Free Murder of the Bride by C. S. Challinor Page B

house—most notably, the snuff boxes?”
    â€œOnly Lydia and myself. My sister did remark on one of the boxes, a musical one in enamel that was on the mantelpiece, and Mrs. Newcombe obligingly told us about the collection and, rather indiscreetly, I suppose, let slip how valuable it was. I suggested she move all the valuables from the room to avoid damage. I’ve seen it happen before where a drunk guest knocks over a vase or spills red wine on the carpet. Better safe than sorry, I always tell my clients.”
    Rex reflected that her client in this case was less than safe and no doubt more than a little sorry. “Anyone else on the outside who might have known about the snuff boxes?”
    â€œI may have mentioned the fact to one of my team.”
    â€œWhich one?”
    Stella Pembleton shook her head in frustration. “I don’t mean anyone in particular. I just mean that when you are putting an event together, things get said in passing. When we arrived early this morning, the valuables had been moved from the living room per my suggestion. The bartender and buffet attendant set up their stations. Lydia did the flowers while I oversaw the kitchen preparations. Rachel rolled the napkins containing the silverware. I can vouch for Rachel. She’s a hard-working girl who wouldn’t do anything to disgrace her mother.”
    â€œWhen did the DJ arrive?”
    â€œJust before the guests. He’s often late, but he’s a great success at these events. If we can’t get him, we use another DJ. We carefully vetted DJ Smoothie, the bartender, and the carver before we employed them. Each came highly recommended.” Stella Pembleton folded her arms tightly across the front of her blouse. “I can’t believe it’s any of them.”
    At that juncture, Bobby Carter came up to Rex, his ruddy face two shades paler than when Rex had first met him. “A word in your ear, Mr. Graves,” he murmured. “Bad news, I’m afraid.”
    â€œYou mean, more bad news,” Rex corrected him. What, he wondered, could have happened now?

Snuffed Out
    Rex thanked Stella pembleton for her time and followed Carter into the cozy living room in the caterers’ wing, out of earshot of the rest of the wedding party.
    â€œPC Dimley got an update from the hospital,” the solicitor said gravely. “Reverend Snood was dead on arrival. It’s touch and go for Victoria. They’ve got her on dimercaprol and are treating her for dehydration. Polly is undergoing an emergency C-section to save the baby. That’s all the constable could tell me, but it’s more than I managed to get from the hospital myself.”
    News of the elderly vicar’s death came as a sad shock to Rex, but no great surprise. “Was arsenic poisoning confirmed?”
    The solicitor nodded. “The fatal stuff. Fast acting. Arsenic trioxide.”
    Rex nodded, troubled to have been proved right. He wondered how much of it had passed through the mother’s placenta into the unborn child. “I am so very sorry.” He placed a hand on Carter’s shoulder. “The child won’t be very premature, though.”
    â€œNo, that much is fortunate. Polly was eight months along.” Carter roused himself. “What do you know about arsenic trioxide?”
    â€œThat it comes in a white powder, and is odorless and tasteless, so would have been a piece of cake to put in the cake—if you’ll forgive the pun.”
    Carter regarded him as though he might be a little mad, but stress sometimes made Rex veer into levity, and gallows humor when the occasion prompted. “Where can you get it?” the solicitor asked.
    â€œIn the case I prosecuted where a young man was accused of poisoning his grandmother, he got it from rat poison. He told the court his grandmother had rats in her attic, which turned out to be true. Unlike Grandmother, however, they were still alive and