“Right. What happened to the retired doctor?”
“I think he died a few years ago.” Daggert’s expression went blank temporarily, then he came back to the present. “Yes, I just confirmed, he died about six years back.”
“I see.” Ashton drew a deep breath. “All right, let me get started here. And thank you.”
“I think that should be coming from us, Inspector.”
Daggert introduced Ashton to one of the staff physicians – the same one who took care of most of the Imperial Guard, so as not to bother the Imperial physician with the matter, as he was busy with prepping certain inoculations for the Emperor’s children – and left them alone. The physician, named Nancy Topske, quizzed him a bit regarding what sort of thing he was looking for.
“Well, I’ve just got a feeling that maybe the medications that were being given to Her Majesty Ilithyia I weren’t strong enough, or maybe weren’t the right ones, or something like that,” Ashton said. “I want to ensure that things were done properly. I don’t know how we’re going to manage that, but I need to try, at least.”
“Oh, well, that isn’t as hard as you might think,” Dr. Topske said. “You see, we’re required to track all of the medications given to the Emperor or Empress, down to the manufacturer’s batch lot. That’s to ensure nobody poisons them.”
“I see,” Ashton said. “Well, maybe my notion is all wet, then. But I’d like to have a look, if you don’t mind.”
“No, I understand,” Topske agreed. “Especially in the wake of what we heard almost happened recently.”
“I’m sorry?” Ashton blinked, wondering if she were referring to the recent assassination attempt, and wondering how she might have found out.
“It’s okay, Inspector,” Topske said with a slight smile, laying a hand on his sleeve. “I hold a clearance. The Palace medical staff is included in certain… briefings… that the Imperial Guard gives to a select group of staff. We know about the aborted assassination attempt, but the knowledge will go no further. And thank you and your staff for helping to abort it.”
“You’re welcome,” Ashton said, matching her expression. “Now, if someone wanted to damage the Empress’ heart, what would they use, and how long would they have to use it…?”
It took a while to dig through all of the various medications. Jiahui Song, known as Ilithyia I, had not been a young woman when she had ascended to the Throne, and Ashton estimated she had been roughly 72 years of age when she died… though he didn’t bother to check birth dates; he didn’t need to know that precisely. As a result of her age, there had been a goodly number of medicines – as well as nutritional supplements, which could not be overlooked in the circumstances.
But it turned out that, in the last five years of her life, Song had been on several cardiac medications, largely to help control blood pressure and cholesterol, but only in the last year of her life was she diagnosed with congestive heart failure due to cardiomyopathy, damage to the heart muscle. It was assumed she had had some infection that caused the damage, but Ashton found it interesting.
He gathered up all of the data on every medicine she had taken in the last five years of her life, as well as all the vitamin supplements for the same period.
Then, one at a time, he began to message the pharmaceutical companies that produced them – there were only three; the Empress’ intake had been carefully controlled and supervised – and contacted them about any assay data or other information they might still have for the various batch lots.
Then he called it a day and went home to a tired wife also getting off work, two rambunctious young children, and parents-in-law who already had a delicious dinner started for the entire family.
“So it’s over?” Cally asked Nick over dinner that night. “The assassination case. I mean, I saw the press release from the Palace today…”
“We all did, except maybe the children,” Alexandre Ames, Cally’s father, noted, as they dug into a hearty cassoulet au canard; replete with sausage, pancetta, duck, and root vegetables, even the children liked it. Estouffade printanière, a rich vegetable stew, had been the first course, and a simple but delicious cherry gâteau basque awaited for dessert. “It sounds like quite a few spoiled, rich businessmen found out the limits of their power and influence today.”
“The hard way,” Laura Ames replied, shooting a warning glance at young Paul, who had already inhaled his serving of cassoulet and was now busy poking his sister in the ribs. Upon spotting Grandmère’s look, however, he promptly subsided. “That’s got to have done a number on the markets.”
“I heard it did,” Cally averred, “but a couple of businessmen loyal to the Emperor had been betting against ‘em, and pretty much mopped up.”
“I couldn’t tell you about all that,” Nick said, “but yeah, it’s over. And the Emperor, his family, and the entire staff of the Palace, are all doing just fine.”
“Good,” Alexandre declared.
“Did you get a chance to ask about that, um, that predecessor?” Cally asked delicately. Laura and Alexandre perked up, though Paul and Leya were interested in the dessert that Alexandre had just put on the table.
“Yeah, I did,” Nick confirmed.
“Wait, what now?” Laura wondered.
“So everybody knows how Ilithyia the Second was killed,” Cally began, and everyone but the children nodded. “Well, Nick has had a notion – ever since it happened – that Empress Ilithyia the First’s death wasn’t just bad health, or might not have been,” Cally explained. “But he’s never had access to any of the materials or information to determine if it was or not.”
“I broached the subject to General Daggert today,” Nick said, “and he
