Chapter 28
"Let's test his cup," said Alex, letting Geoff into the room and stealing it from his hands.
He was very surprised indeed to hear a sharp glissando of music as whatever was tainting the cup was neutralised by the bezoar.
"Oh, no," said Julian. "Where did you get this?"
"Off a tray one of the maids was taking to someone's room," said Geoff. "She promised there was an extra for me to take, but we'd best go intercept."
"Do you remember which maid?" asked Alex, immediately calling Smithson while James left the room, looking for someone with a tray.
"Oh, um. The stout girl, with the braids," said Geoff, drifting behind James. "Jessamine?"
"Yes, sir?" said the maid, head popping out of one of the doors.
"Don't let anyone eat!" cried Geoff, seeing her empty-handed. "The cup you gave me was poisoned, so the whole tray is evidence."
"Oh, mistress, you mustn't drink that!" said Jessamine, heading into the room with James hot on her heels.
Julian, who'd been hovering in the doorway, took himself and his bezoar to their mystery guest's doorway instead only to find Lady Applewhite staring in horror at the cup in her hand as James gently took it away from her.
James had her hold the bezoar, just in case of contamination, and then took up the whole tray. "Can you show me where the forensics techs are, Jessamine, and tell me about who you saw while you had this?"
"Oh, well, one of the ladies was coming out of Lord Chudleigh's study and nearly bumped into me, but otherwise I didn't see anyone," she said. "You don't think it was her, do you?"
"We do," said Julian, motioning for Alex and James, who locked up and followed the procession like ducklings while Applewhite had vapours.
Julian texted Lapointe that whoever had just left the office was probably guilty, and they'd had another attempt and to send up forensics again.
Lapointe texted back some frustrated emojis and explained that all four of the suspects had just left after she'd questioned them together about Lord Nonami-Finklewick.
"This is the worst," said Alex, growling. "How is she so good at hiding in plain sight?"
"Maybe she knows sleight of hand," said Julian, though he'd meant it mostly as a joke. "I mean, if she did, that would explain how no one ever sees it happen."
"We're assigning a lot of skills to one noblewoman," said Jacques, "Snake charming, sleight of hand. What's next, escape artistry?"
"I mean, if it was a hobby, it could all be the same hobby," said Alex. "Some magicians do use snakes in their acts."
"But what a weird hobby for a lady looking for a husband," said Julian.
"That assumes she is looking," said James. "I mean, I know they're all supposed to, but what if that's not what she wants?"
"Well, then it's not the engaged Miss Periwig, nor probably the romantically entangled Miss Berkelshire, unless the boyfriend is a beard," said Julian. "I suppose the two baronets are both women, so they aren't husband hunting, but they could still have strange hobbies."
"They do seem like strange women," said Alex approvingly, which got him a dry look from Jacques. "What? They're not guilty yet."
"So the only real single is Miss, what was it, Halliwell? Adelina?" said James.
"Right, Miss Adelina Halliwell, daughter of some minor Lord or other," said Alex. "To be honest, I never had much of an impression of her outside of being easily offended when questioned for murder."
"She's avoided us since," said Julian, "not that we've done a lot of socialising since the second poisoning."
"Well, third. We did get poisoned trying to be social, or I did," said Alex wryly. "So I suppose she could've been around then."
"She was in the room," said Julian. "I made a mental note. I think they all were?"
"You were a little busy at the time to be worrying about the location of the suspects," said Jacques kindly to Alex.
"Anyway, having a husband doesn't actually keep you from having weird hobbies," said Alex. "Look at us."
They all laughed at that, and some of the tension drained away. Finally, a forensic technician showed up looking rather harried and said, "I hear there's been another attempted murder?" with a tone that appended, "Seriously?" on the end of the question.
Alex shrugged. "We caught it because Dr. Geoff borrowed a poisoned cup off the tray."
"We brought something to detect and neutralise poisons," said James, showing off his bezoar. "One of them went off near the good doctor's cup, and we ran to prevent Lady Applewhite from drinking from any other tainted drinkware."
"So it might've just been the one cup?" said the man. "Oh, I'm Tobias. Scrump, that is, Tobias Scrump. I'm junior but I know my stuff."
"We believe you," said Alex. "Julian, can you figure out what the poison is or was?"
"Hm. Maybe?" Alex came over to boost him, and Julian activated his sense-enhancing bracelet. Alex could feel the flood of information swamp him momentarily before they both got a handle on things.
Julian sent his plant senses out over the tray, Alex piggybacking and lighting up the little melodies of every spell thereupon, from no-shatter to keep-warm charms. There was something on the other cups, not much but enough if someone drank it, and Julian honed his senses in, looking for the echo from a larger source inside the house and finding it.
"It's iocane pollen, from the conservatory. I don't know when she got ahold of it, but I can feel the magical connection." Julian bit his lip. "You should be able to test the plant versus the residue, I think?"
"We can, yeah. If this one can do his preservation trick, can you take me down to show me the plant?" asked Tobias, rubbing the back of his neck. "There's only four of us and a lot of evidence."
"I'll take him," volunteered James.
"We'll stay here," agreed Jacques.
"Thus speaks the Guardians, and so mote it be," said Alex mock-solemnly, getting a little smile out of Julian as he nodded.
"Thanks," said Tobias. "You're really a help."
"How are you doing, Miss Applewhite?" asked Alex, turning to where the maid was comforting the lady, and wondering briefly who was going to comfort the poor maid.
"Oh, well, it was a close call but I'm all right," she said, martialling a firm chin for their benefit. "Poor Jessamine had a fright."
"I'm all right, my lady. No one's going to look to me for it, I wasn't anywhere near the other incidents.
" Jessamine also tilted her chin up. "I'll try to remember which lady it was, but I haven't met them all.
I usually work away from the guests, making beds and cleaning rooms when no one's about. "
"Have you noticed anyone going in and out of rooms at odd times?" asked Alex.
She huffed. "So many of 'em, sir. They're always sneaking into each other's rooms, no matter what party it is, this or any other. I haven't seen anyone acting any odder than usual, though."
Alex sighed. "Oh, but what about Gallowglass? Has anyone been in that redoubtable Lady's room?"
"Only the one Lord, sir," said Jessamine. "I think he surprised her with his naked, erm, self."
Alex laughed. "That tracks," he said. "All right, thank you. Do you know where the detective is at, down in Chudleigh's office or study or whatever it is?"
She looked amused at him. "I do, yes, sir."
"Go tell her everything, she's doing the rest of the interviews. Oh, unless you think Tobias needs her?" said Alex, turning to Jacques.
Jacques shook his head. "She hasn't got any poison on her, the bezoar didn't react when Miss Johanna handed it to her."
"Oh, yes, your fancy rock," said Jessamine, handing it back to Jacques.
She curtsied to Miss Applewhite and gave Alex a cheeky wink before heading downstairs.
"Lord, um, Alex?" said Applewhite, looking uncertain now.
"Yes?" he asked, turning to the lady.
"What were you all talking about before, in the doorway?" she asked, hands going to a pocket and finding a fine handkerchief to twist nervously.
Alex tried to look genial but suspected it wasn't his forte. "Oh, we were speculating on skills the killer might need to bring off these murders."
"Oh, sorry. I thought you were talking about magic tricks," she said with a little laugh. "Some of the ladies all learned when we were girls, it was at a house party like this one for the younger set, so we were much more carefully watched. We all put on a magic show together at the end."
"Do you remember who all was in it? Or, wait, let me think," said Alex. "It couldn't have been Lady Knapweed, she's a few years older than you, right?"
"Right," she agreed. "I think Miss Halliwell, Miss Berkelshire, and definitely Miss Periwig were all involved, we're all about the same age, you know. Chuds does try to keep parties among friends, you know."
"I know," said Alex with a soft smile. "We're here as friends to Dr. Geoff, I think, since we don't know the rest of you."
"Oh, we all know," said Applewhite with a little giggle that was only slightly hysterical. "It's so sweet of you to have introduced them!"
"We were happy to do it," said Alex with a little smile. "They were both pining for something the other person could offer, I think."
"Dr. Geoff is such a charmer, too!" said Applewhite, giggling. "He's a shy one, but I sat with him once and he and your Lord Julian kept us all quite entertained."
Alex was amused at this framing of events, since Julian had been of the opinion it was Applewhite herself who had kept things lively at his table. "I'm sure he did. He's a good man, and I hope he and Chudleigh stay together despite the class differences."
"Oh, well, that," said Applewhite, making a gesture like shooing away the very idea. "It's not so strict these days, you know, especially if you're not the heir."
"Chudleigh does his duty for his family," said Alex, nodding. "I suppose not having Lucas make little Chudleighs would be more convenient for inheritance, too."
Applewhite giggled and made the gesture again. "Oh, you!"
"Are you flirting with a married lady?" asked Julian from the doorway.
"Just cheering her up a little," said Alex. "Let's go see Murielle, I've got a tidbit for her."
"I've got my plant samples, so you're all free to go," said Tobias, sounding a little more cheerful now as he squeezed into the room and headed for the tray.
Alex hadn't even done the preservation charm for how little time it had taken, so he waved Tobias on and they all left with a promise to the good lady to send up some safe tea.
"So what's this gossip?" asked Julian, as they headed downstairs once again.
Alex had never dealt with stairs so much in his life before he moved to the country, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
Still, having an entire basement for his workshop was worth the stairs.
"You can hear it with her," said Alex, once they got to the door. He knocked with his usual staccato rap of knuckles, and soon enough Thomas opened the door, revealing Jessamine still talking to Lapointe.
"Is it important?" asked Thomas.
"Yes, but not urgent," said Alex.
Julian looked a little pouty about that, but then Lapointe called out, "Go on and let them in."
"All right," agreed Thomas, stepping back so they all four filed in, with James and Jacques posting up on other side of the door so Thomas could move into the room and sit on the reading chair set up to one side of the room.
Jessamine came to the end of her tale, gesturing to them and making it sound like they'd swooped in heroically instead of in a muddled panic, which made Lapointe shoot them an amused look.
"All right, you can go," said Lapointe. "But tell one of the people in this room if you remember anything else, all right?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Jessamine, scampering out not like she was afraid, but just like she had somewhere else to be, which was likely true given how busy all the servants were right now.
"So," said Lapointe, "What's the news?"