But perhaps June wasn’t that smart? Or maybe she simply hadn’t had the chance yet. This had only happened last night, after all…
“Search her room,” Gantalla suggested. “If she was involved with the purple cap mushrooms, maybe she’d still have some left? And if not,” she added, not wanting to get any of June’s supporters offside, “then there’s not much else we can do and there’s no reason to continue suspecting June.”
“We should search Helen and Liatra’s rooms as well,” Nanta said. “Just for the sake of thoroughness.” It was interesting that no one suggested they search the warriors’ rooms. But Gantalla wasn’t willing to even mention that particular idea. She’d upset enough people already.
Doctor Samuel cringed, but he nodded. “Go and fetch Captain Leefe,” he told Nanta. “If anyone’s going to search their rooms, it should be him. And for all that I’d like to know how this happened, I honestly hope we don’t find anything. If it’s true, this would be an enormous tragedy for the town.” Nanta nodded and left the room, leaving the rest of them feeling subdued.
◊ ◊ ◊
Once the captain arrived – after an extended wait, given how busy he was – Samuel called everyone together, including Nalyx, Calium, Helen and June and announced the plan. “For the sake of impartiality, I’m asking Captain Leefe to conduct the search. This is a serious accusation and I don’t want there to be any doubts about the outcome.”
June gaped at them all, staring about the room. “This is Gantalla’s doing, isn’t it?” she blurted out, as her gaze fell on Gantalla. “She’s jealous! When she came into town, Nalyx was all over her. Then he decided she wasn’t up to scratch and sent her off. So now she wants to get rid of both me and Liatra, so she can have him to herself. She poisoned Liatra and now she’s blaming me to get me out of the way.”
“What on earth… That makes no sense,” Doctor Samuel said, looking baffled.
“It’s true that Nalyx was spending time with Gantalla when she first arrived,” Rachael said. “I saw them together several times.” On the surface, it was a simple factual statement, but the implication was that Rachael was already taking sides.
“And I’ve had nothing to do with him in weeks,” Gantalla said, trying not to sound defensive. “Why would I suddenly decide to do something now? And besides, it would be impossible for me to have had anything to do with Liatra’s poisoning. I was here at the hospital all last night.”
“Can anyone confirm that?” Samuel asked. And Gantalla’s heart sank. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. A newcomer and a lowly nurse, against a long-running member of the town and a serving woman? People would find it far more palatable to accuse her, rather than June.
But it seemed her efforts to befriend the nurses hadn’t been in vain. “I had dinner with Gantalla last night,” Henrietta said. “We both went back to the kitchen after our shifts ended. I can vouch for her being here.”
“What time was that?” Samuel asked.
“We finished work at six o’clock. And we were having dinner until seven.”
“What time did you all begin eating?” Samuel asked Nalyx. Gantalla was heartened to see that he seemed as baffled as she was. But in this case, luck was not on her side.
“I honestly don’t know,” Nalyx said. “I wasn’t paying attention to the time. But I don’t believe that Gantalla would have had anything to do with it.” His vote of confidence was reassuring… until Gantalla remembered that he’d said much the same thing about the idea of June being involved.
“It was eight o’clock,” Calium said, butting in. “The clock tower chimed just before we started eating.”
“Where did you go after dinner?” Samuel asked Gantalla.
“I went straight to the nurses’ quarters.” They couldn’t actually be taking this idea seriously, could they?
“And did anyone else see you there?”
“I did,” Gosta suddenly spoke up, and Gantalla’s gaze swung across to the ill-tempered woman. “I slept in the nurses’ quarters last night. There’s a patient in room four who needed monitoring overnight. I was in there from half past seven until quarter to eleven. Gantalla was in the sleeping quarters the entire time. And for what it’s worth,” she went on, “she’s been an exemplary nurse ever since she arrived. I’ve never seen a trainee work as hard as she does. June’s accusations are completely unfounded.”
Gantalla gaped at the woman. Since the moment she’d started working here, Gosta had been nothing but strict and severe, checking Gantalla’s work with a scowl on her face, issuing sharp orders and never once offering her a single word of support. The sudden vote of confidence was completely unexpected.
June spluttered indignantly. “Well, okay, maybe she didn’t poison Liatra. But she’s still trying to getmeout of the way. I had nothing to do with this.”
“And if that’s the case, then there’ll be no harm in searching your room,” Captain Leefe said. “If what you say is true, then we won’t find anything, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“But I… That’s not fair!”
“Nonetheless, it is the most rational course of action.” Captain Leefe indicated the door. “Shall we?”
With sombre expressions, Helen and June headed out of the room, Doctor Samuel and the rest of the nurses filing out behind them.
The serving women – those who weren’t married, at least – had rooms in a long row behind the barracks. They were less fancy than the rooms for the warriors, but comfortable enough, and they started with Helen’s room, simply because it was the closest, at the very end of the row. To no one’s great surprise, a thorough search by Captain Leefe showed up nothing out of the ordinary.
“Moving on then,” he said, when he emerged from the room. “June? Your room is next.” They all traipsed down the row, coming to a stop outside a room with the number eight on the door. Several of the other serving women and a handful of the warriors watched them go, and Gantalla realised they must look quite the spectacle, with nearly a dozen people wandering about in a tense cluster. Leefe went inside the room and began searching June’s belongings, while June hovered nervously by the door.
“This is completely ridiculous,” she continued to protest as the search went on. “No one in their right mind would think I could have done this. Gantalla’s just poisoning all of your minds. She’s not from around here. She doesn’t know how things work. She just thinks she’s better than everyone else, so she wants someone else to take the blame for her.”
