Below Suspicion by John Dickson Carr Read Free Book Online Page B

accept it ... as a historical fact."
    "When you arrived at The Priory' in response to the 'phone call, what did you do and what were your conclusions?"
    "I examined the deceased." Dr. Bierce locked his fingers together even more closely. "I concluded that death was due to a large dose of some irritant poison, probably antimony,"
    "At what hour had the death occurred?"
    "Again in my opinion, at some time on the previous evening between ten o'clock and midnight. I can go no further than that."
    "What did you do next?"
    "I telephoned the police, saying that I was unable to issue a death certificate. Later I received instructions from the coroner to perform a post-mortem examination. I removed certain organs from the body, and put them in charge of the Home Office analyst."
    "Did you examine the Nemo's tin and the glass on the bedside table?"
    Dr. Bierce had done so, and stated it emphatically. The tin contained pure antimony, the dregs of the glass a solution of water and about one-tenth of a grain of antimony. Whereupon Mr. Lowdnes referred back to the third witness at the beginning to the trial: Sir Frederick Preston, the Home Office analyst, who had testified to finding thirty-two grains of this poison in the deceased's body.
    "That is a large dose of antimony, Dr. Bierce?"
    "A very large dose. Yes."
    "Do the sjTTiptoms come on suddenly or slowly?"
    "Very suddenly, after some fifteen or twenty minutes."
    "Now I ask your considered opinion. Doctor," pursued the other, e-nun-ci-a-ting each word. "Even though the symptoms were sudden, could the deceased have reached the bell-push beside her?"
    "Oh, yes. Quite readily."
    "Thank you. Doctor. I have no more questions."
    Joyce Ellis had her hand at her throat. But, as counsel for the defence rose, the sensitiveness of that courtroom made clear that a climax was rushing towards them for good or ill.
    Butler steadily contemplated the witness.
    "Doctor," he said, "would you please describe for us the onset of these symptoms?"
    Dr. Bierce nodded curtly. "I should expect in most cases a metallic taste in the mouth, nausea, incessant vomiting—"
    "Ah!" The syllable struck across like an arrow. "But may I ask whether the deceased had vomited?"
    "No, she had not."
    "I quite agree with you, Doctor! At the same time, will you give us your reasons for saying so?"
    "It is the first active symptom felt by the patient." Dr. Bierce, clipping his words, grew alert and watchful. "The vomiting is violent and uncontrollable. I have never heard or read of a case, where vomiting was present, in which traces were not left. Besides, the digestive organs showed. . . ."
    "Exactly! How does this affect the other symptoms?"
    "Sometimes," replied Dr. Bierce, with a mirthless little professional smile under his steady brown eyes, "it is the difference between recovery and death. All the symptoms are strongly intensified."
    "These symptoms being?"
    "Soreness in mouth and throat, congestion of head and face, cramps in arms and legs, intense stomach-cramps. . . ."
    "Crampsl" said Butler. "Now I quite agree with you that Mrs. Taylor could have reached the bell if it lay near her hand. But suppose the bell-cord had been hanging down behind the bed?"
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "Doctor, did you hear the testimony of the witnesses Alice Griffiths and Emma Perkins?"
    The question was purely rhetorical. Witnesses at the Central Criminal Court, except on some occasions police-officers, are never permitted in court to hear the other witnesses. While Butler explained what Alice and Emma had said. Dr. Bierce's domed forehead seemed to rise as though he were growing taller in the box.
    "You understand the position. Dr. Bierce?"
    "I do."
    "In order to reach that bell, the deceased would have had to leave her bed and push the heavy bed out from the wall to reach behind. Or she would have had to stand up on the bed, as we have heard. With the intense cramps you describe, do you consider that she could have done this?"
    "No, I do