The Seed Bank

[SFX: Freezer seal. Freezer fan]

NARRATOR: The threat referred not to living plants but the seed bank beneath the conservatory. Its refrigeration system had been warming since Saye's death. Vera confessed she disabled the alarm to prevent panic among donors.

DR VERA MOSS: If temperatures rise for six hours, thirty years of genetic material is lost.

TESS ARDEN: Then someone is making us choose between evidence and rescue.

NARRATOR: They moved seed trays by hand. Lila found one drawer already empty: ghost-orchid tissue, catalog number C-ROW-19. The console message CROW was a catalog reference, not a dying accusation.

LILA QUINN: Emil told us where to look.

TESS ARDEN: Not while dying. He entered the code earlier as a reminder. The killer mistook it for evidence and left it visible.

[SFX: Label printer. Tape peeling]

NARRATOR: The drawer label had been replaced. Its adhesive contained silver glitter from gala decorations. Felix's donors had assembled gift bags beside the seed bank entrance. Vera had supervised. Both could switch it.

NOAH WREN: There is soil in the empty drawer.

TESS ARDEN: Not soil. Roof grit.

NARRATOR: On the conservatory roof, they found a case packed for drone transport. Felix intended to fly the tissue across the property line after the bloom, creating a private sample beyond the conservatory's inventory.

FELIX CROW: That proves theft. It does not prove I poisoned Emil.

TESS ARDEN: No. The plant clock proves who prepared the room. We have not finished reading it.