“Be careful. These days you may be up against a soldier who knows how to kill, not a drunken apprentice.” He nodded and slipped out of the room. I had no illusions that I’d changed his mind and could only hope he would outgrow that sort of behavior.
When I entered Edward’s study, he came around his massive desk to embrace me. Edward was a voracious reader, and the walls of the room were covered with bookshelves containing works on every subject imaginable. There were books in English and Latin, of course, but also French and what looked like Greek. Massive folios of Shakespeare’s plays sat comfortably next to cheap pamphlets detailing a monstrous birth in Sussex, and next to them lay account books from his many financial interests. His desk was a riot of correspondence and commonplace books in which he scrawled notes to himself or his secretary. Despite all this, the room exuded not chaos, but a sort of controlled energy. This was a place where business was done and problems were solved. Edward’s appearance contributed to this aura. He stood a bit shorter than me and was powerfully built. Despite the gray in his carefully trimmed beard, he moved with a quickness that belied his forty-five years. He poured each of us a glass of wine, and we sat down to talk.
“To what good fortune do I owe your visit?” he asked with a smile. “All is well, I hope. Surely another of Phineas’s creditors has not crawled out from under a rock.”
“No, no…” I laughed. “I think I’ve seen the last of them. I come about the news of the town, the murder of Stephen Cooper.”
“The possible murder of Stephen Cooper,” he corrected. “Until we complete the inquest, we have no idea how he died. But it is not a matter that concerns you, I shouldn’t think.” I wasn’t surprised at his reluctance to discuss the subject. The murder of a citizen could cause a political crisis under the best of circumstances, and in a city under siege it could easily turn the city’s factions against each other.
“Of course, of course,” I said quickly. “It’s just that there are the most remarkable and pernicious rumors being discussed. Some say he was murdered by the King’s party. Others say that the killer was a Parliament-man, perhaps even one from within city government.”
Edward’s eyebrows flew up, and he leapt from his chair, sputtering, “That is absurd—why would we do that? Stephen was on our side! He wanted nothing more than to expel the Marquess, the Lord Mayor, and all their Catholic cronies.”
“I know, I know,” I said, shaking my head in sympathy. “But once rumors start to spread, they are devilishly hard to stop.”
“Well, that rumor is one that must be put to rest at once. It is far too dangerous at a time like this.”
“If I knew the truth, I would certainly do my best to dispel the more fantastic stories.”
“Until the coroner completes his inquest, we won’t know what happened. Tell that to your gossips.”
“Very well,” I said. There would be no getting anything out of him today. I paused before broaching a more delicate subject. “I also heard that Stephen’s was not the only violent death in York last night.”
He scowled at me in annoyance. “Trying to keep a secret from a midwife is like trying to keep Ouse from rising in the spring. Yes, there was one murder last night, but there’s no mystery about it. One of the members of the garrison was stabbed in an alley on your side of the river. He’d been in an alehouse drinking most of the evening, and most likely picked a fight with someone meaner than he was.”
“How horrible,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. “What an awful fate.”
“It was grisly, to be sure, but in some measure he got what he deserved. He had a reputation as a brawler and plenty of enemies.”
“So you don’t know who did it?”
“It doesn’t appear to have involved any of the city residents, so we’re leaving it to the garrison. They can find and punish the offender if they care enough,” he said. “But that too is none of your concern.” This was good news indeed. I would have liked to know more, but I decided not to push him.
We continued to talk, mostly about city politics. I could never hold office myself, of course, but I found the covert maneuverings fascinating and did what I could to help Edward. As different factions fought for control of the city, secrets and gossip could be more valuable than gold, and soon after my arrival in York, Edward realized that a well-connected midwife could be a valuable ally. While I never betrayed the women I served, I had no qualms about revealing the names of the men who got their servants or mistresses with child. But today, we talked mostly of the siege. Edward said that for now the city had enough grain to feed the people. Even better, the King’s men had begun to negotiate with the rebels, and so long as the talks continued, an assault on the city was unlikely. Edward clearly hoped that they would surrender to Parliament without a fight, while I prayed that the King would relieve the city before the situation became too dire; neither of us said as much, of course. Edward gave me a bottle of claret as a parting gift, and Martha and I began the trip back to St. Helen’s.