Paul Doherty - The Gallows Murders

'Two cheeks on the same arse,' I replied. 'Spurge and Sakker working together.' I squinted at the clear blue sky. 'But how would they meet?' I replied. ‘Why should they trust each other? Sakker may enter the Tower secretly, but this is a close community, people would recognise a stranger. And, above all, where on earth did they get those seals from?'

Benjamin paused, finger to his lips. 'Roger, do you remember when you were at Windsor and you discovered that secret chamber? What happens if there was a similar room here in the Tower? And, let us say, someone found a pouch or casket in that chamber bearing the seals of this long-dead Prince? What better person than the surveyor of the King's works, whose job it is to know every nook and cranny of this sinister fortress?'

Benjamin stopped speaking as Ragusa came screaming across the green, rags flying out like banners behind her. Her stiff, vein-streaked hands were beating the air like the wings of a pinioned bird; behind her hurried Mallow. The old woman's mad gaze caught mine and she stopped.

‘You are the handsome youth who visited me,' she screamed. ‘You came to ask old Ragusa questions. Remember?' She drew closer: in the daylight she looked even more hideous, and made the air about her foulsome. 'Help me!' She turned as Mallow caught up with her. 'Go away!' she screeched. 'Go away, leave old Ragusa alone!'

Mallow stopped, hands on his hips, chest heaving. 'For the love of God, woman!' he grated, 'we will pay you well.' He glanced at us. 'Someone has to dress poor Wormwood's body for burial.' 'All flesh and gore! All flesh and gore!' Ragusa shrieked. She held up her hands. 'Stiff and cold they be, stiff and cold! They can't feel flesh, be it alive and quick or cold and dead.'

I grasped her hands: they were cold and hard, like stones on a freezing winter night. ‘You'll be paid well,' I said.

Her mad eyes caught mine. ‘It'd best be me,' she muttered. She turned on Mallow. 'For two silver coins,' she demanded.

Mallow, swearing she would get all she wanted, thanked me and led her away. I watched them go. Something pricked my memory, but I was in too much of a hurry to leave to recall what it was. We were to meet Pelleter: I hoped against hope that young Miranda would be there waiting for us.

We packed our belongings and made our way down to the Wool Quay. At Custom House we hired a skiff to take us across to Southwark. The river was busy with barges and ships, so the morning was half-way through before Benjamin and I reached the Tabard to find Pelleter and the beautiful Miranda waiting for us.

‘I got your message,' the under-sheriff growled. 'My bailiffs are out looking for this Dr Quicksilver.' Benjamin thanked him. 'And I have hired horses,' the under-sheriff continued.

Again, Benjamin absentmindedly murmured his appreciation, though, like me, he only had eyes for Miranda, who sat on a gentle brown cob looking more beautiful than ever. There was the usual hurly-burly as our horses were saddled, panniers thrown across and directions taken before we left. The old jealousy sparked in my heart. I found myself riding next to the under-sheriff whilst, in front of us, Benjamin escorted Miranda. I won't bore you with the details of the journey. A beautiful, sun-filled golden day. The trees and flowers were in full bloom, but there was a touch of autumn, a glimpse of gold amongst the green as we trotted down the old pilgrim way towards Canterbury. Our pace was brisk. We were not travellers set for the Becket shrine. We did not stop and tell each other tales. Nor were we hindered by pack animals. Pelleter was eager to help, and Miranda, God bless her, was fascinated by Benjamin's discourse. And old Shallot? Well, just to be with her was pleasure enough. If I'd had my way, we would have ridden all the way to Canterbury and worshipped before Becket's tomb and seen that brilliant diamond, the Regal of France, dazzling in the darkness. (It's all gone now. The Great Beast put paid to that. He destroyed the tomb, seized the gold and the Regal of France. Well, to be honest, I have that, but I won't tell you how, that's another story!)

By late afternoon we'd reached St Thomas's Watering Hole on the Canterbury road. Pelleter took us to where the Sakkers' tavern once stood: now it was nothing more than a blackened piece of land littered with scraps of timber and burnt plaster. A cold, eerie place, full of ghosts, a blight on that golden day. Pelleter pointed to where the scaffold posts had stood. The under-sheriff then took us off the road and into the forest. We were hardly in the trees when we met a party of royal verderers, all dressed in lincoln green.

'Where are you going?' the leader asked, planting himself in front of us. Pelleter leaned down and explained.

'Sakker!' the verderer exclaimed. 'Robert Sakker! Are you witless, man?' ‘What do you mean?' Pelleter snapped.

'Why, sir,' the fellow replied, 'Robert Sakker was killed eight months ago outside Maidstone.'

Despite Pelleter's insistent questioning, the verderer was adamant.

'It's well known,' he explained. 'Sakker became a poacher. We often hunted him; fleet of foot, he was. Then one day a chapman, making his way from Dover, stopped at one of the hostelries on the road and told us the news: Sakker was slain in a tavern brawl.' He shrugged. That's all I know.'

Pelleter thanked him. We rode on, following the track deeper into the forest, its dark greenery filled with birdsong and the occasional bright spots of sunlight. We rode silently, listening to the chattering birds: all the time I kept my eyes on the fair Miranda's slender neck. So close! So soft! I felt like stretching out my hand and touching her. But, of course, Shallot could not. Instead I was drawn into conversation with the under-sheriff about what the verderer had told us, whilst the light of my life talked to Benjamin. Now and again I caught her gaze, I glimpsed the admiration in her eyes as Benjamin explained to her the mysteries of alchemy, or made her laugh with the stories from the schoolroom at our manor.

At last we entered a clearing larger than the rest. In the centre stood the ruins of an old hunting lodge which, Pelleter explained, dated from the days of Henry VI. The stockade fence had long disappeared, as had the bothies, byres and stables. The lodge itself still stood, but the roof was holed and the windows were mere gaps in the wall. We hobbled our horses and went inside. The stairs were usable but there were gaps in the roof and puddles of mildewed water on the floor.

This is where Sakker and his gang often hid,' Pelleter explained. 'I now know the woodland path, but it's easy to get lost in the forest. The Sakkers would gather there, plot their ambuscades and retreat from any possible pursuit. Young Robert stayed at the tavern, shielding the rest of his family' He took us across and pointed to where the floorboards had been ripped up. This is where we found most of their plunder.' He smiled thinly. 'God knows what happened to that: the King's commissioners probably took it.'

(Oh aye, I thought and, knowing the Great Beast as I do, I doubt if any of it found its way back to the rightful owners.)

At first I couldn't understand why Benjamin had insisted on coming here. True there were scorch-marks on the floor, bits of rotting food, traces of people having lived there, but these could have been due to the verderers or any of the forest people. Nevertheless, Benjamin began to search the house carefully, scrutinising every nook and cranny. At last he paid heed to my insistent questions.

‘Roger, we know this place is now the haunt of owls and bats -' he looked round and shivered – Taut it was also the lair of the Sakkers. People never change. Old habits die hard. Robert Sakker must have come back here. Even if it was just to search for some of the plunder his family had hidden.'