Breathing Space (Ellis McFadden Mysteries #1)

Chapter 32

“ A t least, I have a pretty good idea of what went down.” I took another breath. Nervous electricity zipped through me, brought on by the dark excitement of this new realization. “First, can you bring up that last video file of Andrew’s from the pin drive?”

The vuum finished the living area and headed for the bedroom and office.

“Sure.” Frank reached for his tablet. “Hang on.” With a few taps on the screen, he had it. He pressed Play, and we watched it again. I focused on the glass vial. That had to be it. The key to everything.

“Get what you needed?” Frank asked.

“Yes. One more thing. Remember when you told me you’d had to fix a vuum that had glass in it?”

“I do.”

“Is there any way to tell what deck that vuum had been on? Whose quarters it had been in?”

“Sure. It’ll take me a minute or two, but all repairs are logged, so I can find that notation, then see the vuum’s route.”

“Do it. Please.”

He went back to work on his tablet. I took a cookie and dunked it in my coffee. I’d just finished the last bite when Frank looked at me, his eyes slightly rounded. “That vuum was on Woolsey’s deck, the same evening he died. But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“I suspected. The night I went to drop off that book, a vuum came out of his quarters as I was ringing his bell and thinking he wasn’t home.”

Frank’s brows bent. “You think someone used the vuum to murder him?”

“No. I think the vuum did that all on its own.”

“Hold on, now. Yes, they are powered by AI, but they aren’t killers.”

I smiled. “I don’t mean it did anything with intent. Here’s what I think happened. Andrew had the vial full of tincture in his quarters. We know that because the video proves it. He took it out to the table with him and was going to celebrate what he thought was sure to be his success, about to pour himself a glass of his favorite whiskey.”

“You saw the glass and bottle were on the table.”

“Right. But not the tincture vial. I believe he had it with him. Maybe he was admiring it. Maybe he was about to take it to the lab. We’ll never know. But suppose he set the vial on the table to pour his drink, the vuum ran into the dining table, knocked the vial off, then ran over the vial and broke it.

“The liquid seeped out, vaporized in some way, and Andrew inhaled the poisonous fumes.” I held up my finger. “There was a dark stain on the rug near the table.”

“Should still be there, then.”

“I’d imagine it would be. After he inhaled the fumes, he must have gotten up and staggered around. He fell, hitting that end table and knocking it over, which is where he got the contusion on his temple. The shape of which, I want to add, matches the curved corner of the end table.”

A hint of a smile played on Frank’s mouth. “Go on.”

“He managed to make it into the bedroom, where he passed out on the bed and died. The vuum finished its route, sucking up all the fragments of glass, and left. That’s when I came in, and the rest you know.”

Frank’s jaw worked. “So no one actually killed him. It was an accident.”

“You think that all sounds plausible then?”

“I do. And it’s provable. The rug can be tested. If that stain is aconitum orbexilum tincture, it’ll go a long way toward your theory. Also explains why Gina didn’t get rid of those plants. She didn’t kill him. She might have been hanging on to them because they were her last link to him and not in spite of.”

“I need to turn all of this information over to the ASF, but I’d rather tell my daughter about it first.”

“That’s a good idea. Do you want me to send you this video so you can?—”

“I’d rather you just go with me. Would you?” It wasn’t the way I’d wanted them to meet, but needs must.

“Of course.”

“Right now?”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

“She’s usually in her office on Saturday afternoons.”

“Lead the way.”

We left Gracie and Harry, who were both napping, and went to Deck 40, the heart of the starliner’s military presence. I was still nervous. Not about seeing Hazel, not about introducing Frank to her, none of that. I was nervous that I might be wrong and end up making the ASF take an even harder look at me.

Outside her office, I touched the lockscreen to announce my presence. The door opened a moment later, and we went in.

Hazel’s administrative assistant, Ensign Bartholomew Gibson, was off today. Hazel rarely called him in on weekends unless there was something urgent to be attended to.

The inner office door opened, and she stepped out in full uniform despite it technically being her day off. She almost never took Saturdays off. “Mom. What are you doing here? Everything all right? This isn’t about the spa appointment, is it?”

“No.” I took a breath without any real confidence. “I’m sorry to interrupt you. I know you’re busy, but I think Frank and I have worked out how Andrew Woolsey died, and I wanted to share it with you before we went to the ASF.” I tipped my head toward Frank. “This is Frank Kitson, by the way.”

Hazel approached, hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

Hazel gave him a quick once-over. “I hear you and my mother have been spending time together?”

Feeling defensive, I interrupted. “We went to the botanical gardens today and had lunch at Bloom.”

Hazel’s brows rose delicately. “That sounds like a nice day.”

“It was,” Frank said. “Your mother is wonderful company.”

“Yes, she is,” Hazel said, making me smile. “Why don’t you come into my office and tell me what you’ve found out.”

We followed her in. She closed the door as we took seats, then went behind her desk, settled into her chair, turned off her screens, and focused on us. “All right. How did Andrew Woolsey die?”

With Frank’s help, I explained everything that had happened. And I mean everything. From Harry getting into Andrew’s quarters and finding the pin drive, to the aconitum orbexilum growing in the gardens. I told her about the affair I thought was going on between Andrew and Gina, citing the perfume and the plants as my evidence, and Frank told her about repairing the vuum with the glass in it. We brought up the contusion on Andrew’s temple and how it fit the curve of his side table, and how we believed he’d smuggled the aconitum seeds on board from Morphae. I even told her about the plant sample I’d found.

Hazel listened quietly until we were done, then she asked a few questions for clarification purposes. Finally, she interlaced her fingers and set her hands on the desk before her. For a long moment, she said nothing.

“You broke rules getting a lot of that information.”

I lifted my chin. I’d been prepared for this. “The ASF have the pin drive. And they were looking at me as a suspect. I had to do something to clear my name.”

“That part is very much you.” The corner of Hazel’s mouth twitched. “You’ve never been one to let things be.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I solved this case.”

Somewhat reluctantly, I felt, Hazel nodded. “So you did. Tests will have to be done to see if it’s possible for the tincture to act in the manner you described when released from its vial. I don’t know about that part.”

Frank cleared his throat softly. “If I may?”

“Go on,” Hazel said.

“I’ve been thinking about that since Ellis mentioned it to me, and I believe it’s possible that the proteins in the rug may have caused a reaction with the tincture.”

“Proteins?” Hazel asked.

“The Sha’rossi rug is silk, which contains proteins because it is essentially an animal byproduct. Some spider silk contains as many as eighteen different kinds of proteins.” He sat back. “Hard to say what the silk in that rug and the chemicals in that tincture could do when combined, but it’s highly likely there was a reaction that could have released noxious particles into the air. Obviously, they were short-lived, or your mother would have suffered the effects when she entered some minutes later.”

Hazel’s eyes narrowed, and she gave a little nod. “That’s very interesting. It’ll have to be researched. Tested. But it sounds like you might have figured it out. Good job, Mom. And Frank.”

I exhaled. “Thank you.”

Hazel rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. “You’re going to share all this with the ASF?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Tell them … you had my permission to investigate as you did. If they give you any grief.”

I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that. I don’t want you to get into any trouble.”

“I won’t get into any trouble. I outrank the ASF.” She smiled. “Let me know what they say, all right?”

“I will. Thanks, honey.”

“You’re welcome. Nice to meet you, Frank.”

“You, too, ma’am.”

I stretched my hand out toward her. “Oh, Hazel, one more thing. Do you have any sway over the housing lottery?”

Her gaze took on a suspicious gleam. “Woolsey’s apartment is the same size as yours, Mom.”

I frowned at her. “I’m not asking for myself. I just think it would be nice if Andrew’s brother, Scotty, got that apartment. Andrew paid for it, and Scotty seems to be his nearest relative, at least on board. Just seems fair. That’s all.”

Hazel nodded slowly. “I’ll let the lottery committee know.”

We left so Hazel could get back to work. As we headed toward the elevators that would take us to the ASF headquarters, Frank took my hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Your daughter is all right.”

“Yes, she is.”

He looked at me. “Not that I expected anything less with a mother like you.”