Page 36 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Do you want me to call Abigail?”

“No. Let her have a night off with Tommy. I don’t like the idea of upsetting his routine, and we’ve done that a lot the last few days. Besides, as your deputy pointed out, it’s a matter of swabbing and testing. If you can spare Henry, we can make a go of it tonight.”

“I’ll help, as well,” Ewan said.

“OK. The more hands we have, the better.”

Two hours later, I’d eaten a sandwich from the pub and drank three cups of coffee. We had a long night ahead. Ewan had tried to send most of his team home, but they had all volunteered to stay and help us out.

Turned out little Elsie, the victim’s daughter, had charmed more than one heart. They wanted to find out what happened to her dad.

We divided up the belongings and set up teams. Everyone wore protective gear, and we set it up on long tables against a wall. Each box was opened carefully. The array of items was enough to fill an antique store. There were clocks, candle holders, and all sorts of items from centuries past. Some of the items were quite elegant, others were roughly made. There was a large assortment of old toys, and I wondered if their store might specialize in those.

We carefully tested each item.

I wasn’t super crazy about the creepy dolls. Thankfully, there was only one box of the frilly monstrosities with human-like eyes.

“My sister collects these,” Henry said. “I always felt like they were watching me.”

“I’m not a fan either,” I said. “I never was much of a doll person. I liked science kits and my plastic medical bag my dad bought me when I was four.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Ewan said.

“And you?” I smiled at him.

He grinned. “I was never a child.”

His team guffawed.

“Come on,” I said. “I’m guessing toy soldiers and board games where you took over the world.”

His eyes flashed with surprise. “As I said, you’re becoming quite the detective.”

“What’s this?” Henry said. “It looks like something out of a Halloween display.”

It was a set of old-fashioned apothecary jars in a wooden chest.

“That has to be a few hundred years old,” I said. “Be careful and hand them to me.” The strips we had weren’t for specific poisons. But they would tell us if there was a foreign substance on them.

I tested the outside of the bottles first and found nothing. But inside, all three bottles made the strips turn purple.

“We’ve found something,” I said. “I need to take these to the lab to do further tests.”

“We’re almost done here. I can take you down,” Ewan said.

I nodded. We carefully packed the bottles in plastic evidence bags and then into a clean box.

It was close to midnight, and I was exhausted. We walked to his SUV.

“I know you need answers, but can these tests wait until morning?”

“Of course,” he said. “I had a feeling you’d want Abigail to run them.”

“I do. I can handle most of the machines, but I trust her more. That, and I’m tired. I keep saying this, but I’ll make better decisions after a rest.”

“Tomorrow is fine,” he said.