There were other things to look for, too. Usually, the procedure would look first at the volatile poisons such as ether and carbolic acid, but Theodore felt that too much time had passed and the manner of his death didn’t suggest those poisons had been utilised. Alkaloid poisons were possibly more plausible but none of them were soluble in water unless as salts, and would have had to be taken in alcohol or medicinal preparations generally. Again, looking at the circumstances around the death, and the effect on his dining partner, they were a little more unlikely but were certainly to be tested for if the Marsh test proved inconclusive.
But arsenic was so easily bought or obtained from commercial preparations that it was the weapon of choice for hundreds and it was often said that only a bare fraction of the poisoning cases using arsenic ever came to court.
Those cases looked far too much like food poisoning.
Arsenic was a metallic poison. While Theodore heated the sample with zinc and acid, capturing the resulting gas so he could ignite it to oxidize any arsenic present, Mr Codd brought out the little library of films which had known amounts of arsenic deposits depicted on them. Once Theodore had a black deposit showing on a piece of white ceramic, they compared it to the plates. There were a few final tests to perform to confirm it was arsenic and not some other similar substance that gave off a black deposit, but Theodore knew it in his gut as soon as he saw it.
“We have been lucky,” he said to Mr Codd. “I feared we might have been here all night.”
“And yet dreadfully unlucky,” Mr Codd replied. “Because who can we tell about this, and what can be done? The case, Lord Calaway, is officially closed.” Then he grinned. “But not for you, sir, is it?”
Eight
Indeed, the case was not closed at all to Theodore. The proof that white arsenic had been in the food was all that Theodore needed to spur him on. He got back to his daughter’s house just as dinner was ending, but he dragged up a chair and demanded a plate, and dined on cooling leftovers while everyone else picked at their puddings and listened closely. He tried not to go into too much detail but it was noticeable that no one quite cleared their plates.
As soon as he had eaten enough, he jumped up again and Robert was just as keen to put the next part of the investigation into action.
They dressed in plain, warm clothing, and raided the cupboards and storerooms for a variety of tools that would, if they were stopped by the police, have them arrested immediately on suspicion of going equipped for housebreaking.
Which was exactly what they were about to do.
AS FAR AS THEODORE was concerned, someone had murdered Digby Nettles. Over dinner, Charlotte had argued the case for letting the matter now drop, which was a rational about-face for her to make. She argued that if the police were closing the investigation then there was nothing to be gained from looking into it, and they were free of Nettles’ influence now. That had also occurred to Theodore. By her side, Adelia nodded cautiously, but did not speak. She had seemed to have been perked up by the investigation, Theodore thought, and he didn’t want her to sink back into her domestic gloom.
Anyway, something had been fired up in Robert and he overruled his wife’s reluctance, still clearly determined to investigate. He argued that he was on the side of justice, but Theodore recognised something else in his son-in-law’s enthusiasm.
It was the sheer joy of having something meaningful to do – just like Adelia.
He had the passion that came from having a purpose.
The challenge.
And the hint of danger.
All these things were lacking in Robert’s everyday life and now he had the chance to do something different and he was going to seize it.
Adelia listened to Robert and Charlotte. After consideration, she said that there was a further argument in favour of continued investigation. She pointed out that although William Wiseman might have poisoned Digby Nettles, there was the chance that they were both intended victims and that another person was out there, wishing harm on both of these two men – and potentially on others, too. Who was the figure that Robert and Theodore had seen prior to the murder, the figure in the hooded cloak who had been ejected from the house?
“Danger,” she had said slowly, “might still be out there, and it could be foolish to let the matter be ignored.” Charlotte pouted and frowned, but Adelia’s words were all the encouragement that Robert needed.
So now Robert and Theodore were on a mission, under the cover of the dead of night, to break into William Wiseman’s house while he was still recovering in hospital, and find any sources of arsenic that could be considered to be beyond the usual bounds of domestic usage.
They found his house in a far less exclusive area of town than Digby Nettles had lived in. William Wiseman was a respectable art dealer but he was hardly in the same league as Nettles and his ilk. He lived in a narrow house quite close to a newly-built section of railway line. There was a light on in a room on the top floor and they guessed that it belonged to the servants.
“I wonder how trustworthy the servants are,” Theodore said in a low voice as they stood on the opposite side of the road, blowing on their hands to keep warm.
“To bribe our way in, do you mean? I’d rather not chance
