Page 130 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Airtight

weren’t supposed to have any synthetic insecticide in the dome, were
we?”
“Who says we did?” demanded Blanche. “Maybe some crank,
some disgruntled employee at the Ovaltine factory put it in the
package. Product tampering happens all the time. Was there a safety
seal on the can? That would be worth knowing. Maybe they can find
it in the pantry. That would prove we didn’t spike it.”
She looked at me, hope starting to gleam in her eyes. I hated to
extinguish it. “I was in there a few minutes ago with the detective,” I
explained quietly. “She would have found it if it were there; she’s that
good a bloodhound. Furthermore, if you recall, each of you put your
own choice of goodies into the party box. If Laurel already had an
open can of Ovaltine, there’s no reason she shouldn’t have packed it.
That stuff lasts forever.”
I immediately regretted my choice of words. Toro saw my
embarrassment and was about to say something, but Ray had a bone
of contention to chew on, and wasn’t giving it up easily. “So that
doesn’t get anyone off the hook, does it, Kelly? We had clearly
defined procedures and protocols, which included controlling
unwanted flora and fauna with non-toxic biologicals.”
Waldo nodded. “Right. The trials would be worthless if we
couldn’t grow Cyborganic crops without petrochemical poisons. The
system has to be self-contained and regenerating, from compost to
pest control. Otherwise, NASA wouldn’t give us the time of day.”
Ray frowned. These guys were falling back into their scientific
personae, trying to squeeze some sense out of unexpected data.
“Yeah. If it ever got out that we had insecticide in the dome—much
less used it—our names would be mud. But all of us knew that. And
we’re all committed to the success of this thing, aren’t we?”
Merely raising the question of the loyalty of his fellow team-
members was shocking. Tension was mounting again, and I had to
defuse it. My only ploy was to distract attention elsewhere, to the
victim.
“I know Laurel certainly wanted this to be a success,” I said,
lowering my voice in the old show-biz trick to engage a wandering
audience. “Do you think she might have been under too much
pressure at the end? Could she have been unable to face whatever life
after the experiment might bring?”

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