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“He shouldn’t be here, Cleo. Guest vouchers should be reserved for guests of members.”
“Your snobbery is unbecoming and not worthy of you. Harry has helped you. You should be grateful.”
“I am. And I’m not a snob.”
I barked a laugh.
“I’m not! It’s the rules. If the club manager found out someone obtained a voucher through dubious means, he’d issue less of them next time. If he found out you were behind it, then he might banish me, or Flossy. She’d be humiliated.”
I wouldn’t put it past Major Leavey to banish me, but more to stop me uncovering a secret than because I broke the rules. A secret that explained why he’d removed Rosa Rivera’s ribbon from the victim’s body.
The players from the Elms team walked past us, leading their horses. Mr. Broadman saw me and slowed his pace. He looked like he was about to say something, but his teammate urged him forward and Mr. Broadman continued on.
The gathered crowd cheered, the loudest applause of all coming from Mr. Liddicoat as he watched his cousin with pride. I searched for Miss Hessing and saw her watching her paramour from where she sat on the picnic blanket beside Flossy. Her mother was in deep conversation with a friend who’d joined them, and didn’t applaud at all. She gave no indication that she’d seen the polo players, or even intended to watch the match.
Floyd followed my gaze. “Why didn’t you invite Mother to chaperone you, instead of Horrid Hessing?”
“Mrs. Hessing is here because I thought Miss Hessing would make a good companion for Flossy while I’m investigating. Besides, Aunt Lilian looked dreadful last night. She should rest today so she’s feeling refreshed for dinner.”
We both knew no amount of rest would refresh her, however. Despite being fatigued, sleep was difficult to find. She was restless after the effects of her tonic wore off, and increasingly anxious. It was difficult to know if the anxiety was a result of her lack of sleep or a symptom of the melancholy the doctor was supposed to be treating her for. Either way, the tonic he’d prescribed had become less and less effective.
Anxiety. Restlessness. Fatigue. Listed together like that, her symptoms sounded very familiar to another list I’d heard at this very club. When cataloged alongside her other symptoms, like loss of appetite and an increasingly short fuse, a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach opened up.
All were experienced when the effects of her tonic wore off. Alone, they made me curious, but not suspicious. But when added to the symptoms she experiencedimmediatelyaftershe took the tonic—energetic, alert and hungry—the similarities between the two cases were too many to ignore.
Aunt Lilian wasn’t the only one affected by whatever ingredients were in the tonic.
Vernon Rigg-Lyon’s horse was, too.
Chapter9
Iwent to walk off but stopped when I realized I had no idea where I was going. “Where did you see Harry?” I asked Floyd.
“Skulking near the tack room.”
“Harry isn’t the sort to skulk.”
I headed to the tack room near the stables, angling my parasol so that my face couldn’t be seen by anyone passing by. I found Harry around the side. Or, rather, he found me. He stepped out from the shadows and signaled for me to join him.
“Harry, I’ve thought of something.” I peered around the corner to the stables. “On the day of the murder, Mr. Rigg-Lyon’s horse, Panther, was in one of the stalls. He was restless, unsettled, and we put it down to sensing his master’s death. Then the following day, when you and I returned here and questioned Bert and Robbie, Robbie mentioned Panther was a very fast horse, but afterward, he lost his appetite, was tired, twitchy. He showed signs of aggression, too, kicking Bert and not letting the grooms near.”
“Are you suggesting those aren’t merely Panther’s character traits?”
“They could be. But they’re also symptoms I witness every day in Aunt Lilian.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw as he took that in.
“When she takes her tonic, she’s very energetic immediately afterward. She can’t be still or quiet, and she has an enormous appetite. But once it starts to wear off, she becomes tired very quickly. She gets headaches, her muscles twitch, and she loses her appetite altogether. She hardly eats a thing.”
“That explains why she’s so thin.”
“She is also anxious and easily annoyed lately. The other day, Floyd came up behind us and she jumped when he greeted us, even though he wasn’t loud. Her scolding was excessive.”
“Are you saying Panther has been fed the same tonic as Lady Bainbridge?”
“In a larger dose, but yes. Someone has given him the tonic right before the match to make him faster. That someone is most likely his owner, Vernon Rigg-Lyon, but he might have had help from one of the grooms. Bert was assigned to Panther that day.”
“And he ran off when we asked about their argument.” Harry gazed at the stables. “What if their argument was about administering the tonic? Rigg-Lyon needed Bert to give Panther the tonic before the matches, but Bert refused. He only capitulated when Rigg-Lyon threatened to reveal his secret to the major.”
