More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [25]
“Because unfortunately, the story seems to have some truth behind it,” Walker advised.
As Lucia fixed herself a cup of coffee, she asked, “So what is the story?”
“It seems the prince met an attractive young lady earlier in the day—slim athletic build, dark-haired.”
“The Sparrow?” both Aidan and Lucia said in unison.
Walker shrugged. “Fits the description, doesn’t it? Anyway, rumor has it that the prince locked himself in the room with this lady for a night of pleasure.”
Aidan laughed harshly. “From what I saw in the file about the prince, that seems to be pretty routine behavior. So why the worry about this magazine’s article?”
“Cocaine and murder,” Walker answered quickly. “There had been some hint of drug use before with the Prince. A few months ago, immediately after the prince’s death, the Quiz ran an article claiming that the prince had overdosed. No respectable news service would touch the piece.”
“And now?” Lucia pressed.
“The paper claims to have proof positive that the prince was not only using drugs on his last night, but that he was murdered.”
“Do the results of the toxicology reports confirm the drug use?” Lucia questioned and at that, Walker leaned down and extracted some papers from his briefcase. Laying them out on the coffee table between them, he motioned to the results.
“I’ve reviewed them myself and it seems clear. The prince had cocaine in his system along with a poison. The drugs are embarrassing to the royal family and the murder—that may add more fuel to the political fire the Union for Democracy keeps stoking.”
Aidan leaned over, grabbed one of the papers and turned it so he could get a better view. Examining the results, he said, “So the prince got his coke and in addition, a little something extra—digitalis.”
“Not a hell of a lot, but enough to stop his heart,” Walker explained, and then continued. “The thing is, it wasn’t pharmaceutical-grade digitalis.”
Lucia peered at the documents, obviously unsure, and inclined her head toward the papers. “How do you know?”
Walker flipped through a few pages of the report until he got to one page. He offered that to Lucia who took it and read while he explained further. “When digitalis is sold commercially, whether for injection or as a pill, it’s generally mixed with other ingredients. The analysis of the chemical breakdown solely showed the basic components of digitalis and cocaine.”
“And one gets close to unadulterated digitalis how?” Aidan jumped in.
This time it was Lucia who offered up the explanation. “According to this report, digitalis can be extracted from the leaves of a relatively common plant—digitalis purpurea—otherwise known as foxglove.”
“Foxglove?”
At his question, Lucia handed him the report, which included a picture of a plant.
Aidan read aloud some of the description of the plant. “‘The common foxglove can be found widely throughout Europe and the British Isles. Foxgloves have hairy leaves and spiky purple flowers in July. The leaves and seeds can be used for medicinal purposes as they contain cardiac stimulants.’
“Elizabeth’s gardens are full of all kinds of plants, but I don’t recollect seeing anything tall and purple.”
There was silence for a moment as both Lucia and Walker considered his statement. Then Lucia said, “It’s August. That description mentioned that the plant flowers in July.”
“So it’s possible the plant looks very little like this picture right now. Do you think you can get some more information on the Net while I talk to Elizabeth’s friends this morning?”
“Don’t you think that might make Ms. Moore suspicious?” Walker asked and began collecting the assorted papers he had laid out for inspection.
Aidan took a last gulp of his coffee and rose from the table. “It might, but it doesn’t seem like we have much choice. If the Quiz knew about the cocaine and the murder, what’s to say they won’t find out about the Lazlo Group and blow our cover?”
“Aidan’s right. We need to act quickly to get more information,” Lucia added.
Walker hesitated, clearly uncertain about their plans, but he