Chapter 27

That evening, Saffron compiled all the information she'd found for Nick. He'd mentioned his intention to drop by the flat to catch up with her, but she had plans that night. She'd just give him the notes and be on her way to the university to meet up with Alexander. He'd telephoned the previous evening saying he wanted to see her. She was rather excited.

She forsook reading one of Elizabeth's old copies of The Sketch magazine, where she'd been catching up on installments of Agatha Christie's latest mystery on each train ride to and from London, and jotted down all her thoughts about Harpenden's Path Lab. She sketched out the characters of each of the staff members, including what she knew of Victor Burnwell. She half wished the wretched man was involved in this plot, but he and the chief of Botany had been away at another research station for almost a month. While she was confident Petrov had been suffering longer than that, according to the Path Lab staff and his autopsy, Wells had appeared not to have such a long illness prior to his death. It would be hard to prove the botanists had anything to do with their deaths from their post in Northumberland. Burnwell was a perfect villain, crude and disgusting. Mary Fitzsimmons's cheeks had flushed an angry red when Saffron mentioned the man during lunch earlier that day. It appeared Saffron and Joseph were not alone in their dislike of him.

Elizabeth was not home when Saffron arrived, nor half an hour later when she was preparing to leave, so she wrote her a quick note saying she was off to meet up with Alexander. She left behind her notes for Nick and asked her to pass them along if he showed up.

Anticipation made it hard to draw a full breath as the bus approached the stop. She and Alexander had stepped out a few times before his departure for Brazil in the spring, but now that they seemed to be a couple, it felt different, important. This date marked a change in their relationship, she was sure. A chance to start anew.

It did not bode well, then, that he was nowhere to be seen at the bus stop where they'd agreed to meet. She looked all around the circular drive surrounding the memorial statue and considered going into the train station to see if he'd sheltered from the misty rain. It was cold enough to make her fingers hurt within her gloves as they clutched her umbrella.

She didn't believe he would have stood her up. She did believe he could have lost track of the time while working, however, so she made for the U.

The Quad's pavement glistened gold in the glow of the lamplights. She hopped up the step and into the North Wing, peering around the entry to see if anyone was lingering. The place was empty.

She darted up the stairs, slipping slightly on the damp tile, and saw Alexander's office light was on. She opened the door.

Just as she had in the nightclub, Saffron thought it was Alexander standing with his back to the door, looking out over the Quad. But she recognized Adrian after only a moment, for his bearing had not the strength or the quiet confidence of Alexander's. He grinned widely as he turned toward the door, which made his identity more obvious.

Alexander was sitting on the couch just inside the door. He, too, smiled at her, but it was a smaller, more secretive smile. She loved it.

"Hello," the brothers said with such synchronicity that she burst into laughter.

"Hello, Ashtons."

"I was just leaving," Adrian said. He was in front of her in a moment, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing the air above it with a cheeky wink. "It has been a true pleasure, Miss Everleigh."

"Saffron, please," she said. "And don't hurry away on my account."

"But I must, alas, or I will miss my train."

"Your train?" Saffron repeated, glancing between the brothers in question.

"Adrian was told today that he could return home," Alexander said evenly.

Saffron beamed at Adrian. "But then you must no longer be under suspicion!"

He grinned back. "So it seems."

Adrian thanked her and wished her well, then embraced Alexander before departing.

When the door clicked shut behind him, she turned to Alexander. "How has he been cleared? I haven't told Nick or Inspector Green any of what I've found out."

Alexander gave her a wry smile. "Is it wrong of me not to care? I'm far too relieved he'll be heading back to Kingston."

She noted the exhaustion lurking in the darkened depressions beneath his eyes, the deepened tension lines on his face. She felt as if she hadn't seen him in weeks rather than days.

She wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her head on his chest. "I'm relieved too. Whatever the evidence, I'm glad the inspector found it."

They stood like that for a long moment, his arms resting gently around her back. When he spoke, it was a rumble against her ear. "How is Harpenden?"

She was pleased to snuggle close to him on the couch for a few minutes as she explained all about the laboratory, the staff, and the missing papers.

"I wonder how much of this Inspector Green knows," Alexander said. "Especially about the pyrethrins."

"They weren't on the list of chemicals, strangely," she said.

Alexander, who'd been absently toying with her fingers, paused and gave her a significant look. "If this is proprietary research, I'm not surprised they're reluctant to reveal it. Look what happened to the list of chemicals they did give the Inspector. You managed to get it into the hands of six different scientists who have no connection to the Path Lab, several of whom would have an interest in replicating their research before they could publish."

"I'd thought of that," Saffron said, "but that doesn't explain why it wasn't included. This is a murder investigation. I can't imagine anyone picking and choosing the information they give the police."

"Unless they have something to hide."

"But everyone in the lab knows about the pyrethrins' effects!" Saffron scowled. "Oh, this is maddening."

"It is," Alexander murmured, bringing her hand to his lips. His words tickled her skin. "Here we are, discussing murder once again when I'd planned to wine and dine you." His soft laugh at her doubtful look skated over her palm before he pressed another kiss there. "Not the wine, but certainly supper."

"I could put off supper for a while," she whispered.

And so they did, filling the time with an embrace that left Saffron's head spinning.

A rap on the door had her jerking dizzily away from Alexander. He looked as dumbfounded as she felt, his lips full and red and his hair tousled. Saffron couldn't help but smile sheepishly at him as he stood and attempted to fix it.

"Yes?" he called. He was doing a poor job, so she rose to her feet and reached up to smooth her hands through the dark curls.

"Alexander."

Alexander dropped his head onto Saffron's shoulder with a sigh. "Nick."

"Saffron with you?"

Saffron patted Alexander's shoulder in commiseration. "Yes, I'm here."

"Might I come in, or …?"

Alexander straightened up with a questioning look. She gave him a rueful smile and straightened his collar and tie, which she'd also mussed.

She opened the door. "What do you want, Nick?"

His understanding smile made her cheeks heat. "Is that any way to treat the man who ensured your beau's brother is no longer on the hook for murder? Petrov's case has been taken out of the police's hands. I understand Adrian is already on his way out of London." He smirked at Alexander over her head. "You're welcome." He withdrew a note from his coat pocket and Saffron recognized her own handwriting. "Now, while I appreciate the note, I feel we needed to debrief about the Path Lab properly. Not to mention …"

Nick slipped around her to enter the office. He set down a briefcase on Alexander's desk, unlatched it, and took a small round object from within. He straightened up and held it out in the palm of his hand.

"What is that?" Saffron asked, peering down at the lidded petri dish. It was stained with a yellow growth that made her stomach turn just looking at it.

"I have no idea," Nick said, "but it's what killed Jeffery Wells."

The laboratory lights were turned down low and a breathless silence filled the room. Saffron sat with her thigh pressed against Alexander's as they took turns peering into the eyepiece at the fungus culture contained in Nick's glass dish.

It was hard to give the culture her complete attention when Alexander sat so near her, radiating focus and calm confidence. His body was bent low over the microscope, his brow furrowed when he took a turn at the eyepiece. Every once and a while, he bit his lower lip as he made a minute adjustment to the magnification. It was terribly distracting, but it was hard to ignore the lingering presence in the laboratory that prevented her from making meaningful designs on Alexander.

Saffron couldn't tell which ruined the mood more: the deadly fungus they were examining or Nick.

As if to win another point in his favor, Nick heaved a sigh from behind them. "When you suggested examining it yourselves, I imagined it would save time."

"If you are feeling impatient," Alexander murmured, "you are welcome to leave."

Saffron imagined she could hear Nick's eyes rolling. "I very much doubt anything will get done if I leave you two to it."

Alexander glanced up from the eyepiece and winked at Saffron. She enjoyed the tingle of a blush on her cheeks.

"You might as well leave," Alexander said, returning to the specimen. "We'll identify it before long."

"‘Before long' has to be before that specimen dies," Nick said, but it sounded more to himself. He'd said the sample had been sealed so he could transport it, meaning the culture was cut off from oxygen and nutrition.

"Mycology may not be either of our specialties," Saffron said, "but we are well acquainted with the process of specimen identification. Alexander is developing a rapid identification system for bacteria found in water and soil, you know." She patted his shoulder. "He's gotten to know dozens of fungi in the process. Once we've done the measurements and observed the salient features, it's merely a matter of finding the right entry in the right book."

Nick cast a doubtful look at the stack of books on fungi she'd retrieved from the library before it closed.

"It helps that it's yellow," Alexander said. "Narrows it down."

Alexander continued calling out features that Saffron examined herself before recording in her notebook. They took turns thumbing through pages of the textbooks until Alexander let out a soft hum.

He tapped on a page. "I think this is it."

Nick came to loom over them.

Saffron read the heading of the entry. "Mucor indicus."

"The challenge in identifying it is that it is dimorphic," Alexander said. "It forms both filamentous and yeastlike growths, or a mixture of the two."

He didn't bother to explain the terms to Nick, but Saffron tapped on the drawing she'd done in her notebook of the stringlike growth pattern and the circular one in turn.

Alexander continued, "I don't know what it looked like in the tissue samples from the autopsy"—Saffron shuddered at the thought—"but it is very possible only one form showed up, making it harder to identify. The cell wall in the filamentous growth—"

"Thank you, I think I've heard enough," Nick said. He quickly swooped between them, planting a hand on Saffron's shoulder to steady himself as he put his own eye to the microscope's eyepiece. He hummed, then stepped back.

Saffron glared at him and rubbed her shoulder. He was far too heavy to use her as a support. "What now?"

"Where does one find this fungus?" Nick asked.

"Soil, among other places," Alexander replied, looking at the textbook again. "And considering where Wells worked and the way it was likely introduced into his body, from the wound in his hand, it's possible it was an accidental infection."

"An accidental infection he didn't see a doctor about, even when he was deathly ill?" Nick asked, his disbelief plain.

"It is possible both Wells and Petrov died accidentally," Saffron said slowly. "Will Petrov's body be checked for a Mucor indicus infection?"

"Of course it's possible," Nick said impatiently. "And his body will be checked, now we know to look for it. But considering what we know about Wells …"

"What do we know about Wells?" asked Alexander nonchalantly.

Nick ignored him, looking instead to Saffron. "I need you to find out if the lab works with Mucor indicus specifically. That'll give us a clue as to this being an incidental infection or something else. See you tomorrow."