by C. M. Harald
'If you do a runner, or give away that I'm about,' Do I really have to spell it out, or are you that brain-addled, thought Perry, 'then they'll find out that you gave me their names.'
'But I didn't.' The oxen driver went pale, realising there was no easy way out of the situation.
'You know that. I know that. They don't. Nor will they take any chances if they come across this little bit of information.'
'But that's blackmail, you're blackmailing me!' Like many drivers, Wilf had a loud voice, and his fear was getting the better of him.
'No, it's motivation so that you do the right thing. I'm not after people like you, people who are trying to make an honest living. I'm after the criminals, the people who put everyone at risk to make money.'
Perry had been in pursuit of this gang for a long time, years in fact. Their agents travelled around the countryside and surrounding towns buying up poor quality foods, usually meat, at cut prices. It did not matter if the meat were wormy or spoiled as they would pay a pittance for it. Hauliers would be contracted to move the goods to whichever market the gang believed they could offload their wares in. The merchandise would then be sold on at vast profit, passed off as being of far better quality. Sometimes a Lord or a monastery would find their purchases contaminated, although monasteries frequently offloaded their own spoilt produce to the gang.
Two years ago Perry had first uncovered proof of the activities undertaken by the gang. He had suspected their existence for many years prior to this and had finally confirmed it when spoilt barrels of salted pork, stores from an old castle, had appeared in a number of towns and cities during the same season. The carniter had investigated further and found other patterns of spoilt goods arriving at markets within days of each other. There was clearly a middleman, or several middlemen, and with this latest lead he knew he might finally catch one of them, one who was rumoured to have provided not only expertise and capital, but also an outlet for many of the spoiled foodstuffs.
Col Butcher was top of Perry's list of suspected middlemen, and was the one he hoped to soon catch. Butcher had the money and the contacts to run this part of the gang network. He was without ethics, many a time accused of selling rotten meat, and sometimes caught and fined; complaints had been made by various local organisations including an hospital run by a group of nuns. Even the Bishop had complained after several of his precious stonemasons were ill for a number of days after eating pies from Butcher. The Bishop had been annoyed that a number of statues were not completed in time for an important feast that had been scheduled for the opening of another part of the cathedral. The building of the cathedral had been underway for decades and was the most important thing that happened in the city. However, the Bishop had little recourse, nor did others, as there were only a couple of butchers in the city and they were both generally considered to be as bad as each other.
For normal folk, the situation was even worse. Butcher controlled access to the weekly market where produce flooded in from the countryside. It was all controlled in a very clever way and Perry suspected that the market organisers colluded with Butcher to ensure that only small quantities of fresh meat made it in to the city on these market days, with careful controls on both the numbers of sellers and the goods they brought. There had even been rumours of violence directed at sellers who tried to bypass these arrangements. All of this meant that the city was dependent on two butchers who colluded to control any other sources of meat. Between them they had split the city in half and the residents had no option but to buy from them. Of the two butchers, Col Butcher had the marginally worse reputation as he appeared to be the organiser behind the enterprise. Perry thought that the other butcher, Williams, would probably be a reasonable trader if he did not have such a corrupt neighbour misleading him.
While the scale of this enterprise was beyond Perry's experience, the daily tricks of corrupt butchers were not. There were many different ways to defraud customers and he had heard that Butcher was practicing pretty much all of them. A recent innovation that had taken Perry by surprise was the sale of pies made with rotten meat. This had caught on in London and York, where it was rumoured that animals found dead in the streets, and in drainage ditches, made it into the pies. Butcher had quickly adopted the approach, according to the reports Perry had received. Butcher used it as an efficient way to offload large volumes of cheap, poor quality and spoiled meat. It was likely to be a lucrative venture as the pies were popular, cheap, and cost Butcher next to nothing to make. Perry doubted Butcher had stooped to the level of including rats, cats and dogs in his pies simply because Butcher had such a well developed supply system already, but he had no doubt that all sorts of strange animals would turn up in the mix should Butcher consider it a better way to make money.
Then there were the older tricks of the trade. Perry knew that Col Butcher indulged in all of them. He had received complaints and caught the butcher on a couple of occasions. However, these occasions were never significant enough to lead to any appreciable punishment. Butcher was known for dressing meat up as far better quality than reality. One of his favourite strategies was to scrape slime off rotten meat and then sell it as much fresher meat that it actually was. He also had a reputation for swapping cuts over when the customer was not paying attention, often with a subtle sleight of hand. Customers also had to beware that anything sold within the dark confines of the shop, rather than on the street stall, may be discoloured, and the customer would not spot this due to the careful use of candlelight to disguise the rot. Of course, many of the wild animals, the game, that made it into the shop would be contaminated with parasites, but this was completely normal for all traders, especially when the game required hanging. However, Butcher would go beyond the pall by selling game that was well past prime. To entice customers further, he would heavily discount the meat until it became an irresistible bargain. A further favourite trick was to include poor quality meat in any sale of quantity, especially with finely cut meat, where the spoiled flesh would be largely concealed by the good quality meat.
Perry had never caught Col Butcher doing anything more than selling, or having on sale, poor meat. None of the meat was too bad, but always beyond what Perry could allow to stay on sale. Small fines had been issued for these offences, but nothing of significance. Perry's ambition was to pillory the Butcher, piling up the rotten meat at his feet and burning it under his nose. The thought of such a punishment was what drove him in his quest for justice. With luck, if he caught Butcher involved in the wholesale movement and sale of rotten meat, Perry might even be able to push for the death penalty. Oh how he prayed to God for this outcome.
It would not be long until he arrived at the city to deliver his load. Travellers were few and far between, probably another feast day, he thought. Tomson was fuming about the delay. The task that had been imposed on him was galling. Blackmail, he thought, of all the lowly things an officer of the court stooping to such low levels. Why should he be surprised, it was not as if such a thing was unheard of. Most servants of the crown only worked for their own betterment, frequently lining their pockets from overcharged taxes while seizing goods that were not theirs to take. Mind, things had got better if the stories his father had told him were true. Back before the Plague, most people were tied to the land and were simply possessions of their lord. This was fine if the local lord was good, but most did not even care about their peasants. At least now, a freeman was no longer subject to the whims of any lords or lawmakers, and many peasants ran away to become freemen as the life was so much better, with waged jobs and freedom from most tithes. Even the remaining peasants were better off as there were so few of them now, they were therefore in a much stronger position to bargain with their lord.
Tomson would deliver his wares as promised, both to his customer and the carniter, and then he would have nothing to do with this group of people again. It was all very well getting paid a handsome sum, but he did not need the aggravation that clearly came with this customer.
There was plenty of other business he could pick up; he would not be a slave to his job when there were so few people doing this work. He could pick and chose from all the consignments that needed delivery.
Tomson did not notice the four men hidden in the bushes at the edge of the road. He therefore did not have the chance to spot the man who had stopped nearby when he was intercepted by Perry, not that it was likely that Tomson would have recognised the man due to the distraction provided by Perry. The other three men had not been present while he was searched, but the tall blond man, with a gnarled travellers stick, had rushed into the city and brought them back to prepare this ambush. A further four men were keeping watch half a mile each way along the road, prepared to stop any other travellers from interfering, the lack of traffic passing the cart was clearly not just down to the feast day.
The ambush sprang and a man jumped out from the bushes, running up behind Tomson he grabbing the driver from behind. Tomson had no chance to react. From the other side, two men took control of the oxen, while a fourth man approached the driver from the front. Tomson could not place the man, but knew he had seen him before.
'We'll be taking this from you now then.' It was the tall blond man and he waved his staff at the goods on the cart before pointing it menacingly at Tomson, 'It seems you've been a very naughty man.' The tone was patronising.
Tomson was too shocked by the speed of the ambush to make any cogent reply, although the threatening staff did elicit a gasp from him. He had never before been subject to a highway robbery. Such things were not unusual, but they were still rare, especially if you paid protection to the right people, which he always did.
'I've paid my dues,' Tomson pleaded, 'Let me be on my way.'
'It's not your dues that be the problem,' The staff jabbed at him, punctuating the words, 'You've been talking to Perry. We know some people who're not be happy with you for having spoken to him. These people wanted us to have a little chat with you about it.'
'What? I had no choice.' How did his customers know? Could he bluff these men as to the purpose of his time with Perry, 'He wanted to know about my goods, check them out. He'd heard there was something dodgy about them, but as you can see, he didn't have any problems with what he found.'
'Other than that barrel that had you emptying your guts?'
They had seen him? Someone was there watching, maybe listening? This would really limit his options. Things were looking extremely serious, had they had him followed? 'Well, Perry wasn't happy with a couple of bits and he made me agree to destroy them when I got to the city. He's planning on checking that I've done it as well.'
'So what else have you agreed with him then?' the man stood right in front of Tomson, clearly intent on intimidation. He was not just tall, he also looked like he could really use the staff in a fight.
'What do you mean?' Were they fishing, or did they know?
'Well, we can't take any chances. We heard Perry was planning on sniffing around you, so had you followed. This business is worth too much to our employer, your customers. We overheard you coming to an agreement to help the Carniter catch us in the act.'
'I didn't have a choice,' Tomson spluttered, 'He would have confiscated the goods and then where would you be.'
'Aye, you have done us a favour there by keeping hold of the merchandise.' The man leaned in and dropped his voice, 'But we can't take any risks with people giving us away and you've gone and given us away.'
The beating began, the man with the staff leading it, aided by two of his assistants, the fourth still holding the oxen. It did not take long for Tomson to lose consciousness, yet the beating did not stop. Before long, his ribs were smashed and his skull fractured. Once the assailants were certain their victim was dead, the corpse was dragged into the bushes, well away from the road. It was unlikely that it would be found but in case it was, his attackers knew it would look like a robbery gone wrong. The four assailants checked for any obvious signs of the attack, so that the passers-by would not suspect an assault had occurred here. Once they were satisfied, one man headed off to retrieve their accomplices from the roadblock furthest from the city, the others started the oxen cart, intent on completing the delivery.
'What do you mean, he's dead?' Perry was cross and it was coming across.
'Tomson was found a little ways off the road. All smashed up, looked like a robbery.' Eric Constable was used to dealing with Perry and was not in the least bit concerned that the carniter was cross.
'But I only spoke to him two days ago.' Perry thought about it, 'He was doing a job for me. It's that blasted gang again and I bet Col Butcher is at the centre of it all.'
'Col? A gang you say?' Eric chewed his lip, 'He may be a bit of an unsavoury type, but involved in a gang, let alone a death? I really doubt it.'
'It stands to reason. I've been trying to nail this gang down for years. They move spoiled meat from the countryside into the city, and other towns. They don't care what harm it does anyone as long as they make their profits.'
'So what has that got to do with Col?' asked the constable.
'He's the local lynchpin.' Perry said, 'He may even be more important than that.' The constable was shaking his head and Perry tried harder to persuade him, 'He's got access to money, he's well connected, knows everyone in his trade, and don't you try to tell me that he doesn't get caught red-handed selling dodgy meat from time to time.'
'Aye, I'll give you that. I've known a few people get the galloping trots after they've eaten meat bought from him.' Eric nodded his head, 'But isn't that pretty normal with any butcher? Meat simply doesn't keep well unless you salt it, and even then...' He trailed off.
'No, it's not that normal with any butcher.' Perry put an emphasis on any, 'Most of them are perfectly reputable. They wouldn't dare sell anything rotten to people for fear it would cause harm. Most butchers don't want to go through life knowing their immortal soul is at risk from people they've despatched ahead of them. Of course, you get the odd one who really doesn't care, but they're far and few between.'
'Ok, so Col is not the best behaved butcher in the kingdom. So what? That doesn't mean he's at the centre of some great big gang trying to separate people from their money. Who ever heard of such a thing?' Eric was not convinced.
'Look, I've been tracking them for a long time.' Perry snapped in angry frustration. It was a moment before he calmed down. He was not used to being questioned, his rank was usually enough to get compliance from constables and bailiffs. However, Eric had always been a little odd and as constable of a city, had a high opinion of himself. This constable only liked to deal with the obvious things in front of him, although he was damned persistent. He was a bit like a hammer in the hands of a blacksmith, smash it against something hard until you get the finished item. Perry smiled inside at the thought, Eric looked a bit like a blacksmith. Perhaps he had been one before becoming a constable.
'I've spent months looking at the different connections in this area, years even. Col Butcher is the lynchpin around here. Every few weeks he gets a delivery of spoiling meat, some from other butchers, the rest from his agents in the countryside. These agents go around buying up meat that's about to turn. They buy up surpluses from other butchers at rock bottom prices, the butcher relieved to get something in return for something they considered a dead loss. Likewise, they buy up meat from other butchers that is turning. Again, the butcher gets some money rather than making a complete loss.'
'So he's getting leftovers from other butchers. There ain't no law against that.' The constable said.
'No law about him buying the leftovers, but plenty against him selling unfit food.' Perry replied, 'It's not just the butchers his agents buy from. They travel around the monasteries, castles and posh households. Not usually after fresh produce, and these places are pretty self-sufficient and preserve what they don't use. Instead the agents buy up stores that are spoiling due to vermin or bad storage. A barrel of salted pork only keeps well when it is sealed and stored co
rrectly, if not it rots. Sometimes still perfectly edible, although you may want to boil it to nothing to kill the taste. It's amazing how many of these stores go bad and most common people don't care about buying quality if the price is right. Of course, Butcher pays next to nothing for this stuff, selling it on for a great deal more, so makes a vast profit.
'I thought salted meat kept forever?' This was turning into a bit of an education for Eric, who left the purchase and preparation of foods to his wife.
'Far from it. Problems with the meat before salting, not enough salting, too many of the wrong liquids, storing it in too damp a place, vermin. The list goes on. Dried meat is usually a bit better.' Perry was warming to his favourite subject, 'The agents also go around the farms. Now farmers don't usually kill an animal for food unless they have an immediate need for it. But sometimes their animals die at the wrong time, often of illness, sometimes due to wild animals and accidents. They'll pass these on if they think they can get a price for them and Col Butcher will offer a price, even for the most diseased carcass. He knows he can easily disguise the meat in pies or by mixing it in with other cuts. It's easy to get away with it once you know how and again he gets the meat for next to nothing and then sells it on at a ridiculous profit. Then there're the farmers who are desperate for cash, you can often have perfectly good meat at knockdown prices from them simply because they need every coin you can spare. So sometimes Col picks up a bargain with good quality meat, but of course, that's not what I'm interested in. Peasants are in an even worse situation, they usually only have a handful of animals and can't cope with any losses due to illness, so to them, one of the agents buying their diseased or dead livestock, well they think of it as a blessing.'
'So why are you interfering? Sounds like he's doing a public good, helping out peasants and all the others.' Eric Constable did not have much of a reputation for thinking beyond the obvious and Perry smiled inwardly again at the thought of the blacksmith's hammer.