Chapter 35

Mr. Ferrand's encouraging smile before shutting the door to Aster's office behind her did little to lift Saffron's spirits.

When Dr. Aster lifted his sphinxlike gaze from the papers on his desk, he fixed her with an icy frown. "Sit."

Saffron did, feeling the lack of greeting to be the warning that it was. For all his coldness, Aster was fastidious in his manners. "Good morning, sir," she ventured.

"I received word of a most disturbing change in your career trajectory, Miss Everleigh," he said briskly. "Dr. Jonathon Calderbrook mentioned last evening while we dined, as we do once a month with others who are interested in rigorous research into our field, that he recently took on a new assistant at his laboratory. The man had the gall to boast of his new acquisition. Especially because he knows that you are currently in my employ."

Mouth dry, she said, "I can explain."

Aster's frown deepened, reducing his eyes to slits within his heavily wrinkled face. "There is no need. You took advantage of my acceptance of your request to spend a few weeks researching outside of the university and leveraged my exceedingly generous advancement to full researcher into another position. What I fail to understand is the desire to move down to an assistant, especially at a small government research station in Hertfordshire. In horticulture."

His disdain was plain, but Saffron saw beneath it a surprising amount of emotion. The perceived betrayal had brought the barest hint of pink to his papery cheeks. "Dr. Aster, I apologize for any awkwardness the situation has caused you. I … I am apprenticing at the lab, but not because I wish to leave the university and work there." She blew out a breath. "At the Paris conference, I ran into Dr. Ingham."

"Ah." The whole of Aster's opinion of the former professor was expressed in that single derisive syllable.

"And he mentioned that my father had been approached by Dr. Calderbrook at Kew. To join the same lab that Dr. Calderbrook now runs in Harpenden."

"And?"

Silence fell between them. He no doubt felt it was as weak an explanation as she knew it was. Curse Nick for making her wait for his ministry's support until after the Path Lab's matters were settled! She doubted Aster would appreciate her need to understand her father. Aster had told her that her father's research was not up for discussion when he promoted her in the spring. She doubted that had changed. She would be sacked and likely hoping to keep her position at the Path Lab after all.

An all-too-familiar feeling of helplessness settled over her shoulders. Eyes on the spotless desk rather than on Aster, she said, "I just wanted to know. I wanted to know what my father had been working on. After what Berking said to me—"

"Berking was, and no doubt continues to be, an imbecile. I thought you, of all people, had perceived that."

Startled at the amusement in his tone, Saffron looked up. Aster's face told her nothing. "I assure you, I am well aware, sir."

Aster scoffed lightly. "Have you spoken to Dr. Calderbrook regarding your father's work?"

"No," she admitted. "The lab has experienced two sudden losses of scientists, so we've been scrambling to make up for it. I haven't had the opportunity."

The truth was she had had time. Dr. Calderbrook attended their afternoon tea breaks, and she'd spoken with him on a few occasions. He'd even mentioned her father during one, but she hadn't tried to ask him why he'd wanted him to join the lab. She wanted her father to be simply a brilliant scientist. As much as she wanted to know the truth, she worried what it would be. She longed to put the matter to rest, but she was a coward in the end.

"As it happens," Aster said, steepling his fingers, "I received a visit from a member of the Agricultural Ministry just this morning. He intimated that your presence in the laboratory related to an issue with which he required your assistance. I believe his name was Hale."

Saffron nodded dumbly. Why hadn't Aster mentioned this first? He clearly enjoyed watching her squirm.

"A relation to your flatmate or a coincidence?" The barest hint of musing in his voice disappeared as he shook his head. "I understand the … assignment is considered confidential. I am forced to comply with their wishes, lest the future of collaborations with that institution be put at risk. Next time you wish to venture into government dealings, Miss Everleigh, I require to be made aware of it. Had I not been informed of your cooperation, you would be walking out of the premises with only your temporary position at Dr. Calderbrook's laboratory to support you." His voice went colder. "And the next time you attempt to deny interest in work carried out while under contract from the government, I will be sure to remind you that you risked your career here at the university in order to assist that same government. I daresay I need not mention the hypocrisy of your decisions."

Saffron left the office a few minutes later, head reeling. Aster had given her leave to finish at the lab, but it was a hollow victory. She did feel like a hypocrite. She'd been so eager to solve the mystery that she'd convinced Nick to let her help, despite the fact she'd knowingly damaged her career by refusing to add her name to the government-funded study she'd worked so hard to complete.

But associating her name with the government and information about dangerous plants was different than volunteering to work in an agricultural laboratory in order to solve a murder.

Saffron stopped walking, barely aware that she'd made her way halfway down the hall and now stood in the center of it, interrupting the sparse traffic of the upper level of the North Wing.

Wells had died from a fungal infection. Alexander had mentioned that Mucor indicus lived in soil, and she'd accepted that the infection was a coincidence. But what if it wasn't? What if Wells had died from contracting the infection from a specimen the mycologists had strengthened, just as she'd feared her father would have been doing?

A sick feeling overtook her. Such work would have been easy for her to miss. She'd never seen documentation of the specimens Sutcliffe and Mary worked on; she'd asked about Mucor indicus and accepted it when they said they didn't work with it. They could have very easily lied, and Saffron would never be any the wiser. She needed to get into the mycology lab and examine all the notes and the specimens to find out the truth herself.

Her plans were immediately arrested the moment she walked down the stairs to the second floor of the North Wing.

"Have you just been standing here, lying in wait for me?" Saffron asked Nick.

He shrugged cheerfully.

She shot him an unamused glare. "Step into my office, if you will. I'd like a word."

The air in her office was nearly as cold as it was outside. She'd moved her plants into Alexander's office in anticipation of her absence, and she missed their presence in the window.

"Why did you not tell me that you planned to tell Aster what I'd been doing at the Path Lab?" she asked, not bothering to offer him a seat or take one herself. She wanted an explanation, then she needed to get to Harpenden. She was already going to be considerably late. "You said you weren't going to tell him until matters were concluded."

"Matters are concluded where you are concerned," Nick said smoothly. He quickly slipped his gloves off and offered his hand to her. "The Agricultural Ministry thanks you for your assistance."

Saffron ignored the hand. "The case isn't solved. We don't know how Alfie Tennison fits in with Wells, nor do we know for certain how Wells or Petrov died."

"It was the fungus you and Alexander identified," he replied. "That was the bit I needed help with, and you delivered. Again, thank you."

"We don't know—"

"We know all we need to."

Saffron studied him; there were shadows under his eyes that his pleasant expression could not hide. "Is this because of Elizabeth?"

"I doubt you'll believe me any more than she would if I told you that her involvement in all of this is the furthest thing from what I want." He sighed, his broad shoulders falling a bit.

"I believe you that you wish to keep Elizabeth from danger, but I also agree with her that it's hypocritical for you to engage my cooperation."

His brows shot up. "You're a trained scientist—"

"Whom you took to discover a dead body!" Saffron frowned as she realized how truly unnecessary that had been. "You could have just shown me the autopsy report, or even waited for the coroner or another expert to work on the sample of the Mucor. Why did you take me with you and bring me the sample? I'm not a mycologist."

Nick's slight frown didn't waver. "Yet you figured it out—with Alexander's help, I admit—within hours."

"You knew Wells was dead," Saffron countered, "yet you took me to his house. There wasn't anything plant-related there, and you knew that. Why did you take me to see his body?"

Nick gave her a look she couldn't understand. "Why did you agree to go?"

Exasperated, she hissed, "Because you implied I was needed to help plug a hole in national security!"

"You were, and you did. You've provided me the information I needed, and now your part has come to a close." Nick's indecipherable look turned speculative. "Unless you believe you can do more."

Her immediate impulse was to say yes, yes, she did think there was more she could do. She wanted to find the rest of the puzzle pieces and lay them down so she could see how they all fit together. But for some reason, it felt like Nick wasn't asking her to help solve the rest of this mystery.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"I mean something beyond being a mole in a lab."

"I don't … I don't know what you mean," she repeated.

Nick's lips hitched into a crooked smile, suddenly charming. "You're smarter than that, Saffron. Think it through. Do you really think I just happened to desire to reconnect with my sister right now? That it's coincidence?"

Indignation on Elizabeth's behalf welled within her. "You used Elizabeth to get to me? But why?" Her mind raced ahead. She was far from the only botanist in the city and definitely not the only one Nick could have used as a mole in the lab. She was young and female, which might have made her seem an easy target, but Nick had shown no lascivious interest in her whatsoever.

Her voice wavered as she said, "You used me."

"I employed you, Saffron. There is a difference. Compensation is the main one. It would be generous and stable. Not to mention what it would do for your career. Publications would just be the start."

"I don't want publications. I turned down the chance to be published because I didn't want my name attached to the government."

"I know," Nick said, taking a small step toward her. His brow furrowed. "I understand. Your father died from chlorine gas. And Wesley …"

Pain stabbed in her chest at their mention.

Nick's eyes did not leave hers. "I lost my brother and dozens of men who were like brothers to me. I understand." His hand rested on her shoulder, heavy and warm. "That's why I chose to take this work on. To prevent things like this from happening again."

"Your work—"

"Is not so different from yours. We could both be working to prevent disasters, Saffron."

Visions of the fields of Ypres and Flanders clouded her mind. Muddy wastelands where, years after war tore it to pieces, things were barely coming back to life. "Scientists didn't prevent the greatest disaster of our time, did they? They made it worse. More traumatizing. More deadly."

Nick merely looked at her, the impatience in his gaze making her aggravation burn hotter.

"Thank you for the offer, but no," she said firmly. "I took this on because you led me to believe it was essential I help discover what happened to Petrov and Wells and ensure the security of the laboratory. I realize now you had a bigger scheme in mind, and I want no part of it."

"I never took you for the type to turn your back on those in need."

"I don't," Saffron replied. She went to the door and opened it. "You, and the government, don't need my help to destroy things. Once I tell Elizabeth the real reason why you came to town and rekindled your relationship, you'll finish destroying anything you've repaired with her."

He followed on silent feet. Once he was inches away, she wished she saw regret in his eyes but saw only intense focus. "You would hurt her so badly?"

A pang of sadness rang through her chest. It would hurt Elizabeth. But it was better that she know. "I would protect her. She should know the kind of man you turned out to be."