Mindful of the caretaker’s words, Alexander moved deeper into the humid greenhouse. Giant sheaves of green swayed in the warm, moist air as he passed by. The xolotl vine had been a popular plant recently. That wasn’t very helpful. Anyone could suggest a member of the botany department had sent them in, as Alexander had. It didn’t seem like the caretaker kept track of the members of the botany department visiting.
He paused next to an array of massive leaves segmented by many holes. Why exactly was he cataloguing helpful information about the poisoning investigation?
Shaking his head at himself because he knew exactly why he was thinking about it, Alexander took out his lengthy list of specimens the botany department wanted from the Amazon. Because he was in the greenhouse, he could practice identifying plant features.
Alexander searched among the endless green for anything matching the insufficient descriptors until his head grew fuzzy and frustrated. How could he find these plants in the vast, chaotic jungle if a mere roomful of unorganized potted ones flustered him? He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Then another. He forced himself to focus on nothing but taking deep pulls of the stifling, warm air.
“Alexander?”
He spun around, embarrassed to be caught deep breathing in the greenhouse. It was Saffron, looking timid in a lavender coat, with a matching hat covering her dark hair. She stood beneath a tree so tall it brushed the glass ceiling.
“Hello,” he said, attempting to sound nonchalant. He was still a bit unsure of their nascent friendship, especially after so abruptly leaving her flat the previous day. Was he angry with her? Was she with him? He didn’t feel angry on seeing her, not like he had when he’d had half a chance to consider the full short-sightedness of her experiment and his own foolishness in allowing it to move forward. “I was just practicing.”
“Practicing breathing?” She smiled at him, still a little uncertain.
He held up his notebook. “No, identifying plants. Apparently I’m no good as a botanist.”
She smiled more fully now and crossed the crowded, leafy room. “I happen to know a few things about plants. Perhaps I can help?”
“By all means,” Alexander said. “But if you came to work—”
“Oh no,” she said quickly. “I was going to speak with Mr. Winters, the caretaker. You haven’t seen him, have you?”
“You just missed him.” Alexander paused, wondering if it’d be churlish to keep back his whereabouts. “He was taking a sample of xolotl to the police.”
Saffron’s mouth formed an “O,” her eyes widening to match.
“He mentioned that it’s been rather popular recently,” he found himself adding.
“I thought the same thing. I noticed that the plant had been trimmed, which suggests that someone had taken some of it. Other than me, of course.” Her words rushed out, but the sudden glimmer of excitement faded as her face flushed. “But you had plants to examine, you said. What exactly did you need to find?”
Alexander accepted her subject change, even if he didn’t understand it. She was clearly eager for more information for her so-called investigation. “I was just looking to see if I spotted any bipinnate leaves, as Dr. Miller has requested several specimens with such leaves. I’d like to be able to differentiate features easily.”
Saffron nodded. “Well, there are some around. Which do you think meet the definition?”
Alexander examined some plants in the section nearest to where they stood, pointing out the ones he could clearly tell were palmate, as their leaves radiated from a central point. Once he reached a brilliant green fern, however, he looked back to Saffron. “These leaves have developed along a central structure … But the leaves don’t seem to be individually attached to the stem. So … not pinnate?”
Saffron nodded with approval. “Yes, depending on the fern, it can be tricky.” She scrutinized its long leaves. “Polypodium chionolepis, from Ecuador, I believe. One of Dr. Maxwell’s. Do you see how the lobes don’t quite touch the rachis? That’s the word for the stem, since this is a frond. You’re quite right. The word for this is ‘pinnatifid.’”
Saffron enthusiastically took him through each unfamiliar term and showed him an example of each in the plants present. They zigzagged back and forth between the greenhouses, Saffron sketching little drawings of leaf shapes and diagrams of flowers in Alexander’s notebook. Sweat dotted his brow, and both he and Saffron shed their jackets as they explored. Saffron insisted he find an example each time she taught him a new term, so the half hour he’d intended in the greenhouses stretched into an hour.