* * *
“I let my guard down,”Cecilia said an hour later, as she, James, and Soothcoor sat in the parlor with Lady Soothcoor.
The local magistrate had reluctantly taken charge of Dr. Lakewood, and messages had been sent to Mr. Martin.
Cecilia had washed her hands several times to remove all traces of the hot pepper on her fingers and scrubbed her mouth to remove any bits of theGloriosa Superbaplant Lakewood had ground against her teeth, trying to force-feed her the poison.
Her dress was horribly stained. The second gown she’d ruined in as many days. She’d liked the dress. She had been considering having a matching pelisse fashioned for her, one on which she could add some bits of embroidery. There would be other dresses and pelisses.
“I should have been paying better attention to my surroundings,” she said as she sipped a small glass of sherry.
“None of us expected him to be here,” James said. He looked over at Lady Soothcoor. “Is that true for you as well, my lady?”
“Yes. He said he would be in the city all day, that he had a lecture to give this afternoon.”
“I wonder what caused him to come here to steal the Kalihari away?”
“I’m certain Mr. Martin will get it from him. However, if I were to guess, it would be the climbing boy coming to us when Peasey died,” suggested James.
“Why would that matter?” Cecilia asked. “People die every day in London under some of the worse circumstances. It’s unfortunate, but a fact of life in the city.”
“And why Mr. Thornbridge wants to leave the city behind,” said James.
“Yes,” Cecilia acknowledged.
“The climbing boy knew Peasey’s wasn’t a natural death. He went for help to Daniel, and Daniel knew to bring him to Mr. Martin or us. I believe Lakewood was nearby when Peasey died. He probably wanted to learn more about how the poison worked. And remember, Daniel said the other day he’d seen the gray man in the area coming and going,” James explained.
“When the boys came to us, Lakewood probably realized we would investigate and not take that death as any death in London. And later, there was no excitement around our house as there might be if someone—like Miss Rangaswamy— died of poison. He knew something of his plan had gone wrong.”
“But what was his plan?” Soothcoor asked.
“To make medicine using the Kalihari plant. To treat people with the plant. For a profit. Sufferers like Owen and their families would pay any amount to have their suffering eased, especially during our cold, damp English winters.”
Cecilia nodded, thinking through James’s summation. “I am also wondering if there wasn’t some ego involved as well. He had a reputation of knowing poisons. With the medicine solution, he could lecture on the two aspects of many plants—poison and medicine, and how to work with a potentially lethal substance and bring it to a successful resolution.”
“He would have a reputation for broad knowledge and would be asked to lecture. When someone gets notoriety, they are in higher demand in their industry and can get higher lecture fees,” Soothcoor suggested.
“Owen willingly let him have samples of the Kalihari plant,” Cecilia said.
“But he didn’t give him any samples of the medicine derived from the plant. Kalihari is a dangerous plant to experiment with. This frustrated Lakewood. He didn’t want to take years to learn what a sample might tell him,” James said.
“We should return to London,” Cecilia said, as she set her sherry glass down on the table beside her. She frowned and picked up an ornate, oval-shaped silver box she saw sitting next to her glass.
James saw what was in her hand. He raised an eyebrow as they exchanged glances.
“Lady Soothcoor,” Cecilia said as she stared at the box sitting on her palm. “May I ask where you got this?”
“Dr. Lakewood gave it to me, but it doesn’t work.” She looked at Soothcoor. “You always enjoyed tinkering with things like this. Perhaps you can get it to work.”
Soothcoor frowned. He reached out a hand to take the box. “It looks like the Singing Bird box Owen had from his mother.”
“Oh, my,” Cecilia said, “I feel like bouncing up and down as Miss Rangaswamy would. If Dr. Lakewood had this, then this is likely the same box!”
Soothcoor looked over at her. “It was the only item missing from their luggage stored in the Waddley warehouse.,” she explained. “Miss Rangaswamy said it was Christopher’s favorite item, even though it was broken, and he slept with it every night.”
“If I can get it open, we can know for sure if it is the same music box. I worked on it years ago for Owen.”
“My lord! You never cease to amaze me,” Cecilia said.
