* * *
The inspector himself came to see Saffron and Alexander two days later. Saffron had been released, but she had no plans to return home until that evening when Elizabeth left work and came to collect her. Inspector Green stood in the doorway of Alexander’s room with his hat in his hands and something resembling a content expression on his otherwise bland face.
“Good morning, Inspector,” Alexander called to him from over Saffron’s shoulder. He sat in his bed, still in hospital pajamas. Saffron sat in a chair next to him, fully dressed with playing cards in hand.
“Good morning. May I come in?”
“Yes, of course. You’ve caught us in the middle of a hopeless game.” Alexander threw his cards down.
He had been letting her win rather shamelessly. Saffron grinned and turned to face the inspector. “Why, Inspector, you actually look pleased.”
“I am, Miss Everleigh,” he replied, the hint of satisfaction becoming more evident. “Last night we caught Richard Blake. He was attempting to board a ship to—”
“America?” asked Saffron.
“France,” Alexander countered.
“Morocco, actually,” said the inspector.
Alexander smirked at Saffron.
“That doesn’t count!” she protested. “Inspector?”
He considered them, then shrugged. “You wouldn’t say Canada was England.”
Alexander rolled his eyes and Saffron laughed. “Well then, you’ve caught him. Is he talking, like Dr. Berking?” she asked.
“He hasn’t said a word. We did find something on him that might be of interest to you.”
Saffron sat up in her chair straighter. “The poison? Are your people testing it?”
Inspector Green shook his head. “Not the poison, though he did have a vial on him when they caught up with him. Luckily it smashed before he could do anything with it. Not enough of a sample to test, unfortunately.”
“You think he meant to—” Saffron broke off with a loud exhale. She really ought not to consider all the horrible things Blake might have done with that poison. “But what did Blake have with him, then?”
“The money,” the inspector said, his eyes twinkling for once. “Nearly the entire amount the university had collected for the expedition.”
Before Saffron could exclaim her delight and surprise, Alexander’s disbelieving voice asked, “He had all of it with him?”
“Apparently that’s what delayed him long enough for us to get a hold of him. He was arrested outside a bank,” the inspector said.
Saffron was relieved that the money had been recovered, but too many questions prevented her from being content with that information. “I should like to have known what exactly their mysterious poison was, though. Have you found R. Glass?”
“Yes. Dr. Rupert Glass admitted to collaborating with Dr. Berking but staunchly stands by his claim that he was ignorant of the solution’s purpose. He professes he had nothing left to hand over and had apparently already destroyed the research he’d accumulated when he grew suspicious after the poisoning.”
Saffron withheld a snort. “I’m sure the five hundred pounds from Dr. Berking helped. Richard Blake isn’t likely to talk, I think. He didn’t even want to know what Alexander and I had figured out. He hardly showed any expression the entire time he had us. It was frightful how calm he was.”
The inspector shrugged. “Well, some are like that.” He looked at them carefully before adding in a low voice, “The barristers wouldn’t like me telling you this, so you are not to repeat it. Berking confirmed that Mrs. Henry was the target, not Dr. Henry.”
“But why?” Alexander asked.
Saffron had spent long hours in her hospital room considering just this point. “It was the College Committee meeting, wasn’t it, Inspector?”
He nodded, and Saffron suppressed her urge to grin.
Alexander mirrored the inspector with his nod. “She wasn’t going to the Committee about Dr. Henry’s inappropriate relationship with Miss Ermine or his idea for a new branch in the history department. She was going because she found out about the embezzlement.”
Saffron looked to him in surprise, and his expression turned smug.
“According to Mrs. Henry, she noticed irregularities in paperwork she saw on Mr. Blake’s desk during a few of her office visits,” said Inspector Green. Saffron thought “office visit” was a very tame way to explain a lovers’ rendezvous. “She became suspicious and she arranged a meeting to report it.”