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Gray still moves to the shelves and begins surveying the jars. When I look his way, he nods, telling me to continue taking the lead in the questioning.
“You sell contraceptives,” I say.
Her brow furrows.
“Methods of preventing pregnancy.”
“I do.” She pauses and meets my gaze. “Is that a concern?”
“Depends on what you’re supplying and how effective it is, and how effective your clientsthinkit is. However, that’s a personal opinion with no bearing on the present investigation.”
“Except that a personal opinion may affect a professional one. You are concerned that I might be selling a useless assortment of herbs and misleading women into thinking they are protected. I can assure you that my methods are more effective than…”
She trails off and looks at Gray. “Would you prefer to step out for this conversation? I know it can make men uncomfortable.”
“I am a doctor, and it is, to me, a medical concern. It is also a societal one, as I do not believe any woman should have a child she is not prepared to raise.”
“So you practice methods of protection yourself, I hope.”
He blinks, and then his eyes narrow, as he realizes she’s baiting him, testing his assertion that he is comfortable with it.
She continues, “Do not tell me that you are unmarried and therefore do not need such things, or I will be offended that you should think me such a stupid woman.”
He only looks at her.
“Not coitus interruptus, I hope,” she says. “I know anal penetration is fashionable, and perhaps the most effective—”
“Male shields,” he says quickly.
“Good ones?”
More eye narrowing. “The best.”
“Oh, I can assure you whatever you use isnotthe best. I have the best, which I would happily give you to sample—”
“No, thank you,” he says.
She turns back to me. “Whatever I sell, it is better than coitus interruptus, but worse than male shields, which as I said, I also sell, for those women fortunate enough to have lovers as considerate as Dr. Gray. That is the problem, and if you are not yet of an age to have discovered the delights of the bedchamber, Miss Mallory, then I warn you in advance. A man will say he has taken care of it. He may even show you a shield. But they can be true magicians at making such things disappear at the last moment.”
“Since I’m the one who’d suffer the consequences, I’m the one who shoulders the responsibility.”
“In this and in most things, yes? Do not rely on a man—particularly one caught in the heat of passion—to make the correct choice, not when he may decide he will enjoy it more without a shield on his—”
Gray clears his throat.
“All right, Dr. Gray. I will cease needling you. You have done remarkably well at tolerating this conversation, and I will reward you with a package of my shields when you leave.”
“I do not need—”
“Too bad. They are yours.”
I draw her attention back to me. “The reason I’m asking about contra—methods of preventing pregnancy is that we have three women who have been accused of poisoning their husbands. Three women who come from very different backgrounds, and so I’ve been racking my brain to think of how they might be connected. What service might all three use? One that Lady Leslie might prefer to access herself, rather than sending a servant.”
“I applaud your thinking, Miss Mallory. I will not deny that my customers come from all parts of the city. However, your theory would mean I provided poison rather than methods of preventing pregnancy, which takes us back to my original denial.”
“I’m not saying you gave them the poison. I’m saying that’s how they could be connected. Possibly one approached you for such a thing, and you refused her. Possibly someone else overheard and sent her another way.”
“One of my employees.”
