The Secrets of Life and Death Read Online Free Page B

paused, looking at her round face. ‘We weren’t supposed to keep duplicates. They were bought up by an American museum, they probably have some sort of copyright.’
    She shrugged. ‘The photocopies were in a big blue folder, if it helps. I just hope you kept them.’
    He paused, smiled at her. ‘You know I keep everything you ever give me.’
    She snorted with disbelief. ‘So you’ve got all those grant applications you’re supposed to keep for seven years?’
    The back of the drawer was stuffed with outside consultation records. ‘Here we go. British Museum.’ He pulled the folder out and lifted it onto the edge of the desk. ‘Put those photographs away, for the moment, will you? Just leave the ones that show the whole circles.’
    He rummaged through the folder, until he found the photocopies. The documents were mostly written in Dee’s precise hand. Many were household accounts and notes on vellum, but a smaller packet had been inscribed in a rough hand, on water-stained and pest-damaged paper. The medals, two large bronze discs, were the size of his palm, and she had copied each side. One had the face of King Istvan Báthory of Poland, the other had a curled dragon surrounded by two circles of inscribed shapes. There appeared to be a date, and he felt in his pocket for his glasses.
    ‘These must have been awarded during the fifteen eighties, when Dee was in Europe.’ He leaned over the greyscale image. ‘Hand me that magnifying glass, would you?’
    ‘The letters are very similar,’ she said, as she passed him a hand lens. ‘That spiral one looks like the one on the back of her neck.’
    He lined up the post-mortem photograph of the girl’s torso with the photocopy. ‘Did the medals sell?’
    ‘The British Museum bought them for a couple of hundred pounds. The letters were more interesting, they sold for thousands.’
    He picked up the pictures and slid them back in the envelope. ‘I’ll follow up with the BM.’
    ‘Because you have so much free time at the moment.’ Rose’s voice was dry. ‘You do remember you have a meeting with your solicitor this afternoon?’
    ‘Oh, well, maybe I’ll just phone the museum, see if they can send me better images.’ He flipped through the copies of the papers Rose had done for him at the time. ‘These are obviously Dee’s hand. There were some notes with them, by Kelley.’
    ‘So you thought at the time.’
    He found the image of the stained and folded booklet that Rose had recorded by teasing the sheets apart. The writing was cramped and faded. ‘This was on paper?’
    ‘So you said. It didn’t last as well as the vellum Dee used.’
    ‘Well, paper was a fairly new technology at this date.’ He squinted at the pale impression of the lettering. ‘Cheap ink, too, organic. And he’s crossed his lines.’
    The pages had been closely packed with script, then turned ninety degrees and more writing added, making it even less legible. The author had written close to the margins, and time and damp had frayed the edges, losing a few words.
    ‘Well, I’ll leave you with your research.’ She patted his shoulder. ‘And don’t forget your appointment.’
    ‘Oh, yes. The custody battle over who gets the Lucian Freud print and whether the cat can come over every other weekend.’ He hated the waspish note that crept into his voice when he mentioned the divorce. Rose shut the door behind her. He turned his attention back to the first faded scribble. Something, something … account … Secryts of Lyfe and Death …

Chapter 5
    ‘The people of Niepolomice are mixed, fair Saxons, tall Poles, and among them, the dark Magyars and Székelys. I noticed, for I am observant as any scientist shall be, that one party came with soldiers, menservants and then a group of six or seven young children, all girls as I could divine, shepherded by an older woman. I wondered what household would bring so many young attendants. I also noticed their abnormal pallor and