The Stone Wife

Hardly the impression Diamond had got from Gildersleeve’s book, but this wasn’t the time to say so. ‘That’s one way he differed from Dr. Poke, then. And the other thing?’

‘Oh?’

‘You said “for one thing,” so there must be another.’

‘Only that John occupied the chair of Old English and had no plans to move on. I think he hoped to get a knighthood eventually. People do, for long service in high office. Archie Poke would have had to leave Reading to get a professorship. There aren’t many openings in semantics unless you’re willing to go abroad.’

‘A block on his promotion prospects?’

She shrugged. She didn’t need to labour the point.

But he was glad he’d asked. This could be crucial. Ambition is a strong motivating force and can easily lead to malice. What if the shooting hadn’t been over the Wife of Bath, but over Dr. Poke’s career prospects? Could he have hired the gunmen to kill his rival at the auction?

‘Do you think Poke will get to be the professor now?’

‘It’s on the cards. He’s the senior man in the department. He’s been there nearly twenty years.’

‘Longer than your husband?’

‘At least as long. But you can’t believeБ’

‘May we talk about the auction?’ Diamond interrupted her.

‘I wasn’t there.’

‘But you knew he was going?’

‘Of course.’

‘And did you know he was prepared to bid so high?’

‘He was fired up,’ she said, and flapped her hand in a gesture that showed she didn’t care how high the bidding went. ‘He’d set his heart on that wretched carving. Believe me, he meant to have it.’

‘Did he already have other sculptures?’

‘No, but put yourself in his place. This was a link with Chaucer. He’d have loved to possess a medieval manuscript, but they’re all in museums.’

‘When you say it was a link, I recall Dr. Poke saying something similar, but there’s no proof, is there?’

‘The sculpture is fourteenth century, isn’t it?’

‘They say it is.’

‘That’s when Chaucer was alive. A carving of one of his main characters. It’s well possible the poet himself took an interest, don’t you think?’

‘I don’t know how we’d find out.’

‘Chaucer’s family are known to have lived in the Bridgwater area at one time.’

‘Petherton Park,’ Diamond said.

‘Why ask me if you know about it already?’

He felt chastened. For the newly bereaved, she had a sharp side. ‘I’m no expert,’ he told her. ‘I’m picking up bits of information where I can. I’m sure you know masses more than I do. Did he discuss the sale with you?’

‘He tried and I did my best to sound interested. After all, this was a major part of his professional life. And of course he’d gone through the false dawn of the dig.’

‘Tell me about that.’

‘Haven’t you heard? About twelve years ago he led a dig at North Petherton, a joint effort with the history department, trying to locate the Chaucer house, a wonderful project for his students. The university have spent many years excavating the Roman town at Silchester, so they know what they’re doing. The geophysics showed them the site of a substantial building in a place called Parker’s Field, where the Chaucers were believed to have lived. The dig lasted right through the long summer vacation. They exposed the foundations, but found nothing more than a few fragments of pottery. It was a huge disappointment to John, like when you hear about an Egyptologist entering a tomb and finding the robbers got there first.’

‘Could that have happened?’

‘What — someone plundering the site? Impossible. They were living there in tents. Any disturbance would have been obvious. He told me the excavation was extremely well supervised.’

‘I meant before they even got there.’

She shook her head.

‘What was he hoping to find?’ Diamond asked. ‘Books and papers wouldn’t have survived.’

‘No, but other objects sometimes get discovered. Things more personal than shards of pottery, like combs, buckles, brooches, pins, shoes, even. Anyway, they gave up when the summer ended and the farmer insisted they filled in the holes in the ground.’

‘So there’s nothing to see any more?’

‘I believe it’s back to being a field now. John never went back. The entire experience was deeply depressing. Some of the students became bored and unruly.’

‘In what way?’

‘One had a supply of cannabis with him and encouraged the others to smoke when they were supposed to be digging. It led to more than one confrontation. The students claimed it was their summer vacation and this was recreation, but John insisted it was a university project and he couldn’t condone the use of drugs. He was dean of the faculty at the time, with responsibility for discipline. He felt he was undermined.’

‘Not a happy camp, then?’

She gave a sad smile. ‘Not for John. Later, the same lad was reported to him for selling cannabis on the university premises and he was sent down, a wretched postscript to the whole expedition.’ Monica’s voice switched to a more optimistic note. ‘So perhaps you can understand the excitement after all this time when the Wife of Bath piece came up for auction. He was convinced it must have come originally from the site and after all the time and effort he’d invested he didn’t want anyone else to get his hands on it.’