“It’s alright, Claire,” Nick whispered, patting her on her arm. His wife was tensed and obviously stressed out by what to Nick was unreasonable questioning. They ought to put the witness at ease first before firing question after question, but this was outside his jurisdiction. Besides, now that his cover was not in the danger of being compromised, he was interested to hear what his wife knew about Matthew’s death. Judging by the looks on the other three gentlemen in the room, they were thoroughly interested as well.

“I will go with you to visit Mrs. Hawthorne after Detective Morse and Sergeant Browning are done,” he promised. “I’m sure she is not placing the blame on you. Nobody is.”

At least nobody was blaming her yet. However, was it indeed possible that this woman had something to do with the poisoning of Mr. Hawthorne? He looked over at her pleading, panic-stricken eyes. There were a number of variables to consider and it was true that one of the guards sampled her sandwiches before they proceeded. The guard turned out to be very alive and there were no more sandwiches which they could sample and test to prove the hypothesis.

“Do you have any more questions, detective?” he asked just as a servant entered to serve tea and biscuits.

Detective Morse didn’t waver from the flat stare that he was giving Claire. Her panic, stuttering, and high-pitched voice didn’t seem to bother the detective. He continued staring at her with his gray eyes and his mouth in a thin flat line. “I would like to point out again, Mrs. Rochford, that this initial inquisition is meant to hear your side as a witness to this crime. You may or may not be directly involved in murdering Mr. Hawthorne. At this point in time nobody, not even Mrs. Hawthorne, believes you’re your kind-hearted gesture had anything to do with Matthew Hawthorne’s untimely passing. However, since you have admitted to preparing the sandwiches yourself, I feel the need to ask if there is someone else who knew that you planned to visit Mr. Hawthorne yesterday.”

Nick turned to Claire. If there was another person then the suspicion might be diverted to that person. “And perhaps you can share with us how the sandwiches were transported to the prison? Did someone else handle it apart from either you or Mrs. Hawthorne?” added the detective.