Andrew Swanston - The King's Return

‘Shut your mouth, Molly, or you’ll get another one, and ’arder next time. Keep quiet and you won’t get ’urt.’

Molly rubbed her head. ‘You evil little shit, Mottershead. I always knew you was a wrong ’un. ’Itting a lady with that fucking stick.’

‘You a lady, Molly? You’re no more a lady than I’m a gentleman. You’re an ’ore, and don’t forget it.’

‘Fuck you, Mottershead.’ She spat at him. Josiah laughed and prodded her with his stick.

‘I must be the only man in London you ’aven’t fucked. Now ’urry along. We’ve an appointment to keep.’

Charles and Thomas walked behind Josiah, their prisoner between them. Charles’s sword was drawn. Mr Stoner would not be running off again. A silent wherryman rowed them back across the river to the stairs at Whitehall, from where they took a coach to Chancery Lane. Molly had learned her lesson and Stoner had also decided to keep quiet. Studying his face in the coach, Thomas still saw nothing. For all that showed in his eyes, Chandle Stoner might have been off to the theatre with friends.

At Williamson’s house they were shown into the room that Thomas had used for his decrypting work. Alerted by his footman, Williamson came bustling in and surveyed the scene. Chandle Stoner and a woman backed against a wall and held there by Charles’s sword and Mottershead’s stick. ‘So. You found him in Lambeth. Was he with this lady?’

‘’E was, sir,’ replied Josiah with a chuckle, ‘only a lady she isn’t. This ’ere is Molly Romp, who used to work in Wild Street for a friend of mine, name of ’Enrietta.’

Williamson raised an eyebrow. ‘Wild Street, eh?’

‘Yes, sir. She’s an ’ore.’

‘And you’re a right little bugger, Mottershead, sticking your nose into other people’s business. I ’ope you ’ang for it,’ screeched Molly, trying to grab Josiah by the throat. Wisely, he stepped back and kept her at bay with his stick.

‘And what about you, Stoner?’ enquired Joseph politely. ‘Have you an explanation for your disappearance, not to mention the disappearance of certain people’s money?’

Under pressure, Stoner did what Thomas imagined came most easily to him – he assumed an attitude of high-handed disdain. ‘I feel no obligation to explain anything, even to you, sir. A man may go where he pleases. And money invested may be lost as well as increased, as the most gullible of fools must know.’ He glanced at Charles. ‘However, in the interests of justice and harmony, I will answer whatever questions you have.’

‘Good,’ said Joseph, and rang a small bell to summon his footman. ‘Fetch four constables, if you please. Tell them to look lively.’ He turned back to Stoner. ‘I will keep you company until they arrive.’

‘Where are we to be taken?’ asked Stoner.

‘The Tower, I think. At present it is full of the king’s enemies waiting to learn their fate, but I daresay the Constable will be able to find room for you both. It’s where traitors are usually sent.’

‘Traitors! I ain’t no traitor,’ yelled Molly. ‘Traitors ’ang. An ’ore I may be, but not a traitor. I wouldn’t know ’ow. Tell them, Chandle, for God’s sake.’ Stoner ignored her. Thomas was inclined to agree, but kept quiet.

‘That we shall ascertain in due course,’ said Joseph. There were sounds of running boots on the cobbles and the front door being opened. ‘Ah, here are the constables. You’d best accompany them, Mottershead, just to be sure. We don’t want our birds flying, as the king’s father might have said.’

‘Very well, sir. Come on, you two, behave yourselves and you won’t get into any trouble. Try anything stupid and you’ll feel the weight of my stick.’

‘Well done, Mottershead. Report back here when you’ve delivered them safely. Tell the Constable of the Tower that he has my authority to detain them. Then you’ll need to return to the house to search it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘I should thank you gentlemen, too,’ said Joseph when they had gone. ‘Did you have any difficulty?’

‘None,’ replied Thomas. ‘Josiah is a most resourceful soul, and a man who is an expert swordsman with either hand was unlikely to be bested by Stoner.’

‘Or his whore,’ added Charles with a grin. ‘Did you see Josiah’s face when he recognized her? I thought he was going to expire laughing.’

‘Joseph, may I go back to Madeleine now?’

‘And I,’ said Charles.

‘Of course, of course. You must both do that. I shall take the news to the king and let the prisoners consider their predicament. The Tower can have a salutary effect on its residents. Later I’ll go and see what they have to tell us. Would either of you care to accompany me?’ The disobedient eye squinted at them as if daring them to refuse.

Thomas and Charles looked at each other. Neither had ever set foot in the Tower, and neither was keen to do so. ‘You go, Thomas,’ suggested Charles. ‘Prisons are more your sort of thing than mine and you’re more likely to be some use to Joseph.’

Thomas knew when he had been outmanoeuvred. ‘If you don’t feel up to the task, Charles, I shall certainly accompany Joseph. I doubt the Tower is any worse than Oxford Castle.’ Turning to Joseph he said, ‘At what time shall I meet you there?’

‘Shall we say nine o’clock? That will give us time for our supper beforehand and the prisoners time to work up a good hunger.’

‘Thank you, Charles, you’re a good friend,’ said Thomas as they left the house.

‘Oh come now,’ replied Charles, catching the irony, ‘it’s not like you to be squeamish. You can tell us all about it tomorrow.’

They found Mary sitting beside the bed on which Madeleine was propped up on a pile of cushions. The remains of a meal and two empty glasses were on a tray at the end of the bed. Charles picked up a glass and sniffed. ‘Brandy, ladies? May we assume the patient is feeling better again?’

‘She is, Charles,’ replied Mary. ‘Now you and I will leave Madeleine and Thomas here and you can tell me what you found in Lambeth.’

When they had gone, Thomas bent to kiss Madeleine. ‘You look stronger, my dear. Not too much brandy, I trust.’

‘The merest sip, Thomas. And I do feel stronger, thank you. Did you find Stoner?’

‘We did. Hiding in Lambeth with his whore. A lady known to Josiah and who was not best pleased to see him. Neither, for that matter, was Stoner.’

Thomas told her about finding them in bed, about Stoner’s protestations of innocence and about Josiah’s delight at the prospect of returning Molly to Henrietta. ‘They’re both safely in the Tower by now,’ he said. ‘Joseph has asked me to meet him there this evening to question them.’

‘Why you, Thomas? Why do you have to go to that evil place? Why can’t you stay here and keep me company?’

‘Alas, my dear, there is nothing I should like more, but Charles as good as volunteered me for the task. I do not have to be there until nine o’clock. May I stay with you until then?’

‘I insist upon it. Then go and threaten to cut Stoner into small pieces if he does not tell you where that Dutchman is.’

A little after eight o’clock, Thomas gently detached his arm from around the sleeping patient’s shoulders, slipped out of the room and set off for the Tower. Thirty minutes later his carriage arrived outside the outer wall, where he presented himself to a yeoman warder and was escorted through a gatehouse in the inner wall. At the White Tower, where the Constable of the Tower had rooms, he was shown into an antechamber and asked to wait while the yeoman announced his arrival.

Joseph soon came bustling in. ‘Good evening, Thomas. Thank you for coming. I have arranged with the Constable for our prisoners to be brought to us here. I thought we would see the woman first. I doubt she has much to tell us, but a little warning won’t hurt.’