His dark eyes went wide with alarm.

“Did Christopher go near Theodore while you were gone?” Raymond asked, his voice sharp and strained.

“Theodore was with me at the pharmacy,” I said.

“But at two o’clock Christopher offered to hold him in the drawing room while I went for linens.”

Raymond let go of my arm and pressed his hand against his ribs, breathing heavily through his nose.

“He must have taken the swab from the child’s blanket or the rattle,” Raymond whispered.