"Poisoned?" Cam sat up straight.
"Aye, it didn't take but one look for Lady MacKay to determine the lad had been poisoned," Lady Sinclair said quietly.
"His fingers were blue at the tips," Annabel murmured when Cam and Joan glanced to her.
"Aye, poison," Joan said, mouth tightening.
"What kind?" Cam asked.
Joan shrugged. "Ye can get a poison that'll do that from crushed apple seeds, cherry pits, peach pits . . ."
"Laurel leaves or rotting cabbage too," Annabel added.
"But it's very fast acting," Joan said with a frown.
"How fast acting?" Cam asked. "Could he have been given the poison here before he left?"
"Nay," Joan and Annabel said together, and then Joan added, "He would be dead within minutes of eating whatever the poison was in."
"It must have been put in his food," Lady Sinclair murmured, and noting their expressions, explained, "I had Cook pack a bag of food and drink for each o' the lads ere they left so they could eat in the saddle and no' have to stop to hunt up their meals." Grimacing, she admitted, "I was a bit eager to have the girls gone."
"It would have had to have been put in something with a strong flavor to cover the taste of the poison," Annabel said thoughtfully.
"Aye." Joan agreed and when Cam glanced to her in question, explained, "This poison is bitter. 'Twould have been hard to hide the flavor."
Cam nodded in understanding, but added, "And then they would have had to get it in his food bag."
"So someone went to a lot o' trouble to keep the scrolls Allistair carried from being delivered," Laird Sinclair said grimly.
Cam's eyes widened and he turned to his mother. "Whose messages did he carry?"
Ross pulled several scrolls out of his plaid and dropped them on the table. Aunt Annabel immediately picked one up and examined the scroll. "This just has MF written above the seal."
"The MacFarlands," Lady Sinclair announced.
"This one has a B," Laird Sinclair said after picking up another.
"Buchanan," Cam's mother said, and added, "Which means the other three should be Carmichael, Drummond and MacCormick."
"Aye," Lady Annabel said, checking each scroll. "One is marked with a C, one a D and one with MC." Frowning then, she said, "These are all to the families of the girls who fell ill from the cider."
"And Finola," Lady Sinclair pointed out. "But she was no' taken ill."
"Aye," her aunt agreed and then said thoughtfully, " 'Tis possible Finola poisoned Joan's cider in the hopes of getting her hands on the dress while she was under the weather."
"Finola wasn't in the room to put anything in my drink," Joan pointed out.
"Oh, aye." Grimacing, she gave her head a shake. "I forgot about that."
"Then the person who poisoned the messenger can't be the same one who poisoned my cider," Joan said reasonably. "She hardly would have drank the cider she'd poisoned."
"Unless she deliberately drank from the goblet to remove suspicion from herself when the others drank it," Lady Sinclair pointed out.
Joan frowned at the suggestion, but supposed that was possible. She considered the four women who had fallen ill with her and then said, "I think we can discount Murine, at least. She was the first to drink from it after me and only did so because I suggested she have some."
"Aye, but she may only have accepted because refusing might have made her look suspicious once ye fell ill," Cam pointed out.
Joan sighed unhappily and sat back. He was right of course, or could be. How the devil were they supposed to sort this out?
Cam suddenly cursed with frustration and stood up. "Frankly I do no' care who it is. I want all of these women out of here and me wife safe. I say we send them all home today with our men for escort."
"I understand why you would feel that way, Campbell," her aunt said solemnly. "But that will not eliminate the problem. If we do not discover the reason behind the attacks, there could be another attempt at a later date when you are not expecting it. If you are unprepared at the time, there is a better chance it will succeed."
"Or they could pay someone else to do the deed," Uncle Ross said quietly. "Which ye wouldn't be expecting either and could no' prepare against."
"Aye," Annabel agreed and shook her head. "The best solution is to sort it all out and find the culprit now."
Cam scowled at the suggestion, obviously not pleased, but nodded in the end. "Fine. How do we sort it out?"
Everyone was silent for a minute and then Aunt Annabel said, "Perhaps we need to spend more time around these women, get them to talk and hopefully they will say something to reveal themselves."
"And how are ye going to get the women all in the same room together with Joan? I'd say she needs her bed rest after today's incident," Laird Sinclair said and then added heavily, "And without the lad here to pester her."
Cam scowled at his father. "I told ye, I was no' the one who--"
"We shall have a sewing party," Lady Sinclair said suddenly. "Ross brought all that material for Joan. We shall suggest to them that she is feeling low after this latest accident and we would like to hold a sewing party in her room to cheer her."
"That might work," Annabel said thoughtfully, and then nodded and smiled and said, "Aye. I think that might work well."
"Ye may be able to get them all together, but 'tis a lot to hope fer that the lasses'll let anything slip," Laird Sinclair said with a frown. "They will be treading carefully now, watching their words and every move."
"Mayhap," Annabel agreed with a nod. "But mayhap not. They can't know we suspect anything. Does anyone outside this room know we suspect Finola's death was not an accident? Or that the hatpin that was put in the saddle was found?"
They all glanced to each other in question until Joan said, "I haven't told anyone."
"Me either," Cam announced.
Everyone else spoke up then, avowing that they hadn't spoken to anyone outside the circle about it and Annabel nodded. "Very well then. I think 'tis best if Joan spends the afternoon with the ladies. Ye can bring up the subject of the cider and Finola's death and see if anyone reacts oddly."
Joan was just nodding when Lady Sinclair suddenly said, "The guards."
"The guards?" she asked uncertainly.
"Father put guards on our door after the incident with the horse," Cam explained quietly. "To keep ye safe against any more attacks."
"Oh dear," she said with a wince. "Well, that probably has tipped them to the fact that we know someone's up to no good."
"Aye," Lady Annabel agreed on a sigh.
They were all silent for a moment, and then Joan said, "Perhaps if you remove my guard and--"
"Nay," Cam said sharply. "They stay."
"Sending them away would not do any good anyway," her aunt said gently. "They have been out there for hours now. I am sure all the girls have either seen, or at least heard of, their presence outside your room. They already know something is amiss."
"Aye, but if we remove them and--"
"Nay," Cam repeated at once.
"Husband, please just hear me out," she requested quietly.
Cam hesitated, but then nodded reluctantly.
Joan smiled at him, and then turned back to the others. "We could send away the guard and tell them about the hatpin and--"
"What?" Lady Sinclair interrupted this time. "But we are supposed to be making them think that we think that there is no threat, not that we ken there is one."
"Aye," Joan agreed patiently. "But they already know that from the guard, so now we have to explain why we would no longer think that's the case. We shall say that a hatpin was found under my saddle and we suspected someone was trying to hurt me because of that and the cider so Cam arranged a guard. But when Lady Sinclair saw the hatpin, she recognized it as Finola's and we now realize she must have been behind both incidents. In fact, we can say we now suspect it is what she was doing creeping around the castle at night. We believe she was retur
ning from the stables. Therefore she was the threat, the threat is gone and all is well."
"That's brilliant, me love," Cam complimented solemnly.
Joan flushed and ducked her head, but glanced quickly back up when he added, "But I do no' like ye no' having guards."
"She will no' be without guards," his mother assured him, straightening from whispering with her aunt. "Lady MacKay and I will be with her at all times until this is resolved."