“What happened?” It was a new, male voice, and Iolanthe looked around in shock. Tal Diamond was standing beside her. He must have come over from the other side of the room.
“What are you doing here?” she said.
He set down a white oblong box on the table beside the trash pail. “They sent me die wrong color sash. What happened here?”
Prudence had an arm around her now. She looked up at the demon and said, “Iolanthe wasn’t feeling well, that’s all. Are you better now, honey?”
“Yes. Thank you. I just… I felt strange, that’s all—” Tal reached out and gently opened her fist. Under ordinary conditions this would have been a shocking breach of courtesy, but Iolanthe was too drained to stop him.
He plucked the other aspirin from the palm of her hand. He said to Prudence, “Where are the rest?”
“See here, Officer Diamond—”
It was odd. Iolanthe had the definite impression that Tal had caused the pill to disappear into one of his pockets, but she couldn’t swear as to which pocket it was. He said, “Were they in your possession, or Iolanthe’s, since they were bought?”
Prudence’s eyes widened. “You don’t expect that someone here would—”
“I have no expectations at all. I do have access to a lab. Give me the rest of the pills.”
His hand was out. Prudence picked up the gold case and gave it to him.
“Prudence,” said Io.
“It’s all right,” said Prudence. “It’s not as if this officer will complain about breaking church law.”
“But it’s all so ridiculous. I really don’t know why I made such a fuss. And I surely don’t know why it should be taken seriously.”
“It’s never pointless to investigate,” said Tal. “And if you don’t protect yourself, who will?” He bent and took hold of the trash pail. “I’ll carry this along, too.” Prudence made a face at that, but Tal merely placed it under the curve of one arm and reached for his box. It must have been awkward to manage, for he opened the cover, tossed the box away, and slung the sash over one shoulder.
Io spoke up then, and her voice had changed. “You said you’d been given the wrong color sash.”
“Yes.”
Had she but known it, she was speaking in the same tone of voice Will Stockton sometimes used, and a general suspicion of the universe was in it. “But you’re a member of the groom’s party, and it’s blue.”
Tal’s hand went to touch the softness of the royal blue satin. “Very true,” he said, “but it should be white. I’m the best man, you know.”
This rocked her. “No. I didn’t know. Adrian didn’t— nobody told me.”
“I see.” He was silent, then addressed Prudence Taylor. “I hope it will not be taken wrongly if I suggest greater care in watching over the lady.” He bowed, a bow to the very centimeter of his rank, and went to the tailor’s line.
“Well, my dear wife, you’re fortunate in your reflexes. I wish my own were as fine.” Adrian had thought it best to tell her himself that the aspirin was poisoned. “It’s not enough to kill you, not unless you took four or five. One or two would just make you very ill.”
“Are you telling me this to reassure me?” A fine, high color had come into her cheeks with her anger; her husband admired it. They were alone in Io’s chambers, at his request—even Prudence had left and gone to pass the time with Will Stockton out in the corridor.
“It is reassuring in a way. I’d heard there were animals and aliens who could sense poison, but I didn’t know people could do it.”
At that Iolanthe’s temper was unleashed, and she slapped Adrian’s face, hard. He stepped back, more to control himself than anything else, then took her hands at the wrist. “I meant it as a compliment,” he said. His eyes were angry.
“Yes, I’d forgotten how much you like animals and aliens.” She wrenched her arms away.
He grinned suddenly. “I do like them. I like you, too.”
It was her turn to step back. He was too good at this; how could you fight with someone who threw down his weapons anytime you asked?
I like you. Iolanthe could not remember anyone ever having said that to her, not in her entire life. She turned and paced away from him in the chamber, to give herself time to recover her poise. She said, “Have you arrested anyone yet?”
“No, and we’re not likely to. Everybody in the universe was in and out of that room all day, anyone could have tampered with your bag. Tal told me that he’d been there for ten minutes or so, and you didn’t even notice him.” She faced Adrian. “He was quick to guess it was poison.”
“He’s quick to think anything is poison. He wouldn’t have had it analyzed if he’d done it. I say that for your benefit; I already know that he didn’t do it.”
Aliens and animals; you could never sway Adrian on the subject of his hobbies. She forced anger back into her voice. “Twice now I’ve been almost killed while under your protection. No one’s even been arrested yet for that trick at the vastule pit. When will that be? Somebody’s walking around still pleased with themselves, somebody who ought to be punished. And now there’s poison practically put into my hand, and beyond some sympathy, what do I get?”
Adrian’s lips quirked in a wry smile. “You want satisfaction. You have no idea how often I want it, too, and know it won’t be coming.” He walked over to her. “Io, everything in life does not get tied up neatly, like a storybook. You’ll have to face the fact that we may never know who did this.” He put up a hand to forestall her protest. “I know, we’ll try as hard as we can to find out, but the odds are low. There are too many candidates, for too
