‘You were right. Jill swears there were only ten and that nobody else on the staff had access to them – only her.’
Alex frowned. ‘Wow!’
Kate’s expression was a mixture of resignation and disbelief. ‘That means that two cuttings are missing.’
‘Now what?’
‘We have to tell the police, I guess.’
‘The Health Department, too,’ Alex added.
Nothing was said for several moments while they pondered the implications.
‘Who could have taken them?’ asked Kate.
‘God knows.’
‘Despite Jill’s certainty, it could have been somebody at the nursery.’
‘Not likely – Jill said she’s the only one with a key to the greenhouse.’
‘I suppose it could be any number of people. But how on earth would they have known the cuttings were there? And another thing, when did they have the opportunity?’
‘Let me think a moment.’ Alex folded his napkin neatly and placed it on the table, smoothing it out with his palm. ‘We know full well that both Wolff and Tanaka would anticipate that we would take cuttings as a means of insurance.’
‘Plus, we know that they were both watching us all the time.’
‘Yes, but didn’t you say that Vicky took those cuttings at crack of dawn?’
‘I know, but they could have been watching the next day when she picked them up from the shed.’
‘But from that point on, they were under lock and key.’
Kate shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It’s just too much. Looks like the damned rose is going to have the last say after all.’
Alex was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. ‘You know, there is another possibility.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Well, we’ve been going on the assumption that the two cuttings were stolen sometime after Vicky picked them up, from the nursery. But isn’t it more likely that they were taken from the shed while Vicky and I were gone?’
Kate nodded. ‘Yes, I suppose it is.’
‘Remember, Vicky was very ill when she picked them up. I doubt she would have bothered to count them. Why would she?’
‘It makes sense,’ said Kate.
‘Question is, who filched them?’
‘I suppose we’ll never know for sure.’
‘Somehow, I don’t think it was Wolff. If it were, chances are that he would have mentioned it sooner or later. No, I think it was more than likely Tanaka.’
‘But it’s still a guess,’ said Kate.
‘Yes, but a calculated one. We know he had people watching us, and it’s more than likely that they saw us dig up the rose and then followed us up to Aunt Nell’s, which would explain how Tanaka knew where the rose was hidden.’
‘I think you’re right, Alex. We were all gone most of that weekend. I was at the shop all day that Saturday and stayed overnight at Peg’s. You and Vicky were up in Shropshire. It would’ve been all too easy for somebody to take a couple of cuttings out of the shed.’
‘I bet that’s exactly what happened.’
A brief moment of silence was punctuated by the faint chime of the hall clock striking the hour.
‘Then there’s two more killers out there,’ Kate said, in a near whisper.
A long shadow fell across the table as the sun vanished behind angry gathering clouds. A sudden and noisy fluttering. Then strident cawing, as the murder of crows took off from the stately cedar at the edge of their vision. Kate and Alex watched silently as they vanished into the grey distance.
