Romancing His English Rose (Entangled Scandalous) (6 page)

Chapter Eight

Good friends will not only credit you for using all your brains, but will offer to loan you some of theirs, as well.

—The Duke of Lancaster

A couple of hours later, the dinner guests had moved back into the Great Room following a delicious meal and were gathered around the fireplace to discuss the purpose for which they were all together that evening.

It wasn’t a large group of people, just the ladies from the Garden Society—Hannah, Emily, and Sarah—and Simon’s friends, David and Alexander; and Hannah’s fiancé (Frederick’s best friend), William Bredon, the Earl of Pembroke.

Certainly there had been other guests at the fateful dinner party where Frederick fell ill, but Rose knew she and Simon trusted everyone in this room more than anyone else in the world. This group of friends would happily aid in their investigation and also make every effort to keep Caleb Collicott completely unaware of their actions.

Noticeably absent, however, were Hope and Lord Lichfield.

Rose wondered if they could be somewhere together, but it seemed unlikely. Had there been some other ton event planned for that evening, she would not have scheduled the dinner party for the same night; and really there was no other acceptable place, other than some sort of society event, for Hope and Lord Lichfield to be…together that is.

Rose was aware that there had been some uproar regarding the Stock Exchange over the last couple of days and Hope, being interested in such things, had been quite troubled by it, so Rose assumed her absence had something to do with that. And if that were indeed the case, she and the rest of the ladies would undoubtedly hear about it at the next Garden Society meeting, so Rose wasn’t overly alarmed about Hope’s nonattendance.

And as far as Lord Lichfield was concerned, Rose did not know much about the man, except that Hope was rather smitten with him. She supposed she could question Lord Pembroke about him—he was his closest friend after all—but she didn’t feel it was her place to do so. Therefore, she decided to proceed with the matter at hand without drawing further attention to their friends’ lack of attendance.

Rose caught Simon’s eye and nodded. Nodding back, he cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

When all eyes were turned toward him, Simon said, “First of all, Rose and I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. As some of you may know, she and I have been working on a way to prove irrevocably that Caleb killed Frederick and, through some rather ingenious research on her part”—Rose blushed at Simon’s reference—“Rose discovered a treatise describing different ways of detecting poisons, as developed by Dr. Mathieu Orfila. We had a chance to meet with the doctor and we think we may have determined a way to prove Frederick was poisoned.”

Everyone looked back and forth between Rose and Simon, clearly encouraged and impressed by the significance of what Simon had said.

“What exactly do you need from us?” William asked, his arm protectively wound around Hannah. It was apparent from his posture and tone that if they needed him to wrestle the poison vial from a hungry tiger, he would be more than willing to do so. He and Hannah had been through a lot recently due to Caleb Collicott and anything they could do to see justice done would be done.

Simon looked at Rose, and with the raise of an eyebrow and a quick motion of the head, he indicated that the floor was now hers.

Straightening, Rose took a deep breath to combat her nerves. She was not always very eloquent under pressure, but tonight was so very important and she just could not afford to let her nerves get in the way this time.

“Well, I…er…that is, we, ah,” Rose stuttered ineffectually, before finally stopping. She closed her eyes and Simon reached over to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rose looked at him and then at the rest of the people sitting around her. They were all watching her attentively with understanding and patience.

Rose had to smile. These people were her friends. She could do this. Taking one more deep breath, she tried again. “From what we understand from Dr. Orfila,” Rose started slowly, picking up confidence as the words seemed to be forming more successfully this time, “it seems that Frederick was poisoned with arsenic. Now, arsenic is easily traceable in hair and nails, but due to the very obvious complications of an exhumation”—she paused to ensure everyone understood the problems with a disinterment and judging by the number of nods she received, Rose felt comfortable continuing—“I believe our only recourse is to recreate the events of the evening.”

Hannah’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “How will recreating the night help?”

“Well, Simon and I believe that Caleb must have brought the poison to the dinner in some sort of vial or container and at some point in the evening slipped it into Frederick’s food or drink. That vial or container should have traces of whatever poison he used,” Rose replied.

“So, by retracing everyone’s steps, you think we can pinpoint where and when the poisoning happened and maybe one of us will recall if Caleb had something incriminating on his person or in his hand?” William asked.

“Yes, exactly. I know it’s a long shot, but if we can identify the vessel, perhaps Simon and I could locate it and deliver it to Dr. Orfila for testing.”

“That is indeed a long shot, as you say. What makes you think we will be able to remember such miniscule detail now, if we didn’t catch it then?” Alexander wondered.

Emily gave Alexander a quelling look and before Rose could even reply, she said, “If it happened that night, and Rose was there, then she will remember it. We just may have to jog her memory a little.”

Alexander narrowed his eyes at Emily. “Jog her memory?” he scoffed.

“Precisely,” Emily replied, glaring back at Alexander.

“Uh, what I believe Emily is saying,” Hannah quickly interrupted, “is that Rose has a remarkable memory. She quite literally remembers everything she sees or hears. If we all talk about where we were and what we said and did, we will spark Rose’s recollection to the point that she can fill in any blanks to the smallest of details…assuming she was in the vicinity at the time.”

Rose mouthed thank you to Hannah for her swift intervention between Emily and Alexander. It seemed that whenever the two of them were in a room together for more than a few minutes, they would begin sniping at each other. Rose didn’t understand why they didn’t like each other, because on their own they were quite delightful people.

“That’s fascinating, Rose,” David said eagerly. “Can you really remember everything?”

Rose shrugged. “Yes, I always have been able to, for as long as I can remember.”

“Which, as we now know, is really saying something,” William said drily.

Everyone in the room chuckled at the observation, including Rose. Hannah giggled and hugged William. It was easy to see the love between them.

“So, does everyone understand what we need to do?” Simon asked.

“I believe so, but how should we get started?”

“Ah…well,” Simon began thoughtfully. “Let’s start at the beginning. Who was the first to arrive that night?”

Everyone looked around at everyone else in question.

William lifted a hand and said, “I suppose that would be me. I arrived early because I had a business dealing I needed to discuss with Frederick. Aside from his mother and the household staff, he and I were the only ones there for, oh, about an hour.”

“Do you remember who showed up next?” Simon asked.

“Hmmm, I believe Baron Ritchfield and his wife, along with their niece, Miss Waterston.”

“Oh, yes…your aunt was rather intent on making a match of Frederick and Miss Waterston, wasn’t she?” Emily asked.

“Silly cow,” Sarah muttered softly—though not nearly as softly as she must have hoped—as every eye in the room was quite suddenly trained on her.

“Pardon me?” Simon said coolly.

“Oh, not your aunt, for goodness sake!” Sarah rushed to say, her face completely crimson with mortification. “I meant Miss Waterston. She made an, er, unkind comment about…um…” She glanced at David, before shutting up and looking at her feet. If a very large opening were to appear beneath her, Rose was sure Sarah would have gladly crawled into it. Sarah had been in love with Hannah’s older brother, David, for as long as anyone could remember.

“What Sarah is trying to say,” David explained wryly, “is that Miss Waterston did not like my table manners that evening.”

“That’s right!” Rose piped in, as recollection hit her. “You were flicking peas at Alexander throughout the meal…though you never actually hit him.” Rose scrunched up her forehead in thought. “The first one went over his head and landed in the potted palm behind Lady Pembroke—the one in the aubergine planter on the left, rather than the marigold pot to the right. The second one fell short and hit Miss Waterston on the cheek—which is probably why she took issue with you, David—and the third pea landed on my father’s plate, who didn’t even notice and eventually he ate the evidence. After that, David received a scolding look from Lady Rochester and the flying peas came to an end, with the intended victim none the wiser.” Rose sat back in satisfaction and when she looked up, the entire roomful of people was looking at her, the ladies in smug approval and the men in various states of shock.

“You really can remember everything, can’t you?” Alexander said with awe.

Rose blushed and nodded.

“Wow, now that is a talent. How does one get a talent like that?”

“Maybe it comes with the spectacles?” David joked.

“Maybe so,” Alexander mused in mock seriousness. He reached over and removed Rose’s glasses and put them on. He tapped his finger against his lips thoughtfully for a moment. “Nope, nothing…I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning.”

“You told me you didn’t have breakfast this morning. That is why you had three helpings of dessert tonight,” William said.

“Oh, yes, that’s right. Then these definitely aren’t working,” Alexander said sadly, taking the glasses off and handing them back to Rose.

Rose shook her head, as she returned her spectacles to their rightful place.

“May we continue now?” Simon asked, more than a tad sarcastically.

“I don’t know. I think I may need a bit more brandy if I am going to have to put up with these two all night,” William said.

“Splendid idea, big brother…drinks all around!” Alexander announced, jumping up to gather the empty glasses.

“Good Lord,” Emily groaned.

…

Simon seconded Emily’s sentiment and he was about to tell Alexander what he could do with his drinks when he noticed that Rose had suddenly gone very quiet and the look on her face could only be described as one of intense concentration.

“Rose?” Simon queried.

She waved her hand at him sharply and he drew back in surprise. Clearly she did not want to be disturbed. It didn’t appear that the rest of the chatter in the room was bothering her, so he took a seat next to her and just watched as she slowly worked through whatever it was she was remembering.

The rest of the group began to notice something was going on when Rose started mumbling to herself and gesturing to people and moving things that weren’t there.

Finally, she looked up to find an entranced audience. She smiled weakly and waved at her baffled friends.

“Are you all right, Rose?” Simon asked.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

“Did you…remember something?” Simon said, because for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine another explanation for her bizarre behavior.

“Actually I did,” Rose said slowly. “It was something Alexander said…about drinks all around.”

Alexander puffed up proudly and elbowed Emily with a meaningful nod, as if to say, See what I did? In response, she rolled her eyes and got up to sit by Sarah, as far from Alexander as she could get.

Simon watched the exchange in exasperation, before turning his attentions back to Rose. “Go on, Rose.”

…

Rose looked at him and the other faces around her. She didn’t want to disappoint them, but the truth was she didn’t have much to report.

Yes, she remembered the events of the evening now as clearly as if they had just happened, but the key piece of information had not revealed itself and she was just sick about it. It was her idea to get everyone together, her belief that recreating the night would work, and now she was going to have to tell everyone that the entire effort was for naught.

“Well, as I said, it was Alexander who got me thinking. Frederick was fine throughout dinner and from where Caleb was seated he had no opportunity to access his brother’s plate or beverage. Also, although we had not gotten that far in the recreation, I remembered that Caleb did not arrive until just before dinner was served, and therefore had no chance to poison the food prior to it being brought to the table.”

“That’s right,” William said. “His mother was quite put out by Collicott’s late appearance. As a member of the family, he was expected to be there earlier to help with the hosting.”

“Exactly!” Rose replied. “So, considering all that, it stands to reason that the poisoning had to have occurred during after-dinner drinks.”

“I guess that’s it then,” David said dejectedly. “Rose would not have been with us men after dinner, so there is no way she would remember seeing anything.”

“No, that’s not true!” Hannah exclaimed. “Lady Shrewsbury insisted that we all take drinks together, remember?”

“Yes. She wanted to make sure Frederick and Miss Waterston had time to, er, get to know each other better,” Emily chimed in.

“She had barely said two words to him during the meal,” Sarah added. “She was too busy making snide comments to David.”

That was because it was clear Miss Waterston found David much more to her liking than Frederick, Rose thought, but she didn’t have the heart to say that out loud. It was not relevant to the case, anyway.

“So, as we now recall, we were all together in the parlor after the meal,” Rose said.

Everyone nodded.

“We had broken up into smaller groups,” Rose continued. “The older ladies were gathered together near the entrance of the room—”