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She continues, “You are correct that I am going to require samples from the other victims. I presume Dr. Addington was the attending surgeon. Did he also insist they were arsenic?”
“I don’t know.”
There’s a long pause. Then she says, as gently as possible, “I know youare trying to read those accounts, Mallory, but this is more important. What can you tell me about the other poisonings?”
“Not much.”
Her voice cools. “I hope that is not because my brother forbid it. I may abhor talk of poison rings, but if we might actually have one, then I must be involved in the investigation.”
“Agreed.”
“Having been out of the country, I know nothing of these deaths. Would you please tell me whatyouknow?”
“Like I said, not much. That’s why I’m reading these.”
She hesitates and then says, “I do not believe I understand correctly. My brother brought you in on the case, did he not?”
“He needed me to go undercover last night, with Hugh in a pub. There wasn’t time for more than a quick overview of the cases. I know the second victim may have died of poisoned pudding, but before I could ask Detective McCreadie or Dr. Gray for more, things got busy—chasing down that lead, and then coming back to find Annis here. I planned to ask Dr. Gray after the autopsy, but he must have had pressing business. I figured I’d get the newspapers and see what I can find out, rather than bother him.”
“Botherhim? By asking for more than the barest of details on a case you’re working together?”
“We aren’t exactly working it together. Or, I guess we are now, but it was kind of accidental.”
“Because he needed you to play a role?” Her voice rises a notch. “The role of a bauble on Hugh’s arm? You were a theatrical prop? What the bloody hell is Duncan thinking?”
The door opens just as Isla is cursing, and Alice stops short.
Isla sighs. “I am sorry you heard me say that, Alice.”
“I have heard it before, ma’am,” she says with a small smile. “Is everything all right?”
Alice’s gaze slants my way. Catriona bullied the girl, and it’s going to be a while before she trusts that I’m not up to something with this new persona.
“Everything is fine, Alice,” Isla says. “Mallory was relating a distressing circumstance, and I was expressing outrage on her behalf.” She checks the mantel clock. “You ought to be at your lessons by now, yes?”
“Yes, ma’am. I was just finishing up.”
I rise from the desk. “Are any of my chores keeping you from your studies?”
“No, I only need to return the mop and empty the bucket.”
I start to say I’ll do it for her, but Isla waves me back into my seat. “Do that, then, Alice, and then it is upstairs for your lessons.” When she’s gone, Isla turns to me. “Now, back to my righteous outrage over my brother and Hugh’s behavior.”
“I don’t think it was Detective McCreadie.” I pause. “Er, I mean, I do not blame your brother either. Not overly much.”
She snorts. “Meaning you are trying very hard not to admit you want to throttle Duncan. I honestly do not know what he was thinking. No, that is incorrect. I know the problem, which is that he wasnotthinking.”
“I do hope you aren’t speaking about me,” Gray says as the door reopens.
“Who else, dear brother?”
His good humor fades, and his gaze slides between us. “Dare I ask what I have done?”
“Dare younotask and risk doing it again?”
“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “Isla was asking for details on the other poisonings, and I said that’s why I’m reading the papers—because we haven’t had time to discuss them.”
He frowns. “But we did, did we not? On the way to the public… No, later, as you were bandaging… No, not then either. Surely, though, at some point…” He trails off.
