Read An Ensuing Evil and Others for Free Online Page B

the interior of the purse.
    “A sixpenny piece and three strange copper coins,” observed Master Drew. He held up one of the copper coins. “Marry! The new copper farthings. I have not seen any before this day.”
    “What’s that?” replied the wherryman.
    “These coins have just been issued to replace the silver farthings. Well, whatever the reason for his killing, robbery it was not.”
    Master Drew was about to stand up when he noticed a piece of paper tucked into the man’s doublet. He drew it forth and tried to unfold it, sodden as it was.
    “A theater bill. For the Blackfriars Theatre. A performance of The Maid’s Tragedy,” he remarked.
    He rose and waved to two men of the watch, who were waiting on the quay with a cart. They came down onto the barge and, in answer to Master Drew’s gesture, manhandled the corpse up the stone steps to their cart.
    “What now then, Constable?” demanded the old wherryman.
    “Back to your work, man,” replied Master Drew. “And I to mine. I have to discover who this young coxcomb is… was , and the reason for his being in the river with his throat slit.”
    “Will there be a reward for finding him?” the wherryman asked slyly. “I have lost time in landing my cargo of coal.”
    Master Drew regarded the man without humor. “When you examined the purse of the corpse, Master Wherryman, you neglected to retie it properly. If he had gone into the river with the purse open as it was, then the interior would not have been dry, and neither would the coins.”
    The wherryman winced at the constable’s cold tone.
    “I do not begrudge you a reward, which you have taken already, but out of interest, how much was left in the purse when you found it?”
    “By the faith, Master Constable…,” the wherryman protested.
    “The truth now!” snapped Master Drew, his gray eyes glinting like wet slate.
    “I took only a silver shilling, that is all. On my mothers honor.”
    “I will take charge of that money,” replied the constable, holding out his hand. “And I will forget what I have heard, for theft is theft and the reward for a thief is a hemp rope. Remember that, and I’ll leave you to your honest toil.”
    One of the watchmen was waiting eagerly for the constable as he climbed up onto the quay. “Master Drew, I do reckon I’ve seen this ‘ere cove somewhere afore,” he said, raising his knuckles to his forehead in salute.
    Master Drew regarded the man dourly. “Well, then? Where do you think you have seen him before?”
    “I do be trying ‘ard to think on’t.” His companion was staring at the face of the corpse with a frown. “ ‘E be right. I do say ‘e be one o’ them actor fellows. Can’t think where I see’d ‘im.”
    Master Drew glanced sharply at him. “An actor?”
    He stared down at the theater bill he still held in his gloved hand and pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Take him up to the mortuary. I have business at the Blackfriars Theatre.”
    The constable turned along the quay and found a solitary boatman soliciting for custom. The man looked awkward as the constable approached.
    “I need your services,” Master Drew said shortly, putting the man a little at ease, for it was rare that the appearance of the constable on the waterfront meant anything other than trouble. “Blackfriars Steps.”
    “Sculls then, Master Constable?” queried the man.
    “Sculls it is,” Master Drew agreed, climbing into the small dinghy. The boatman sat at his oars and sent the dinghy dancing across the river to the north bank, across the choppy waters, which were raised by an easterly wind.
    As they crossed, Drew was not interested in the spectacle up to London Bridge, with its narrow arches where the tide ran fast because of the constriction of the crossing. Beyond it, he knew, was the great port, where ships from all parts of the world tied up, unloading cargoes under the shadow of the grim, gray Tower. The north bank, where the city proper was sited, was