“It seems that too often you listen to other people’s conversations,” Mariz said. “This could get you killed.”
“Why did you eavesdrop on him in the tavern?” Sephira asked, drawing Ethan’s gaze again. “What is it you’re after?”
“I’m not after anything. I recognized Spectacles when he walked in. I’d seen him with Tanner, and since you had just robbed me of my earnings from that job, I was interested in hearing what he had to say.”
Before Sephira could ask him more, a servant entered the room carrying a platter of cheeses, fresh bread, apples, and pears. The man laid the food before them and retreated into the kitchen.
“Help yourself,” Sephira said.
Normally, Ethan would have hesitated to eat any food Sephira offered him that she didn’t eat herself. He didn’t think she was above poisoning a rival. But on this day he was so hungry that he didn’t even hesitate. He took cheese and bread and began to gorge himself. Sephira watched him, appearing amused. After a few moments she stood, retrieved two glasses and a flask of wine, and returned to the table. She poured a glass for Ethan and put it in front of him.
“Drink this, before you choke yourself,” she said.
Ethan swallowed what was in his mouth and took a long sip of wine.
“Thank you.”
“Where have you been that you haven’t eaten?” she asked.
“Who says I’ve been anywhere?”
“I do,” Mariz answered. “The detection spell by your home was not the only one. I placed one around that tavern as well. You did not go to either location until this midday.”
“Where were you, Ethan?” Sephira asked again.
Sometimes Ethan refused to answer Sephira’s questions simply on principle. Too often she treated him like he was another one of her lackeys. He resented it, and went out of his way to defy her. But on this occasion it occurred to him that he might learn something of value by telling her at least part of the truth.
“I was at Castle William.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Castle William,” she repeated. “Why?”
“Representatives of the Crown requested that I inquire into an assault on one of their ships. The Graystone.”
He paused, allowing the vessel’s name to sink in. Sephira’s expression remained unchanged, but Mariz cast a quick look in her direction, and Nigel and Nap, who were leaning against the far wall of the dining room, exchanged glances.
“It seems someone used a conjuring against the ship,” Ethan went on. “Every man on board was killed.”
Even Sephira couldn’t mask her response to that.
“Every man?” she repeated, leaning forward. Her eyes flicked in Mariz’s direction before fixing on Ethan again. “You’re sure of this?”
“I’m sure. Every man on the ship was killed. Nearly a hundred in all.” He turned to look at Spectacles. “Whoever cast a spell that powerful would have had to take a life for the conjuring, don’t you agree?”
Mariz didn’t flinch from Ethan’s gaze. “Sim, eu concordo. I agree.”
“I noticed the other day that you and your friend-Afton, I believe-were keeping a close eye on the British fleet. Was it the Graystone you were watching?”
“You are what my people would call an intrometido,” Spectacles said, his voice low and menacing. “You meddle in the affairs of others when you should not.”
“Yes, Ethan has always been too inquisitive for his own good,” Sephira said, sounding far less concerned about his transgression than had Mariz. “I’ll admit, it’s not one of his more endearing traits.” She sipped her wine. “Our interest in the fleet is no different from that of any other person in the city. This business of the impending occupation has all of us on edge.”
“So, Mariz here is just another concerned citizen,” Ethan said.
A dazzling smile lit her face. “Exactly.”
Ethan considered bringing up Simon Gant, but there were limits to what Sephira would tolerate, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to reveal just how much he knew. Keeping silent, he reached for an apple and bit into it.
“What is it these representatives of the Crown have asked you to do?” Sephira asked.
Ethan swallowed before answering. “They want me to find the conjurer who killed their men.” He eyed Mariz again. “What were you doing just after dawn yesterday morning?”
“Sleeping.”
“Alone?”
Mariz laughed. “Sadly, yes.”
“Do you think that Mariz here is the one who killed those soldiers?” Sephira asked. She laughed as well. “Is that what all this is about? Is that why you’ve been following him and listening to our conversations?”
The only thing worse than being intimidated and beaten by Sephira and her men was being ridiculed by her. Ethan knew this, because she ridiculed him a lot.
“There aren’t many conjurers in Boston capable of casting a spell that powerful,” Ethan said. “And since Mariz is new to the city, I thought it a possibility.”
Sephira shook her head, still chuckling. “Go home. There’s nothing more for you to learn here. It wasn’t Mariz. I assure you it wasn’t.”
“Pardon me for saying so, Sephira, but your assurances don’t carry much weight with me.”
The smile vanished from her face, leaving her expression stony. “Well, they should. And you ought to watch yourself. I’ve said you can go. I’d suggest you leave now, before I change my mind.”
Ethan took another bite of his apple and looked around the room. Nap and Nigel had straightened and were regarding Ethan the way hunting dogs would a fox. At a word from their master, they would attack. Mariz held his knife loosely in his right hand; his left sleeve was still pushed up.
Ethan stood and nodded to Sephira. “My thanks for the food.”
He backed out of the room, watching her men, expecting Sephira to sic them on him.
“How much are they paying you?” Sephira called after him.
“Enough to keep my interest,” Ethan said. “But probably not enough to draw yours.”
She laughed at that and raised her cup of wine in salute.
Ethan let himself out of the house, stepping past Gordon, who stood guard outside the front entrance. The big man didn’t try to stop him, but he did enter the house, no doubt to make certain that Ethan had left with Sephira’s permission. Ethan took one last bite of his apple and tossed what remained onto Sephira’s lawn.
He was confident that he had bought himself some time, but he knew that it came at great risk. Without lying to Sephira and the others, he had given them the impression that Simon Gant was dead, murdered with every other man aboard the Graystone. He knew Sephira well enough to understand that she wouldn’t leave anything to chance; if she had been intent on finding Gant, she would now be just as intent on confirming his death. And eventually, when she learned that he had gotten away before the spell that killed his shipmates was cast, she would be furious with Ethan. It wouldn’t make any difference to her that he hadn’t actually lied. But Ethan would deal with her when the time came. In the meantime, he assumed that he had a day or two in which to find Gant and figure out why Sephira was so interested in his return to Boston.
Ethan headed back to Henry’s shop, still intent on washing up and putting on a change of clothes. Mariz’s sleep spell had left him unsure of the time, and with the sky still clouded over, he couldn’t fix the position of the sun. But as he neared the streets that lay closest to Boston’s southern wharves, he saw that there were still plenty of people abroad in the city. It couldn’t have been too late in the afternoon.
He cut through the heart of the South End and soon turned the corner onto Cooper’s Alley. As he did, he spotted a lone figure lurking in the byway next to Dall’s cooperage. Even from a distance, Ethan recognized the man. He was slight and young, with the face of a lad half his age, but he wore the long black vestments and stiff white cravat of a minister. Trevor Pell.