‘If there is antimony in Schumann’s body, you think it was administered in the form of a purge for dogs, then?’
‘Well, Mrs Schumann is not a qualified veterinary surgeon, of course, but, no doubt, as a breeder of dogs, she has learned ways of avoiding the expense of calling on professional assistance. I shall be interested to see the body when it is disinterred.’
‘Its state of preservation, you mean, Dame Beatrice?’
‘Yes. In spite of the fact that Chapman’s first wife had been dead for five years when the body was exhumed from a common grave, it was in an excellent state of preservation. So were the remains of the second wife, after two years.’
‘Schumann has been dead just over five years,’ said Maisry. ‘I think I’ll be rather interested to see the body, too, but I do hope you’re right, otherwise it’ll be the back of the Chief Constable’s hand to me, to borrow an expression from our cousins in Eire. I wonder when Phillips will be back on the job with me? He’d like to be in on the findings, if there’s going to be an autopsy.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Come Away, Come Away, Death
‘He’s dead as a rat on the store-room floor …
Oh, we say so, oh, we hope so!
He’s dead as a rat on the store-room floor.
He won’t never come back to us no more …
Oh, poor old Joe!’
(1)
‘Antimony in all the parts examined,’ said Maisry, ‘and the body so well preserved, even after more than five years, that you can hardly believe it. It seems ridiculous that we can’t pin the girls’ deaths on her, but we shall question her about poor Schumann, and James will be questioned, too, of course, although she’s obviously the one who could have got hold of the poison, even if James administered or helped to administer it.’
‘Does James have to be brought into it?’ asked Laura.
‘I only said we should question him, Mrs Gavin. In fact, we’re going to get his story first, before we tackle Mrs Schumann.’
‘I don’t believe he’s guilty and, if he’s brought to trial, it will ruin his career, you know.’
‘We wouldn’t want that, if he’s innocent, of course, and he can have a solicitor present at the interview, as I expect he knows.’
James declined to do this.
‘I don’t know why you think I can help you,’ he said. ‘On the other hand, I have nothing to hide.’
‘You say that you were not surprised when Heinrich Schumann died.’
‘Why should I have been? People as ill as he was do die ultimately, some sooner and some later.’
‘Are you surprised to hear that his death was brought about by poison?’
‘By poison? You mean he committed suicide?’
‘No, we think he was murdered.’
‘Murdered? Oh, that’s fantastic!’
‘Antimony is not a suicide’s poison, Mr James, and the particular form of it, liquor antimonii chloride, which we think was used in this case, is even more unpleasant to take than tartar emetic, antimony potassium tartrate. No, Mr James, it wasn’t suicide. The antimony was given to Heinrich Schumann in small doses over a period of time without his knowledge or consent, and, in the end, it killed him.’
‘He suffered from extreme sickness and diarrhoea, with severe abdominal pains, and was under constant supervision and treatment by the doctor. Surely, if he was being slowly poisoned, the doctor would have realised it?’ said James.
‘The use of antimony by murderers is extremely rare, and, as is the case with arsenic, the symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses. For instance, in the case of Chapman (real name Klosowski) his first wife was said to have died of tuberculosis, the second of intestinal obstruction coupled with the same symptoms as you yourself witnessed in the case of Schumann, and the third woman (he wasn’t married to her) was thought to have died of tuberculous peritonitis. There was every excuse for Schumann’s doctor to overlook the possibility that he was being poisoned, although a smarter man might have suspected it, I suppose.’
‘But – antimony! Wouldn’t you have to sign a book before a chemist would let you have stuff like that?’
‘There is a substance used by veterinary surgeons known as antimony butter.’
‘I don’t question that, but I am not a vet.’
‘No, but Mrs Schumann was a breeder of dogs.’
‘You mean she might have had a legitimate use for this stuff? What is that to me? I know nothing about dogs. I don’t even like them.’
‘Do you deny that you knew Mrs Schumann had this compound in her cottage?’
‘Most certainly I deny it. I took no interest in her work with her animals. It was her husband who was my friend. Our interests were identical, and I was extremely sorry when he became ill and subsequently died. I missed his companionship and I found his mind stimulated mine. He was a very great loss to me.’
‘Yes,’ said Maisry. ‘Did he raise any objection when you became engaged to his daughter?’
‘I was not engaged to her during his life-time.’
‘Because you knew he would object?’
‘No. She was too young, that is all.’
‘Did you know that your school secretary, Mrs Clancy, had an Italian maid?’
The sudden change of questioning, part of Maisry’s technique, did not appear to disconcert James. Looking slightly surprised, but in no way put out, he replied,
‘But I thought the woman had been murdered.’
‘Please answer my question, Mr James.’
‘Oh, I see, yes. I suppose everybody on the staff knew about her. The women gossip and chat about their small concerns all day long, and Mrs Clancy always took the break-time tea with us.’
‘Did you ever talk about her servant to anyone?’
‘Not that I remember. I wasn’t interested.’
‘You don’t remember mentioning her to Mrs Schumann?’
‘Oh, that!’
‘What, Mr James?’
‘Why, Mrs Schumann was always very anxious to sell her puppies, of course. It was her livelihood, so occasionally
