Page 60 of A Fearless Heart
When Martha left, Cady shut the door and groaned. “Ugh, I hate Thursdays. You think that by limiting the gawkers to one day a week, I’d feel better. But I just keeping counting the days till the next Thursday.”
“Is it that bad? I mean, the people living here in the village are still coming to you.” Gabe moved away from the wall and rejoined her at the marble worktable.
“Ah, but they don’t come by choice. They come because the vicar’s wife wants to prove that I’m nothing to be afraid of. But I suspect she’s only doing that because she’s worried that the church and parish will lose the annual donations from the Lords Calder.” She sighed. “I hope the issue of the title is resolved soon. I don’t care which way they decide, but it’s difficult to live with the not knowing.”
He had the urge to comfort her, but resisted. One kind of comfort tended to turn into another, and they had work to do.
Hours passed. Lunch was devoured. At one point, as Gabe was leafing through one of the gardening journals, he paused on seeing something familiar. “Ambrose Addison,New cultivars of wild rose with stronger stems. Is this your friend? The same Mr Addison?”
“Oh, yes. I remember that article. He was so proud.”
“Of being published?”
“Oh, no. He’s had lots of little things published over the years, always on his own developments. He was proud of those stems! Said it took him six years to get the right result. I often wished he’d apply his skills to more practical issues.”
Gabe sighed and kept scanning the journal’s contents. Then something caught his eye. “There’s a mention of baneberry in this one!”
Cady leaned over, snatching the journal from him. “Oh, yes, I remember it now. Hmm, longer ago than I thought! Was it really four years ago? The first known specimen, taken to the royal gardens. Mention of the danger of the berries. The story about M. Lalacon, who was the first to synthesize clephobine. The origin of the name: fear-stealer.Kleptoandphobiafrom the Greek, of course. The ‘ine’ suffix is used for most chemical solutions. But since Lalacon was French, he changed the K to a C. They don’t like k’s across the Channel, for some reason. Yes, it was this article that made me ask my colleague in Boston to send me a few specimens.” She put down the journal. “But those specimens at the royal gardens died.”
“That must have been why Parrish was looking for other places where it was growing. That’s where he found the name of your estate.”
Cady shook her head, looking puzzled. “That reminds me. I was thinking about your friend’s death.”
“What about it?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, speaking as though picturing something in her mind. “There’s something not quite right about it.”
“What, exactly?” Gabe was interested in this line of thought. “What bothers you?”
“He wrote a single word.”
“Calderwood. He probably didn’t have time for more.”
“But…that’s so roundabout. Why not write the name of the person who gave him the drug?”
“Maybe he didn’t know who actually put it in his drink,” Gabe said. “It can take a while before the effects start to appear, and any number of people might have been able to do it.”
“But if you’re dying, and you know you’re dying, wouldn’t you call for help? Try to save yourself? Not jot down a random fact.”
“Perhaps in his mind, it wasn’t random. I mean, we can’t know the state he was in. From what I understand, the early phases of poisoning look like drunkenness. Maybe people around him just thought he’d had one too many.”
Cady frowned. “No. It’s just…I can’t picture it happening like that. I still think there’s something we’re not seeing.”
“Yes, the identity of the killer.” He shoved the stacks of journals to one side. “We need to think of another angle. We’ll never know exactly where all the baneberry is growing in England. So let’s focus on the product instead. Someone used clephobine to kill. They must have bought it from a supplier. So let’s think about who knows how to make the refined chemical. This Frenchman who first did it obviously can.”
“No, he passed away last year. There was a mention of it inThe Journal of the International Society of Chemistry.”
Why did every lead he came up with have to shrivel up and die so fast? “Let’s stay closer to home, then. You’ve successfully made clephobine before. When you got rid of the batch of clephobine made here, exactly how did you do it?”
Cady’s eyes were huge, and spots of red appeared high on her cheeks. “I…I’d rather not say.”
“I’d rather not have to ask. The fact that you won’t tell me doesn’t bode well. So let’s hear it, with detail.”
“Why? I’m quite certain that none of what I produced was used to hurt anyone. I told you, as soon as I recognized the danger, I got it as far away as possible.”
“Got it away? So you didn’t destroy it.”
“No! I mean, yes. I mean, you’re confusing me.”
