Highlander Assassinated (Highlander In Time #16)

Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

T ensions only increased once they were inside the Manor, however. Lord Codlington and his little posse of fellow Englishmen had retreated to sulk in a little cluster — Lord Weatherby was doing his best to ignore the vibe, but Lissa could tell that it couldn’t have been easy for him to have dealt with the situation alone for the past week. Codlington made more than a few loud, pointed comments about how unwise he thought it was to allow the ‘uncivilized’ Scotsmen free reign to set up camp on the grounds, or to invite the MacClarans into the manor at such a crucial point in proceedings.

“But Lord Codlington, my dear man, that’s precisely why I wanted them here in the first place,” Weatherby said breezily, taking a seat at the head of the dining table and encouraging the others to join him. Lissa sat down, already wary about being served food in this place. Servants quickly hurried out of the kitchens and set about serving them, and she looked cautiously down at the cup she’d been poured. It didn’t smell bitter — then again, she wasn’t exactly familiar with what tea smelled like without strychnine. She found herself glancing up at Sir Baldric, who was standing by Weatherby’s right shoulder — his gaze met hers, and he gave her a barely perceptible nod. That would have to be enough, she thought, taking a sip of her tea. Beside her, Amelia did the same. Codlington was sitting across the table from them, clearly doing everything in his power to unnerve them with a hard-eyed stare. Lissa and Amelia stared blandly back. After years in the army getting stared down by drill sergeants, Codlington would have had better luck trying to intimidate a brick wall, and it wasn’t long before he returned his attention to trying to persuade Weatherby to eject the visitors from the manor.

“They’re here for the inquest, Edward,” Lord Weatherby kept saying. The breezy confidence was a front, Lissa could tell — there was real fear hiding behind that show of force. Understandable, too, given that he was looking at a man who’d very recently tried to have him poisoned. “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. Amelia here — Mrs. MacClaran, I should say, with my congratulations! Mrs. MacClaran was in the carriage with poor Lord Taffington just moments before his death — and it was her good husband Hamish MacClaran who ensured that she didn’t join him in his tragic fate. Their testimony will be vital to the inquest.”

“The question of what is and isn’t vital to the inquest doesn’t lie with you, Weatherby,” Codlington snapped. But it was clear he didn’t have any room to maneuver here — not with Lord Weatherby alive and well, at any rate.

“And how is the inquest proceeding?” Laird Donal asked.

“That’s no concern of yours,” Codlington snarled.

But Lord Weatherby held up a hand to silence him.

“You’ll have to forgive Lord Codlington. The inquest has been slow to get underway, I’m afraid. First there were a few disagreements regarding witnesses, and then of course there was my sudden illness. Poor Lord Codlington was about to proceed with the whole inquest without me, isn’t that right, Baldric? But thankfully I’m fit as a fiddle again today — and the problem with the witnesses is all cleared up, too!”

“A very fortunate day,” Laird Donal said, smiling pleasantly.

Lissa couldn’t help but grin, too, though it wasn’t Lord Weatherby she was looking at — it was the reddening face of Codlington, who was gripping the teacup in his hands so tightly that it looked like it was about to crack.

It was Saturday, so it was agreed by all present that the inquest would begin in earnest on Monday. As much as Lissa wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of staying in this manor, especially given that there was a poisoner somewhere in the building, she knew it offered a valuable opportunity to have a good look around the place, maybe even conduct a few interviews with the staff to see if anyone had noticed anything suspicious. Strychnine didn’t just get into someone’s food without at least some shady conduct taking place. And she’d been right about one thing. The English contingent, as hostile as they were toward Lissa, clearly didn’t have the faintest suspicion that she was anything other than Niall’s wife — they’d barely even had to explain that much, the men’s eyes simply flicking disinterestedly away from her as soon as they’d ascertained that she was Niall’s property. Blatant sexism aside, she was pleased to know she didn’t have to worry about them keeping too close an eye on her. And sure enough, when she emerged from the room later that evening to begin her inquiries, not one of the Englishmen gave her so much as a second glance when she moved past them. They were slightly more suspicious of Amelia, who after all had been involved in what had happened to Taffington — but as far as Lissa was concerned, they didn’t suspect a thing.

Perfect. Grinning to herself, Lissa slipped into the kitchens to start asking questions. Nothing suspicious about a woman going into the kitchens, right? If she was questioned, she had an airtight alibi. As she’d expected, there was an air of tightly controlled chaos in the kitchen, and she quickly identified the most stressed-looking woman in the room as being the one who was in charge. She’d barely opened her mouth to offer her help with dinner before the woman was pressing cutlery into her hands.

“You’re a blessing, lass, I’ll be mentioning you in my prayers tomorrow morning,” the headwoman said in a rush. “Five extra places for dinner, they tell us, not your fault of course, dearie, but with the English delegation staying so long we’ve been under the pump as it is, and them only bringing one pair of spare hands to make up for the work — not that she’s any use whatsoever, don’t tell her I said that, of course, she’s a well-meaning soul, but she’s slow as anything, but listen to me nattering on when there’s the roast to deal with still —”

And with that, the woman was gone, leaving Lissa with a knife in her hand and a very unclear set of instructions. Still, she wasn’t actually here to help with dinner, was she? And the headwoman had mentioned a point of particular interest. She asked a few of the slightly less hysterical staff who the girl was that Codlington and his men had brought with them, and they quickly pointed her to a young woman in the far corner of the kitchen, who was dreamily stirring a large pot of bubbling soup. When Lissa moved up beside her, however, her expression changed suddenly, a sharp, almost suspicious look passing over her face before she quickly returned it to neutral.

“Sorry, I don’t remember your name,” the girl said, returning her attention to the soup.

“It’s Lissa,” she said, deciding against letting the girl know that they hadn’t actually met before.

“That’s a nice name. So many people here… oh! Are you the one who’s taking out the plates to the lords and ladies?” The girl leaned in close, her watery green eyes enormous. Something told Lissa to nod in agreement, and a conspiratorial look came over the girl’s face. “Wonderful. Can you keep a secret?”

“I love secrets,” Lissa said, matching the girl’s breathless tone.

“Great.” The girl fumbled in the bodice of her dress for a moment, before withdrawing a vial clutched tightly in her fist. Lissa stared down at it, hardly believing her luck — there was a sizable amount of crystalline white powder in the vial, and she had a suspicion she knew exactly where it was going to be put. “So, I need to put this in two of the soups. One for Lord Weatherby, one for the Laird.”

“Right,” Lissa said faintly. This girl didn’t exactly look like a murderer. “Why are you doing that?”

To her surprise, the girl started giggling — a sound she quickly stifled with the hand that was holding the vial of poison, making Lissa wince. “It’s a prank! The powder will give — will give them—” She could clearly barely contain her mirth. “It will give them gas!” she choked out at last, then dissolved into unrestrained howls of laughter that drew looks of irritation, if not surprise, from the other women working in the kitchen.

“That’s great,” Lissa said, her mind racing. “I tell you what — why don’t you come with me for a moment? I have an idea to make the prank even better.”

Finding the poison was a great start — but it was pretty clear that there was a lot more to this story. And she wasn’t going to proceed without her partner at her side.