“Do you mean Esther Cooper, or Stephen?” I asked suddenly. “In my investigation I have heard things about Stephen that certainly would have drawn the Lord Mayor’s ire, that he conspired with the rebels.”
Bacca smiled broadly at me, and I felt the hair on my neck stand on end, for he looked like nothing so much as a wolf about to feast on a lamb. “That is funny. I have heard such rumors as well. I do enjoy the irony of a rebel against the King being struck down by his own wife. I think we can both agree that the Lord works in strange and wondrous ways. It is even possible that Mrs. Cooper helped save the city by killing her husband just before the rebels launched their attack. You might suggest that Mrs. Cooper beg the Lord Mayor for clemency on those grounds.” He laughed softly, as if the thought of clemency for a murderess amused him.
“I cannot help wondering if the Lord Mayor might have seen fit to execute Mr. Cooper without the trouble of an arrest and trial,” I said. “He has little enough respect for the law. And I imagine he would be able to find an assassin without too much trouble.”
Bacca abruptly stopped walking and began to laugh. “Oh, Lady Hodgson, I believe you are trying to flatter me,” he said, wiping a tear from the corner of his scarred eye. “I do not lament the death of such a man as Stephen Cooper, and I salute the skill of whoever did kill him. But I assure you I played no role in his death.” With astonishing speed, Bacca pushed me into an alley, drew his dagger, and held it to my throat. He leaned in as if he intended to kiss me. I recoiled from the sour smell of red wine on his breath. “If I had decided to kill Mr. Cooper, I would not have gone to the trouble of poisoning him. It would have been far easier to cut his throat while he slept. Or approach him on the street and find this spot, here, between his ribs.” He dropped the knife from my throat, and I felt its tip in my left side.
“Let go of me,” I breathed. “The Lord Mayor shall hear of this.”
Bacca laughed again and stepped back. The knife had vanished from his hand as quickly as it had appeared. We stepped out of the alley and resumed our journey. “Tell me, Lady Hodgson,” he said playfully as we walked, “if you became … unavailable to serve as Mrs. Cooper’s midwife, what do you suppose would happen?” He continued without waiting for a response. “I imagine the Lord Mayor would find her a new midwife who would be more agreeable than you have been. It is just a thought you might want to keep in mind. The Lord Mayor becomes quite irate when his will is thwarted. I can only imagine how angry he will be if a woman prevents Mrs. Cooper’s execution. Who knows what he will do?
“Ah, I see we have come to your street,” he continued. “I’m sure you will be safe from here. Think about the Lord Mayor’s demands, but do not take too long. I think you should heed him.” With that, Bacca sauntered back the way we had come, his brightly colored silks shimmering in the evening sun.
Once he was gone, I felt the tension run out of my body, and only then did I realize how frightened I’d been. I stepped into a nearby doorway and leaned against the wall in hope of regaining my strength. My hands shook and I could hear my heart thundering in my ears. I told myself that he would not have hurt me—not on the street in the middle of the city, certainly not before the Lord Mayor’s ultimatum had passed. But I also knew that the danger I faced was very real, and unless I acceded to the Lord Mayor’s demands, it would continue to grow. Though I knew Bacca had gone back to the Lord Mayor—no doubt to describe his threats in detail—I peered into the street before leaving my shelter. I saw no sign of Bacca in the crowd, so I hurried the last few steps to my door and slipped inside, locking the door behind me.
When Martha heard me enter, she came to meet me. “My God, my lady, you look as if you’ve the ague! What has happened?”
“It’s no fever,” I said, trying to calm her fears. “Get me some small beer to cool me. I’ll tell you in the parlor.” Once Martha returned, I settled myself on the sofa and described my visit to the Lord Mayor and Lorenzo Bacca’s threats on the way home.
“Why is that son of a whore so eager to see Mrs. Cooper to the stake?”
I shook my head. “At first I thought it was simply that he believes she killed Stephen and wants to see justice done. He has no patience for rebels, and in his mind she’s no different than the Parliament-men—the quicker she’s executed the better.”
“But now you’re not so sure?”
“We still have no explanation for Stephen’s mysterious visitors. If Esther is right, and Stephen was in league with the rebels, the Lord Mayor would have liked nothing more than to see him hanged for treason.”