Page 26 of A Rose of Steel
“And?”
“Long story. One I don’t want to go into now.”
“Okay then. Back to the alleged murder.”
“Not alleged. Very real. At least I think so.”
“Okay. So someone tried to poison Alex, too?”
“No,” I said. My tone said that his suggestion sounded ridiculous. But I guess I hadn’t done well so far in explaining the connection and I knew part of my irritation was him questioning me about Alex. “Some of the poison must have transferred when Alex gave Bumper mouth to mouth.”
He was quiet for a few seconds, seemingly piecing together what I’d said. “Oh. I see. He got some of what poisoned Bumper?”
“Yep.”
“What did Bumper eat? Did anyone else get some of the food? I heard it was like five hundred people there.”
“More like a hundred and fifty. No more than two hundred.” I shook my head remembering the crowd size. “I think that it wasn’t in any of the food.” I licked my lips, forming my thoughts. “Floneva said that the caterer wouldn’t let anyone eat.”
“What then, an injection?” he asked.
An injection...I mulled that suggestion over.If someone injected him with the poison, they had to be close enough to him to give him a shot. Through his clothes. And if that’s the way it happened, then how did Alex pick that up?
Then it hit me.
“It was the inhaler,” I said. “That’s how he was poisoned. It has to be.”
“Wasn’t he using the inhaler to help with his asthma?” he said.
“If I’m right, that’s what makes this so sinister,” I said. “The same thing that was supposed to save his life was the instrument of his death.”
“That is terrible.”
“Whatever kind of poison it was, it must present with the same symptoms as asthma,” I said then rattled off what they were. “Tightening of the chest. Shortness of breath. Coughing. He must’ve thought he was having an asthma attack, so he kept taking puffs.”
“But for two days?”
“Maybe at first he was really having one. I don’t know. He used his inhaler to help. But at some point, someone switched his for one that was filled with poison.”
“Who?”
“Good question,” I said. “Something we have to find out.”
“I have to find out,” Pogue said. “Me. Okay?”
“Okay.” Not sure what I said to make him defensive.
“So. Two hundred people were there. And now there’s no telling where they all are. Right?”
“I know,” I said. “It’s gonna make it really hard for you. Plus, it appears lots of people had access to his inhaler and some even carried a spare.”
“What do you mean?”
I explained to him what I had learned.
“Romaine, you are going to have to help me.”
“Help you how?” I asked. It seemed since I’d been back that had become the favorite phrase of Auntie Zanne and Pogue. But I didn’t know what he meant, because from what I understood, he’d told me to butt out.
