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able to hear clearly from across the room. Bacon spoke loudly for
him:
You saw him from here.
Bellasez cackled, and nodded his head at the newly shared
secret. I saw him all right, and I saw the other one the blond-
haired Christian but he came later.
But you didn t see what happened in the hall? muttered
Falconer.
Eh? The old man raised his hand to his ear again.
Nor hear what happened either, concluded Bacon, staring
glumly at the contented Bellasez. The sound of heavy footfalls
in the adjacent room ended their fruitless interrogation of the
senile old man. Sir Hugh had obviously returned with Peter
Bullock. With no evidence to show that it had been anyone
other than one of the Tartars, Falconer now had no way of
stopping a very unpleasant incident taking place. At least he
might persuade the constable to arrange its handling more
delicately than Sir Hugh would choose. Falconer and Bacon
returned to the grisly murder chamber, closing the kitchen door
gently behind them.
William. Bullock was squatting over the huddled corpse, and
turned a grim look on the two men as they entered the room. It
would appear that my vigilance has not prevented the Tartars
infiltrating the city, and doing incalculable harm.
And we should wipe them out now. Leyghton s words may have
echoed Peter Bullock s sentiment, but the constable was canny
enough to know that rushing hot-headed into the Tartar camp
was not a wise move. Straightening his stiffened limbs with the
help of his scabbarded sword, he laid a firm hand on Sir Hugh s
arm.
Let me deal with this matter, my lord. I am appointed by the
burgesses and aldermen of Oxford to uphold the law. And though
I have no jurisdiction over the masters of this university, and
must wait on the chancellor s pleasure at these words he
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glowered at Falconer, who knew this restriction irked the
constable & I can and will maintain the king s peace.
Leyghton appeared to subside somewhat at this reassurance,
and the invocation of the king s name. But he still did not fully
give way. I will agree to you dealing with it. But the monster
should hang for what he has done, and not be allowed to buy his
freedom ambassador or not.
Bullock stood his ground. You have my word that the full force
of the law will be invoked on the head of whoever did this deed.
Leyghton nodded curtly. Then I will go and talk to Brother Adam
about arranging a decent burial for Bernard.
Once he had left the room, Bullock breathed a great sigh of
relief, and looked warily at Falconer. I hope you aren t going to
tell me it wasn t the Tartar, after all. For Sir Hugh will demand
one of their heads, guilty or not.
Falconer was about to speak, but it was Bacon who intervened:
You know, this is all a matter of timing, and if only we could
measure time itself more accurately, it would help us reveal who
did this. He waved a hand at the body at their feet, raising a
cloud of flies that had settled on the drying blood spread in a
pool across the floor.
Bullock looked puzzled. What do you mean?
Bacon began to pace the floor as if he were lecturing to a room
full of students, oblivious to the pool of sticky blood; his pacing
took him ever closer to though never into it. Neither Falconer
nor Bullock could take their eyes off his dangerous course, even
as they listened to his thesis.
We know that Brother Bernard had three visitors the Tartar
priest David, the other Tartar &
Gutch-a-look.
Bacon smiled at Bullock s mangled pronunciation. Guchuluk.
And Sir Hugh himself.
You re not suggesting that Sir Hugh Leyghton did this! Bullock
was horrified at the idea.
Bacon tipped his head to one side in thought, and then
continued, Now that you mention it why should we not consider
him? If we could only verify when the murder was committed,
and when each of the three men was in the room with Bernard, it
would be a simple matter to name the guilty party.
Falconer sighed in disappointment he had thought for a
moment that his friend had a workable solution to the problem.
If each of their visits were days apart, and if someone saw the
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victim alive in the mean time, perhaps this would be possible.
But to be able to split time between, say, sext and nones into a
finite number of measuring moments & Falconer left the
impossibility unspoken.
Bacon sighed deeply. You are right. For now.
Before Falconer could ask him to qualify his assertion, Bacon
took his leave of the two other men, claiming a pressing matter
of scientific investigation. Left with a corpse which was beginning
to stink in the hot and stuffy confines of the room, Bullock and
Falconer stepped out into the relatively more salubrious air of
the fish market. Though one or two curious glances were cast
their way, the events of the past hour were already fading in the
traders minds. A bloodied man; the arrival of the constable; the
departure of the bloodied man unrestrained clearly nothing
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