The Assassin's riddle

‘Before you ask,’ Athelstan declared, ‘I know about the miracle, Moleskin, or the so-called miracle. Yes, I am angry. I am also puzzled, but it will wait, and that’s all I’m going to say on the matter!’

Moleskin looked at him glumly and heaved his oars, guiding his boat across to Dowgate next to the Steelyard. Cranston and Athelstan disembarked. The friar saw the wisdom of Sir John’s words in not taking his horse because the streets were packed: the traders, costermongers and journeymen, taking advantage of the good summer weather, roared and bellowed whilst the crowds swirled like shoals of fish from stall to stall. They made their way up into Cheapside where a mob jostled round an enterprising cook who had opened a stall in the centre of the market-place to sell toasted cheese and wine. Children ran through the crowds. The beggars, mountebanks, cu

On the steps of St Mary Le Bow, a monk of tatterdemalion appearance was preaching in harsh tones, stabbing the air with his raised fist; he was prophesying the imminent end of the world and the advent of the Anti-Christ. Athelstan and Cranston, because of the crowd, were forced to stand and listen to his speech. How the Anti-Christ had recently been born to a wicked woman in a certain province of Babylon. This child, so the ragged monk asserted, had the teeth of a cat and was abominably hairy; on the occasion of his birth, horrible serpents and other different monsters had rained down from the skies whilst the child had been able to speak when only eight days old.

‘Heavens above!’ Cranston whispered. ‘When you meet rogues like that, Athelstan, the Vicar of Hell becomes an angel of light!’

They crossed Cheapside and made their way up the tangle of narrow alleyways to Drayton’s house. A city beadle on guard outside broke the seals, unlocked the door and let them in. Cranston and Athelstan went along the narrow passageways and down into the counting house; its great iron-studded door still lay against the wall. They made an immediate search of the scrolls and ledgers of the dead moneylender, going through the transactions for the last few days before Drayton’s murder. Cranston ran one stubby finger down the pages, gave a cry of triumph and called Athelstan to come over. Athelstan did so, gingerly stepping over the dark, wine-coloured bloodstain on the floor.

‘Look!’ Cranston cried.

He jabbed a finger and Athelstan read the entry.

‘Alcest came here,’ the friar exclaimed. Two days before his great banquet at the Dancing Pig, but he didn’t ask for a loan, he was changing gold for silver pieces. Now why should Alcest do that, eh?’

Athelstan stared at the door. ‘Sir John, do you think Drayton could have been murdered by our clerks? Could this be the source of their newfound wealth?’

‘It’s possible,’ Cranston replied. ‘But, there again, it wouldn’t explain the deaths amongst them.’

‘But what happened if they were all thieves together,’ Athelstan wondered, ‘and what we are witnessing now is the falling-out?’

Cranston scratched his chin. ‘I’d like to get my hands on the Vicar of Hell,’ he answered. ‘There’s not a mischievous mouse in London which moves without his permission: he could throw some light on this. However, let’s visit our noble clerks and see what Master Alcest has to say.’

CHAPTER 7

Cranston and Athelstan were about to leave the counting house when the friar paused in the doorway. He stared up at the rafters, the whitewashed walls on either side and then the one at the far end.

‘What’s the matter, Brother?’

‘It concerns me, Sir John. I have been in rooms and houses all over the city, so have you. Have you ever seen a room like this, a perfect square? The walls stand at right angles, as if the chamber was designed by some mathematician.’

‘So?’

‘Well, if you go through the rest of the house it’s shabby, dirty; the rooms are long and narrow, the ceilings sag, the floorboards rise. Here it’s all different, stone-floored, perfectly shaped. Have you noticed something else, Sir John? The walls have been freshly whitewashed.’

Cranston, mystified, followed Athelstan back into the counting house. Sir John gazed around: a bleak chamber, chests, a desk, chairs, a stool and a bench, but no hangings on the wall. Nothing to offset the sharp whiteness.

‘Would Drayton have kept his monies here?’ Athelstan asked.

‘Knowing the little I do,’ the coroner replied, ‘I doubt it. He would keep some ready silver but he’d probably store his ill-gotten gains in the vaults or ironbound chests of the Genoese or Venetian bankers. Everyone would know that. Only, occasionally, as on the day he died, would Drayton ask for monies to be moved here.’ Cranston smacked his forehead. ‘And that reminds me: when I was at the Savoy Palace, the Regent assured me that the money was delivered to Drayton. The Fresobaldi would never dream of stealing the silver. It would only give John of Gaunt the pretext for seizing everything they have.’

Athelstan had moved across to the far wall and was tapping at the plaster. ‘Sir John, can I borrow your knife?’

The coroner handed it over and the friar began to chip away at the plaster. At last he gouged a long scar on the wall, raising small clouds of dust. Athelstan cleared the area of plaster with his fingers and scrutinised the red brick beneath.

‘What are you doing, Brother?’

‘Never mind.’

Athelstan moved to the other wall. This time, when he cleared the plaster, the brickwork underneath was a dull grey. The same occurred on the wall behind the desk. Athelstan handed the dagger back and wiped his hands.

‘Sir John. Quod est demonstrandum. ’

‘I beg your pardon?’

Athelstan pointed to the far wall. ‘That’s solid brick but it was built much later than the rest. The brickwork is new but Drayton took great care to ensure it was plastered and painted like the other two walls. He also positioned it carefully so this chamber became a perfect square.’

‘And how does that solve his murder? Could there be a secret entrance?’

‘Perhaps. Here we have a miser who, I supposed, hated spending money. So why should he build another wall but cover it so carefully? What I want you to do, Sir John, is to tell Master Flaxwith to get some of your burly boys here. Have them meet us later on.’

Cranston went across to the desk, seized a piece of parchment and a quill and scribbled a note.

‘Now.’ Athelstan smiled. ‘Let’s go and visit Master Alcest!’

At the office of the Chancery of the Green Wax, Cranston and Athelstan saw Alcest by himself in a small downstairs chamber off the main passageway. Alcest had lost a great deal of his arrogance. He was watchful and wary, more respectful to the plump coroner and the little friar who seemed to accompany him everywhere.

‘Why do you wish to see me alone, Sir John? Do you have news of my companions’ killer?’

‘No,’ Cranston answered cheerfully. He took a swig from the miraculous wineskin. ‘But I do want to know why you visited Master Drayton days before he was found dead in his counting house. If I were you, young man, I would be prudent and tell the truth.’

Alcest sat down on the stool opposite.

‘You know we had our festivities at the Dancing Pig?’

‘Oh yes. We know about that,’ the coroner replied. ‘I have had a long talk with Dame Broadsheet and even managed a few words with the Vicar of Hell.’

Alcest flinched; try as he might, he found it difficult to hide his unease.

‘You seem troubled by that?’ Athelstan asked. ‘Dame Broadsheet I understand. But what would a high-ranking royal clerk have to do with the Vicar of Hell?’

‘We swim in the same pond, Brother,’ Alcest replied cheekily. ‘We work here by day but what we do by night…’