The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele #3)(84)

Matt frowned. "His business partner was murdered, and he is a suspect in the murder."

"Don't be ridiculous. Mr. Pitt is above suspicion."

"Why?"

"Because he is my pharmacist and the pharmacist to almost all of my friends. His medicines are highly sought after, but your presence at his shop is causing problems."

"Why?"

"Because no person of consequence wants to be seen coming and going from Pitt's shop if he is a suspect! Good lord, Matthew, do you not think about others before you go charging in, accusing him of this, that and the other? Have a little respect for the way things are done here in England."

"I have not accused Mr. Pitt of anything. I have merely questioned him." Matt didn't try to hide the steel in his voice. The only person who did not seem to notice it was his aunt. The two older Glass girls stared down at their laps, their shoulders tense. Hope tried to catch her mother's eye but failed.

"Then you will cease your questioning," Lady Rycroft demanded. "Understand me? That is an order."

Matt went still. A beat passed. Two. "An order?" His ominously quiet voice did not bode well. "And who are you to order me?"

She blinked rapidly at him, as if such a question had never occurred to her so she had never had to think of an answer. "I am your aunt! Your better! Your—"

"You are nobody to me. Do you understand? Get out. All of you."

"I beg your pardon!"

Matt looked as if he would manhandle her out of the drawing room.

"May I suggest a solution?" I said before he did anything he would regret later.

"Yes, please do, Miss Steele," Patience said quickly. Her mother did not turn my way. She looked as if she were rallying and preparing to take Matt to task again.

"Why not send your servants to Mr. Pitt's shop instead?" I asked. "Won't that be more discreet?"

"We already do," Hope said heavily.

Matt frowned. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. The storm cloud he'd brought in with him had dispersed somewhat, but some of the thunder lingered in his eyes. "Your maid…we saw her at Pitt's shop yesterday. I knew I recognized her."

"Sending her, or any other servant, won't solve the problem, though," Hope went on since her mother seemed far too angry to continue and her sisters too shy or stupid. "You see, if Mr. Pitt is found guilty—which I am sure he is not, but the police have been known to arrest innocent men before. But if he is, we will be without a pharmacist. And he really is the best in London. His special medicines work wonders on all sorts of ailments."

"Special medicines?" both Matt and I echoed. He looked at me at the same moment that I looked at him.

Did she mean special magical medicines? But Dr. Hale had told us he'd only cast spells on his own medicines not the Cure-Alls. If the medicines in Pitt's shop contained magic, he must have put it in the bottles himself.

He'd lied to us. He was a magician after all.





Chapter 16





"Mr. Pitt doesn't sell them to his regular customers," Hope went on. "Only to his favorites, like us. Only to the elite."

"Like Lord Coyle," I said to no one in particular.

"Matt, you ought to ask Mr. Pitt if he has something for you," Hope said. "Tell him you're our relation and that Mama sent you."

Matt stared at her but didn't seem to see her. His mind was probably trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together, as was mine.

"Your illness," Hope pressed, sounding bemused by his lack of response. "Perhaps he has something for your condition. Mr. Pitt says he can't cure disease, but he can alleviate the symptoms, at least for a while. Everyone in our circle swears by his special medicines."

"Tell me about these special medicines," Matt said.

"He keeps them under the counter or in the back room. They're not on display. They're far too precious, so Mr. Pitt says, and reserved for only his best customers."

That's why I didn't feel any warmth in any of the bottles on his shelves. The magic ones were kept elsewhere and sold only to his most exclusive customers, whom he no doubt charged an exorbitant price. If Pitt was an apothecary magician, then it had to be him who put the poison into Dr. Hale's personal bottle of Cure-All. The question was, why kill his business partner? They weren't rivals. Pitt may have inherited Hale's wealth, but he was already well off, and putting the poison into the Cure-All actually caused his business harm.

"You should visit Mr. Pitt yourself, Matt," Hope said again. "For medicine, I mean, not to question him. The medicine you take now doesn't seem to work all that well. You look more ill than ever today."

"I don't take medicine," Matt said, absently.

"The stuff that makes your skin glow purple."

Matt looked sharply at her.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lady Rycroft scoffed. "No medicine turns anyone purple. You're making things up again, Hope."

"Typical," Charity said with a click of her tongue. "Always so dramatic."

Hope clenched her jaw and waited for Matt to tell them she spoke the truth.

"Excuse me," he said, rising. "I have to go out."