Eventually, the fire ran out of alcohol to thrive on and abruptly stopped licking the metal. The gas lamp was lit once again. Three out of four valuables had been rescued from the bowl of blue flames. Theophania slipped her golden pocket watch back into her cloak. Alice clutched her necklace, relieved. Edwin handed Alistair his silver ring and Alistair slid it back on while muttering a thank you.
It had been part of the scam; one item would be removed while the room was dark, before the fire was lit. And so everyone figured that the engagement ring had been the unlucky victim. But even Ms. Snapdragon stared into the pan, shocked by the missing presence of the ring.
In her hand, she held a small coin, a mere shilling. She had no gold ring, no expensive diamond.
"You…you all got your belongings back?"
Ms. Snapdragon didn't have the engagement ring. It was simply…gone. And in its place was nothing but a coin worth an extraordinarily small fraction of the diamond and gold.
"Ms. Snapdragon. Where is my engagement ring if you did not take it?" Edwin's words were terse, his expression unchanging. Edwin hadn't gotten back his ring.
"You— you do not have it?"
"No."
Everyone was silent besides the jittery Ms. Snapdragon, trying and failing to make sense of the situation. Nobody had the ring. Her scam had been exposed and something had gone terribly wrong.
"You must have taken it, Miss. Maybe without knowing?"
Ms. Snapdragon brushed along her dress deliriously, looking for any evidence of the gold circle on her. Nothing.
"Ms. Snapdragon, please give me my valuable back. I am absolutely sure you have it in your possession."
"I'm telling you…I don't have it!"
She sank to the ground, patting at the carpet for any sign of the ring. She didn't even care if she got to keep it or not. It had existed, she was sure. Her sallow fingers touched to her lips, nails pulling a gap between her teeth for a strangled cry to free itself from her throat.
While she was collapsed on the floor, Edwin leaned over to the closest person to him, which happened to be Alistair, and whispered in the quietest voice, as to only be heard by one person, "The closet. I am positive there's something dead in there."
Alistair turned, eyes wide, to look at the closet door barely visible from his seat. Then, quickly, without being seen by anyone else, he tapped Theophania's shoulder and pointed to the door. The closet, he mouthed. Theophania glanced back to observe the abundance of sweet-smelling blooms crowding the particular area around the door. Oh, she mouthed back.
After the minute of silence, Edwin rose from his seat and extended a hand out to Ms. Snapdragon, who was still sunken on the floor and trembling. She looked up, eyes two dark, dewy voids. She took his hand, he helped her to her feet.
"Well, Ms. Snapdragon," Edwin's voice was a godsend in the syrupy floral room. "May we call the police now?"
"But I— I haven't done anything wrong! I did not steal. We were just playing a game—"
Edwin turned to Alistair who stood to join the conversation. "Alistair, why do you suppose there are so many flowers in this house?"
Alistair glanced around at the carnations, lilies, gardenias, lilacs, tulips, honeysuckle, and snapdragons, by far the favored flower.
"Well…there seems to be more flowers than most would like around their home. An odd preference, all the fragrant varieties. Especially because of the sickeningly strong smell. As if they're covering a scent that is just as heavy."
Theophania added to the conversation, rising from her chair also. "Though very fond of flowers myself, I have a difficult time imagining where in the world someone would obtain so many fragrant blossoms. It seems almost unachievable."
"Perhaps," Edwin said, "You would like to show us what is behind that door over there? There's an awful lot of flowers in that particular area yet, while walking in, I noticed a peculiar smell."
Ms. Snapdragon was backed into a corner. Her panicked breathing forced her chest up and down, up and down, rapidly. Alice stood and touched a hand to the frantic woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, love. It is not like you could be hiding anything unimaginably vile, being the kind person you are."
Without her permission, Ms. Snapdragon was led across the room, pushed along the layers of carpet. She tried to turn around, to slow herself so she wouldn't make it to the hallway. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I— I don't know what you are talking about!"
But it was too late. The closet door in the hallway was nearly completely shrouded in flowers. Dead flies littered the floor around it and, unlike the rest of the house, it hadn't been swept in ages. Ms. Snapdragon attempted to turn away, to return to the parlor and continue searching for the ring. Anything to get away from the odd searing smell and chalky floor. She refused to reveal what was behind it.
Theophania began moving flowers out of the way and soon everyone was tossing blossoms until the door was bare besides the dead insects and dust. Ms. Snapdragon buried her head in her hands. Edwin placed a hand on the doorknob. There was a brief pause before he tried it, a silence where they all gulped down any horror to make way for more. The knob was turned and the door creaked open easily, left unlocked. It was only a small crack ajar, yet the unusual smell was so very pungent. The smell of rotting.
Edwin pulled it all the way open and Ms. Snapdragon made another strangled gasping sound as she covered her face in guilt. The smell of decaying flooded the hall, a toxic burning, more than nauseating. Alice immediately looked away, a cry of terror escaping her lungs. Alistair's heart pulsed with the familiar fulfillment of suspicion.
Three bodies, all just barely visible beneath recklessly placed cloth and fallen jackets. Hair pooled around acrid faces, clothes dull and wrinkled. There was an older man and two women, though it was hard to see them in the darkened room and because of the fact that the only way to get the horrid image out of mind was to stop seeing altogether. Fluid remained stagnant around the bodies. Surely, Ms. Snapdragon's guests would get sick soon.
"Abraham Webster…Ms. Evans…Mrs. Adley," Theophania muttered under her breath. Three corpses, all at different stages of decay, resting on the bare floor underneath hanging coats. They were sloppily situated, gray limbs on top of gray limbs. "These…these…" Alistair said as he took in the horrifying scene. "These are the missing persons. Matching the descriptions perfectly."
"Theophania," Edwin spoke. "Can you bring the police?"
"Yes. It shouldn't be too far of a trip. Just promise to keep her secure. Do not let Ms. Snapdragon leave."
"Of course."
Alistair watched as reassuring words passed between them. He then turned to see Ms. Snapdragon still turned to the opposite wall, covering her face as sobs shook her frame. Alistair steered Alice back to the parlor so she didn't have to see the bodies anymore. Even Alistair himself, who retained a living off of observing cadavers, was made feverish due to the overwhelming scent of death and the harsh images of ashen skin and limp bodies.
While Alistair directed Alice to the parlor, Edwin pulled Ms. Snapdragon's hands behind her back and pushed her in the same direction, forcing her to the parlor table. She still let out restrained cries, but now she tried to speak.
"Please…if you arrest me, take Barlow away, too…he deserves it just as much as me."
Alistair immediately turned to listen to the conversation and take note of the details. Edwin looked at Ms. Snapdragon sternly, the professional face Alistair knew was for drawing answers out of people.
"Who is Barlow? And what did he do?"
"Phineas Barlow. Promised to help…to get money. He's been…been using our money. He— he promised me a share but…"
"Where is he now?"
Ms. Snapdragon attempted to shift in Edwin's grasp but only found herself thrust into a chair.
"I do not know. I think he said…he's living in a rich man's house. That he broke into after the owner passed. Nobody else is living there yet."
"And this Barlow is part of this crime?"
"...yes."
"If you could give an exact location, then, that would be very helpful."
…
It was far into the morning when Ms. Snapdragon was arrested at the crime scene. The police had shown up and examined the house for hours before determining that Ms. Snapdragon was responsible for the deaths of Mr. Webster, Ms. Evans, and Mrs. Adley, who were quickly identified as such.
Alice and Theophania had gone home after questioning but Edwin and Alistair still had quite some work cut out for them. Poisons had been detected in various spots around the house and the cadavers still needed to be examined to be sure of the timing of the murders. The stages of death had long been accomplished on the oldest of the bodies.
"Well, Alistair, Ms. Snapdragon gave me the location of someone named Phineas Barlow," Edwin spoke tiredly. "It could easily be a misleading phony, but the police gave permission for me to search the place."
"And this is someone potentially involved in this murder?"
"That is what it sounds like. We cannot trust it entirely, of course."
They stood by the door, more than ready to leave. The sun was already high in the sky, throwing its warmth onto puddles and soaked roofs. The sunny world had moved on from the rain, but it felt like they were still in a curtain of water.
"I'll come with you."
Edwin stared through Alistair, eyebrows furrowed, eyes that were usually so startlingly golden now dull and soporific. This was the man who hid a knife in his pocket. Who hunted prey like a man on vacation, with a smirk on his face. But now it hardly seemed that way. Maybe this was the real him. Still haunting, but sensitive. Still cunning, but not reckless.
Edwin nodded.
"Oh, and, Edwin? Where is your ring?"
Alistair was sure he could see the relics of a smirk on Edwin's face as he extracted a gold ring from his pocket. It still glimmered enticingly.
"I had it all along. Just wanted to rattle Ms. Snapdragon a little. A shilling is still worth something, after all."