[Roger the Chapman 05] - Eve of Saint Hyacinth by Kate Sedley Page A

their faces. As Matthew slid again on to the bench beside the older man, the three heads, grizzled, sandy and black, huddled together in agitated conference.
    'This stuff is too potent for me,' I said to Philip. 'I need a walk before we return to Cornhill.' And, brushing aside his protestations that he wasn't ready to go home yet, I ruthlessly hauled him to his feet and propelled him towards the door.
    'You're a shpoilshport,' he complained as soon as we were outside. 'I thought a fellow's big ash you'd've had a stronger 'ead.'
    'You're already slurring your words,' I admonished him, 'and it wouldn't be fair to Jeanne to have two drunks on her hands.' I gripped his arm firmly. 'Come on. I told you, I've a fancy to stretch my legs before we go home.'
    It was fortunate that Philip's wits were already too befuddled to ask why the walk back to Cornhill was not sufficient for my purpose. As it was, he ambled along beside me, still muttering a little defiantly, but otherwise perfectly good-humoured, while I pointed our feet in the direction of Three Cranes Quay.
    The wharf was deserted, the three great cranes which gave it its name standing silent and idle. There were a couple of ships moored alongside the wall, one of them so low in the water that it was apparent she had not yet been unloaded. There was no sign of a watch kept aboard either vessel and I guessed that the crews were swelling the throng in the Three Tuns tavern. I walked purposefully towards the other end of the quay, keeping my eyes open for the deserted warehouse.
    Thaddeus Morgan had been accurate in his directions. It was at the left-hand corner of the wharf as you faced inland towards the Vintry. One or two of the shutters hung loose from their frames and there was a general air of dereliction which marked it out from its fellows. I trod warily the length of its front looking for an alley where a side door might be situated. In the end, both were located quite easily and I cautiously tested the door with one hand. It yielded at once to my touch and swung inwards with a slight groaning of hinges.
    'What you doin'?' Philip's voice whined fretfully behind me. 'What you lookin' for?'
    'I'm not sure,' I whispered. 'Bear with me. Stay outside if you want to.'
    Philip gave an indignant snort and peered over my shoulder. Just inside the door, revealed by the triangle of fading daylight which penetrated the darkness, the dust had recently been disturbed. Somebody had been standing there for quite a while and it was not difficult for me to guess that that somebody had been Matthew Wardroper, waiting for the missing Thaddeus Morgan.
    I tried to put myself in the young man's shoes. He was probably more than a little afraid and somewhat overawed by this highly secret mission, which had apparently been entrusted to him after his cousin Lionel's second mishap.
    He had been told that the errand would be brief, a single name breathed in his ear. He could then return to the safety of the inn. Instead, he had stood here all alone with a growing sense of unease and danger. Every sound would have made him start and in a place such as this there was bound to be the creaking of settling timbers. He would have been as jumpy as a cat and therefore disinclined to investigate the warehouse further. But beyond the immediate vicinity of the door was a vast and echoing blackness which might possibly contain some clue as to the fate of Thaddeus Morgan.
    Why I considered this likely I had no idea, except for that instinct, that sixth sense, which I have always believed is God's way of pointing us in the direction He wishes us to go.
    'I'm going to take a look around,' I said to Philip. 'I shan't be long. Wait here for me.'
    'Fuck that,' he retorted cheerfully. 'If you're goin' in, I'm comin', too. Though why in God's name you 'ave to go pokin' around a dirty, smelly old warehouse what's been left to the rats and mice, I don't know.'
    I didn't enlighten him and he was just drunk enough not to