“I will do the best I can, with the authority given to me by the Republic.” I still was not certain what precisely had occurred on the previous night. All of the monks I had interviewed indicated that there had been an accident, and they claimed this Anso was not capable of murder. He was a quiet scholarly youth, and had no enemies. None of them however could tell me the nature of the experiments that Anso had presented to the delegation from the Roman Curia. It was all very suspicious still.

The Abbot and the Cardinal were missing, and I feared that I would soon find their bodies. Anso having been seen fleeing in the night made him a prime suspect, but I still did not have all of the pieces of this puzzle.

“I will need to interview Brother Salonius as soon as he is well enough. He is the only eye witness we have here, and should not be squandered. For now, show me Anso’s shop.”

Prior Sandro led me to a shadowed corner of the scriptorium where stood a wooden desk bound together with iron straps.