An Unlikely Alliance by Patricia Bray

Author:Patricia Bray [Bray, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780821760093
Google: KhP4U-iR4YsC
Amazon: B00USCYVAA
Barnesnoble: B00USCYVAA
Goodreads: 24954322
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 1997-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Later that afternoon he told the story to Luke.

“Were you able to save a sample for me?” Luke asked.

“No, they were all gone before I got there. Apparently there’d been about a dozen pieces in the box. Magda had two and then gave the rest to the servants. Some of the maids had a whole piece and others had half-pieces. Some of them felt hardly ill at all, and no one was as sick as Magda.”

“But if she’d been a little greedier, or the poison a little stronger…” Luke’s voice trailed off.

The implications were frightening. It could easily have been a fatal dose. While he and his investigators had been off congratulating themselves on their cleverness, someone had tried to murder an innocent young woman under his protection. He was filled with a burning rage as he thought of how close he had come to failing her, to losing Magda forever.

“Any idea as to what poison was used? It could give us a clue to our villain,” Luke said.

“No. Dr. Finlay said it could have been arsenic, but it could easily have been something else. Without a sample of the chocolates, it’s impossible to be certain.”

“Pity.” Luke’s tone was one of a professional regarding a particularly challenging case. If he shared any of Alexander’s outrage, it was impossible to tell from his demeanor. “But how did he know she was here?”

Luke’s coolness and ability to see all sides was normally an asset, but for the first time Alexander found it an annoyance. Didn’t Luke care that Magda had almost died? “Whoever did this knew a great deal. The package was addressed to her by name. And the card was supposedly signed by me, indicating that they knew I was not at home.”

“Someone could have been watching the house and waiting for you to leave,” Luke surmised. “Yet I should have seen him. It isn’t like me to be so careless.”

“You’re not the only one who was careless. I learned Mademoiselle Magda left the house yesterday afternoon. She went out with a housemaid to buy thread and have a talk with a blasted shirtmaker on New Bond Street.” Alexander still couldn’t believe the extent of this folly. Dugan’s ears must still be ringing after the dressing-down that Alexander had given him. What matter that the butler saw no harm in such an errand? He never should have allowed Magda to leave the house without Alexander’s permission. Never.

“Anyone could have seen her there and followed her back here,” Alexander added.

“Anyone except the recently deceased John Blackwell, who, according to all accounts, spent yesterday afternoon drinking.”

It was a conclusion Alexander had reached hours before. If the trainer had seen Magda, surely he would not have spent his last hours drinking and boasting of his good fortune. Besides, poison was a very different method from the bungled attempt at kidnapping.

“It looks like this attack was entirely separate from the horse race, which means we’ve got not one villain here but two. And whoever sent the package today addressed it to Mademoiselle Magda.

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