Unsure how he felt about Saffron noticing that part of himself, he said, “You seem to have a passion for detective work.” He slanted her a teasing glance. “Maybe you should change fields?”
Saffron’s expression was troubled. “My only interest in it is making sure they don’t succeed in framing Dr. Maxwell. Or me, for that matter. And that Berking doesn’t get away with it.” She seemed ready to say more, perhaps about why she wanted Berking held accountable more than the others.
Alexander stopped, his hand on her hand. “Berking won’t get away with anything.”
She looked at him for a long moment, eyes searching his. “Why are you helping me? Truly?”
Alexander considered all the excuses he’d come up with for why he was so willingly roped in. He chose the simplest one. “I’m a scientist, same as you. I like solving puzzles.”
Just then, a lone taxi turned onto the street, saving him from a closer examination of his motivations. The driver, puffy eyed and dragging on a tiny cigarette, raised his eyebrow at Alexander and Saffron’s disheveled appearance.
Back at his own flat, Alexander took off his stained and torn clothes and ran a bath. He winced as his cuts twinged in the soapy water. The evening replayed over in his mind. It was rather intoxicating, playing detective with Saffron. Dangerous, to be sure, with lethal plants and almost getting caught by Berking … but intoxicating. But he could hardly have told her that.
CHAPTER 17
Saffron was already outside the police station when Alexander arrived, buzzing with nervous energy. She’d agreed to put off coming until the early afternoon. He’d had appointments and errands for the expedition he couldn’t reschedule, and she grudgingly agreed. But it meant she’d spent hours that morning in Maxwell’s office, unable to focus on work. The realization that had come to her looking at the aconite the previous evening had shaken her deeply. Berking had created a crossbreed of a dangerous plant. In his office, she’d found a folder containing notes suggesting her father had worked on hybridization. There was no further evidence than that, the logical, scientific part of her mind insisted, but her chest filled with ice each time the pernicious thought crossed her mind, wondering if the two were connected.
Saffron spent the morning researching aconite in the library, in part to avoid the North Wing where she might run into Berking, and trying to determine what to say to the inspector. Their meeting about the xolotl vine hadn’t gone well at all, but she believed her evidence had contributed to clearing Maxwell. Hopefully, Inspector Green would trust her more today.
Alexander looked no worse for wear after their late night adventure. His navy suit was in perfect order, his jaw smooth from a fresh shave. Only his right hand was marred with a scratch. Saffron had her lavender coat buttoned to the top, and her hair was arranged in a lower twist than usual, to conceal the red scratch still along her neck.
They settled into Inspector Green’s office in the same uncomfortable chairs as they had the last time, then waited in silence while the inspector opened his notebook and prepared his pen. Saffron counted the number of cracks in the wall; there were seven, unpleasantly reminiscent of the spread of the xolotl vine over the wall in the greenhouse.
When she couldn’t take the tension any longer, Saffron spoke. “Inspector, Mr. Ashton and I have been looking into the poisoning of Mrs. Henry, and—”
The inspector looked up with a frown and said, “Have you?”
“Y-yes,” she said, hesitating at his hard tone. “I happened to find something in Dr. Berking’s office. It was part of a formula that included the chemical aconitine, the toxin found in aconite. Aconite is wolfsbane, the poisonous flowering plant.”
Inspector Green’s mouth thinned. “Happened to find?”
Saffron was grateful Alexander continued, for her mouth had gone dry at the unamused look on the inspector’s face. “After further research, we discovered that one of the other compounds in the formula is a preservative.”
Dreading their next piece of information, Saffron drew her fingers together tightly. “So we went to Dr. Berking’s house and in his garden was a plant.”
The inspector looked up and cocked an eyebrow. “Most irregular. A plant in a botanist’s garden.”
Saffron almost smiled at his dry tone. “It is a member of the Aconitum genus, although it isn’t formed like any species I’ve seen before. I have the specimen here.” She removed the carefully cushioned handkerchief from her handbag and put it on his desk. She opened the folds to reveal the plant, now sadly shriveled as she hadn’t dared utilize any of the department’s resources to better preserve it.