"I wonder what this one is," said Alex, wandering closer and whistling, eyes closing as he sent out his other senses. "Hm, sounds snakey. I thought there weren't other venomous snakes in the collection?"
"We'll ask Chudleigh, maybe there's one that's less deadly?" said James dryly. "We haven't inventoried the whole collection ourselves."
"I have a list," said Lapointe. "Apparently they're all magical somehow, there's a Shadow Python, an Egyptian Bedroom Asp, which were apparently used to guard the bedrooms of Pharaohs? Anyway, also a Spiral Adder, and something called a Smooth Snake that's apparently endangered, for which he has a permit, in addition to the permit he had to get for the one that is venomous."
"It's the asp," said James with certainty. "They had non-deadly poison so that anyone they caught could be questioned later."
"Oh, I remember reading about those," said Alex. "They won't bite their owners, and can be trained to recognise other people allowed in the room, which meant the wives could train their asps to let their lovers in as well as their royal husbands."
"Well, now we just have to figure out how she's been milking them," said Julian. "Because that's still weird."
"I'm sure a background check will turn it up," said Lapointe.
Dr. Geoff came bursting into the room and knelt down, medical kit nearby. "What's the poison?" he asked.
"Bedroom Asp venom, we're fairly sure," said Alex. "It's not lethal, and we're pretty sure she self-administered to try to throw us off the scent. The rest of our cups are also poisoned now, where they weren't before her arrival."
"She must be feeling cornered," said Geoff. He didn't short her on the medical care, wiping away the foam around her mouth and making sure she was laying down comfortably. He laid a hand on her forehead and, after a moment presumably to use his magic, he nodded. "Non-fatal, and she'll wake soon."
"Good to know," said Lapointe. She nodded to Thomas, who came over to confiscate her purse and click some handcuffs on her.
"You're that sure?" asked Alex.
"She was already the front runner. A few servants remember a woman skulking around but none of them were sure of who it was, just that it was a proper lady and not one of their own or a stranger." Lapointe sighed and rubbed her head. "I can see herlogic, given that Winterson was considered no longer a suspect once she was poisoned."
"Miss Winterson almost died," said Geoff, finally sounding a little angry as he stood and closed up his case, throwing a few things into the trash. "This is uncomfortable but decidedly less permanent."
"Which is why she saved it for herself," said Alex. "She's likely to have done both snakes the same day, before anyone was suspicious of lost ladies traipsing around the house."
"She probably got the baneberry then, too," said Julian. "They're on that hallway, I think?"
Lapointe nodded. "The wreath in question was on a different door on the same hall as His Lordship's snake study."
"Oh, that sounds nice," said Alex. "An office with snakes on the walls, I mean."
Julian gave him a contemplative look and then said dryly, "It's a good thing we'd have to remodel to add snake tanks, I think."
Alex shot him a sheepish look and said, "Yeah, probably."
Chapter 30
Forensics managed to find enough evidence linking Lady Halliwell to the poisons to make the arrest stick. There had been residue of two of them in her purse, as well as a stray Chinese Lantern leaf under the bed, and some dental dams and rubber bands that could have been used to milk the snakes. She also had a number of small perfume bottles with nothing apparently in them, including one at the sink that had clearly been recently washed.
All this was enough to get her talking, once she woke up and found herself handcuffed rather than exonerated.
"You're all horrible!" she hissed. "Just like that Wicket, treating me one way and saying something else."
Alex paused for a moment, brows knit, and then said, "But surely you knew from the gossip that Wicket never made good on his flirtations?"
"I was supposed to be different!" Her voice cracked. "He was so much more intense with me than those others, but no, I was just another amusement to him!"
"All right, but then why Miss Winterson and the others?" asked Lapointe.
"She had his attention, didn't she? And everyone was fawning over her, even though she was right there and could have done it, too. She's nothing special," said Halliwell, angry and finally starting to leak a few tears.
"And us because we were investigating, I guess?" said Alex.
"You two just swanned in like you were soooo special," she said, hissing again at the end there. "Interviewing fine ladies like common criminals!"
