“He arrested Dr. Maxwell,” Elizabeth said slowly, her spoon making idle circles in her tea, “but not you. Maybe he was trying to get you to admit something, rather than actually accusing you.”
Saffron certainly hoped so. Though what further information she was supposed to have revealed was beyond her. She pursed her lips, looking down at the amber liquid in her cup. She really ought to have told the inspector about her experiment.
Later, when Saffron walked Alexander to the door of the flat on his way out, he asked, “Are you planning on sharing your experiment with Inspector Green?”
“I am,” she replied with more confidence than she felt. Given the inspector’s suspicions, she didn’t think it was likely to go over well. Hopefully Mr. Winters had bolstered Maxwell’s case.
“I’d like to come with you, if you don’t mind,” Alexander said. “I don’t think he’ll take too kindly to one of his suspects offering up evidence she created herself. I was there, I can corroborate.”
A smile tugged on her lips, even if his words did make her a little anxious for the conversation with Inspector Green. “I’ll feel much better about seeing the inspector with you along. Thank you for helping me. And Dr. Maxwell.”
They paused before the front door. Alexander looked uncharacteristically uneasy. “Saffron, I know that you’re determined to help Dr. Maxwell, but you need to consider that he might be guilty.”
“You can’t be serious,” Saffron said, shocked. “I’ve already told you that he couldn’t have done it. You watched me prove xolotl wasn’t the poison.”
“I am serious,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to believe him guilty any more than you do, but you must consider that he could have done it using another poison. Or that the police will find enough evidence to be convinced that it is him.”
Saffron hoped for a hint of disbelief in his expression. There was none. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Henry told me what Dr. Maxwell said when they argued. Maxwell apparently told him that he’d regret not having someone versed in poisonous plants on the trip because Henry was too idiotic to see a poison when it was right before him.”
Saffron’s breath caught. “No!”
Alexander looked down at her with a grim expression. “It’s incriminating, especially combined with a motive and convenient materials. I don’t want you to get your hopes up that your experiment will be enough to save Dr. Maxwell.”
CHAPTER 12
Outside the police station the next day, Saffron shifted from foot to foot. Peering down the street, she saw nothing more than mid-morning traffic. She fidgeted with her hair, in a different style today, parted in the middle, with curls tucked up to resemble a bob, rather than her usual waves and coiled bun. Although she dismissed it as silly, Elizabeth’s suggestion to wear different lipstick and her hair in another style so as not to be recognized as Dr. Maxwell’s “niece” wasn’t a terrible idea. She didn’t need Inspector Green being reminded she had been caught in a lie before.
Relief steadied her pulse as she saw Alexander, looking harassed, walking quickly down the street toward her. He muttered an apology and led her inside the police station. He spoke to the sergeant at the desk, a different man from last time, who didn’t look twice at Saffron, and then they sat on the hard wooden bench and waited.
“Alexander,” Saffron whispered, fingers twisting the fingertips of her gloves. “I should tell you, last time I was here, I pretended to be Dr. Maxwell’s niece.”
He nodded, expression unchanging. “I see.”
“And Inspector Green thinks we are involved beyond what our working relationship requires,” she added, cheeks heating.
Alexander frowned. “All right.”
Saffron shot him a dubious look. “All right?I’ve just told you I lied to the police, and they think that we’re … well, they think that you can’t be trusted to be objective when I’m involved. We’re about to give evidence to them!”
Alexander looked sideways at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “We can’t do anything about it now. Just don’t bring it up. Plus, I see that you’ve adopted a disguise. No one will recognize you as the false niece.”
They waited for ten minutes before Inspector Green marched through the doors with a small paper bag from which was emanating a scent of bread, asked the sergeant for updates, then turned with a frown to his guests in the visitors’ chairs.
“Good morning, Inspector,” Saffron said brightly, her nervousness dissipating at the amusing prospect of the inspector’s breakfast. “Please, don’t allow us to keep you. We are happy to wait.”
“Thank you,” he said curtly, and marched on into the din of shuffling bodies and paper.
They were shown into the inspector’s office a few minutes later, where the warm scent of bread had disappeared into the musty miasma of the station. The small room was as neat as Alexander’s office, though stuffed to the gills with files. They were organized with precision on his desk, and numerous filing cabinets covered the dark paneling on the walls. The paint had probably once been white, but now looked gray in the dim light from the frosted window behind the inspector’s desk. When they sat in a pair of rickety chairs, Saffron looked expectantly at Alexander.
“Inspector Green,” he began, “Miss Everleigh and I have some evidence regarding the poisoning of Mrs. Henry.”
The inspector opened his notebook and poised his pen at the top of a page. “Go on.”
Alexander took a deep breath and began. “Miss Everleigh and I had some thoughts regarding the suspected use of the xolotl plant. Dr. Maxwell was responsible for the plant originally, but since he returned from his travels with a cutting some years ago, it has lived in the greenhouses at the university, where nearly anyone could get some. I myself went into the greenhouses with no trouble the other day, although I’m not a member of the botany department. The caretaker mentioned that several people had recently shown an interest in the plant.”
Here he paused, giving the inspector an opportunity to interrupt. He didn’t, but merely looked back at Alexander.
