19. The Explanation
In which Gosie reveals an exchange...
The bordered sheet was still in the middle of the table, with the draft beside it. Governance was poised with the pen to write the letter declining Fenella Burnish’s offer when Gossamer looked up.
Gosie came in with @Hedgehogforshort behind her, and everyone turned their chairs round for a debrief. Gasket had the tea coming before Gosie reached the table, and Gantry moved the sugar along without being asked, while Girdle poured the milk.
Gosie put her notebook on the table and did not open it. “Brennard and Vye,” she said. “Gemma Glasswing told us everything. She’s the glazier we saw before. She talked for ages and never once looked as though she was leaving anything out. We know how they get the original glass out of a cathedral without anyone noticing.”
“Gemma Glasswing is making replicas to replace the original windows. There was a sample of blue glass on her bench,” said Hedgehog. “Fired, so she can see what the colour comes out as after firing. And a pot of paint to match it to. The exact same blue we saw in Norwich cathedral and on the stained glass in the crate on the yacht.”
Graft, Griffin and Girdle exchanged nods.
“I think I am confused,” said @PastaAllaNorma from the bar. “Because I have heard about Durham, Ripon and Norwich cathedrals, and I could not tell you what any of them have in common.”
“They all have the same symbol on them,” said @AngleofRepose, looking up from the atlas.
“MotM,” said Griffin, nodding slowly, as though this explained everything.
“What?” asked Gasket.
“Man of the Match!” said Grisaille confidently.
“No, that's football. MotM. Mark of the Margrave.” Griffin said it again with evident satisfaction. “It’s got a ring to it.”
“IT’S GOT DOOM IN IT,” said Gantry.
“That’s not what MotM spells,” said Gasket.
“IT’S GOT M IN IT TWICE,” said Gantry, “AND DOOM HAS AN M IN IT.”
“Mum has two Ms in it, and MotM is Mom with a t in it, which is American for Mum,” said Girdle.
There was a brief, confused silence.
“IS THE MARGRAVE SOMEBODY’S MUM?” said Gantry, considerably louder than the question required.
“Why would the man of the match be someone's mum?” asked Geometry.
“No one is anyone’s mum,” said Hedgehog, “can we please—”
“SHE COULD BE THOUGH,” said Gantry.
“SHE COULD BE ANYONE’S MUM,” shouted Girdle.
“THAT’S HOW SECRET IDENTITIES WORK,” said Gantry.
Gosie put her head in her paws. Angle, entirely unbothered, went back to the atlas.
Hedgehog put a paw over one ear, angling herself away from Gantry, and in doing so found herself facing the three folded contracts. She picked one up.
She read it. She turned it over. The back was blank. She read it again.
“Don’t sign this,” she said.
“Why not?” said Girdle.
“Because there is nothing in it about ending the contract. You have no way to resign, yet Fenella Burnish can sack you on a Friday and there would be nothing you could do about it.”
“We’re not signing it,” said Griffin. “Because it doesn’t say there is a most in it, but everything is a most. That’s what the letter’s for.”
“What letter?”
“The letter declining Fenella Burnish’s offer of employment,” said Governance.
“IT SAYS NO,” said Gantry.
“I’m about to write it out,” said Governance, indicating the bordered sheet waiting for the fair copy.
“Not yet, I’ll need to check it before it goes anywhere,” said Hedgehog.
“It only says, We regret we must decline,” said Governance, “and that we wish her well.”
“I want to check it anyway. After this,” she said, indicating to Gosie that she should continue her debrief.
Gosie continued. “The original stained glass is removed from the cathedral for restoration,” she said. “That part is legitimate. It goes to a conservator, and the conservator restores it. All the way through, the glass is photographed, and at the end there is one more photograph of the finished window. Sixty megapixels resolution. Gemma Glasswing can see the brushwork on it, and whether its colour is the colour of the glass, or the colour of the paint on the glass. Those photographs are sent to her, along with the fired sample and the paint they want her to use.”
“The exact same blue,” said Graft to Grind, who nodded.
“Yes,” said Gosie. “Gemma recreates the glass, and paints, and fires, and what she sends back is a replica as loose glass panes, unleaded, packed flat.”
“And that goes into the cathedral?” asked PastaAllaNorma.
“Eventually,” said Gosie. “Gemma Glasswing does not lead it and does not install it, so it goes somewhere else to be leaded first, and she says that where it goes is confidential.”
“I know where,” said Hedgehog.
Everyone turned to look at her.
“There was a delivery label on the bench, half under the photograph. H. Hes was on it, and then it stopped, and then Wicken.”
“That’s Fenella Burnish’s workshop,” said Gosie.
“Wicken Fen,” said Grisaille. “The oldest nature reserve in the country. Acquired for the nation in 1899 by the naturalist Charles Rothschild, who kept the deeds in a hatbox.”
“A hatbox?” asked Gantry.
“Cardboard,” said Grisaille. “Round, with a lid, and a green ribbon strung through the lid to carry it by. He kept a great many things in it.”
Girdle poured Grisaille another tea.
“So what happens when it gets to Fenella Burnish’s workshop?” asked PastaAllaNorma.
“We don’t know. We do know that the glass is leaded somewhere and then reinstalled in the cathedral,” said Angle. “And we have every reason to think it is probably Fenella and very little reason to think it is not. But short of standing in that workshop while she does it, we are not going to find out.”
"Oh," said PastaAllaNorma.
“The refusal letter,” said Hedgehog. “We’re not sending it.”
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/19-the-explanation