The engine cut out. Saffron searched the darkness for Alexander. She saw no sign of him, which was a mixed blessing. The driver wouldn’t see him, but neither could Saffron.
Gravel crunched as feet moved forward on the drive. A long silence followed. Just as Saffron moved to make for the gate, lights flared suddenly from within the house, illuminating the small lawn Saffron had just set her foot onto. She leapt back with a gasp, pressing her back to the cool stone of the building again. Her eyes searched the garden. Her partner was still nowhere to be seen.
There were no good options. She could move along the back or front of the house and pray that Berking wasn’t looking out any windows. She could make a run for it, counting on that she likely could run fast enough to not be caught, but risk being exposed.
She took the last option and sped back into the garden beds, shoving past a bush into the line of cypress trees all the way to the wall. Saffron picked her way through, suddenly grateful for the wind disguising her movements through the shrubs and trees. She made it to the end of the length of the wall and crouched to hide beneath the low hanging branches of a weeping pea shrub, whose fringed leaves tickled her face. No noise had come from the house, and with any luck she would make it to the gate and out without notice. But what if she didn’t come across Alexander? What if he’d gone to find her and was stuck in the bushes, too?
There was not a clear path along the wall. Several cypress trees hugged it to the extent that Saffron could not maneuver behind them. Just as she’d wiggled her way past the last in the line, her foot became tangled on something and she fell roughly on top of something that definitely wasn’t a shrub.
Before she could shriek out her dismay at suddenly being pulled to the ground, a hand smothered her mouth. Relief overtook her at the sight of Alexander’s dark eyes searching her face in the faint light seeping through the leaves.
“Sorry,”he mouthed. His face was partially obscured by shadow but his expression of concern was clear as day. She nodded to show she was all right.
He moved his hand from her face. They were sprawled in a small gap between the cypresses and a collection of thickly leaved bushes. His warm body was beneath hers. Saffron shuffled slightly so she lay next to him. Leaning close enough for her lips to brush his ear, she whispered, “What do we do now? Was it Berking in the car?”
Alexander inclined his head to hers, his breath warm on her cheek. “It was Berking, he went inside ten minutes ago. We’ll have to stay in the bushes until he turns off the lights or make our way like this.”
With a sigh, Saffron let her head rest on the hard ground beneath her. “I suppose crawling along the ground is not the best option.”
Alexander relaxed into the same position, and for five minutes they lay in the dark bushes, facing each other. Wind continued to batter the trees overhead in great, swirling gusts. Faint hints of blooming flowers and the deep scent of fresh soil mixed with something warm and clean, which Saffron realized must be the man laying not a foot away from her.
Was it odd that she found lying in this dark garden with Alexander a little romantic?
She forced herself to consider their next move. It seemed that there was nothing hidden in Berking’s garden but two wayward scientists. Where would they look next? Could Berking have stolen aconite from another garden? Or perhaps it was simply growing in a pot in his house. Or a friend grew it for him.
The minutes ticked on with no change in the house. Saffron was growing cold on the chilled earth. Shadows from the glow of the house swayed around in the wind. After fifteen minutes, they agreed to try to move. Alexander crawled forward through the brush with Saffron following. Before long, they reached a naked patch of dirt surrounded by large rhododendron bushes. The earth there was recently tilled.
Saffron stilled and she scanned the area. It was shaded by a broad Chinese Juniper that had littered the ground beneath with berries. On a sunny day, this area would likely receive dappled light—
A rapid shuffle in front of her brought her back to the situation at hand. Alexander had turned around—somehow managing it with so little space available for his tall form—and was crawling back to her rapidly. He moved past her with surprising agility and paused in the far corner near the base of the tree and the rhododendron. With one hand, he reached into a pocket.
The door to the house banged open. Heavy footsteps sounded across the threshold.
Saffron sucked in a breath and Alexander tensed, then raced back to her on his elbows, grasping her arm and pushing her ahead of him. They scrambled into the rhododendrons bordering the bald patch. Thorns bit into her arms and legs, grabbing at her hair. They’d just reached cover when the unmistakable sounds of the lumbering Berking crossing the lawn in their direction. They had no hope that the shadows would obscure them, not at this distance and not with the house lit up.
Saffron curled her legs up just as Alexander flattened her to the ground. Then he was next to her, his eyes locked on hers. They lay still as the sound of rustling met their ears. A torch flickered on. The rustling grew louder, a light passing just over Alexander’s face. His mouth was a line, his eyes narrowed.
Saffron’s heart pounded wildly, the urge to spring up and run away overpowering. Her fingers dug into the dirt and she forced herself to remain still. She flinched as something passed very close to her foot. Alexander took her hand. She squeezed it with the full power of her anxiety. What would they do if they were found? Berking could have them arrested, or force them into his house for questioning or send Alexander away and then she’d be alone with him—
The torch went out.
Berking’s booming voice swore, then came the clatter of him shaking the torch aggressively. “Blasted thing!”
He stomped off. Alexander and Saffron didn’t wait to hear the door open and close. Once Berking had cleared the stairs to the house, they crawled back to the gate through the bushes, catching more rhododendron thorns as they went. Alexander opened the gate as quietly as possible, and they fled.
They ran down the street and into an alleyway, far into the rubbish bins.
“You’re covered!” Saffron gasped, breathless but laughing. She was a little light-headed. She dusted leaves and dirt off Alexander’s shirt with shaking hands.
“You are, too,” Alexander chuckled, pulling a twig out of her hair. He grinned down at her. “You’ll want to look at this.”
“What is it?” Saffron asked, frowning at the long rectangle of linen Alexander passed her.
“I snatched this just before Berking came out. Is this what we were looking for?”
Saffron opened the handkerchief and squinted in the half-light of the alley down at the small, flowered stalk within. “Alexander!” She looked up at him in disbelief. “You found it!”
Saffron cradled the small shoot of aconite in her shaking hands, nearly dropping the handkerchief. Alexander met her hands with one of his, steadying it with warm pressure.
