"You can't be serious right now," Teresa said, with a humorous tone as she shook her head at Leah.
"I'm completely serious. This whole thing is my fault!" Leah said. There was a panicked urgency in her voice that Teresa couldn't help but find amusing.
"So you're telling me that you can look at a list of random items and know exactly what they are all going to be used for?" Teresa asked.
The answer to her question was so obvious that she didn't actually expect Leah to answer. Of course Leah had no clue someone was ordering a murder weapon. Only the person that used it knew why it was being ordered.
"Well, no but that doesn't change the fact that I did provide the killer a way to complete their sick goal," Leah said, the disappointment still audible in her tone.
"Look you can stand here blaming yourself and I'll go back to Lilyfield, or you can show me that list of items so we can try and catch the actual killer," Teresa said with a hint of impatience.
Leah stopped sulking and led Teresa to the tent she had snuck into weeks ago with Simeon and her sister.
"This place brings back memories, where is Jules?" Teresa asked as they approached the empty desk.
"She's around, I asked her to stay out of sight so we could figure this out," Leah said as she rifled through the papers on the desk frantically.
"How has she been handling everything?" Teresa asked as she scanned the tent.
There wasn't much to see. Other than the desk in the center of the room, there was nothing more than stacks of papers and the single exit that she was standing in front of.
"She has her ups and downs. Her ups being fits of murderous rage and her downs being bouts of soul crushing depression," Leah said gloomily.
"So do you have any special ways of cheering her up?" Teresa asked. The way she said 'special' made Leah stop rummaging through the stacks of paper and look up at her.
"Of course I do," Leah said and a sly grin slowly crept across her face. Then she went back to looking for the paper and left Teresa to let her imagination wander in silence.
Teresa stood imagining what a night in their bedroom must look like until Leah yelled.
"I found it!" She exclaimed, holding up the paper.
Teresa walked over to the table and leaned in close to Leah to get a good look. The paper detailed the items that were to be ordered, the amounts needed and the person making the request. Together they carefully scanned the items on the list until they found it. One water Hemlock plant had been ordered by someone named Kurt.
"Well, I know who ordered the poison, but I don't understand why he would want to kill Julia," Leah said while absentmindedly tugging at her hair.
"Okay, so who is Kurt? I'm sure he could tell us what his issue with Jules is," Teresa said, she was getting excited at having a solid lead.
"Kurt is the leader of the church. He is the last person that should have a score to settle with Jules," Leah said, still playing in her hair.
"Well at least we know where our next stop is," Teresa said and turned to leave the tent as if she knew the way herself.
"Is there any way we can do that tomorrow? It's getting late and I need to get Jules and myself ready for Allana's funeral," Leah said as she began cleaning and reorganizing the papers on the desk.
"That's fine. I don't think the killer will make any more attempts today, especially at the funeral of their accidental victim," Teresa said thoughtfully.
"Okay, There is a spare near me and Jules' room in the mountain, if you don't mind sleeping without any windows," Leah said.
After Teresa agreed to the lodging, Leah led her back into the mountain and into what Teresa thought was a room that turned out to actually be a second hallway. This hallway was half as long as the first and had 2 guards standing sentry at the entrance. When Leah walked in with Teresa the two guards eyed them both as they passed. The guards let them pass when they realized it was Leah.
"This will be your room here, it's right across from me and Jules," Leah said and pointed to one of the rooms.
"Okay, just keep it down in there while I'm here," Teresa said and smiled.
"Not a problem these days," Leah mumbled and opened the door of Teresa's room.
Teresa walked in and looked around the medium sized room. Several lanterns brightened the space. It had a simple décor with a bed and wooden dresser. Teresa sat on the soft bed and ran her fingers along the smooth blanket beneath her.
"Oh I could definitely fall asleep on this," she said. Her voice revealed how impressed she was.
"I'm glad you find it comfortable, we don't host much, so it's good to know that it's acceptable," Leah said humbly.
"So how much time do I have to nap before the funeral?" Teresa asked.
"Oh, I didn't know you wanted to come to the funeral," Leah answered, clearly caught off guard.
"Yeah, I'm hoping the killer will show up and do something incriminating, and I can beat a confession out of them," Teresa said and threw punches at the air as she spoke.
"It would be nice to bring this ordeal to a quick conclusion," Leah said in a considerate voice.
She stood in silence for a few seconds as Teresa stared at her waiting for a response.
"So, should I take a nap or not?" Teresa asked expectantly.
"Oh, you have a few hours, feel free to rest. I'll wake you up when It's time to go,"Leah said and closed the door.
Teresa sat in the quiet room and thought about the things she had learned that day. She thought about the kitchen and the things she had seen there. There was a detail about that kitchen that she was overlooking, but what was it. Then she thought about the poison, it had been placed into Julia's food. How did it get there? Why wasn't it noticeable? The man in the black tent had said that it was most likely a plant. How did an entire plant not stand out on a breakfast plate? Was it somehow changed into a liquid and dripped on the food? That would be easy to miss, and probably wouldn't be easy to smell either. Teresa thought about more ways the flower could have been hidden on the plate until she eventually fell asleep. The next thing she knew Leah was banging on the door to wake her.
When she opened the door Leah was standing in the hall wearing a long, black gown. She looked like she could burst into tears at any moment. What really caught Teresa's attention was Julia. The enormous woman stood behind Leah in a black gown of her own. She looked frail and exhausted.
"Well I guess we should get going," Leah said and started walking away without another word.