Saffron’s mouth formed an “O,” her eyes widening to match.
“He mentioned that it’s been rather popular recently,” he found himself adding.
“I thought the same thing. I noticed that the plant had been trimmed, which suggests that someone had taken some of it. Other than me, of course.” Her words rushed out, but the sudden glimmer of excitement faded as her face flushed. “But you had plants to examine, you said. What exactly did you need to find?”
Alexander accepted her subject change, even if he didn’t understand it. She was clearly eager for more information for her so-called investigation. “I was just looking to see if I spotted any bipinnate leaves, as Dr. Miller has requested several specimens with such leaves. I’d like to be able to differentiate features easily.”
Saffron nodded. “Well, there are some around. Which do you think meet the definition?”
Alexander examined some plants in the section nearest to where they stood, pointing out the ones he could clearly tell were palmate, as their leaves radiated from a central point. Once he reached a brilliant green fern, however, he looked back to Saffron. “These leaves have developed along a central structure … But the leaves don’t seem to be individually attached to the stem. So … not pinnate?”
Saffron nodded with approval. “Yes, depending on the fern, it can be tricky.” She scrutinized its long leaves. “Polypodium chionolepis, from Ecuador, I believe. One of Dr. Maxwell’s. Do you see how the lobes don’t quite touch the rachis? That’s the word for the stem, since this is a frond. You’re quite right. The word for this is ‘pinnatifid.’”
Saffron enthusiastically took him through each unfamiliar term and showed him an example of each in the plants present. They zigzagged back and forth between the greenhouses, Saffron sketching little drawings of leaf shapes and diagrams of flowers in Alexander’s notebook. Sweat dotted his brow, and both he and Saffron shed their jackets as they explored. Saffron insisted he find an example each time she taught him a new term, so the half hour he’d intended in the greenhouses stretched into an hour.
Alexander mused that his experience in Dr. Thomas Everleigh’s class was poor preparation for class with his daughter. Though it was frustrating, and a little embarrassing, to be so thoroughly made aware of his ineptitude in botany, it was nice to know that it would only matter for a brief time and then perhaps never again. He could remember an extra fifty terms for a few months. He said as much to Saffron, who laughed.
“Oh, woe betide the man who improves his vocabulary!” Saffron’s eyes gleamed in the fading light. “This is information you can use the rest of your life, Alexander. Wouldn’t you like to know what sort of plants are growing around you? Their structures tell a story just as those of an animal or bacteria does.”
They paused at a connecting door with a faded “Five” nearly obscured by a tangle of leaves and tiny purple flowers.
“Anything interesting in there?” Alexander asked.
Saffron’s smile tightened. “Not really. Not much is planted in that greenhouse.”
“The infamous xolotl doesn’t rate?” Alexander gave her a sidelong glance.
“Well, I didn’t …”
The way her eyes avoided his suggested she was either afraid of the plant now, or she was afraid he would treat her as he did yesterday. He doubted it was the plant, considering she’d not shied away from any plant she’d described as poisonous during their tour.
“I’d like to see it,” Alexander said, offering an olive branch.
Saffron opened the door. The air was still heavy with moisture, but without the thick, floral scents of the other greenhouses. Here, it smelled more of dirt than anything else. A handful of sad-looking palms in decorative pots were clustered in one corner, as if the caretakers of other campus buildings had simply dumped unhappy plants there. The garden beds were dark with unused soil, and dirt and humidity clouded the glass panes of the walls and roof. Along the back wall, however, towered a lattice of yellow. That venomous color sprawled across the wall, reaching up to the ceiling. The leaves looked razor-sharp.
“What can you tell me about it?” Alexander asked, more out of curiosity than politeness.
Saffron spent a few minutes describing Dr. Maxwell’s travels into the jungles of Lacandón in southern Mexico. When she mentioned the Mayan god of lightning, Alexander couldn’t help but smile.
“Named for the blue lines, I suppose?” he asked.
Saffron frowned, her hand straying to her neck. “I would guess more for the sensation it causes. I’ve never been electrocuted, but the feeling …” She smiled slightly and shook her head. “Have you heard anything about Mrs. Henry’s condition?”
“I haven’t,” Alexander replied. “I haven’t seen the police around campus either.”
Saffron gazed at the xolotl, biting her lip. “I suppose if you haven’t heard anything, the expedition is to go forward after all.”
“What do you mean?”
Saffron turned to walk back to the doorway into greenhouse four. “Without Dr. Henry. He certainly can’t go to Brazil when his wife is lying in hospital. Even if she wasn’t still in a coma, he must be one of the main suspects. Surely, Inspector Green wouldn’t let him leave for six months!” She let out a gasp, stopping him with a hand on his arm. Her wide eyes met his. “But of course! This is the ideal opportunity to get away, isn’t it? I’d bet you anything that the poisoner is a member of the expedition team. They frame Dr. Maxwell so the expedition is allowed to move forward, they lay low until the team arrives in Brazil, then they disappear.”
“It would be a good way to disappear,” Alexander said slowly, “but they’ve left rather a long time before the ship sails. Two weeks is a long time to linger with the police investigating.”
Saffron tapped a finger on her chin. “The party was two weeks out, and there were so many people there. The poisoner likely hopes he’ll be lost in the crowd of suspects. As we’ve seen with Dr. Maxwell, it would be very easy to frame someone else and then just wait it out before slipping away.”
Unable to argue with Saffron’s logic, Alexander merely nodded. She was probably right. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. After all, he would be traveling with team. But by then, no doubt this would all be over, and the poisoner would be on the way to prison. He was surprised he hadn’t considered that sooner. But his mind had been on other things, like the woman next to him.
They made their way back to the steaming air of greenhouse one. The light had faded from the sky, leaving the air cooler but still heavy with moisture and scent. By the time they returned to the worktable by the door, Alexander had made up his mind.
