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“The mysterious Jasper Lintel doesn’t work at the Bear’s Inn,” Lucy said. “We think he’s been getting poison to use at Whitehall,” Lucy said, sitting in the chair opposite him.
“My lord,” Simmons whispered.
“Why didn’t he buy it himself from another apothecary?” Greer said.
“He said they are all prejudiced against the Irish,” Simmons said. “He also asked Catolina to purchase ratsbane from the chemists on Bucklersbury Street.”
Lucy glanced at Greer and then back to Simmons. “How did you meet this man?” she asked.
“Mistress Wakefield said he and his wife frequented the shops on Gracechurch Street. They came into her lace shop and spent time talking with her about the poor conditions in Ireland. When Catolina, Richard, and I decided we wanted to better ourselves, she mentioned it to them. They were interested, and Lintel started meeting with us.”
Simmons leaned toward Lucy, his face pinched with worry. “What will become of Lady Cordelia? And you?”
“Has anyone come from the court for me and Master Buchanan?” Lucy asked.
“No. Should I…close up the manor?”
Walsingham’s hounds would find him soon enough. “Pack a bag,” Greer said, and looked to Lucy. “If Walsingham’s men question your prejudiced apothecary, he will point them here to Simmons.”
“Blessed Mary, protect me,” Simmons said, making the sign of the cross before him.
“And don’t do that before anyone,” Lucy said. “They will immediately think you are Catholic.”
Lucy exhaled. “Can you stay with Mistress Wakefield?”
He flushed. “I could, but she’s a single woman. ’Twould be unseemly.”
“Either her or some other safe place,” Lucy said. “The children can remain here.”
Simmons grabbed Lucy’s hand. “If I helped get Lady Cordelia sent to the Tower…I will never forgive myself.”
The man seemed sincere. His eyes were glassy, like he fought tears. He shook his head. “I didn’t trust Jasper, but Catolina likes his wife.” He clutched his hands together. “If Lady Cranfield was still alive, she would protect all of us.”
“She is the reason we were instantly suspected of treason,” Lucy said, acid in her voice.
His face flushed redder. “She wouldn’t have allowed you or Lady Cordelia to be cast in suspicion at the court, even if she intended evil. She loved you.”
Lucy snorted. “She hated me.”
He shook his head. “No. She worried about you being judged, milady. I heard her praying nightly for you.”
“For me to be different, beautiful,” Lucy said.
“Yes.”
Greer watched Lucy’s face tighten. She wasn’t loved for who she was, and the butler’s confirmation stung, even though she knew.
Greer wanted so badly to reach out to her, but their stilted discussion this morning had driven a wedge between them.Will you marry me?Would she move away from the English court? Live on the moors in a cottage that he’d built a mile away from his mother. Did she think that Lord Moray would have Greer up at Edinburgh Castle for fetes like Elizabeth?
“You should leave here as soon as possible,” Lucy said to her butler, “because it won’t take long for Walsingham to question all the apothecaries that may have sold ratsbane.”
*
“Ye walk likea woman,” Greer said.
“Pardon?” she asked, looking at him as they hurried toward Gracechurch to warn Mistress Wakefield about Walsingham’s investigation.
“Ye sway.” He tipped his head toward her lower half. “Even in breeches, ye look…curved, and ye sway when ye walk. Like a lass, not a lad.”
