
‘He became suspicious of Setubar’s need for the herbs, didn’t he? He threatened to see the abbot, so you both swore him to secrecy and told him everything.’
‘Yes, well in this case I am the fool, I loved Asa, he was so feminine, so . . .’ he laughed wildly. ‘You see, preceptor, how we are all drowning in a sea of sin? I should have known Asa would never understand, it was not in his character.’
‘Then how did you stop him going to the abbot?’
‘I told him that before he did I would confess our carnal sin to him.’
‘So you had unnatural relations?’
‘No, but the abbot would believe me, for who would lie in a confessional?’
‘Diabolical!’ my master exclaimed, and I thought I discerned the slightest hint of admiration in his voice.
‘But I gave him the healing formulas that I found in the library and he was placated for a time.’
‘And so the words he would not divulge, but what then caused the sudden death of Brother Samuel? He entered the tunnels before the poisoned raisins could kill him . . . Something else here was his undoing. Brother Ezekiel, too, had ventured here sometime before his death, but he did not perish as brother Samuel did. All I can think is that he must have known the ways of the tunnels, for he was the only one allowed in the library, so he knew that he must avoid something, or perhaps he had no need to avoid it for some reason that I have not as yet formulated. In any case, he died of the poison that first night. But, it was you who killed Daniel!’
Anselmo smiled broadly, ‘Bravo!’
‘The night he died you went to him and demanded that he tell you the ways of the tunnel. Daniel was the only one who held the secret combinations, he alone had been told on his arrival here many years before, and he refused to tell you anything. Moreover I believe he threatened to go to the abbot or perhaps to me . . . I don’t know what he said exactly, but in the end you had to kill him, am I right?’
‘More or less,’ Anselmo nodded his head.
‘Before you killed him you had been to the catacombs, you knew your way around a little because Brother Ezekiel had taken you to the library.
‘No. Ezekiel knew nothing of the catacombs, he only knew how to access the library through the scriptorium. It was you who showed me. I followed you the night you entered through the panel. That is how I knew how to get this far.’
‘Oh, so I have been mistaken . . . they were your footsteps we heard on our way back after we heard the great noise. The echoes made it sound as though you were coming our way, instead you were fleeing before us lest we see you, am I right?’
‘Yes, the noise was the mechanism triggered from within the catacombs.’
Andre was thoughtful. ‘You had no reason to kill Daniel. He could not tell you anything more than you already knew.’
‘I had to kill him, preceptor.’ Anselmo stood. ‘It was the only logical thing to do, for you are a creature of logic. I knew that you suspected Setubar, but now also Asa, so that when you found the way through the infirmary chapel you thought that maybe he had slipped out through the tunnels and committed the crime after which he returned again through the secret passage. It was a simple way of throwing you further in both their directions. Ultimately, however, you expected that Daniel would be next. How could I disappoint you, preceptor?’
My master paused for a moment. ‘You assume much. But you must not think me so clever . . .’ my master retrieved the iron bar, covered in blood and, to my horror, hair also, ‘for you thought that I would suspect Asa on such flimsy evidence.’