Iain Pears - An Instance of the Fingerpost

“What about my patient? I really don’t want to come back to find her dead.”

Lower frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that. But she doesn’t need any attention, does she? I mean, you can’t do much except wait and see whether she lives. And if you gave her more treatment that would spoil the experiment.”

“That’s true.”

“I could ask Locke to look in on her. I noticed you didn’t take to him much, but he’s a fine fellow really, and a good physician. We’ll only be away five or six days.”

I was doubtful, and did not want someone like Locke informed of my work, although as I knew Lower had a high regard for the man I refrained from saying so. “Let me think about it,” I said. “And I’ll tell you this evening.”

“Fine. Now, these cats await me. And then I suppose we ought to see the magistrate to tell him what we have discovered. Not, I suspect, that he will be very interested.”

Thus, three hours later, we knocked on the door of the magistrate’s house in Holywell to inform him that, as far as the opinion of two doctors was concerned, Dr. Robert Grove had died of arsenic poisoning. The stomachs and entrails of the cats were quite definite on this point; there was absolutely no difference between them and, in addition, the excoriation closely matched that which we had noted in Grove’s own. The conclusion was inescapable by any theoretical approach, whether it be that of Monsieur Descartes or Lord Bacon.

Sir John Fulgrove saw us after only a very short delay; we were ushered into the room he used as his study and as an impromptu courtroom for deciding minor matters. He seemed a worried man, which was no great surprise. Someone like Woodward could make life very unpleasant for any lay official, even a magistrate, who incurred his wrath. Investigating a death was tantamount to alleging murder; Sir John now had to come up with a convincing case to lay before the coroner’s court; and for that he needed someone to accuse.

When we told him of our investigations and conclusions, he leaned forward in his chair straining to understand what we were saying. I felt quite sorry for him; the matter was, after all, exceptionally delicate. To his credit, he questioned us closely both as to our methods and the logic of our conclusions, and made us explain several times the more complicated procedures until he understood them properly.

“It is your belief, then, that Dr. Grove died as a result of drinking arsenic dissolved in the bottle of brandy. Is that the case?”

Lower—who did all of the talking—nodded. “It is.”

“Yet you will not speculate as to how the arsenic came to be in the bottle? Could he have put it there himself?”

“Doubtful. He had been warned only that evening of its dangers, and said he would never use it again. As for the bottle, Mr. Cola here might be able to assist on that point.”

So I explained how I had seen Grove pick up the bottle at the foot of the stairs as he escorted me to the gate. I added, however, that I was not certain it was the same bottle, and naturally I did not know whether the poison was already in it.

“Yet is this poison used medicinally? You were treating him, Mr. Cole?”

“Cola.”

Lower explained how it was sometimes used, but never in such quantities, and I said how I had done little more than wash away the medicine he was using, so that the eye might heal itself.

“You were treating him, you dined with him that evening, and you were probably the last person to see him before he died?”

I agreed evenly that this might well be the case. The magistrate grunted. “This arsenic,” he continued. “What is it, exactly?”

“It is a powder,” Lower said. “Derived from a mineral composed of sulphur and caustic salts. It is both expensive and often quite difficult to find. It comes from silver mines in Germany. Or it can be made by subliming orpiment with salts. In other words…”

“Thank you,” the magistrate said, holding up his hands to fend off one of Lower’s lectures. “Thank you. What I mean is, where is it obtained? Do apothecaries sell it, for example? Is it part of the materia medica of physicians?”

“Oh, I see. On the whole, I think, physicians do not keep it about them. It is used only rarely, and as I say, it is expensive. Ordinarily they would apply to an apothecary when it was needed.”

“Thank you, indeed.” The magistrate’s brow furrowed in thought as he considered what we had just told him. “I do not see how your information, valuable though it might be, could possibly be of use should this ever come to a trial. I understand its value, of course, but I doubt that a jury would. You know, Lower, what these men are like, often enough. If a case depended on such flimsy stuff, they would be certain to acquit whomever we charged.”

Lower looked displeased, but admitted that Sir John was correct.

“Tell me, Mister Cole…”

“Cola.”

“Cola. You are Italian, I believe?”

I said I was.

“A doctor yourself?”

I replied that I had studied physic but was not qualified, and had no intention of practicing for a living. My father, I continued, did not want…

“You are familiar with arsenic, then?”

I did not for one moment suspect where this line of questioning was leading, and I answered cheerfully enough that I was indeed.

“And you admit you were possibly the last person to see Dr. Grove alive?”

“Possibly.”

“So—please forgive me for speculating—so if, for example, you put the poison in yourself, and gave it to him when you arrived for dinner, there would be no one to query your account?”

“Sir John, surely you are forgetting something?” Lower said mildly. “Which is unless you can advance a reason for a deed, you cannot attribute it. And logic rules out the existence of that reason. Mr. Cola has only been in Oxford, only in this country, in fact, for a few weeks. He had only met Grove once before that night. And, I must say, I am willing to vouch absolutely for his good character as, I am sure, would the Honorable Robert Boyle, were he here.”

This reminded the man of the absurdity of his line of questioning, I am glad to say, although it did not restore him to my esteem. “My apologies, sir. I did not mean to cause offense. But it is my duty to investigate, and naturally, I must ask questions of those near the events.”

“That is quite understandable. No apologies are needed, I assure you,” I replied with little sincerity of spirit. His remarks had alarmed me considerably, so much so that I came close to pointing out the fault in his logic—which was that I was not necessarily the last person to have seen Grove alive, for someone had seen Sarah Blundy, it appeared, going into his room after I had left him at the gate.

I was aware, however, that if an Italian and a papist would have been the ideal candidate for a murderer, then the daughter of a sectary, of loose morals and a fiery temper, would have been an adequate replacement. I had no desire to extricate myself from suspicion by pointing an accusing finger at her. She was, I thought, capable of such a thing, but apart from gossip, there was little to suggest any involvement. I felt quite justified in remaining silent until that situation changed.

Eventually, the magistrate gave up trying to say more, and levered himself out of his chair. “You must excuse me. I have to see the coroner and alert him. Then interview some other people, as well as placating Warden Woodward. Perhaps, Dr. Lower, you would be kind enough to tell him what you told me? I would be happier were he convinced I was not acting out of malice toward the university.”

Lower nodded, reluctantly, and went off to discharge his obligation, leaving me free to do as I pleased for the rest of the day.