From Governess to Countess (Matches Made in Scandal #1)(25)

He had discarded his hat and gloves and his greatcoat. In the bright sunlight, she could see the dark shadows under his eyes, his sculpted mouth drawn into a firm line, a frown knitting his brows together as he stared into the distance at the retreating backs of his wards. She wanted to touch him, simply to reassure him, but like the children, she was intimidated. He was not precisely a stranger, but at this moment he felt like one—remote, self-contained and very much the soldier. ‘Her family could shed no light on her whereabouts?’

‘None. They deny all knowledge of her, and seem genuinely concerned for her well-being. I believe them too,’ Aleksei said, knuckling his eyes, ‘for they were happy to provide me with a list of her friends, previous employers. Every one of them led to a dead end. The trail is cold.’

‘Aleksei, has it occurred to you that she might be...?’

‘Dead? Of course I’ve considered it, but if she is, then where is her body? She can’t have buried herself. Though perhaps that is exactly what she has done in order to escape justice,’ he said, grimacing. ‘Or perhaps she is perfectly innocent and simply doesn’t want to be found. I don’t know. I need a hot bath and a sleep.’ He sighed heavily, rolling his shoulders. ‘But first, I’d very much like to hear how your investigations have been progressing. Assuming you have made progress?’

Allison steered him towards a bench set under a trellis on which the last of the summer’s roses bloomed. Aleksei sank down without complaint, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

‘If we assume that a natural poison was used,’ she began, ‘then we can eliminate a great many of the commonly available herbs which grow in this climate. Once matched with Michael’s symptoms, the list of candidates is smaller still. While I could concoct any number of poisons from the contents of this garden and the succession houses, all require considerable expertise. But I did not confine myself to this garden.’

‘Please tell me you haven’t been prowling around the gardens of my neighbours.’

She laughed. ‘Yes, that is exactly what I would have done if I’d wanted to arouse suspicion, but fortunately I had no need. There is a very famous Apothecary’s Garden in St Petersburg,’ Allison said. ‘It was founded by Peter the Great, and from what I could gather when I visited last week, it seems to contain every medicinal species known to man—and a great many utterly unknown to this woman!’ She clasped her hands together, momentarily distracted. ‘You are so fortunate to have such a place right here on your doorstep. What I would give to be able to work there.’ Her face fell. ‘Though here, as in England, my sex prevents me. I was, however, able to speak to one of the apothecary gardeners, a relative of your own head gardener. Sergei, you know?’

‘No. I did not.’

‘No. Well, of course not.’ Flustered, Allison shied away from explaining why Sergei owed her a favour, and returned to the salient point. ‘In a nutshell,’ she said, ‘there is a plethora of poisonous plants available from the Apothecary’s Garden which anyone could access, if they knew what they were looking for. Obviously, apothecaries sell ready-made potions, but a prospective murder is unlikely to risk discovery by wandering into an apothecary’s shop and asking for a jar of deadly poison!’

‘So the poison could have been stolen from the Apothecary’s Garden but is unlikely to have been purchased from an apothecary, is that what you are saying.’

‘Yes.’ Allison frowned. ‘One thing I have not resolved is the gap between your two prime suspects’ last-known presence here, and Michael’s death. There are some poisons which have a delayed effect, but slow-acting poisons tend to produce slow-acting symptoms.’

‘Then our prime suspects are not our prime suspects because they were not here on the morning Michael died?’

‘The poison could have been in—say, a wine decanter, or a piece of fruit, or even in a cologne or some lotion, but if that is so, the perpetrator would have to be confident that he wouldn’t poison someone else by mistake.’

‘So it’s more likely that it was administered directly?’

‘I’m sorry, I know it’s not what you want to hear, but...’ Allison sighed. ‘If I wanted to commit the perfect crime, I would not leave anything to chance. We know from the visitors’ book that Michael had no callers that morning, but Derevenko Palace is so large, Aleksei, don’t you think that someone could have got in without the servants knowing?’

‘Someone he knew and trusted? Yes, it’s possible, of course it is.’ He thumped his leg with his fist. ‘Any sane person would give up. I wish to the devil that I could give up, but I can’t. I know that there is something which doesn’t add up to all this, I know it. If we could even prove that it was not murder,’ he exclaimed. ‘I would much rather prove that it was not murder, that there was some perfectly rational explanation for Michael’s change of will, and for the Orlova woman’s disappearance. But so far we have more questions than answers.’

She caught his hand as he made to strike himself again. ‘I’m so sorry I cannot be more definitive.’

‘No.’ He unfurled his fist to clasp her fingers. ‘Don’t apologise. You have made more progress than I have.’

‘For what it is worth, I do think you are right. There is something that does not add up.’