by Paul Doherty
‘Oh, I am sure he was tempted to but, as I understand, not all the same knights attend every Parliament. What Banyard did was ensure that they always came to his tavern by charging them rates much lower than any other hostelry. Isn’t that right, Sir Edmund?’
The knight just nodded.
‘Of course,’ Coverdale intervened, ‘Malmesbury and his companions always congratulated themselves on the tavern of their choice, on not being charged the exorbitant prices other representatives were.’
‘That was the lure,’ Athelstan remarked. ‘Then someone else became involved in the game, no less a person than His Grace the Regent.’ Athelstan held a hand up to still Coverdale’s protests. ‘No, don’t object, Sir Miles. The regent knows I am telling the truth, as do these men here. Gaunt arranged for all the Knights of the Swan, all those involved in those dreadful murders at Shropshire, to be returned as representatives to the Commons. Of course, as usual, they sent a steward to London to look for lodgings, and mine host Banyard was ready and waiting.’ He shook his head. ‘It was no coincidence, Sir Miles, that all those knights found lodgings in the Gargoyle. I made inquiries amongst other representatives. I went into Westminster Yard yesterday. Oh yes, many of them had asked for lodgings at the Gargoyle, only to find the place was full. Mine host had arranged that. He was waiting for Malmesbury and the rest.’
‘So, he turned others away?’ Malmesbury asked. ‘In order that we took lodgings with him?’
‘Sir Edmund, whom did you send to London?’
‘My steward, Eudo Faversham.’
‘And he would tell Banyard who was journeying up to Westminster?’
‘Of course!’
‘And he found no difficulty in hiring rooms here?’
‘No, no, as I have said, we have stayed here before. My steward came back saying we had fair lodgings at reasonable prices.’
Banyard, who had been listening coolly to all this, uncrossed his arms. ‘And, when they arrived, Friar,’ he taunted, ‘how did I kill them?’
‘Oh, that you’d planned well,’ Athelstan replied. ‘Bouchon was easy. Remember the night he left the supper party at your tavern? He didn’t say he was going anywhere. He simply went out. Now, if he was going to meet someone threatening, Bouchon would have taken a sword, but when his body was fished from the Thames, he wasn’t even carrying his knife. No, what I suspect happened is that you, Master Banyard, lured Bouchon out into the tavern yard on some pretext. Perhaps he was wondering who had delivered the arrowhead and candle at the tavern. Anyway, you meet him near the compost heap, that mound of rich black soil. You felled him with a blow to the head. He falls on to the mound, which explains why we found the black soil under his fingernails.’ Athelstan paused. ‘You then slid back into the tavern, going about your duties. At the appropriate time you leave. You put Bouchon’s body in a wheelbarrow, covered by a sheet of canvas, and trundle it down to the Thames, only a few yards away. The river was running at full tide; Bouchon’s body, however, kept near the bank until it was caught amongst the reeds near Tothill Fields.’
‘And Swynford?’ Aylebore asked.
Athelstan noticed bow all three knights now seemed frightened of Banyard. They hardly looked at him, as if he was the veritable incarnation of their terrible deeds and the vengeance they had provoked.
‘Oh, that was not as difficult as it appeared,’ Athelstan replied. ‘Banyard himself sent for the chantry priest. He knew Father Gregory would be away. Indeed, such a toper posed no real threat to his plan.’
‘All that was seen of this strange priest was a cowled figure walking across the taproom and upstairs,’ Cranston interrupted. ‘However, nobody could remember seeing the priest leave.’ Cranston beamed round, proud of his own conjectures.
‘I was running a risk, wasn’t I?’ Banyard taunted. ‘If anyone had stopped me. .’
‘Oh, you chose your time well,’ Athelstan said. ‘The tavern was very busy, more concerned with the living than the dead. Let us say someone had stopped or recognised you, then it would just be mine host returning to his chamber to doff his cloak and return to his duties. You were very clever. You can go missing from the tavern whenever you wish. No one asks questions. No one will object and, if inquiries are made — well, the Gargoyle is a spacious place. There are stores to be checked, cellars to be inspected, a whole range of outhouses where you could claim you had been busy. Oh, no, you were safe right up to the very moment you put that garrotte string round Sir Henry Swynford’s throat. A powerful man like you, death would have occurred in seconds. Only once did you come near to being detected, when Christina heard that dreadful chant. After the deed was done — ’ Athelstan pulled a face — ‘you slipped out of the chamber. You returned to your own room, the cloak was hidden and, once again, you became mine genial host.’
Banyard leaned forward, as if this was some game. ‘And how do you explain, Brother, how I could go through so many guards, enter the Pyx chamber, and slay Sir Francis Harnett?’
‘Harnett’s death intrigued me,’ Athelstan replied. ‘A fussy little man, totally absorbed with buying that ape stolen from the Tower.’
‘What was that?’ Aylebore interrupted.
‘It doesn’t matter now,’ Cranston replied. ‘But your companion had bribed a guard at the Tower to steal an ape.’
Malmesbury sneered and shook his head. ‘The man was always a fool,’ he whispered. ‘At his manor house in Stokesay, he was for ever trying to collect strange birds and animals.’
‘Now Harnett went to the brothel with you,’ Athelstan explained. ‘But as Mistress Mathilda told us, no swords are allowed. You went unarmed?’
‘Yes, that’s true,’ Malmesbury replied.
‘However, later that evening, Harnett was seen along the riverside. He was carrying his sword.’
‘So he must have gone back to the tavern to collect it?’ Malmesbury asked.
‘Precisely, Sir Edmund. Yet Master Banyard here never told us that. Now, when I was searching amongst Harnett’s possessions, I noticed there were certain items missing. I couldn’t decide what and then I suddenly realised: he had pen and ink but no parchment, no vellum; not a scrap to write upon.’
‘What’s the significance of that?’ Coverdale asked.
‘Well, first, I am sure all of Harnett’s companions had similar writing implements: they would bring a roll of parchment for their own purposes, whether it be for private use or use in the Commons.’
‘Yes, that’s true,’ Aylebore cried. ‘Sir Francis was for ever scribbling.’
‘But what’s the significance?’ Coverdale repeated.
‘Sir Miles,’ Athelstan asked, ‘if you wished to steal an animal such as an ape from the Tower, what would you need? Remember, you have to keep it in London and then transport it, somehow, back to Shrewsbury?’
The captain grinned and scratched his cheek.
‘Well, the animal would have to eat. There’d have to be a cage.’ His hands flew to his lips. ‘And, of course, a place to hide it.’ He pointed at Banyard. ‘Sir Francis must have told you about his plot.’
‘Of course he did,’ Athelstan said. ‘I suspect Sir Francis was very close to mine host. He not only went back to the Gargoyle to collect his sword. He must also have entered into negotiations with him about supplies, carts, a cage and, above all, a place around that spacious tavern to hide the animal he hoped to buy. Now, Sir Francis, as one of his companions has just described, was a constant scribbler. He must have listed all his requirements, yet I found not a scrap of parchment amongst his possessions. Of course, these would have been removed by Master Banyard after he had taken Sir Francis’s head.’
‘More importantly,’ Cranston added, ‘Sir Francis was lured to his death by Banyard who knew about his secret negotiations with the soldier from the Tower. In his haste and excitement, Sir Francis forgot about the killer stalking him: his mind was stuffed full of dreams about obtaining an exotic animal.’
‘And how did I get into the Pyx cha
mber at Westminster Abbey?’ Banyard taunted. ‘How could I go through cordons of soldiers and archers? Whistling a tune, an axe over my shoulder?’
‘Oh, no, there was something else missing from Harnett’s possessions.’ Athelstan retorted. ‘His seal. And I wondered where the seals of the other two dead knights were as well.’ Athelstan glanced at Coverdale. ‘Did you ever find those?’
The knight shook his head. ‘No, I. .’ His voice faltered. ‘I never even thought about them.’
‘Banyard did,’ Athelstan retorted. ‘He took the seals of the first three men he killed and used them to get into the abbey. After all, the soldiers on duty there can’t be expected to recognise each of the two hundred different representatives who have come to this Parliament. People going to and fro. Typical soldiers, they had their orders: anyone carrying one of those seals bearing the chancellor’s imprint were to be allowed through. Now, when Harnett was killed it was dusk. Members of the Commons were hurrying hither and thither. Banyard, probably wearing the cloak and hood he is now, slips in.’
‘But the axe?’ Aylebore asked.
Athelstan gestured round the church. ‘Take a good look round here, Sir Humphrey. Look at the stacked stools and benches, the shadowy recesses, the small alcoves, the gap behind the altar.’
‘You mean the axe is hidden here?’
‘Probably,’ Athelstan replied, ‘or somewhere close to the Pyx chamber. I told the servants at the Gargoyle before I left that I was going to St Faith’s Chapel to look for an axe. Banyard pursued me here, not only because I knew his true identity, but because I was searching for evidence. I am sure that, when we find the weapon, someone will recognise it as an axe used at the Gargoyle tavern.’
‘But when did he put it here?’ Coverdale asked.
‘Long before the Commons ever assembled,’ Athelstan replied. ‘And the same goes for the crossbow he used to kill Goldingham. Remember that tangle of gorse bushes near the latrines off the east cloister?’
‘Of course,’ Coverdale replied. ‘Before the Commons met here, Banyard could come and go as he pleased.’
Athelstan continued. ‘Now, on the night he killed Sir Francis, Banyard came into the vestibule, up into St Faith’s Chapel, collected the axe, went down to the Pyx chamber and murdered Sir Francis Harnett.’ He glanced at Banyard and saw the fear in the man’s eyes. ‘Poor old Harnett,’ Athelstan declared. ‘But he did not die in vain. Only when I reflected on what was missing from his possessions did the tangle begin to unravel: the lack of parchment, his personal seal, his desire to buy an ape stolen from the Tower. All this, together with the fact that he returned to collect his sword the night he left for Southwark, made me begin to suspect Master Banyard. I took what I’d learnt and applied it to the deaths of the other knights: Bouchon not wearing his sword; the dirt under his fingernails. The evidence still pointed to Banyard. The same is true of Swynford being garrotted in his chamber at the tavern.’
‘And Goldingham?’ Malmesbury asked.
‘Well, once I knew how Banyard had passed through the guards, that was easy. Goldingham had a weak stomach. He was always talking about it. .?’
Malmesbury nodded.
‘And no doubt he approached mine host to ask for this or that special delicacy?’
‘Yes, yes, he did,’ Malmesbury replied. ‘Sops soaked in milk. Goldingham always fussed about what he ate and drank.’
‘And the morning he died?’ Athelstan asked
‘He ate what we did. Porridge made of oatmeal, some bread.’
‘Aye,’ Athelstan nodded. ‘He also ate something which was not in yours; a slight purgative, courtesy of mine host, to loosen the bowels and send him hurrying to the jakes. Banyard knew all about the Commons and its sessions, either by making inquiries or listening to your conversations. All he had to do was enter the cloisters and stand by those latrines, probably hiding in a cubicle holding the crossbow and bolt which he had taken from its hiding place. After that it was easy. He knew Goldingham would come, either during the session or after. It was just a matter of waiting. Once the latrines were empty he struck: a crossbow bolt into Goldingham’s heart. The arbalest was hidden again and, in the confusion before anyone knew what had happened, Banyard was out of Westminster, hastening back towards his tavern.’
Athelstan spread his hands. ‘We must also remember that, if anything went wrong, Banyard could easily explain his presence and wait for another opportunity either here or in Shrewsbury. Westminster, however, was an ideal place.’
‘No one would miss him,’ Cranston intervened. ‘After all, mine host here owns the tavern. Where he goes and what he does is his own business. The Gargoyle is simply a walk away and, because he lives near the abbey buildings, no one would ever remark on his presence.’ Cranston rose and stood over the taverner. ‘Master Banyard.’
The taverner lifted his face, pallid and sweat-covered.
‘Master Banyard, do you have anything to say?’ Cranston asked. ‘In answer to these accusations?’
Banyard half smiled, as if savouring a joke.
‘The axe is behind the altar, Brother,’ he declared, ignoring Cranston. ‘You’ll find it there.’ He blinked and wetted his lips. ‘I’d like a pot of ale,’ he said quietly. ‘The best my tavern can provide.’ He laughed. ‘But that’s all over now, isn’t it?’ He sat up, breathing deeply. ‘I was born Walter Polam in the parish of St Dunstan’s, Oswestry, Shropshire. When I was fifteen these men killed my father, as they had murdered others. I left Shropshire and invested all I had in a tavern near Cripplegate. I thought I would forget the past.’
He stared up at the ceiling. ‘I changed my name. I married, but Edith died of the sweating sickness, so I sold the house and bought the Gargoyle tavern. Have you ever looked at the sign, Brother? It depicts a knight with a twisted, leering face.’ He nodded, rocking himself backwards and forwards. ‘Oh, of course, I dreamed of vengeance. After Edith’s death these dreams began to plague me. I took a vow that I would return to Shropshire and seek vengeance on my father’s assassins!’ Banyard smirked at Malmesbury. ‘And then you arrived at the Gargoyle, a knight of the shire, a representative of the Commons. Others came with you.
‘I began to plan your deaths. I prayed that one day I would have all of you under my roof — and so it happened. That pompous steward of yours, Faversham, comes bustling along and, of course, I had rooms for you.’ He glanced at Athelstan. ‘Not all of them came, you know. There are at least another two in Shrewsbury with whom I have unfinished business. But,’ he shrugged, ‘what happened is as you described it. Bouchon, Swynford.’ Banyard jabbed his finger towards Malmesbury. ‘You I was leaving till last! I wanted to wait until you returned to Shropshire, so I could hang you from the same tree as you did my father-’
‘Banyard,’ Sir John broke in, ‘I arrest you for the horrible crime of murder.’
‘And what about these?’ the taverner sneered back. ‘Aren’t they assassins as well?’ He smiled. ‘I’d like to hang from the same gibbet as they do.’
‘You cannot touch us!’ Malmesbury shouted back. ‘The regent has offered us pardons for all crimes committed.’
He looked more fearful as Coverdale rose and unrolled a piece of parchment from his wallet. The captain of guards tapped each of the three knights on their shoulders.
‘Sir Edmund Malmesbury, Sir Humphrey Aylebore, Sir Thomas Elontius, I arrest you for murder.’
‘This is hypocrisy!’ Aylebore shouted, springing to his feet. ‘The regent promised pardons. By what authority do you do this?’
Sir Miles lifted up the piece of parchment with Gaunt’s seal affixed to it.
‘All your names are written here, sir. The regent gave it to me this morning. I was not to execute it until after the king had visited his Commons.’
‘But the regent offered us a pardon,’ Malmesbury insisted, tears in his eyes.
Sir Miles smiled. ‘Only His Grace the King can do that, sir.’
He deftly plucked the dag
gers from each of the three men’s belts and, going to the door, shouted for the guards. For a while the chapel was plunged into chaos. Malmesbury and his companions shrieking their innocence, cursing the regent’s treachery. Banyard laughed hysterically, shouting abuse, almost dancing with joy at what had happened. Eventually the chapel was cleared, the prisoners being led off, escorted by archers. Coverdale bowed mockingly at Cranston and Athelstan, then left them alone in the silent chapel.
The coroner sat down, mopping his brow. Athelstan went up behind the altar and, moving some benches, found a sharp-edged axe lying against the wall. He brought it back and sat where Banyard had, placing the axe gently on the floor beside him.
‘At least he cleaned it,’ he murmured. He glanced up as Cranston took a generous swig from the ever-present wineskin. ‘We’ll have to tell Father Abbot so this chapel can be blessed and reconsecrated.’
Cranston put the stopper back in the wineskin and gazed sadly at Athelstan.
‘I can read your mind, Sir John,’ Athelstan declared softly. ‘Why didn’t I tell you, eh?’
‘You did it all yourself,’ Cranston answered.
‘No, I didn’t, Sir John. You are as clear as the purest water on a summer’s day. If I had told you it was Banyard, you would have betrayed it all with a look or a sign.’ Athelstan jabbed a finger at the chapel floor. ‘I needed to trap Banyard here. Now it’s all finished.’ Athelstan smiled bleakly. ‘The regent is a cunning fox.’ Athelstan stared up at the crucifix. For a few seconds he desperately wondered if the death of Christ, the love of God, or the service of religion had anything to do with a world where the likes of John of Gaunt ruled supreme.
‘Gaunt was very clever,’ Cranston declared. ‘He forced those knights to come here. He blackmailed them, then turned his opponents into his most ardent supporters, only to close the trap and have them arrested for the secret crimes he had been threatening them with.’ Cranston sighed noisily. ‘How on earth will it end?’
‘Oh, Gaunt will be merciful,’ Athelstan retorted. ‘Malmesbury and the likes will have to make a very full confession, pay a very heavy fine, and take a vow to go on pilgrimage. Oh yes, Gaunt will end up the richer. He’ll hang them by the purse and have the likes of Malmesbury at his beck and call.’