A serious case of stalking

It's amazing what one can learn courtesy of private client lawyers. One of Tulkinghorn's horticulturally-minded scouts recently chatted to Diana Parker of Withers at the firm's swanky offices in Old Bailey. In each conference room is an orchid, which the scout confessed looked a lot more perky than her own rather sulky specimens. "How did Withers manage it?" she asked.
Parker believed that too much watering was the fatal flaw, but passed on a tip from Prince Charles's lawyer Fiona Shackleton: when your orchid is fading, merely buy some plastic orchid flowers and then pin them to the stem. As the leaves of orchids are a lot less fussy than the flowers they will keep going, and when visitors test whether plants are real they always give the leaves rather than the blooms a squeeze. Tulkinghorn hopes that the information is of help, although he rather hopes that Shackleton does not apply the same smoke and mirrors technique to her agreements.