‘He could have killed him. It would only take a moment to hide the bar in the straw in the pallet in his room and return unseen.’
‘But why would he hide it under his own pallet when he could have left it in the catacombs? I may have been prepared to believe it, had I been less attentive. Something told me that all was not right.’
‘But how did you guess it was me?’
‘It was quite natural. You had dirt under your sandals after you left the tunnels that night, and so when you killed Daniel – I assume while we were in the library – the dirt became mixed with Daniel’s blood and left a nice imprint of your sandal on the floor. You are an unusually small monk and therefore it was not difficult to connect you with the crime, and also the notes, for the day I discovered you in my room, and you so inconveniently hit me on the head, I only noticed (as I fell to the ground) your sandals. I did not know they were yours at the time, but the thing that stayed with me was their unusual size, that is, small. Asa, by contrast, was tall and so he had large, rather long feet. However, this was not the only clue on which I have based my calculations. Note this iron bar. The man who used this to kill Daniel was left-handed. You see the imprint of blood? The fingers clasping it point to the left and the thumb to the right, indicating that it was held in the left hand, and not the right, for in this case it should have been reversed with the thumb pointing to the left and the fingers facing right. You know there are no other left-handed monks in this abbey and not many with unusually small feet.’
‘Very well surmised, but what about Setubar?’
‘That one is a little obvious . . . After the others were dead there was nothing more he could do, but before he could kill himself . . .’
‘Before the endura, that is to say, his suicide, he came to me in a fury . . .’
‘Of course he was in a fury, you killed Daniel . . . after staining his hands with the blood of the others he needed another perfect to give him the consolamentum, he would need to be reconsoled, and now there was no one who could do it . . .’
‘Of all things this pleased me the most,’ Anselmo said sighing with satisfaction. ‘When he came to me he said that he wanted the codices destroyed because he feared their secrets were being used to prolong life. This, he thought, was the end product of The Gospel of St Thomas…because it says in the first verse, ‘Whosoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings shall not taste death’, and as you know, the physical body of Setubar was most productive as food for worms.’
‘But he did not know the orientation, you told him you would tell him if he came down with you. You then pushed him down some steps, which broke his legs, and you left him to die.
‘He told me that he wished the gospels would burn on the pyre along with the silent ones and the boy, because he said to prolong life was the greatest sin. He would have destroyed everything!’
‘And so the reason why Asa turned on his master – his desire, as a man of medicine, was to discover the miraculous healing methods that you gave him a taste of.’
‘He was a fool. There is no magical healing, only the gospels and the tables! Codices! Think what they could give the world!’
‘You mean what they could give you?’
‘There is nothing wrong with desiring knowledge.’
‘Only if one kills in order to get it.’
‘We are not so different, preceptor. Why are you here if not to see for yourself what I have longed to see? You understand me because you are not like the others, you are half-infidel and no one understands learning better than infidels, not even the Jews. But you are also a curious man, and curious men are of two kinds; there are those who justify their sinful desires by calling them noble, and those who accept the truth and can face their own imperfections.’
‘What has led me here is not so dissimilar from your own curiosity, in that you are right, but I would not have killed for the pleasure.’
‘And yet as a knight you killed men every day. Was your cause more noble than mine? Is it right that a dozen monks alone see the true intentions of God? Forcing humanity to continue to use false texts. Come, do not tell me that you do not burn to know the truth of it. I know that you who have studied Plato, Aristotle, Cicero – you more than anyone must recognise the value of the written word in all its awesome power because you know that it can transform the world!’
‘Would it be transformed for the best, Anselmo?’
‘I have heard you say that you are a seeker after truth. If that is so, and you have not deceived us, you must agree that a truth is still a truth, though it is unpleasant, though it may cause dissension. Christ did not come into this world to bring about peace! His coming brought only war! And so it is when one manifests an important truth, many do not accept it, some are too willing!’