"But what a weird hobby for a lady looking for a husband," said Julian.
"That assumes she is looking," said James. "I mean, I know they're all supposed to, but what if that's not what she wants?"
"Well, then it's not the engaged Miss Periwig, nor probably the romantically entangled Miss Berkelshire, unless the boyfriend is a beard," said Julian. "I suppose the two baronets are both women, so they aren't husband hunting, but they could still have strange hobbies."
"They do seem like strange women," said Alex approvingly, which got him a dry look from Jacques. "What? They're not guilty yet."
"So the only real single is Miss, what was it, Halliwell? Adelina?" said James.
"Right, Miss Adelina Halliwell, daughter of some minor Lord or other," said Alex. "To be honest, I never had much of an impression of her outside of being easily offended when questioned for murder."
"She's avoided us since," said Julian, "not that we've done a lot of socialising since the second poisoning."
"Well, third. We did get poisoned trying to be social, or I did," said Alex wryly. "So I suppose she could've been around then."
"She was in the room," said Julian. "I made a mental note. I think they all were?"
"You were a little busy at the time to be worrying about the location of the suspects," said Jacques kindly to Alex.
"Anyway, having a husband doesn't actually keep you from having weird hobbies," said Alex. "Look at us."
They all laughed at that, and some of the tension drained away. Finally, a forensic technician showed up looking rather harried and said, "I hear there's been another attempted murder?" with a tone that appended, "Seriously?" on the end of the question.
Alex shrugged. "We caught it because Dr. Geoff borrowed a poisoned cup off the tray."
"We brought something to detect and neutralise poisons," said James, showing off his bezoar. "One of them went off near the good doctor's cup, and we ran to prevent Lady Applewhite from drinking from any other tainted drinkware."
"So it might've just been the one cup?" said the man. "Oh, I'm Tobias. Scrump, that is, Tobias Scrump. I'm junior but I know my stuff."
"We believe you," said Alex. "Julian, can you figure out what the poison is or was?"
"Hm. Maybe?" Alex came over to boost him, and Julian activated his sense-enhancing bracelet. Alex could feel the floodof information swamp him momentarily before they both got a handle on things.
Julian sent his plant senses out over the tray, Alex piggybacking and lighting up the little melodies of every spell thereupon, from no-shatter to keep-warm charms. There was something on the other cups, not much but enough if someone drank it, and Julian honed his senses in, looking for the echo from a larger source inside the house and finding it.
"It's iocane pollen, from the conservatory. I don't know when she got ahold of it, but I can feel the magical connection." Julian bit his lip. "You should be able to test the plant versus the residue, I think?"
"We can, yeah. If this one can do his preservation trick, can you take me down to show me the plant?" asked Tobias, rubbing the back of his neck. "There's only four of us and a lot of evidence."
"I'll take him," volunteered James.
"We'll stay here," agreed Jacques.
"Thus speaks the Guardians, and so mote it be," said Alex mock-solemnly, getting a little smile out of Julian as he nodded.
"Thanks," said Tobias. "You're really a help."
"How are you doing, Miss Applewhite?" asked Alex, turning to where the maid was comforting the lady, and wondering briefly who was going to comfort the poor maid.
"Oh, well, it was a close call but I'm all right," she said, martialling a firm chin for their benefit. "Poor Jessamine had a fright."
"I'm all right, my lady. No one's going to look to me for it, I wasn't anywhere near the other incidents." Jessamine also tilted her chin up. "I'll try to remember which lady it was, but I haven't met them all. I usually work away from the guests, making beds and cleaning rooms when no one's about."
"Have you noticed anyone going in and out of rooms at odd times?" asked Alex.
She huffed. "So many of 'em, sir. They're always sneaking into each other's rooms, no matter what party it is, this or any other. I haven't seen anyone acting any odder than usual, though."
Alex sighed. "Oh, but what about Gallowglass? Has anyone been in that redoubtable Lady's room?"
