“Right.” Slater ate some more eggs. “Specimens or seeds, at least. Regardless, she will no doubt arrange to destroy the rest of the plants in the conservatory. Cobb will want to make certain that no one else can continue in the ambrosia business after he and Lady Fulbrook are gone.”
Ursula put down her fork quite suddenly. “Seeds.”
Lilly and Slater looked at her.
“What is it?” Slater asked.
“When I found Anne Clifton’s stenography notebook and jewelry I also found some packets of seeds,” Ursula said. “I think the odds are good that they were from the ambrosia plant.”
Lilly’s artfully drawn brows crinkled a little. “Perhaps she intended to cultivate the plant in her own garden.”
“Or sell the seeds to the highest bidder,” Slater said. “Someone like Mrs. Wyatt would have paid well for them.”
A cold chill feathered Ursula’s spine. “I think that Anne planned to use them to buy her way into Damian Cobb’s side of the business.”
Slater contemplated that possibility. “Huh.”
“It would have been a very bold thing for her to do,” Lilly said quietly. “Cobb is a dangerous man.”
“Anne was a very bold woman,” Ursula said. “And remember, she had been acting as a go-between for Lady Fulbrook and Cobb for months. She may have felt she knew Cobb in a sense—that she understood him. She was not particularly fond of men but she was confident of her ability to manipulate them. She was, after all, a very attractive woman. Lady Fulbrook may have been writing love letters to Cobb but I think Anne was trying to seduce him.”
Slater frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“I haven’t had a chance to read through all of the letters from Cobb. They are written under the pen name he used when corresponding with Lady Fulbrook, Mr. Paladin. But I can tell that there was some sort of delicate negotiation going on between the two of them. On the surface Paladin is showing an interest in her short stories but I’m quite sure that is not what they were actually discussing.”
“Anne spent a great deal of time in Lady Fulbrook’s company in the conservatory,” Slater said. “She might have learned how to cultivate the ambrosia plant.”
“That would certainly explain some of the oddities in the poems that she wrote down in her notebook,” Ursula said. “There are several references to quantities and times. I remember one line in particular, theflower is delicate and potent. Three parts in ten bring on visions that thrill. Seven will kill.”
“Your friend was playing a very dangerous game, indeed,” Slater said softly.
“I know,” Ursula said. “I can tell you one thing. If Cobb intends to destroy all those herbs in Lady Fulbrook’s special greenhouse before going back to New York, he’s going to have to do something drastic. That room in the conservatory is crammed with those bloody damned ambrosia plants.”
There was a short silence. Ursula continued to munch toast for a few seconds until she realized that both Lilly and Slater were watching her.
“What?” she said around a bite of toast. “Did I say something?”
Lilly chuckled and went back to her salmon.
Slater cleared his throat. “I believe it was the phrasebloody damned ambrosia plantsthat stopped us for a moment. You sounded somewhat annoyed.”
“I am annoyed.” Ursula swallowed the last of the toast and reached for her coffee cup. “With the slow pace of our investigation.”
Lilly raised her brows. “I thought you and Slater were making excellent progress.”
“Depends on one’s point of view,” Ursula said. She looked at Slater. “As I recall, you were describing what you discovered in Mrs. Wyatt’s financial records. But how does that lead us to the proof we will need to have someone arrested for Anne’s murder?”
Mrs. Webster appeared in the doorway before Slater could respond. She carried a silver salver. A single envelope sat on the tray.
“This telegram was just delivered, sir,” she announced in her carrying voice.
Slater winced a little and took the envelope.
Mrs. Webster departed, stage left, to return to the kitchen.
Ursula and Lilly watched Slater open the envelope. He read it quickly and looked up.
“It’s from the director of the New York museum. I was right, Damian Cobb is known in philanthropic circles. The director says there has been some speculation regarding the source of Cobb’s fortune but no one asks too many questions. That is not the most interesting thing in the telegram, however.”
