“Thank you, yes,” Alexander said, now anxious to get away. “You’ve really saved my neck.”
“Now, don’t make it a habit!” She locked the door again and started back down the hall, imperturbable sour expression firmly back in place. “That’s twice in as many weeks that I’ve had to let someone in to Mr. Blake’s office. He’d be furious if he knew I’d let that woman in, let alone you, but I try to do what I can …”
Alexander barely heard her, hardly believing his luck. According to the forms, Dr. Henry was making unreasonable orders of supplies. That could mean one of two things: Henry was a wildly incompetent leader and possibly losing his grip, or he was doing something with the supplies. Perhaps selling them on the side or giving them away for some reason. Selling was more likely. Dr. Henry had faced pushback for this expedition and therefore had trouble funding it; maybe he was goingto stash the money for the next one. Or he was simply greedy. Either seemed possible.
Perhaps this was what he’d overheard Berking speaking about. This could be the unsavory way that Henry got his funding, not by seducing Miss Ermine, although that had apparently happened regardless. It had to be connected to the poisoning. Blake and Henry’s involvement left no doubt in his mind about it.
Saffron reached the greenhouse before Alexander. She traded out her gloves for a working pair and went to check on the saguaro cactus in greenhouse three, which had unfortunately developed more spots. Kneeling near the base, where a new dark circle marred its prickly green skin, Saffron considered telling Mr. Winters to perhaps move it to a drier area, or maybe water it less. Really, Dr. Parson should have given better instructions to the caretaker for the care of his specimen.
A pair of polished black oxfords came into view. “What seems to be the problem, Doctor?”
Saffron stood up quickly, brushing dust and dirt off her skirt. “I’m not sure. A mystery for another day, I suppose. Now, why did you want to meet in the greenhouse?”
“I thought it might be prudent to speak away from the North Wing, considering how often eavesdropping has revealed interesting information.” Alexander started through the crowd of cacti, and she followed.
“You think we might be overheard in the office?” Saffron asked, suddenly worried. They’d discussed the whole investigation in the North Wing.
He shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, especially in light of what I’ve just discovered.”
“Well, go on!”
Alexander told her about the forms as they made their way into the next greenhouse, then the next. She was pleased he’d taken the initiative to sneak into Blake’s office, and relieved that someone else was taking her ideas seriously. When they stopped in front of the wall of xolotl, he offered her several folded papers from his pocket. Saffron quickly doffed her gloves and examined them, her lips pursed in thought.
If Dr. Henry was amassing a considerable number of supplies, or made it seem like he was, there was only one explanation that made sense to her. “Embezzlement!”
Alexander gave her a searching look before tucking the papers back into his pocket. “It must be. Either he’s found a way to get the money for the supplies directly, or he’s planning to sell them off. Was the poisoning an attempt to cover it up? Perhaps Blake realized too late and was going to get in trouble for not spotting the embezzlement, so he tried to get rid of Henry as revenge?”
“Perhaps.” Saffron tapped her chin, looking hard at Alexander. “It can’t be as simple as handing in a couple of extra forms, can it? That’s far too easy.”
“I’ve no idea what other financial arrangements Henry or Blake make for the journey. But it could be extensive. Excessive equipment purchases may be only part of it.”
Saffron nodded. She had no idea what the financial side of the expedition would be like. But she was sure that few people were involved deeply enough to catch it, and that made for a perfect opportunity to scheme. “If Dr. Henry found out that Mr. Blake knew about the embezzlement, and his wife was having an affair with him,thatis a perfect motive. And Henry argued with Dr. Maxwell, who studies poisonous plants. Henry framed Maxwell!”
“Henry tried to poison Blake, but got his wife instead?” Alexander raised his eyebrows.
Satisfaction suffused through her, and her face broke into a wide smile. “I think we’ve got it, Alexander.”
Alexander was not so easily convinced. No matter how many times Saffron said she felt confident that they had solved it, he was unmoved. “It doesn’t explain the champagne. Dr. Henry poured the champagne into Mrs. Henry’s glass, not Blake’s. Furthermore, we don’t actually know how Mrs. Henry was poisoned. It might not have been the champagne. We also haven’t fit together how—or if—Berking is involved.”
Annoyed her theories were once again proven to have holes, Saffron tugged a book from her bag and set it on a nearby rolling cart. She flipped to the relevant page, a colored illustration of inky purple blooms hanging from a green stalk.
She gestured to the flowers. “Aconitum, the genus collectively and commonly known as wolfsbane. Aconite contains the toxin aconitine, which is annotated”—she unfolded the paper on which she’d copied the formula from Dr. Berking’s office and tapped on part of it—“like this.”
His dark eyes jumped up to hers, making her stomach flutter a little with his intense focus. “And this is in the formula you showed me?”
She nodded, biting her lip as she came to the bad news. “Unfortunately, aconite is very well known. It’s been used as a poison for thousands of years, and poisonings from it are still common enough as aconite is still considered a pretty addition to gardens. A doctor would likely be able to identify the symptoms and could probably find it in her blood or stomach.”
Alexander closed the book. “But that wasn’t the only thing in the formula.” He took the paper from her hands and frowned down at it. “I was never any good at chemistry.”
“Nor I,” Saffron said with a sigh. “It’s the only class I ever failed. Worse than Greek.”
Alexander let out a sudden laugh, and Saffron looked at him curiously, but he shook his head with a small smile. “I can’t make any of this out.”
“This is a preservative,” Saffron pointed out. “But that’s all I could discover this afternoon. It’s possible that the other components could alter the effects of aconitine, and so the doctors or police wouldn’t know to look for it, if this is what Mrs. Henry was given. So, what does it all mean?”
When Alexander didn’t respond, Saffron poked his shoulder. “It means Dr. Berking had something to do with the poisoning, of course!”
Alexander checked his wristwatch and glanced at the fogged door. “Saffron …” he began.
