Authors: Beth Trissel
At her gentle but firm reminder
,
Will
turned and scanned the
distressed people flowing
out
over the yard and into the parking lot.
Some had remained in
the house, too badly shaken to
stand.
The police
were taking
names and contact
information from everyone
who’
d
been
present
this evening in the event
they needed
to question them la
ter, a necessary evil that only
added to the general woe.
No one could budge from the premises until they were cleared to go.
The
look
on
their faces was as though someone had zappe
d
them all with a giant tas
er
gun
.
Will was
stunned to his core.
Crime scene
investigators were already at work
collecti
ng evidence and samples.
They’d cordon
ed off much of the great hall.
Will hated to go back in and witness the setting of Nora’s final act.
“Julia
––
”
His voice broke and he wrapped
her in his arms.
She held
to
him in return, and they drew strength from each other.
“Julia!
Tell them I didn’t do it!” Lyle shouted
hoarsely.
Will turned
his head.
Julia
stared wordlessly as three officers ushered Lyle
,
scuffling,
hands cuffed behind his back, to a flashing cruiser.
“You know I’m innocent, damn you!”
“She doesn’t know any such thing!” Will
yelled
back
.
“She knows bloody more than she’s saying!”
Cold rage churned inside Will.
“Keep your
lying
mouth shut
, you son of a
––
”
“Will
––
d
on’t,” Julia pleaded.
“It’ll only make matters worse,” Charlotte agreed.
Will didn’t see how they could be a great
deal worse
.
An
officer shoved
Lyle
’s head
down
and
forced him
inside the car
.
They sped off as a familiar
sedan pull
ed in, Detective Williams.
And
o
n his tail
,
the TV news
, a
nd not just
from
one station.
A flock of vultures
was descending on them
.
Will balled up his
hand.
“
I swear
I’m gonna punch somebody.”
“No.” Julia sounded shaken
but resolute.
“We’ve got to get through
this.
”
Keeping
a gri
p on her fingers, he
readied for
the cameras and microphones
coming at them
.
Betty Bauer was the first
in their faces
.
She must be overjoyed
, Will though
t
bitterly.
The anchorwoman had the foresight to try and
appear solemn
, but he noted
the glint
in her enhanced blue eyes.
“Is it true there’s been another tragedy at Foxl
eigh tonight?
That the past has gruesomely repeated itself with the poisoning of Mrs.
Wentworth
by the alleged descendent of Cole
Wentworth
’s murderer?”
Despite his raw pain and anger, Will
answered flatly
,
“We can make no comment at this time, other than Mrs.
Wentworth
has been transported to the hospital in critical condition from suspected poisoning.”
“But have the police arrested Lyle McChesney?” the indefatigable woman persisted.
“They have taken him in for questioning.
”
“Isn’t he Justin Cameron’s descendent
?
A
nd didn’t that
same
man kill Cole
Wentworth
?”
Will
fixed her with a frosty stare
that would have made Grandmother Nora proud
.
“Th
at is not for us to speculate.
If you will excuse u
s, we have guests to attend to
.
”
A
mad scramble
ensued
as they pivoted away
from the cameras
to return
to the house
.
Betty Bauer dodged cords and bystanders like a track star to get right back at him.
“
Mr.
Wentworth
! What about you?
Any comments?”
He
di
dn’t dare say what he thought.
The
bastard
had as good as
killed his grandmother and if Lyle had gotten
at Will
,
he’d
be
in the
ambulance with her
.
“No comments at this time.”
Not one damn word.
Yet.
Detective Williams strode up alongside them.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to inconvenience
you with some questions.”
“I thought you might,” Will said.
****
C
lutching a tumbler of brandy in her unsteady hand
,
Julia sank into the
chair at Will’s kitchen table
.
What
a hellish
,
seemingly endless evening
.
One by one, the
beleague
red guests had been dismissed.
The bulk of Detective William’s focus seemed to be on Lyle.
She nodded at the bottle of brandy set out on the table. “It was good of Charlotte to leave this for us.”
T
ight-faced and brooding
,
Will slumped in the chair beside
her
.
“Yeah.
She administers brandy like th
e Brits do tea.
Good for whatever ails you.
”
“Tea’s not strong enough for this,”
Julia
said, then
voiced the question going
around and around in her mind.
“What could Lyle possibly ha
ve against Nora?”
Will raised a
shoulder beneath his white shirt and
lowered it.
“
Nora
insisted it was
Cameron who killed Cole.
Lyle felt she’d besmirched his family honor
,
as if he has any
.
Maybe that’s cause enough.
Who knows?
He’s crazy.
”
“I suppose so
.
But he sounded
sincere when the police were hauling him away.
”
“He’s a consummate
actor and
his sorry ass is on the line.”
“True.”
And t
hat Lyle had a poisoned blade ready for Will wasn’t so surprising
after the rounds they’d had
.
Lights still shone out
side
the window and not j
ust from
the patrol cars.
“Are television
crews
going to camp
out in the parking lot
all night?
” she
asked
wearily.
Will appeared on the verge of firin
g a cannon at them.
“I should
get some vicious dogs to patrol the grounds.”
“You’d keep
the
visitors at bay, too.”
“Our days of
hostin
g tours may be at an end anyway.”
He
knocked back another swallow,
glancing around as Detective Williams entered the frilly room.
His suit
was
crumpled
over his paunchy form
and
inky smudges shadowed
his eyes.
He
cast a
dubious
look at the rosebud wallpaper,
dishtowels, and
the
pink cushions on the
chairs, then
cleared his throat.
“We found an old stoneware mortar and pestle hidden
in the garden shed
that
someone
used to grind
dried
roots
.
Also,
an antique bottle with a suspicious greenish black residue left inside.”
Will ground his teeth in a
groan.
“Good lord.”
Detective
Williams blotted his
perspiring bald
head with a
handkerchief.
“Would I be correct in assuming
neither of you knew anything about
this, sir?”
Will frowned
.
“You would.”
“I
thought
, perhaps,
with Miss Morrow’s expertise in heirloom plants
––
”
Julia
widened her eyes
at him
incredulously
.
Will thumped
his fist on the table. “Stop right there!
Miss Morrow woul
d never poison my grandmother.
If this is wh
ere your line of reasoning leads
you might as well end
your investigation
right
now and let us fend for ourselves.”
Detective
Williams spoke with the patience of a man accustomed to handling
resistance
.
“We
can’t rule anyone out
yet,
Mr.
Wentworth
,
until we’ve definitely ruled someone in.
”
“You can
damn well rule her out.
All of my staff knows
which plant
s in the garden are poisonous.
The one you’re seekin
g is
likely mon
kshood, also called wolfsbane.
Since ancient times, it’s been used as a weapon
.
Hunters coated
arrowh
eads
with its
poison to kill wolves.
It works
fast,
”
Will said, then clamped his lips together.
The detective
tilted his head
to the side
and considered Julia
. “I see.
We
ll, we
should
have results back from
the
lab soon.
That will
tell us mor
e about the
poison and who may have distilled it
.
I’d like to take some scrapings from und
er the fingernails of the staff
and anyone involved with the play, a
lso swabs from their nostrils.
Whoever did this may have inhaled some of the powder as they ground the herbs.
”
“Fine,” Will
grunted.
“
Whatev
er you need to do.
”
The d
etective
set his
black briefcase on the table.
“Beginning with you two.”
Charlotte entered the room
with a muffled sniffle
.
Julia could
t
ell from a glance at her
tearful countenance
that the news wasn’t good.