The Gallows Murders srs-5

by Paul Doherty

  'It would be known to others,' I snapped. 'Your uncle's Chancery would inform the Tower about who was going to fill the vacancy.'

  I recalled that old hunting lodge in the forest on the country road, the clothes burnt in the hearth. 'Master, I believe Sakker was also told this, and that he trapped Allardyce at Maidstone. He killed him and fled, but not before he exchanged documents. He took your uncle's letter, and anything else Allardyce carried, disguised himself, and turned up at the Tower. And who would be suspicious? Dover's a good journey from London and, if inquiries are made, Sakker could always flee into the city.' I pulled a stool across and sat beside him. 'Master, your uncle's involved in no villainy here. This is too dangerous. The King would have his head. No, Sakker killed Allardyce, took his identity and came to the Tower. As I have said, who'd suspect? Moreover, Sakker's accomplice is also in the Tower and ready to protect him. Once we have unmasked him, we'll catch Sakker.'

  'I don't think so,' Benjamin snapped. 'What happens, Roger, if you were Sakker's mysterious accomplice? You now realise that we suspect the truth: Sakker has been unmasked as a wanted felon, not only for the depredations he committed on the Canterbury road, but for the death of the real Allardyce, the murder of the hangmen, as well as treason and blackmail directed against the King.' Benjamin ticked the points off on his fingers.

  'Sakker's an impudent rogue,' I interrupted, 'able to slip in and out of places like the mist. He's also a master of disguise. I am sure the veiled woman who turned up to see Master Quicksilver was no less a person than Master Sakker himself. I think he's got the impertinence to brazen this matter through.'

  'In which case, Roger, I ask you again: what would you do if you were Sakker's accomplice?'

  I paused, staring at the light streaming through the arrow-slit windows.

  'He's different,' I said. ‘He's safe as long as the mask drawn over his villainy is not torn away. He knows we are scuttling about like mice in the dark. You do realise that, Master? Never once have we found any evidence to lay against the people we've just left in Kemble's chamber.' 'So?' Benjamin persisted. Where's the weakness?'

  Well, we could stumble on something.' I smiled. 'Or we could catch Sakker!'

  "Let's press the matter further, Roger,' Benjamin declared. What happens if this secret accomplice thinks likewise, that Sakker is more of a danger than an asset, and that he must be killed. But Sakker is a very dangerous man. What would you do?'

  'I'd probably invite him to meet me, not in the city but somewhere near the Tower, perhaps a little further up-river on the wild wastes along the bank of the Thames.'

  'And he'll do it tonight,' Benjamin cursed under his breath. ‘I regret revealing that secret entrance.' He grabbed his cloak. We'd best go!'

  We left the Wakefield Tower. Benjamin first decided to visit Ragusa. We found her sprawled out on a bed of rough sacking. At first I thought she was dead: Benjamin crouched down, wrinkled his nose at the smell of ale, and slapped her gently on the face. The old woman simply smacked her lips, moaning quietly in her sleep. I felt her hands, they were ice-cold, the fingers stiff and gnarled.

  'It's what I thought,' Benjamin muttered, 'Ragusa couldn't feel the pulse of any man.' He got to his feet, shaking his head. ‘I still think it's Spurge,' he remarked absentmindedly. 'He must have known about that secret postern-gate and, somehow, smuggled a corpse through to dupe this old woman.'

  We left Ragusa in her drunken stupor and went down to the quayside to hire a wherry to take us further up-river. Ah well, I admit I've been on many a goose chase, and this was no different. The two boatmen were most reluctant, loudly complaining about where we wished to go. The north bank of the Thames west of the Tower is lonely and deserted, the reeds growing long and lush. The only sound to be heard in that place are the cries of the many birds who came to nest and feed there. Benjamin paid them another coin, told them to stop complaining and row us along the riverbank. The wherry-men agreed and bent over their oars. In a short while I became aware of the stillness: how quickly the noise and stench of the city had faded. At last Benjamin told the boatmen to take us to a shabby, rough-hewn jetty. We clambered ashore, walked up, and stared out across the wild gorse. In the fading light I could see the occasional farmhouse and small copse of trees.

  We're mistaken, Master,' I whispered. There's no one here.'

  Benjamin tapped the scabbard of his dagger. The assassin in the Tower is going to strike,' he declared. ‘I know he is. He won't go into the city, he can't be seen. If it's Spurge, or one of the hangmen, he must silence Sakker. I thought he would do it here.'

  Would Sakker be so stupid?' I asked him. 'He's a quick-witted rogue. He'd realise the danger of being invited to come to a place like this.' I gestured at the barren wasteland. 'Even a poor labourer wouldn't come here to sleep!'

  'Oh, Lord save us, Roger, I've made a mistake!' Benjamin cried suddenly, pulling me by the sleeve, and hurrying back along the jetty, almost throwing me into the wherry. ‘I forgot about the workmen in the Tower. We might find Sakker amongst them.'

  We arrived back just as the sun was beginning to set. The labourers and stonemasons were putting away their tools in battered canvas bags, shouting and joking with each other. Benjamin strode across, demanding to see the master mason whom he'd spoken to previously. He was indistinguishable from the rest, covered in a fine white dust. At first he was reluctant to stay, wiping dry lips on the back of his hand.

  'Master,' he moaned, 'I've done my day's work. I like my ale as much as any man.'

  'A moment,' Benjamin replied soothingly. He led the mason away from the rest. "Who hired those labourers?' Benjamin asked. Well, I did, that's one of the duties of a master mason.' 'And you know them all?'

  ‘No, I hired them at St Paul's. I know most of them, good workers.' 'Are any of them missing?' Benjamin asked.

  The fellow was about to shake his head and move away, then he held up a dusty hand. 'Ah, Ealdred is!' 'Ealdred?' Benjamin asked.

  'I don't know where he came from,' the fellow replied. We moved into the Tower, after the sweating sickness. We put up the scaffolding and began to work: one day this tall, hulking fellow appeared, dressed in rags, hair and beard covered in dust. We asked him where he came from. He said he worked as a labourer in the Tower all the time. Master Spurge the surveyor had ordered him to join us. He carried some writ.' The fellow shrugged. ‘I didn't have to pay him, and he proved to be a good worker.' 'All the time?' I asked.

  Well, no, sometimes he'd disappear. Yet, when he was here, he worked like a stoat, up and down the scaffolding like a monkey.' 'Sakker!' Benjamin hissed. Who?' The master mason asked. 'I don't suppose the man Ealdred is here now?'

  ‘No.' The master mason shook his head. ‘Yesterday afternoon was the last time I saw him.'

  Benjamin thanked him and hurried away, shouting for Vetch.

  ‘I want the guard turned out!' my master explained. ‘I want every able-bodied man in the garrison out here on the green.'

  Vetch was about to protest. My master plucked the Cardinal's warrant from his wallet and shoved it in his face.

  What's this? What's this?' Kemble came hurrying out of the royal apartments, Spurge trailing behind him.

  'I want a search of the Tower,' Benjamin declared. ‘I want every rubbish and midden-heap, every nook and cranny scrutinised.' Benjamin gazed steadily at Spurge. ‘We are looking for the corpse of Robert Sakker: a born actor, a master of disguise known to some people as the clerk in the stores Philip Allardyce, and to others as the labourer Ealdred.'

  Spurge stared back, slack-jawed. Benjamin pointed across to where the labourers were standing, intrigued by the excitement my master was causing.

  'Oh, for the Lord's sake!' Kemble snapped. 'Are you saying this Sakker, having left the Tower faking his own death, had the impudence to return as the labourer Ealdred? Surely he would be recognised?'

  Benjamin stared up at the sky, where the great ravens were cawing raucously at being disturbed.

  T
his Tower,' Benjamin murmured, 'is a narrow, straight place, full of doors and entrances, secret gullies and dark alleyways. Master Constable, it would be easy for a man to slip in and out, particularly if he changed the colour of his hair, or the way he walks, or his voice.' Benjamin pointed across to where the masons were now shuffling down towards Lion Gate. 'Could you tell one from the other? Do you ever look, Sir Edward, at a labourer as you would a court lady? To see the colour of his eyes, or the shape of his mouth, the cut of his beard? Master Spurge!' Benjamin beckoned the surveyor over. 'Did you give a labourer, calling himself Ealdred, the right to work on the walls?'

  Spurge nodded fearfully. 'He came here when the Tower opened, said he was a mason, ready to work for nothing except his victuals.' 'And you accepted that?'

  'Of course,' Spurge stuttered. 'Skilled labour is scarce, the work is done faster. It's not the first time-'

  'Aye,' Benjamin interrupted, 'but will your accounts show he was paid?'

  Spurge blushed at being caught out in one of his trade's ancient vices; submitting bills for labourers who were not paid a penny.

  ‘Well,' Benjamin glanced at an angry Kemble, 'he was really Sakker!'

  And, spinning on his heel, my master walked across the green, which was now thronged with scullions, men-at-arms, even grooms from the stable. They stood, some of them sleepy-eyed, others moaning at being pulled away from their duties. Benjamin went up the steps leading to the great keep. He stopped half-way and, clapping his hands, indicated for them to draw near. He opened his wallet and drew out a pure gold coin. He immediately had everyone's attention.

  'Pure gold!' Benjamin shouted. 'A pure gold crown for whoever finds the man I am looking for!' 'Who is?' Vetch shouted. 'A corpse,' Benjamin replied. ‘Where could it be?' a soldier shouted.

  'Anywhere,' Benjamin replied. 'I don't know what he looks like, how he is dressed, but he is a corpse, freshly killed. This gold crown for the man who finds him. And,' he raised his voice, 'for all those who assist, a shilling to be paid from His Grace the Cardinal's bounty, as well as a hogshead of wine to celebrate!'

  I tell you this, if Kemble or Vetch had tried to stop them, a mutiny would have broken out. Everything in the Tower ceased, even old Ragusa came staggering out, recovered from her drunken stupor, to join in this search.

  Daylight began to fade, torches were lit and the task continued. Kemble and his officers, snorting with annoyance, retreated to their own quarters. However, just as darkness fell, a soldier, enterprising enough to search amongst a midden-heap, found what we were looking for: a corpse of a man, a crossbow quarrel through the side of his throat. The body had been hidden in the refuse, covered with manure and rotting straw from the stables. Benjamin congratulated the man, handing across the gold piece and distributing coins to others. It was dark in that small corner of the Tower, so Benjamin had the corpse brought out, carried like some ancient warrior, ringed by torchlight, on to the green. Water was brought from the well, the dirt and ordure washed off. Once this was done, Benjamin and I crouched down on either side, oblivious to the people pressing around us.

  ‘Robert Sakker!' Benjamin exclaimed. ‘I knew it was he.'

  He touched the deep scar which showed clearly through the wet and matted beard. I stared down at the strong, clever face, so serene in death: this villain who had led us a merry dance. I pointed to the dust on his hands.

  ‘Your hypothesis was correct, Master. He worked on the walls.'

  ‘I saw him! I saw him there!' a voice called. A groom pushed his way to the front. ‘I glimpsed him on the scaffolding, but why should someone kill a poor labourer?'

  I examined the crossbow bolt which had torn a great hole in Sakker's neck, a feathered barb sticking out at one end, the cruel arrow-point on the other. The blood from the wound had now dried and caked around the collar of his fustian tunic.

  'He must have been killed some hours ago,' Benjamin whispered. ‘Probably earlier in the day, after he had taken care of Dr Quicksilver. We are fortunate,' Benjamin added. ‘I’m sure if we hadn't ordered our search, this corpse would have disappeared through that secret postern-gate.' He drew his knife and ripped open the rough clothing. ‘Ragusa!' he called. The old crone came tottering through the crowd. Benjamin whispered in her ear: she crouched down, pulling back the clothing.

  'It's him,' Ragusa muttered, 'Allardyce. But he died of the plague!' 'You are sure?' I asked.

  She turned her head, lips curling back like a dog. I'm not stupid, just slightly drunk,' she rasped. There's a mark on his side: I remember it well.' 'And you wrapped him in a canvas sheeting, did you?'

  ‘Yes, I did, and left him there; then the guards came and collected the body'

  Ragusa wiped the dribble from her mouth and went back into the crowd, muttering and shaking her head. Benjamin distributed more largesse and ordered Sakker's corpse to be taken to the death-house. He and I then walked back to our chamber in Wakefield Tower. For a long time Benjamin just stood looking out through the window. If I asked him a question, he'd shake his head and go back to his meditations. He must have stood there for a good hour. I lay on my bed half asleep, trying to decide in my own mind who the villain could be and what evidence we had.

  ‘You'll stay here.' Benjamin came over and pressed me on my shoulder. 'Stay in this chamber, Roger. It would be very dangerous to wander the Tower alone tonight.'

  'And where are you going?' I asked, half propping myself up on one elbow. 'Are we going to arrest Spurge?' I continued. 'He must have known about the secret entrance. He brought the corpse through there so that Ragusa would think it was Allardyce's. He hired Sakker as a labourer. He would also have known when the real Allardyce would be coming here.'

  Benjamin put a finger to his lips. 'I'm going to trap a murderer,' he murmured and, grabbing his cloak, was out of the door before I could object or stop him.

  I admit I am not very good either at waiting or amusing myself. No doxy, no merry maid to dandle on my knee, no Benjamin to question, no roaring boy with whom to drink the hours away and hear the chimes at midnight. Outside, I heard the sounds of the garrison beginning to die away: doors being slammed, the call of sentries on the ramparts, the occasional song. I began to wonder where Benjamin had gone. I became restless. I decided I was hungry and needed more wine, so I went down to the kitchen. I managed to filch some bread, cheese, apples and a jug of coarse wine. The heavy-eyed cook did not object, and I wandered slowly back to my own chamber. The night sky was like some great dark blanket with small pinpricks of light. The Tower was silent, the peace broken now and again by the occasional barking of a dog or the faint call of the sentries along the ramparts. I knew I was being watched: the hairs on the nape of my neck curled and I thought of all the grim, bloody happenings in that place. Did the ghosts walk, I wondered? Including those of the two young Princes? I reached the Wakefield Tower, slammed the door behind me and climbed the dark, winding steps. I reached the top. My chamber door was closed; I pushed it open and went in. There was no one there, no one lurking behind the arras or under the bed. Yet my uneasiness grew. Like the good dog I am, I knew there was something wrong. Had anybody watched me leave, then come up here to plot some villainy? But what? I went across to the water jug, this was still empty. I checked the bed carefully for a dagger hidden there: some stale bread lay on a platter but, apart from signs that it had been nibbled by a rat, I could detect nothing amiss.

  Now the chamber was circular, with arrow-slit windows every few paces. I went around and stared through these, my unease turning to terror. 'Someone came up here,' I whispered.

  I had left the door half-open, yet when I had returned it had been firmly shut. Outside, a raven, disturbed from its sleep, suddenly soared up past the window, its black feathery wings flapping like those of the angel of death. I jumped, almost dropping the wine and bread I had brought. What was wrong? No poison, no hidden dagger, no secret assassin! I looked at my bed but couldn't tell whether it had been disturbed or not. I went across and looked
at Benjamin's. It was neat and tidy, as it always was. The coverlet was drawn up, except where it had been disturbed by my feeling for some knife in the mattress. I looked at the bolsters and walked slowly backwards. Hadn't Benjamin been sitting on the bed? Weren't the bolsters up against the wall as if he had used them as a rest? And hadn't he thrown something there? I stared round the room. A quilted, tasselled cushion lay in a corner. Had it been there before I left? I took out my sword, a long, evil-looking blade with a wire-mesh guard. I went back to Benjamin's bed. Gingerly using the point of the weapon, I pulled back the coverlet, dragging off one bolster, then the other.

  Lord, I screamed, as the viper moved its sleek head, tongue lashing its venom at the person who dared disturb his sleep. Now I have fought rats. I have been chased by wolves, leopards, dogs, and every kind of assassin under the sun. But snakes hold a particular horror for me. I just closed my eyes and lashed out with the sword, chopping down, time and time again. When I opened my eyes, the snake was severed in at least five places, and Benjamin's bed was completely destroyed. I admit I am a coward, and there's nothing like a coward who's narrowly escaped death. I went round that chamber cutting at everything, thrusting my sword through bolsters, blankets, counterpanes, cushions, the straw padding of the two chairs. When I had finished, my arms ached and my body was drenched in sweat. I grabbed the wine jug, sat by a stool near the door, and drank myself stupid. I had eaten little that day, my belly was empty, and within the hour I was as drunk as a bishop. I dimly recall Benjamin returning, his exclamations of surprise at what he found. I remember getting up, solemnly declaiming how Satan had visited me in the form of a snake, before falling into a dead swoon at his feet.