The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele #3)(22)

"We didn't have cream puffs," Matt said, sounding put out.

"Miss Glass asked Mrs. Potter to make them while you went for your walk," Mrs. Bristow said. "She asked for cream puffs especially because they are your favorite."

"I wonder why your aunt would have Mrs. Potter make them just for me," I said to Matt.

"She feels guilty for earlier." He laid his hand on the doorknob. "Enjoy your cream puffs, India. I'll see you at dinner, if those don't spoil your appetite."

I ate my cream puffs by the window, looking out across the rooftops. My fourth floor bedroom gave me an excellent view of the city and the sky. It was bluer than it had been in months, no matter what Matt said. I smiled and silently thanked the good fortune that had sent me to a place where people respected and protected me. I didn't have to worry about my next meal, or if I would even have a roof over my head, as I had after my father died.

No matter what Miss Glass feared, I wouldn't jeopardize what I had now for Matt's attention. I wouldn't tell him how I felt and risk his rejection and her ire. I liked the life I lived at number sixteen Park Street too much.



Cyclops, Duke and Willie returned in time to dine with us. Matt looked refreshed, and his aunt ate in her own chambers. I'd gone to see her just before the dinner gong sounded to thank her for the cream puffs.

She'd looked at me blankly and said, "What cream puffs? I don't eat the things. Too fattening. You know that, Veronica."

I smiled sadly and closed her door, wondering who Veronica was.

"What did you discover?" Matt asked as soon as Bristow ushered out the footman and closed the door, leaving the five of us alone in the dining room.

"What makes you think we found anything out?" Willie said, spooning beans onto her plate.

"Duke's face."

Duke schooled his features—or tried to. He simply ended up with one eyebrow sitting above the other and his cheeks sucked in.

Willie shook her head. "That's why you lose at poker, Duke. Your face can be read like a book."

"Ha!" he barked. "Then you must struggle. You ain't read a whole book in years."

Matt appealed to Cyclops. "Well?"

"It's not what we found out," Cyclops said, "but what we found." He opened the flap of his jacket and pulled a bottle from his inside pocket. He passed it across the table to Matt. "That's the bottle which contained the poison."

"You stole it!" I cried. "Cyclops!"

"Needs must, India," the big man said.

Matt removed the stopper. "Are you sure this is the bottle found next to Hale's body?"

Duke nodded. "It was guarded by a constable and all."

"The police are using the hospital equipment and a doctor to analyze it," Cyclops said.

"In the basement," Willie said, helping herself to the beef. "There were three of them and the doctor down there. It weren't easy to get past them, but Cyclops is good." She flashed him a grin.

Cyclops glanced at me then concentrated on his potatoes.

Matt sniffed the bottle then sniffed it again. "I can't detect any poisonous odors, but there are several that don't have a smell. India, you've used Dr. Hale's Cure-All before." He passed the bottle to me. "Is that what it usually smells like?"

I took it and sniffed, then drew the bottle away from my nose. Far away. "My god," I said on a breath.

"What it is?" He took the bottle off me and sniffed again. "What did you smell?"

"It wasn't the smell," I told them. "It was the warmth emanating from inside. Magical warmth."





Chapter 5





"You sure?" Willie asked, reaching across the table for the bottle.

Matt passed it to her. "Is the glass itself warm?"

I shook my head. "It definitely came from inside. Matt, whatever was in that bottle had a spell put on it. If the contents of the bottle were magic then it can only mean that an apothecary magician is the murderer."

Willie handed the bottle to Duke who sniffed, and then he handed it to Cyclops who also smelled it.

"Is this how Cure-All is supposed to smell?" Cyclops asked me.

"As far as I can recall," I said. "We can easily find another bottle and compare. Mrs. Bristow might have one."

Matt rose and tugged on the bell pull. A moment later Bristow entered and Matt asked him to fetch a bottle Cure-All if his wife kept any. The butler left without batting an eyelid at the request.

"Could it be anyone other than an apothecary magician?" Duke asked. "Could a spell have been placed on another liquid, like water, and that slipped into the bottle?"

"Ain't no such thing as a water magician," Willie said.

"How do you know?"

"Because magic is in things that can be created. Watches, maps, medicines."

"McArdle was a gold magician. Gold ain't created."

"McArdle couldn't use his magic on gold still in its raw form," Matt told him, "only gold worked by a goldsmith."

"Like them Roman coins," Willie said, shoveling beans into her mouth.

"Beer," Duke said, "or wine. Those are created. If that kind of magician exists, they could have poured it into the bottle."