More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [42]
“If she’s a psychopath—nothing. She was born that way. But I think Elizabeth is likely a sociopath, slipping into this behavior due to the deaths of her parents.”
Aidan recalled Elizabeth putting up the walls whenever talk turned to her parents. Her tears about the car came to mind. The tears hadn’t been about crunched metal and broken glass. Certainly their deaths still plagued her. “You may be right about the why,” he admitted. “She’s still deeply affected by her parents’ murders.”
“You need to be careful around her,” Lucia reminded, clearly concerned that he had lost perspective.
And maybe neither she nor Walker were all that wrong. Elizabeth was making him doubt who she was. Making him want to find a reason why she did what she did if she was indeed the Sparrow. A reason he could understand—like wanting revenge. He could comprehend that one well. It was what should have still been motivating him—avenging his friend’s death.
He sat up and rubbed his hands along his thighs. “Lucia, were you able to get into the safe and the locker?”
She smiled emphatically. “Your little gadget worked like a charm. Broke right into both, only…There was no foot locker in the safe.”
“She got it out of there without us seeing it? How?” he questioned sharply.
Shaking her head, Lucia answered, “There was nothing on the cameras. I can’t explain how she did it. And as for that secret pathway, it led into a series of tunnels which might take weeks to explore.”
He turned his attention to Walker and suddenly recalled the evidence bag in his pocket. He tossed it to the other man. “Here’s your foxglove. Maybe the DNA will match. Did the photos help at all?”
Walker admitted that they had, but motioned to the phone on the coffee table. “I think it’s better that we get Xander on the line for this one.”
Alexander Forrest, Xander to his friends and colleagues, was the Lazlo Group’s DNA specialist and resident botanist. Lucia used her laptop to connect with Xander and his image filled the computer screen. After the preliminaries, he toggled the window on the monitor to display the photos Aidan had taken with his PDA.
“I assume you want a rundown on the Sparrow’s flora,” Xander said.
“Yes, please, Xander,” Aidan confirmed and then the three of them settled back to listen and watch Xander’s report. With swift strokes of his mouse, he instructed them on the assorted plants in Elizabeth’s garden.
“The lady has a veritable pharmacy of poisons and medicines in her little gardens,” he began. “These low-lying flowers are nasturtiums and completely edible.”
He circled the bright orange and yellow flowers.
“But right next door and not so good—Lily of the Valley. Poisonous to cats, dogs, goats and, of course, humans. Next and a little further back, delphiniums. Likewise poisonous. But again, mixed in with this, there’s some chamomile—good for stomach upsets. And some…”
Aidan listened and watched as the screen was slowly filled by Xander’s strokes as he identified one plant or another. When that screen was filled, he went to the next shot and likewise detailed a number of other edible, poisonous or medicinal plants: calendula, valerian, echinaecea and peppermint.
Aidan had already been familiar with the latter since Elizabeth had shown him where he could get peppermint to use for drinks at the bar.
Last but not least, Xander flipped to the snapshot of what Aidan had suspected was the foxglove.
“Digitalis purpurea subspecies mariana. More commonly found in Portugal. Great choice for rocky areas prone to drought. Flowers are closer to rose than purple. But no matter how you use it—leaves or seeds—still deadly,” Xander confirmed.
“So this garden—”
“Chock full of all kinds of plants that one could use for either good or bad,” Xander interrupted.
Something went cold inside Aidan at Xander’s words. Up until now, Elizabeth’s actions had almost had him convinced that she