‘Then that’s where your plan falls down.’ I was beginning to see where Ben’s ideas were leading. ‘He’ll be suspicious. He won’t want to be recognised. As soon as he realises that I don’t come in good faith he’ll be gone.’
‘Oh yes, and he’ll probably kill you first,’ Ben said cheerfully. ‘That’s why you mustn’t go alone. I’ll be waiting for him with some of my friends.’
I laughed, trying to make light of the suggestion. ‘So that he can kill us all? Have you forgotten that this man is an expert with firearms?’
‘I can gather half a dozen apprentices who are very nimble with cudgels and staves.’
I could see that he was very much in earnest. ‘Ben, I really appreciate the offer but this is not your quarrel and it isn’t a May Day frolic. If I went to meet this assassin I would take a band of the constable’s men.’
‘A brilliant idea,’ he scoffed. ‘Our friend would recognise them on the instant and disappear.’
There was certainly sense in what Ben said. Seeing my hesitation, he pressed on. ‘I reckon this Ombra fellow will choose a busy place where he can vanish in the crowd if he suspects anything. Well, we can be anonymous members of that crowd. He won’t escape all of us.’
‘And suppose he decides to meet on open land where he can be sure no one else is around?’
Ben was ready with his answer. ‘Then we’ll be there well ahead of time, concealing ourselves behind any bush or rock or tree that lies to hand.’
‘Wherever this encounter takes place,’ I protested, ‘someone’s going to get killed. If not you, then one or more of your friends. Does that not worry you?’
He shrugged. ‘What is life worth without risk?’
Suddenly, I realised that, at one time, I would probably have made the same nonchalant answer. How much I had changed in the four or five years that separated us. Just as others were telling me to be cautious, so I now wanted to urge my enthusiastic friend to be cautious. I said, ‘Well, Ben, I’ll give your idea some thought, but — ’
He jumped to his feet. ‘Good. I’ll come and see you tomorrow.’ With that he was gone.
Meanwhile, my own lines of enquiry were proving fruitless. Geoffrey Robinson sent back a polite reply regretting that he was unable to offer assistance. The messenger I had sent to William Locke’s impressive house in Milk Street was informed that Master Locke was spending a couple of days at his lodge on Hampstead Hill. My other envoys met with curt refusals. Frustrated, I decided to follow up the only lead I had. I would ride out personally to Hampstead that very afternoon and see if I could persuade Locke to talk to me. Accordingly, I told John Fink where I was going and left him instructions to shut up the shop at close of business. I had a quick, light dinner and was about to leave when Ned Longbourne bustled into the shop, breathless and distraught.
‘I’ve just had a visit from Lizzie,’ he gasped. ‘She was in great distress.’
Chapter 19
I hurried Ned into the parlour. ‘Has something gone wrong at Hemmings?’ I demanded. ‘Has anything happened to my mother? Is my son safe? Lizzie had no business abandoning him.’
Ned dropped heavily into the chair opposite. ‘She is an impulsive creature, as you know. She came to Southwark on a whim, bringing the boy with her. All at your house are unharmed but Lizzie fears they are at risk. She actually wanted to leave young Ralph with me to return to you. I had the Devil’s own job to persuade her to go back.’
I felt a dagger thrust of panic in my stomach. ‘What is the problem? Do they need more protection? Should I send more men to Hemmings to guard them?’
‘You will have to ask her. I promised her that I would bring you to Hemmings to see the situation for yourself. She says the household is surrounded by enemies, like a besieged castle.’
‘No hint of who these “enemies” are?’
‘None.’
‘She can come to no harm at Hemmings, Ned. Of that I am sure. Do you not think she is just letting her own worries get the better of her? She’s in a strange place. She misses the support of her St Swithun’s friends. She needs time to settle down.’
He shook his head firmly. ‘Lizzie may be headstrong but she is not given to fantasies. If she is anxious she has good cause to be. You would do her a disservice to dismiss her fears as feminine whims.’
I thought long and hard. ‘You place me in a difficult position. I am already committed to a plan to put an end to all our troubles. I am going to draw the assassin into the open. That’s the only way to stop this nightmare and make sure that Lizzie and my family are safe.’
‘In God’s name, let it be, Thomas!’ Ned glowered across the table with a look of anguish, such as I had never seen before. ‘Don’t go to the stake for your friend.’
I stared back momentarily stunned. ‘What in the name of all the saints does that mean?’
‘It matters not. Forget I said it.’ Ned waved a hand, as though brushing words away. ‘What matters is whether you will come with me to Hemmings to see what ails Lizzie and set her mind at rest.’
‘Very well,’ I agreed, ‘but I cannot come today. I will meet you in Southwark in the morning — but only if we can make an early start. I must get to Hemmings and back again in a day.’
As soon as Ned had gone, I set out with three servants. We rode up West Cheap and out through Newgate. We skirted Gray’s Inn and the lawyers’ quarter and headed along the busy road that slowly inclines via heath and woods to the ridge of Highgate. Grudgingly I paid the toll demanded of all who crossed Bishop Stokesley’s hunting ground, wishing that His Grace was as assiduous in maintaining the road as he was in collecting his dues. We kept to the sides of the track, avoiding as far as possible the wagon-ruts and wide puddles that splashed our mounts with mud up to their chests. It was not raining but the pewter sky threatened a possible downpour and gusts of wind tore at our cloaks as we reached higher ground.
Locke’s timber-framed house stood at the edge of a copse and, as we approached, a small party of horsemen emerged from the stable block. Leading the group on a magnificent black mare was a ruddy-complexioned man of middle years, huddled in a fur-lined cape. It was obvious from his expensive clothes, his fine mount and his beard of formal, yet fashionable cut, that here was a man of substance and one who, in all probability, moved in court circles. On his left wrist he carried a hooded lanner falcon. I introduced myself and Master Locke smiled his welcome.
‘Ah yes, you are a friend of Robert Packington. I received your letter. That was a shocking business, deeply shocking. I’m just training a new hawk but by all means ride with us.’
I fell in beside him as he led the way out on to the heath. ‘A fine-looking bird,’ I said, by way of opening the conversation.
‘Yes, I brought her back from France a few weeks ago. She’s a little skittish but she’s responding well to training.’
‘You are fortunate to have this land close to London to hunt over,’ I suggested.
‘’Tis the king’s land but, thanks to our queen of blessed memory, I had grant of hunting rights and was permitted to build my little lodge three years ago.’
‘Queen Catherine secured you these privileges?’
‘Oh, no, no. Indeed no. I mean Queen Anne. I was her personal mercer. I furnished the silks, velvets and brocades for most of her wardrobe — and the little princess’s.’
‘I believe you were a close friend of Robert Packington,’ I ventured.
‘Yes, indeed. A fine man, a godly man. He had many friends.’
‘And, alas, some enemies.’
Locke reined in his horse. ‘As I say, he was a godly man. As God has enemies, so did he. This is where I train Jeanette.’ He gently stroked the bird’s feathers.
We were on an open, gently sloping tract of rough grassland. Yards away Locke’s servants were struggling with the wind to get a small kite airborne.
‘You know what they’re doing?’ he questioned.
‘I’ve never taken up the sport,’ I said.