The House of Shadows

John.
    ‘Well I never!’ Cranston’s hand went out to shake his visitor’s. ‘How did you know I would be here?’
    Matthias of Evesham clasped the coroner’s hand and slid on to the bench next to him, turning slightly to face Cranston , his beringed fingers laced together like some benevolent priest waiting to hear confession. The ale-wife brought two further tankards. Matthias lifted his, toasted Cranston and sipped carefully. The coroner moved slightly away so he could study the newcomer more closely. Matthias of Evesham was newly appointed as Master of the Chancery of Secrets in the Office of the Night, which had its chambers in the Tower. With his round, cheerful face, sparkling blue eyes and pleasant, smiling mouth, he assumed all the appearance of a benevolent monk, an impression he deliberately fostered with his soft speech and ever-present good humour. The only obvious betrayal that he was no ascetic was his love of jewellery: the gold collar around his neck, the costly rings which bedecked every finger, not to mention the gold bracelet on his left wrist.
    A man of secrets was Master Matthias, a scholar of logic and philosophy who had lectured in the schools of Oxford and Cambridge , even those of Paris , before entering the service of the Regent John of Gaunt. Many mistook him for a priest, but Master Matthias was married — a good match — with the Lady Alice, who owned a pleasant mansion between the Temple and Fleet Street. Married or not, he was still a man for the ladies, as well as a great ferreter of secrets. He organised Gaunt’s spies both at home and abroad and advised the Regent privately as well as at the Great Council meetings at Westminster .
    ‘You’re well, Sir John?’ Matthias broke the silence. ‘And the Lady Maud?’
    ‘I am fine,’ Cranston replied. ‘My lady wife is fine, my children are well, my dogs are well, my cat is well, the fish in my stew pond are well. You haven’t come sailing along the Thames to ask me that?’
    ‘No, I haven’t.’ Matthias laughed and put his tankard down. ‘You asked for a schedule of documents, for the searches made after the Lombard treasure was robbed some twenty years ago.’
    ‘A reasonable request,’ Cranston retorted. ‘I want to know what searches were made, what was discovered.’
    ‘Very little.’
    ‘So why not let me see the documents?’
    ‘They’ve been destroyed.’
    Matthias looked so sorrowful Cranston burst out laughing.
    ‘You expect me to believe that?’
    ‘No, I don’t,’ Matthias grinned, ‘but they were destroyed, because they furnished us with nothing.’
    ‘Us?’ Cranston asked.
    Matthias ran a finger around the rim of his tankard. ‘Let me make it very clear, Sir John, nobody would love to find out more than my master, John of Gaunt, what happened to the treasure. I will answer any question you want and you’ll learn much more from me than anyone else.’
    Cranston simply stared back.
    ‘Twenty years ago,’ Matthias began, ‘the Crusading army which left here negotiated a massive loan from the Lombard bankers, in return for which the bankers were promised certain trading concessions in both the Narrow Seas and the Middle Sea . They were also assured of a percentage of any plunder. The Lombards sent the treasure to the Tower. At the time, my master, John of Gaunt, was Keeper of the Tower.’
    ‘Ah!’ Cranston exclaimed. ‘Now we come to it.’
    ‘On the eve of the Feast of St Matthew, the twentieth of September 1360,’ Matthias continued, ‘the treasure was taken out of the Tower, placed on a barge and dispatched to a secret place.’
    ‘Why wasn’t it taken directly to the ships?’
    ‘The Admiral of the Fleet decided that was too dangerous. He wanted the treasure sent across the river to Southwark then transported secretly to the flagship. For reasons best known to himself he thought this was safer, and so did John of Gaunt.’
    ‘Why all this stealth?’ Cranston asked.
    ‘To keep the treasure safe. You see,’ Matthias wiped his mouth on a napkin, ‘if anyone had heard what was happening and wished to steal the treasure, they would expect it to be brought by land along the north bank of the Thames, past London Bridge and across to the flagship or by royal barge downriver in the direction of Westminster. Sir Jack, when the Crusader fleet was at anchor, every river pirate and outlaw who had heard about the treasure would watch the flagship. They might have attacked when the