‘I have pondered that. It may be that Leeman thought, given he worked at Whitehall Palace, that he was safe. He has quarters there. He stayed till he found he was under investigation, and only then disappeared. As for the apprentice Elias, remember times are hard, and he provided the only income for his widowed mother and his sisters.’ I sighed. ‘He was obstinate, and probably rejected the advice of the others to join them in fleeing. He seemed, when I met him, to think Greening was the murderers’ only target. And given his youth, and perhaps limited experience, it may well be that the others did not trust him with the knowledge that they had possession of the Lamentation. Though I believe he knew that Greening had been given Anne Askew’s writings.’

Cecil said, ‘Because he said “killed for Anne Askew” before he died.’

‘Exactly.’

‘The poor boy,’ the Queen muttered. ‘He stayed for the sake of his mother and sisters, and died for it.’ She walked abruptly to the window and stood looking out over the little courtyard below, her head bowed.

Lord Parr said, ‘So these other four? Are they still alive?’

‘I do not know. The fact Elias was murdered, too, makes me think the killers were after the whole group. Whether they found them or not we do not know.’

Lord Parr stroked his white beard. ‘And whoever killed Greening and Elias is likely to have both Anne Askew’s writings and the Queen’s.’

Cecil asked. ‘Could someone powerful – Wriothesley or Gardiner, Rich or Paget – have an agent inside the group? One of the missing four? How else could anyone outside have come to know that Greening had the Lamentation?’

I said, ‘Yes, someone within that group could have been working for an enemy. I think we can rule out Leeman – if he was acting for Gardiner, the last people he would take the Lamentation to is Greening’s group. That leaves Curdy, Vandersteyn and McKendrick; three of them. But if one of them was a spy working for Gardiner or anyone else, and murdered Greening and took the Lamentation, Anne Askew’s work too, why has nothing been heard of either book since? Anne Askew’s work they might destroy, for it incriminates Wriothesley and Rich, but surely the spy, if there is one, would take the Lamentation straight to the King?’

Cranmer nodded. ‘Yes. Norfolk and Gardiner knew that Lord Hertford and Lord Lisle are about to return to the Privy Council, and that the heresy hunt had failed. It has only been recently that I have felt it prudent to return to the council myself. The sensible thing for them would have been to act at once, so far as the Lamentation was concerned.’

I said, ‘Yes, my Lord Archbishop, I agree.’