But Felicia was backing towards the door. “Oh, papa, no! I cannot bear to think of any of this – oh! I beg your pardon!” She collided with Oscar Brodie, who was entering in a hurry.
He stammered out a few bland apologies that tumbled over one another without getting to the end of one single sentence, and brushed past her, focusing on Theodore, with a look of excitement and anticipation on his face. Theodore wondered if he ought to be treating him as a suspect; he resolved to do so, but not in a way that would alert the young man to Theodore’s suspicions.
“Sir, did I hear correctly? You’re making this room into a laboratory?” Brodie said breathlessly.
“Are you listening at doors?” Felicia snapped in a quite uncharacteristic way. “What are you doing in the castle, Oscar? Is your mother well?”
“As well as she usually is.” He spoke without even turning to look at her. His attention was fixed, instead, on the glassware on the table. “This reminds me of lessons in the natural sciences at school! Our master was the very devil but he taught us well.”
“Papa, Oscar, I am not comfortable with this.”
Brodie half-turned. “Of course not. This is not a place for ladies.”
“No, I mean...”
He turned his back on her fully and deliberately. She stifled a small squeal, put her hand over her mouth dramatically, and flounced out of the room. Theodore was annoyed. He didn’t feel right disciplining Brodie as if he were a mere lad or his own son, but he was not acting like a sensibly grown man. He said, “That was rude of you.”
“Was it? I am very sorry,” Brodie replied, sounding far more respectful in speaking to Theodore than he had done when talking to Felicia. “But surely I am right, am I not? A working laboratory is no place for a lady of her status. I meant no disrespect. I was concerned for her welfare and safety, and as she herself said, she was not comfortable being here.”
“I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Theodore said, now doubting his own interpretation of the conversation.
But Brodie had already moved on. He began to work his way down the table, looking at everything, and finally he came to the bundle that Theodore had brought with him from the mortuary. He prodded the cloth and the contents clinked. He began to unwrap it.
“No, wait! That is dangerous!” Theodore barked out and Brodie froze, his face full of alarm.
“Sorry, sir! Forgive me!”
There was something incredibly irritating in the way that Brodie reacted as if he were a badly beaten dog being threatened with a stick. He almost cowered to Theodore’s raised voice, and it made Theodore wonder if he had been too bullying in his manner. He didn’t like that feeling. So, by extension, he didn’t like the way that Brodie made him feel. He fought that discomfort down. “No, no, it’s for your own safety,” he said more calmly. “Those are some coins that I have taken from the pockets of the dead man and I will be able to tell a lot about the way he died from experiments I will perform on them.”
A succession of emotions passed over Brodie’s face. Theodore could not read them all. Shock, wonder, curiosity? Brodie stepped away from the table and put his hands behind his back in a deliberate gesture, then asked, “May I stay and watch the experiments?”
Theodore was hoping that he would. If Brodie was a suspect – if, indeed, he was the killer, for whatever reason – then perhaps his reactions would give him away. It was a shame Theodore had not installed Adelia in a cupboard somewhere, from where she could secretly peep out and observe proceedings. Her insight would be helpful.
But she was not around. So he’d have to be especially careful and report everything back to her with accuracy. He was a scientist, he reminded himself. Such things ought to be second nature to him.
He said, “Of course you can stay, if you are interested. Look at this.” He took up a pair of long-handled tongs and folded back the cloth bundle, revealing a pile of copper coins. “These were in Knight’s pockets. There is nothing unusual in the denominations nor the amounts. But look closely without touching them – what do you observe?”
“They are tarnished. Discoloured, in fact. What has caused it?”
“I have been thinking deeply about the contents of the ice house,” Theodore said, prodding at the coins but secretly watching Brodie as he spoke. “Lapis lazuli. It is an interesting mineral and its composition can vary depending on where it is found and the circumstances of its origins. Not all of the chemicals of which it is composed are benign. A very similar gem, commonly called the Armenian Stone, contains arsenic – in the past, foolish and ignorant folk used it to treat melancholia. And the compounds in lapis lazuli harbour similar secrets.” Felicia had not been too far off with her mention of arsenic, after all.
Brodie’s face showed nothing but genuine wonder.
Theodore dug into his own suit pocket and brought out a small bottle. He pulled out the cork and tapped out a pile of roughly ground blue pigment into a glass flask. He set it on the table, and went back to the cupboard.
“There is quite a collection of chemicals here. I had not pegged Lord Buckshaw as the man of science.”
“I think he has dabbled in most things, over the years. What are you looking for?”
“I have it. I am glad to see this one is well labelled.” Theodore brought the colourless liquid over to the table, carrying it gingerly. “Muriatic acid, or spirits of salt; a most fascinating mixture of hydrogen chloride and water. It occurs naturally in man’s own stomach yet can destroy living flesh.”
“Our professor called it hydrochloric acid. But he was very modern.”
“Indeed. Now watch!” Theodore extended his hand and very carefully tipped the
