Page 36 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
“It’s all right, you don’t have to…” he said, not wanting her to feel awkward, but Lavinia shook her head.
“Idowant to,” she said, and Archie smiled weakly.
He had never allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of anyone, and to think she was now comforting him…
“I feel such a fool, Lavinia. I’m forever sobbing over her. I just can’t…” he said, and Lavinia squeezed his hand again.
“Why don’t you sit down by the bed. I’ll look for clues—something you might’ve missed. Really… you mustn’t worry about getting upset. It’s perfectly natural. I just want to help you, that’s all,” she said, and letting go of his hand, she pointed him towards the chair next to Gwendolene’s bed.
Archie sat down, glancing at the place his sister had once laid, and cursing himself for not having noticed what was happening to her. If shehadbeen poisoned, Archie had not known, and it broke his heart to think he might have been able to save her, if only he had known.
***
Lavinia looked around her with interest. The room was neat and ordered, with all the trappings of a well to do young woman. It reminded her of the bedroom belonging to her previous mistress’ daughter, Belinda: the dressing table with its vanities, the bookshelf with volumes of poetry and penny novels, the paintings on the wall, etched in Gwendolene’s own hand.
Some of her clothes were hanging up by the window, and Lavinia examined them, running her hand over the soft material, and imagining Gwendolene wearing them in the dining room of Sarum Lacy House or out on the lawn.
“She was a very pretty woman—from her portrait I could tell. And her clothes—how beautiful she must’ve looked,” Lavinia said, glancing at Archie, who looked up and nodded.
“She was, yes. Heads turned whenever she entered a ballroom,” he said.
Lavinia smiled, and now she examined Gwendolene’s dressing table, looking for some clue as to how the poison might have been administered. If it had not been solely in Gwendolene’s food, then there was surely another means…
“These powders… and the toothbrush,” Lavinia said, holding up the brush with its hog-hair bristles.
Archie looked at the brush with a blank expression.
“Yes, that’s hers,” he said, and Lavinia nodded.
“If she was using some kind of soap solution to clean her teeth with, perhaps that could be where the poison was,” she said, raising the brush to her nose and sniffing.
The faintest scent of almonds was there, and examining the other items, that same smell seemed to linger. There was now no doubt in Lavinia’s mind as to the method of poisoning. It had not only been the food, but Gwendolene’s vanities, too—all of it poisoned with small amounts of the almond smelling solution. Little by little, the poison had taken hold, weakening her until…
“It’s too remarkable for words,” Archie said, but Lavinia shook her head.
“But it all makes sense,” she said.
“It does if there was a motive. But… who would want to harm my sister in this way? If therewasa jilted lover, how could I not know about it? And how could I not know if he was here in the house, poisoning her food and vanities?” Archie asked, rising to his feet with a look of incredulity on his face.
Lavinia did not have the answers to those questions, but she felt certain she was right about the poison.
“We need to know for certain if this really is poison. Is there someone we can go to and ask? What about the doctor?” Lavinia asked.
She was not about to give up on the possibility of her theory, fearing the more time they wasted, the easier it would be for the killer to get away. Six months had passed since Gwendolene’s death, and perhaps the killer alreadyhadgot away. The key lay in the letters—the letters burned in the hearth—but Lavinia felt certain there was more to be discovered, and that if only they could find the source of the poison, the culprit would be close at hand.
“Yes… there’s Doctor Airdale. But he only makes mention of the smell on her breath. He doesn’t draw any conclusions,” Archie said.
“Perhaps he feared doing so. To suggest Gwendolene was murdered would mean an investigation. Perhaps he didn’t want to upset you and your mother. As you say, there’s no one to suspect, no motivation, only suspicion. But it’s a suspicion now fitting the facts—the smell of almonds, the vanities, the toothbrush…” Lavinia said, shuddering at the thought of Gwendolene unwittingly administering her own demise.
Archie pondered for a moment. He nodded, shaking his head sadly as now he crossed over to his sister’s dressing table, examining the items Lavinia indicated. She knew it was anuncomfortable truth—a terrible prospect to bear. That his own sister, his dearest friend, and closest companion, should have met such a dreadful fate. But the facts were becoming clearer, even as the motive was not…
“Then what other choice do I have than to speak to Doctor Airdale? Perhaps he’s waiting for me to do so—waiting for me to realize the truth of his own suspicions. He was only too happy for me to have the notebook. He wanted to give it to me,” Archie said, and Lavinia nodded.
It was surely the next stage in their investigation—to speak to Doctor Airdale and come to some definite conclusion. Lavinia glanced around the room once more, looking for anything she might have missed. Gwendolene’s hairbrush was on the dressing table, and Lavinia picked it up, drawing a strand of hair from it and holding it up to the light.
“You should have a locket made—a way of remembering her,” she said, and Archie sighed.
“I couldn’t forget her. I’ll never forget her,” he said, and Lavinia slipped her hand into his and squeezed it.
