Page 13 of Murder at the Dinner Party
I somehow kept a straight face as I watched him sniff the contents before distributing pea-sized amounts of the salts into test tubes. He then collected several bottles of liquid from the shelf and proceeded to drip three drops of one of the liquids onto the first batch of salts. Nothing happened.
“Do you know when the victim last ate or drank anything?” he asked as he dropped three drops of the second liquid into the second test tube. “Was it immediately before his death or much earlier?”
“Earlier. All the witnesses say he didn’t have anything immediately before. When he did eat or drink, the others had the same thing. That’s why I wanted the salts tested, as they’re potentially the only thing that he had that the others didn’t.” I proceeded to tell him how the butler had seemed disoriented then collapsed and had a seizure before dying.
“Did he vomit? Froth at the mouth?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Was there discoloration around or inside his mouth? Or fingernails?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know. I didn’t see the body and the witnesses who did might not have noticed those things if they were present.”
“The police believe it was natural causes, if that helps,” Harry said.
Dr. Garside added droplets to the last test tube. Nothing happened. I thought that was the end of his experiments, but he then proceeded to use a pair of tongs to hold each test tube over a Bunsen burner. He muttered to himself then finally stood back, hands on hips.
“Based on your witness reports, I can inform you he didn’t die of arsenic, antimony, mercury, or cyanide poisoning. Without doing an autopsy, I can only guess, but it’s very likely your victim may have consumed hyoscine in the hours leading up to his death. It also goes by the name of scopolamine and is found in the seeds and leaves of henbane. If taken in small doses, it can actually be beneficial. The medical profession uses it to treat motion sickness, stomach complaints and even alcoholism. Larger doses, however, can kill. The victim will convulse, then lose consciousness, and finally suffer respiratory failure. If the fully grown male victim had any underlying conditions, like a weak heart, then as little as a quarter of a grain could be fatal. It’s imperative that a patient taking a tonic or powder containing hyoscine hydrobromide ingests only the dose prescribed by their doctor.”
I indicated the series of test tubes. Some of the seltzer had changed color or fizzed, while others looked the same. “Which one of these shows you that it's hyoscine?”
“None.” He handed me the bottle of seltzer salts. “This doesn’t contain anything other than bicarbonate of soda. Not only would a dose of the seltzer not have killed him, it wouldn’t have cured him of anything either.”
I tucked the bottle into my bag. “Thank you, Doctor. I’m sorry about almost drinking your experiment earlier.”
“That’s not an experiment. It’s fluid from the brain and spinal cord of a recently deceased male.”
I must have looked like I was about to be sick because Harry hastily thanked the doctor then steered me out of the laboratory, through the hospital and outside. The fresh air helped to settle my stomach, although it was warm and I was still thirsty. When Harry suggested we find a teashop, I gratefully agreed.
The brief walk did me good and my stomach made the most unladylike rumble of hunger as we sat at a table covered with a pretty blue-and-yellow checkered tablecloth. We ordered tea and sandwiches and fell into a discussion about poisons, keeping our voices low so as not to alarm our nearest neighbors.
“Without doing an autopsy, it’s impossible to know whether Mr. Hardy was poisoned or died of natural causes,” I said.
“Dr. Garside seemed quite sure that if the victim was poisoned, it was with hyoscine,” Harry said. “The question is, how was it administered?”
“If at all.”
His lips curved at the edges with his small smile. “But you don’t believe he did. I can tell from the dint between your brows.”
I pressed my finger to the space between my brows in an attempt to smooth out the dint. I wished I wasn’t so easy to read, particularly by him. “I would be inclined to think he did die of natural causes if it wasn’t for the forced lock on the lockbox and the fact his room had clearly been searched. Not to mention the other staff noticed Mr. Hardy seemed altered when meeting the Campbells’ friends. Not the ones on the night of the murder, but the couple who dined there a few nights earlier, the Whitchurches. They all said he became more thoughtful and somewhat distracted.”
“Tell me what you know about them. It might help to toss out ideas as to why the sight of them unnerved him.”
“It wasn’t the sight of Lord and Lady Whitchurch that brought about a change in him. It was the mention of their name when Lady Campbell informed him the Whitchurches were coming to dinner. He clearly knew them or knew of them. According to the footman, they recognized Mr. Hardy at dinner, although he thinks they couldn’t place him.”
Harry frowned. “Whitchurch? That name rings a bell.”
“Were they guests at the hotel?”
He slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so…” He continued to frown as we ate our sandwiches and sipped our tea. Every suggestion I made as to how the name could be familiar to him was met with another shake of his head.
Until I suggested that he might not have met them at all, but heard someone else mention them. He clicked his fingers. “You’re right.” He picked up his teacup. “Finish your sandwiches. I need to telephone my father.”
* * *
Harry promisedto telephone me after he’d talked to his father. He’d not been able to give me any other information about the Whitchurches except to say the name reminded him of an old case of Inspector Hobart’s. It must have made an impact on Harry at the time for him to recall the name years later.
I returned to the hotel well before it was time to dress for afternoon tea. I informed Goliath and Frank about my new case, then repeated the information for Peter’s sake, who told me that Mrs. Short had asked him to send me to her office when I returned. Once there, I again gave a report on the investigation so far. I had a question for her, too.
