by Morgana Best
I had a quick shower, washed off my make up, threw on the only bathrobe I could find, an old one of Aunt Agnes’s, and then crossed the corridor to my room. I went to the window to peep around the curtains. The lights to Barnabas’s cottage were on, but those to Lucas’s cottage were not. Was Lucas still with that woman? A sharp pang of jealousy assaulted me.
“He’s not worth worrying about,” I said aloud to myself. Maybe if I said it another few times, I would start to believe it.
At any rate, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I had thought Lucas and I were at the start of something good, but had he merely been toying with my feelings? I didn’t know for sure, but it didn’t look good. I decided to go down to the kitchen to take two Panadol and wash them down with a nice cup of tea.
I had just swallowed the Panadol and was stirring sugar into my tea when all the aunts burst into the kitchen. “Valkyrie!” Aunt Agnes said. “There you are! I banged on your door, but you didn’t answer.”
“Headache,” I said. “I just took two Panadol and I was making a cup of tea. What’s wrong?”
“Did you see anyone? Hear anyone?” Aunt Agnes asked urgently.
I started to shake my head, but that hurt, so I said, “No, not a soul. Why?”
“I think someone tried to poison me,” Aunt Agnes said. “I’ve called the police.”
“But isn’t this a matter for a Cleaner?” I asked her.
Aunt Agnes looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Perhaps, but since the police are already investigating Collier’s death, I thought it wouldn’t hurt for them to investigate this, too.”
I knew what she hadn’t said. She suspected Lucas. What other reason was there for calling the police and not leaving it to Lucas? “You said someone tried to poison you?” I prompted her.
She held up a glass, which she was gingerly holding with a tissue. I hadn’t noticed that before. “I always take a glass of water to bed,” she told me.
I walked over to look at the glass. “It looks like water to me,” I said, perplexed.
“That’s just it,” Maude said. “Someone has tried to poison Agnes with a colourless, odourless, tasteless poison.”
Aunt Agnes carefully placed the glass on the kitchen table and then waved one arm at Maude. “I hardly know if it’s tasteless or not, do I? I wasn’t silly enough to drink it.”
I was quite frustrated. “What makes you think it’s poisoned?”
Aunt Agnes rubbed her forehead. “It was by my bed when I came home. Every morning, I tip out whatever water is left and I replace it just before I go to bed. When I went into my bedroom tonight, the glass was already full.”
“And you’re sure you didn’t do it?” I asked her.
Aunt Agnes nodded vigorously. “Yes, I’m absolutely sure. The police need to test this for poison.”
“But who had access to your bedroom, to the house?” I asked her. “It must have happened while we were at the art gallery. Barnabas Butler was there.”
“He wasn’t there the whole time,” Aunt Maude pointed out. “He left about half an hour before we did. That would give him plenty of time.”
“How would he know which one was your bedroom, Aunt Agnes?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Perhaps by looking at personal papers in my drawers, who knows? This murderer is no fool. It’s obviously a member of the faction, and he or she knows what they’re doing. For all we know, the murderer might have been watching us for ages. Maybe even more than one person is involved in this.”
I shuddered at the thought of someone, a murderer, watching us. A knock on the door prevented Agnes saying any more.
She presently returned with Detective Oakes and Detective Mason. Both looked quite sleepy, and Mason was rubbing his eyes. Oakes at once directed Mason to take the glass of water to the car, and then come back. He told us all to sit at the kitchen table.
“Why do you think it’s poisoned?” he asked Aunt Agnes.
“I saw it as soon as I opened my bedroom door, when we got home tonight from the art exhibition,” she told him. “I’m absolutely certain about this. I tip it out every morning, and then wait until I go to bed to fill up the glass. Now, before you ask, I’m certain that I tipped the remains of water out this morning. Besides, I always drink at least half the glass through the night when I wake up, so even if I had forgotten to tip it out, the glass would be about one quarter full, rather than filled to the brim.”
“Well, the note did say you were next,” Oakes said, seemingly more to himself than to Agnes. “We’ll know soon enough, after it’s tested.”
“Will you be able to find out the poison?” I asked him. “Don’t you have to test for specific substances? I mean, don’t you have to know some poison names before you can test something?” I knew I wasn’t making much sense, but I was stressed and tired, and I was still upset about Lucas.
“Do you mean we need to supply the lab with specific poisons, that they just don’t test for all poisons willy-nilly?” Oakes asked me.
I nodded. “Yes, that’s what I meant to say.”
“It shouldn’t be too hard in this case,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “There can’t be too many poisons that are odourless, colourless, and tasteless. Selenium is one I can think of right off the top of my head. The lab would know the others, and like I said, there can’t be too many.”
“Agnes doesn’t know if it was tasteless because she didn’t taste it,” Maude said archly.
Oakes pulled his notepad and pen out of his pocket. “It’s common sense that it would be tasteless. Why go to the trouble of poisoning someone if they’re going to taste the poison and spit it out?”
Maude shot Agnes a smug look.
“Who had access to your house?” Oakes asked Aunt Agnes.
Aunt Agnes gestured around the table. “Only the four of us, I would think.”
Oakes looked around the walls. “Where do you keep the keys, and who has a set?”
“We all have a set of keys,” Aunt Agnes told him, “and there’s a spare set up there.” She pointed to a row of hooks at the back door, on which hung several oilskin coats and wide brimmed straw hats. She moved an old, shabby oilskin aside to reveal keys on a hook.
“Are they always hanging here?” he asked her. She nodded. “When was the last time they were off the hook?”
“Not for years,” Aunt Maude said.
The detective walked back and took his seat at the kitchen table. “Perhaps someone copied the keys. Ladies, I suggest you get your locks changed—first thing in the morning would be good. I suspect someone has had access to those keys. You probably wouldn’t have noticed them missing, given that they’re under that old oilskin. Would I be correct in saying that?”
The aunts all nodded.
Detective Mason came back into the kitchen at that point. “I’ve been all around the perimeter of the house, and there’s no sign of forced entry.”
Oakes nodded. “Yes, it’s just as I thought.” He gestured to the wall. “Anyone could have taken the keys and copied them.”
Mason walked over to Oakes. “I called one of the boys in the lab, and he said there are several poisons that are water-soluble as well as odourless, colourless and tasteless, mainly 1080, thallium, and selenium. He said arsenic salts have a slight taste. Anyway, he said we have to freeze some of that water in a hurry, because he can do a twenty-four hour turnaround on testing for 1080. He said it breaks down quickly so we need to freeze it and then get it to him.”
“I know what selenium is, and I saw thallium in an old Miss Marple movie, but what’s ten-eighty?” I asked him. “It sounds familiar.”
“1080 is a readily available poison,” Detective Oakes said with a look of disapproval on his face. “I’ve never heard of it being used in a murder or attempted murder before, though. It’s particularly nasty, and the government uses it to poison dingoes, rabbits, feral pigs, and wild dogs in the bush, in remote areas. They drop it from helicopters, and it kills a lot of wildlife as well a
s its target.”
I was horrified. “That’s terrible!”
Oakes turned his attention to Mason. “What about the other poisons? How long for those results?”
Mason shrugged. “Could be weeks.”
Oakes did not look at all pleased by the news. “Hopefully we scared the perpetrator away, but ladies, I think I should have a quick look through your house just to be on the safe side.”
Aunt Agnes looked somewhat agitated, but covered it quickly. “Thank you, that would be good.”
Oakes walked over to look at the door again. “Do these old bolts work?” Without waiting for an answer, he fiddled with the bolts. “Ladies, would you happen to have some oil? Preferably cooking oil spray?”
Aunt Maude looked through the cupboards and soon produced the requested item. After spraying the bolts and muttering to himself for a while, Oakes finally drove the bolts home. “Have you made sure all your windows are locked?”
The aunts assured him that they had checked. “Good, but make sure this door is bolted. Do you have bolts on your front door?”
Aunt Agnes nodded. “We do, but they haven’t been used in years.”
“Okay then, I’ll spray them with this oil and see if I can work them loose, and as soon as we go, I want you ladies to bolt the door behind us. Remember, someone likely has copies of your keys, so I’d like you to assure me that you will have the locks changed first thing in the morning.”
“We promise,” Aunt Agnes said, to murmurs of agreement from Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Maude.
The aunts and I stayed in the kitchen until Mason and Oakes had made the sweep of the house. Oakes returned to the kitchen and summoned us to the front door, which was being guarded by Mason. “I’ve worked these bolts loose,” Mason said, handing the spray bottle back to Aunt Agnes. “Bolt the door behind us, and don’t hesitate to phone us if you hear anything in the night.”
Aunt Agnes thanked the detectives, and bolted the door behind them. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep a wink tonight,” Aunt Dorothy said. “Do you think we could all stay up tonight and watch movies?”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Aunt Maude said.
Aunt Agnes looked doubtful. “I’m sure I won’t be able to sleep, but if we stay up all night, then we’re going to be quite tired tomorrow. I think we should try to sleep.”
“Can we all sleep on the sofas in the living room?” Aunt Dorothy said hopefully.
“I’d like to do that,” I said firmly. I did not want to go back to my room and be worried about poison attempts or be thinking about Lucas for hour after hour.
We walked into the living room and looked at the sofas, huge old musty sofas. “I don’t think there are enough,” Dorothy said.
“I don’t mind sleeping on the chaise longue,” I said, pointing to an ornate Victorian walnut chaise upholstered in an unsavoury shade of mustard yellow velvet.
Aunt Agnes looked aghast. “Valkyrie, that would be too uncomfortable.”
“I’m too scared to sleep in my own room, to be honest,” I said. My phone vibrated in my bathrobe pocket, making me jump. I took it out and looked at the text. It was from Lucas. Are you all right? I saw the police there.
I ignored the message. I saw the aunts looking at me, but I didn’t comment. I figured my face was red, because my cheeks were burning hot. It seemed Lucas was already home, so he had not spent the night at the woman’s house. Unless she was there with him.
Perhaps she was. Normally, he would have come over if he had seen the police. This time he only texted. I resisted the urge to send a rude reply.
CHAPTER 9
I had spent a rather sleepless night, partly because Victorian chaise longues weren’t meant for sleeping, and also because I couldn’t get Lucas out of my mind. I sat up and tried to massage the crick out of my neck.
I staggered, zombie-like, into the kitchen and switched on the coffee machine. Its whirring sound rallied me somewhat, offering the promise of caffeine to come. The aunts trailed after me in single file. “How did you sleep, Valkyrie?” Aunt Agnes asked me.
I looked her up and down. Her red hair had taken on a mind of its own, and was sticking out in all directions. She had slept in her clothes, and they were crumpled. “About the same as you,” I said. “I sure hope today is better than yesterday.”
Aunt Dorothy yawned widely and stretched her arms. “I could go straight back to bed.”
Aunt Maude agreed. “You and me both.”
“After I’m caffeinated, I’m going to go to my cottage and have a shower,” I told them. “Then I’ll come straight back and we can make plans.”
“You’re not going in Agnes’s old bathrobe, are you?” Aunt Dorothy’s tone was one of horror.
“What’s wrong with my old bathrobe?” Aunt Agnes asked defensively.
Her bathrobe was a monstrosity, that was for sure, but I changed the subject to stop any bickering. “The first thing we have to do this morning is get the locks changed,” I said. “Then we have to find out who was next in line to Collier, or at least find out who his lawyer is.” I stuck my cup under the machine and watched the crema form.
“I think we’re up against a brick wall this time, Valkyrie,” Aunt Agnes said. “I have absolutely no idea where to start with finding out the name of his lawyer. We can hardly call all the lawyers in the country, or the world for that matter, and ask if he was a client.”
“Surely there’s another way,” I said. “Does anyone have any ideas?”
The aunts shook their heads. “Does he have any relatives you know about?” Aunt Dorothy asked Agnes.
Agnes snorted rudely. “No, because they would be suspects, wouldn’t they, Dorothy! Of course he doesn’t have any relatives. If he had relatives, then we would be investigating those relatives.”
Dorothy looked suitably chastened.
“So you didn’t meet his family when you were dating him?” I asked Aunt Agnes.
Her face flushed red. “We weren’t dating, exactly. We were just having a good time. We just…”
I held up my hand to stop her. “Too much information. Okay, I get the drift. Surely there’s someone who would know who is next in line to Collier, or someone who knows something about him, anything!”
Aunt Agnes was silent for a moment. I assumed she was thinking it over. Finally, she spoke. “Let’s have breakfast outside today. It’s such a lovely day. Apart from that wind,” she said as an afterthought as the kitchen windows rattled.
That wasn’t the answer I had been expecting. “Okay then. I’ll just pop over to my cottage and have a shower and get dressed.”
I took off at a fast walk, pausing only to right the umbrella over the outdoor table. It had toppled in the wind. I did not want to run into Lucas, or worse still, Lucas and his conquest of the previous night. I was still in a state of disbelief. I couldn’t believe that Lucas had kissed that woman.
I was not in luck. I was only five or so paces past his cottage when he called out to me. I spun around.
“Pepper, I was worried. You didn’t text me back last night. Agnes called me and told me about the poisoned water.”
“She did?” I didn’t remember Aunt Agnes making a call, but she had gone to the kitchen several times in the night.
Lucas walked over to me, and I took a step back, clutching Aunt Agnes’s bathrobe to me. I must have looked a fright, unshowered and having not had much sleep. He stopped, clearly realising something was wrong.
“I saw you at the art gallery last night,” I blurted out.
Lucas’s eyebrows shot skyward, while his jaw fell in the opposite direction. “Art gallery, last night?” he repeated.
I nodded vigorously and took another step backwards. The wind whipped my hair viciously across my face.
“I wasn’t at the art gallery last night. I’ve never been to the art gallery.” His tone was convincing, and I almost believed him. In fact, I would have believed him if I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes. Yet could I
have been mistaken? No, I didn’t think so. Was he undercover, after all?
“Lucas, are you working on something that you’re keeping from me?” I hoped he would say that he was, although he had kissed that woman a little too enthusiastically.
“No, not really. Of course, you don’t know the ins and outs of Cleaner business, so I suppose you could say I was keeping things from you. Look, Pepper, what’s this all about?”
I shook my head, as tears threatened to fall. “I stayed at the manor last night and I’ve really got to get home and have a shower.” I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, so I took a deep breath and thought I should keep this on a business level. “The aunts and I are trying to find out anything we can about Collier, whether he has any family. We need to find out who will succeed him to the Council.” Of course, Lucas knew that, so he probably wondered why I said it. He was watching me warily.
“I do have a lead,” he said.
“Who is it?” I asked him.
“I won’t say until I’m sure,” he said, “but I’d feel better if you’d stay with your aunts until I find out.”
I was unable to control myself any further. “I bet you would,” I snapped. I turned on my heel and hurried back to my cottage. Of course Lucas wanted me to stay at the manor, because then I wouldn’t see him coming and going with other women. I realised I might have been overreacting, but that was a passionate kiss he had shared with that woman. Sure, Lucas and I weren’t dating as such, but… My thoughts blew away with the gust of wind that whipped my bathrobe around my ears.
Well, I would do as he wanted. I would stay at the manor until the murder was solved. It would save me thinking about Lucas too much, because I would sure get upset when I saw him with another woman, and as for any murder attempts, there was safety in numbers. After all, it seemed as if someone had already tried to poison Aunt Agnes.
I unlocked my cottage door and let Hecate in. “You and I are staying with the aunts for a while,” I said to her. She was unimpressed, and walked elegantly to her food bowl. I filled it up, despite the fact she had a full bowl of food at the manor.
