The Gallows Murders

someone in the Tower, and another outside, are working in partnership.' I paused.
    Benjamin walked back to his bed and sat down, head in hands. ‘I was with Kemble when you were thrown into the wolf-pit,' he said, 'and we were both with the officers when Horehound was killed.'
    'So?' I asked. 'Are you saying the malefactor must be amongst the hangmen?'
    ‘I think so,' he replied, and smiled at me. 'I am also beginning to wonder if you are correct, Roger. Is Andrew Undershaft really dead?'
    'One thing does bother me,' I replied. 'Granted, the hangmen have been slaughtered because one of them saw something untoward, but why kill them in such barbarous and grisly ways? It's as if the killer is imitating every type of execution: burning in a cage, drowning in a sack, or being pressed to death under a heavy door. There's a malicious relish here,' I declared. 'As if the assassin is determined to kill the hangmen in the most barbaric way possible.' 'For revenge?' Benjamin asked.
    'Possibly,' I replied. We should have another word with Master Mallow.' 'As the King wants a word with you!'
    I spun round. Agrippa stood in the doorway, his black, broad-brimmed hat clutched in his hands. 'You've come from Windsor?' Benjamin asked.
    'Aye.' Agrippa walked across and sat down on a stool, staring at us with those strange eyes. Tell us the worst,' I moaned.
    "The King is furious. He's talking of treason, dereliction of duty by faithful servants. Do you remember the captain of the guard in St Paul's churchyard? What was his name?' 'Ramasden,' I replied.
    Well, Ramasden's no more. He was hanged on the common gallows outside Windsor. The King is threatening to do the same to you, Master Roger. What's worse -' Agrippa pulled a small scroll from beneath his cloak and handed it to me – 'yesterday morning this was handed to one of the royal justices as he left Westminster Hall.'
    I gazed down at the elegant writing. To the King5 and the red silk ribbon like a circle of blood around the scroll. 'Not another letter!' Benjamin exclaimed.
    I undid the ribbon. The letter was shorter than the first but couched in the same arrogant, impudent tones. 'From Edward V, King of England, etc., etc., To one Henry Tudor, calling himself King…'
    The date given was two days earlier at the Tower. The threat was the same: the writer accused Henry of trying to trap him, and therefore imposed a fine of one thousand gold coins. This time the money was to be left at the foot of the gallows at Tyburn.
    'On your allegiance to Us,' the letter concluded, 'do not attempt to obstruct or impede our rightful collection of these taxes.'
    The monies are to be left there at Michaelmas,' Agrippa explained.
    I looked up. Two weeks hence.' I threw the letter at Benjamin. ‘Master, what can we do?' I went and sat next to him on the bed and gazed bleakly at Agrippa. 'What's the King so frightened of?' I shouted. 'Why doesn't he just refuse to pay the gold and tell the villain to go hang?'
    Agrippa shook his head like a benevolent schoolmaster facing a dim-witted pupil.
    ‘You don't understand, do you? In his father's reign a kitchen boy pretended to be a Yorkist prince. A mere kitchen boy, Roger! Yet he won the support of powerful princes abroad. He invaded from Ireland. Henry's father met him at East Stoke in Nottinghamshire, and nearly lost the battle to a kitchen boy who could produce very little proof of his scurrilous claims! A few years later, Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish weaver, came forward and claimed to be one of the younger Princes, Richard of York. And, for almost ten years, harassed the King's father to the point of distraction. Even now Henry is busy watching anyone with Yorkist blood in him.'
    Agrippa beat his hat against his knee. 'Can you imagine, Roger? Must I keep repeating it? What would happen if such letters, signed and sealed by a Yorkist prince, began appearing all over London? Letters bearing the royal seal, proclaiming Henry as a usurper and alleging that the burdens the country is facing are because of his father's usurpation? Henry would spend tens of thousands raising troops and crushing revolts. No, this villainy must be stopped, the perpetrators captured and hanged immediately.' 'And is that all you can say?' I yelled back. He spread his hands. 'I can only say what I know'
    'Listen.' Benjamin, who had been studying the manuscript carefully, rolled it up and handed it back to me. 'My good doctor, whatever this villain says, I believe