The Butterfly Conspiracy

by Vivian Conroy

  He rubbed his hands together. “As my mother’s death was ruled an accident, I guess I could simply leave it at that. My future wife wouldn’t need to know. But I would know it and feel awkward about it. I wonder if you can start a marriage with a lie.”

  “An omission,” Merula corrected.

  Raven looked at her with a sharp, probing gaze. “You’d advise me to make such an omission?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all. But you speak about it in such strong terms, making it all so black and white. Is it not possible you could meet someone and grow to care for her and she for you, and then at some point you might tell her the truth and…”

  “No! After she had grown to care for me, I’d be afraid to tell her and risk losing her.” Raven’s eyes flashed. “She’d have to know up front. Or not at all.”

  He turned away from her and stalked back to the house.

  Knowing there was no pond to find and suddenly aware of the deep menacing silence even in these woods, as if no birds lived there and no critters ran through the undergrowth, Merula went after him at a trot.

  * * *

  Galileo burst in with something in his hand, wrapped in paper. “We have it. And it is true. It was treated with a solution of almonds. Alcohol too, but that could also have come from the perfume she sprayed liberally on it.”

  “This fan,” Raven asked, “how did she get it?”

  “Ah, I asked Buckleberry about it,” said Bowsprit, who had followed the excited scientist at his usual sedate pace. But the look in his bright eyes betrayed that he was also happy about their discovery and was convinced it had moved the case along. “He thought it was rather new. He said he would ask the maids about it. They usually knew when the mistress had bought something. But Lady Sophia was rather fond of beautiful things and liked to spend money.”

  “Meaning it might be hard to determine,” Raven said with a worried frown.

  “We will hear back,” Bowsprit assured him. “Now what can we do with this knowledge?”

  “We must discover who knew of Lady Sophia’s adverse reaction to the almond at the party.” Raven paced the room. “Try to imagine the scene. If your hostess collapsed, that would make an impression. But if you believed it had been a nut getting into her windpipe, you’d not think twice about it. Those things happen, especially at parties. So we have to assume the person in question knew something about medical things.”

  “You mean,” Merula said, “that he or she would have realized it was more than just a choking incident? That Lady Sophia’s response indicated she responded badly to almonds and that such a response could be provoked again?”

  “Exactly. So we’d be thinking along the lines of a medical man, or a nurse, or someone with chemical knowledge.”

  “Sir Edward, who treated her at the lecture, had been in the army as a doctor. He explained that he knew the symptoms of poisoning. Would he also have recognized the adverse reaction to the almond, had he been there at the garden party?”

  “We have to find out who was there that night. All the guests.” Raven looked at Bowsprit. “Can you get in touch with one of the servants and see if there is something of a guest list left? In some households, everything is recorded carefully. Menus of the night included.”

  “I can try,” Bowsprit said.

  Raven looked at Merula. “You and I are going to hire a cook.”

  “A cook?” Merula echoed.

  “Yes. We are once more the Duttons from Walkingwoods, and we are looking for a cook. But not just any cook. The cook who used to work for Lady Sophia.”

  “Her name was Bridgewater, Buckleberry told me,” Bowsprit said. “I asked him about her without telling him everything we’re suspecting. You never know whom he might mention it to.”

  “Very good. We can try employment agencies in London. After Mrs. Bridgewater was sent off, she had to have found a new employer somehow.”

  “Perhaps she knew someone in another household and found a new position that way. She may not have gone through an agency.”

  “I know, but we have to start somewhere. Bowsprit can ask, when he’s asking for the guest list of that fateful night, if the person knows where the cook went. We will all have to do our bit.”

  “What about me?” Galileo asked.

  Raven waved at him. “You guard that fan with your life. It is concrete evidence that we can use.”

  Galileo looked about him. “So I will be staying here?”

  “Yes, for the moment.” Raven nodded at Bowsprit. “Ready? Then we are off.”

  CHAPTER 13

  The employment agency had two waiting rooms, one for the clients who were hiring and one for the people seeking employment. They were on opposite sides of the corridor and, although the doors leading into them were identical, Merula had concluded that the rooms were not. A glimpse into the other room had taught her that it had benches along the wall and nothing giving it atmosphere or charm, while the room in which they were now waiting had an intricately carved sideboard along the wall, a few good oil paintings, a rich carpet on the floor, and two sofas and two armchairs to sit on. There were no small trinkets, though, so the owner seemed to consider it wise not to let anything lie around where it could be taken along by either of the parties involved in an agreement.

  Raven shifted his weight on the sofa beside her. “We are probably wasting our time,” he whispered. “The other two knew nothing and only kept us for ages recommending people on file with them for whom we have no need. I can’t afford to end up actually hiring a cook.”

  Merula suppressed a smile. The door opened, and a page boy escorted them to a room down the corridor. The heavy oak-paneled door led into a large sunlit room with a big desk, behind which a competent-looking lady sat leafing through some papers. She greeted them with a nod and gestured at the chairs in front of her desk. “You came all the way from Walkingwoods to hire a cook in London?” she asked with a piercing look over her pince-nez.

  “Not just any cook,” Raven said. “Some years ago, we were guests at an excellent party in the countryside, with Lady Sophia Rutherford. We talked about cooks, and Lady Sophia confided in us that her cook had created all those amazing recipes herself. Now, recently, I have had the good fortune of being promoted at the bank where I work.”

  The mention of a bank took some of the skepticism from the woman’s eyes and replaced it with respect. And interest.

  Raven continued, “My wife and I will be expected to receive distinguished guests to dinner, and as we are somewhat new to all of this, we are quite eager to make a good impression. We remembered the cook, and of course we asked Lady Sophia whether she was intending to part with her. To our surprise, we learned the cook had already left. Lady Sophia wasn’t sure with what family she was now. You must forgive her, but the death of her husband put a lot of strain on her.”

  “So I have heard,” the woman said. If she knew about Lady Sophia’s death—and with the newspapers writing about it the way they did, she could hardly not know it—she concealed it well. “Now you are trying to find this particular cook?”

  “Yes. A Mrs. Bridgewater. We have it on good authority you can help us.”

  Merula thought this statement was quite bold on Raven’s part, but the woman smiled and said, “Over the years I’ve provided Lady Sophia with many servants. Indeed, her butler and her companion came through me. I’ve never heard a bad word about them. However, her cook for her country estate didn’t come through me. And her new employment wasn’t arranged for via our agency either.”

  “That is a shame,” Raven said. “But I thought I heard Miss Knight had come to Lady Sophia through the Grunstetter Agency?”

  “By no means. She came through us.”

  Merula was surprised, as Miss Knight had boasted to Buckleberry that she had come from the best agency in London, and according to Buckleberry this had been Grunstetter, where Raven and she had indeed found Miss Knight trying to find a new position after Lady Sophia’s death. Why had Mis
s Knight not returned to the agency that had arranged for her placement in Lady Sophia’s household?

  To find out more, Merula said hurriedly, “Miss Knight is such a pleasant woman. So capable.”

  As the woman didn’t seem to want to respond, Merula pushed harder, “So patient with Lady Sophia. I must confess I find people who discuss their health incessantly quite loathsome, but she seemed to be able to reassure Lady Sophia.”

  “Normally,” Raven added, “it is quite hard to persuade people who believe they are ill that they are not, or at least not as ill as they believe, but Miss Knight was so good at it. Lady Sophia relied on her.”

  “That is probably,” the woman said with slight disapproval in her tone, “because Miss Knight worked as a nurse before she came to Lady Sophia and knew what she was talking about. I don’t think much would have escaped her. And she is not a woman who indulges silliness. Lady Sophia’s nervous streak demanded a steady hand.”

  As if she realized this might sound odd, the woman added, “Those were her husband’s words when he came to get a companion for his wife. I recommended Miss Knight, as she seemed exactly the pleasant but firm character needed. I’ve never heard a single complaint about it. And it has been ten years.”

  “Yes, indeed, an ideal match,” Raven said. He glanced at Merula a moment. “Miss Knight a former nurse … I’d never have guessed. But now that you mention it, she does have that bit of cheerful determination that suits someone in that profession so well.”

  Merula wagered he was thinking the same thing she was. Having been a nurse, and one who noticed every little thing, as this woman assured them she did, Miss Knight had to have noticed the almond incident at the garden party and drawn her own conclusions about it.

  Still she had apparently not warned her mistress against the dangers of almonds.

  Nor had she explained to her that her weird habit of mashing her food was unnecessary. Wasn’t that odd?

  Or had Miss Knight perhaps tried to explain, but Lady Sophia hadn’t wanted to hear a thing about it? She had been said to be rather headstrong and stubborn.

  Raven thanked the woman for her time and they left. In the street he took Merula’s arm and pulled it through his with vigor. Walking side by side with her, he said, “A nurse! So she can have known about it. It makes her the ideal suspect in the household.”

  “But would a nurse kill?” Merula objected. “She was trained to cure, something deeply ingrained into her being. And what for? Why would she want to murder Lady Sophia?”

  “Buckleberry told us Lady Sophia had accused her of theft. Their relationship was under strain, ever since Foxwell had come into the household.”

  “Yes, but … is that enough to kill for? The missing earring was never found among Miss Knight’s things. There’s no proof at all that she did steal. It was Lady Sophia’s idea, but we already know she imagined a lot of things. Or was led to believe them. Foxwell might indeed have tried to turn Lady Sophia against Miss Knight. Julia mentioned to me that Miss Knight had shown an interest in Foxwell. Perhaps he was so insulted by her behavior toward him that he decided to get her into trouble?”

  Merula thought about this theory with a deep frown between her eyes. “I can’t imagine a nurse would kill someone for an accusation that had not materialized. She might understand how to do it, but she would also realize others might have the same knowledge. Could she be sure it would not be detected?”

  Raven nodded. “Yes, and consider this: the fan was returned to the household after Lady Sophia died, and Miss Knight took no trouble to remove it or even destroy it. You’d think that, if she knew it held a clue about the murder method, she’d have disposed of it. Still, we have to keep her in mind.”

  “Of course. We must keep all options open. Including the missing cook.” Merula sighed, stretching her shoulders. “Is it time yet to meet Bowsprit and hear what he learned? I could do with something hot to eat.”

  Raven seemed about to say something when he suddenly pulled her into an alley. “What?” she asked.

  “A policeman coming in our direction. Looking about him.”

  “Might be after a boy who stole an apple at the grocery store. Why would he be looking for us?”

  “I’ll let him pass before we move on,” Raven decided.

  They waited, and then when Raven had checked the street on both sides, they continued to walk. “Our chances of ever finding that cook are minimal,” Merula said slowly. “It was three years ago. She might have left the area. Why stay around here?”

  “Perhaps, but she is the only person we know that knew of the almond incident, and her dismissal might have given her a reason to hate Lady Sophia and want revenge.”

  “After three years?” Merula asked in disbelief.

  “Yes, well, you know how things go. At first she told herself she’d find another position. She did, but she got dismissed again. Or she couldn’t find anything and had to take up work below her station. She had time to think about her sad fate, the injustice of it, as she had never meant to do Lady Sophia any harm. Not at the time, that is. Now she’s thinking that Lady Sophia has a wonderful life, while she lost everything.”

  “You know absolutely nothing of the kind. It is all speculation. Oh, there’s another police officer.” Merula nodded in the direction of the man who was coming down the street toward them.

  Raven immediately dragged her into a tobacconist and took his time buying pipe tobacco while he kept glancing over his shoulder as if he expected the policeman to be a fan of pipes as well. At last, when they came out again, the street was full of people but no uniforms.

  “I wonder,” Raven said, with a glance about him, “if they are also using informers. You know, people who look like they are going about their business, selling something or sweeping, while they look out for us.”

  “You’re getting overly suspicious,” Merula said with more conviction than she felt. “Ah, there’s the restaurant. I hope Bowsprit is already waiting for us. I can’t wait to learn what he discovered.” She glanced up at the front. “What does vegetarian mean?”

  Raven smiled at her. “Meatless. You can’t order any dish here that contains meat or fish. I’ve never been in any such place before. But Bowsprit swears by it. He claims it is not only delicious but also very good for your health.”

  Merula gave him an incredulous look. “Bowsprit struck me as a very practical man. And because of his seafaring, he traveled everywhere. I thought he’d eat anything. Sheep eyes and tentacles of the octopus. Not that he wouldn’t even want to eat beef.”

  Raven laughed. “You sound almost disappointed. Bowsprit is an educated man. He likes to read, and somehow he got his hands on a leaflet about this whole vegetarian idea. I guess it is in line with all the other nonsense we hear. About sleeping with your window open and all to let the fresh air in. And burglars, I’d say. I keep my window firmly shut at night.”

  “You have a point there,” Merula agreed.

  As they entered the establishment, she took a deep breath to determine what scent was on the air. Was it cabbage?

  Her nose wrinkled. It was considered a poor man’s food, and now here she’d actually have to pay money to taste it?

  Still, she saw some fashionably dressed ladies sitting at a table and some men, most likely merchants at their lunch, in a corner. Bowsprit was gesturing at them from a table in the back.

  Raven ushered Merula over, whispering to her, “I hope the police aren’t fond of vegetarian food as well. If we’re caught in here, there is nowhere to go.”

  Merula made no reply but took a seat beside Bowsprit, who leaned his elbows on the table. “I have a list of all the guests at the garden party,” he said weightily and passed a paper across the table to Raven.

  He looked over it. “Like I thought, Havilock is not on it. He was in India then. I don’t see Sir Edward either.”

  “It would have been illogical,” Merula said. “If Sir Edward had been present when Lady Sophia suffered a
similar collapse, he would have said so at the lecture. But he didn’t seem to know what to do. He was quite agitated and upset.”

  “Perhaps he was so upset,” Bowsprit said, “because he cared for her. I heard that before Lady Sophia met her husband, she was close to being engaged to Sir Edward. But as he didn’t have a title yet, at the time, her parents liked Lord Albert Rutherford much better for a son-in-law. Sir Edward stayed friends with the couple, also after his own marriage. There were rumors that, when Rutherford died, Sir Edward tried to get closer to Lady Sophia again.”

  “That could explain her appearance at his lecture,” Merula said, “even though she usually avoided such occasions. Perhaps she even brought a new fan to impress him?”

  Raven looked doubtful. “Sir Edward is a married man. Surely a woman as dedicated to decorum as Lady Sophia wouldn’t have encouraged his interest in her?”

  Merula shrugged. “As long as they met in the presence of others, there was nothing improper about it, and nothing Sir Edward’s wife could complain about, I suppose. I’m sorry for Sir Edward that the woman he cared for died under his hands, while he wasn’t able to do anything to save her.”

  Raven nodded with a grave expression. His hands tightened on the list in front of him. “I don’t see anyone on this list who was also at the lecture. We seem to be stuck with our elusive cook.”

  Bowsprit said, “I already ordered the beet soup. What can I get for you?”

  Raven looked about him as if he were in a foreign land and asked hopefully, “Is there anything that at least looks and tastes like meat?”

  Bowsprit said, “You could try mushrooms. They seem to have a similar structure to meat.”

  “Mushrooms? I’ve always been told they are poisonous,” Raven exclaimed.

  Merula shook her head. “Some kinds are, but not all. You have to know your species, though, if you’re going to pick them in the wild. Poisonings because of mistakes with identification are quite common.”