by Hugh Ashton
“ We arrived to a grief-stricken house. The faces of both the stepmother and the aunt were furrowed with tears, which flowed freely as they welcomed us to the house. The father showed less emotion on the surface, but it was obvious from his demeanour that he had suffered a crushing blow.
“ I enquired as to whether a coroner’s inquest had been called, and discovered that no such formality had been undertaken. The doctor had signed the death certificates, giving some fatuous cause such as ‘ bad air’ for the demise of the children. I swiftly determined that the symptoms of the disease that had carried them off were the same as had been observed on the previous occasions, including the illness suffered before my first visit to the house – that is to say, an extreme lassitude accompanied by shooting pains throughout the limbs, starting in the extremities of the fingers and toes, and working their way towards the heart.”
“ It would definitely appear to have been some sort of poisoning,” I said to Holmes. “ I would have to consult a pharmacopoeia to determine the exact toxin involved, but it sounds like no disease of which I am aware.”
“ I had come to the same conclusion, and I therefore cast about for the source of the poison. I requested and obtained permission of Mrs. O’Donnell to question the servants regarding the food that was served to the children immediately before and during their illnesses. My intention, which I then proceeded to carry out, was to question both Mrs. and Miss O’Donnell on the same matter, and to note any discrepancies between their stories, and those of the servants. It may be noted, by the way, that while Miss O’Donnell was well known to the servants, and appeared to be universally respected and admired by them, the young Mrs. O’Donnell, though less familiar to them, had already inspired much of the same feeling among the domestics. Both, in other words, were seen as women of whom bad words were rarely spoken. I had had an idea that the intuition of servants, who are often more willing to speak freely than their masters and mistresses, would serve me in this instance, but it was not to be. Indeed, Miss O’Donnell’s personal maid, who had been in her service for thirty years, seemed to be as devoted to the young mistress of the house as to her older employer.
“ I then made my way to the doctor, who lived on the other side of the village, to enquire what medicines he had prescribed. I found him to be much as I had pictured him – a dirty, slovenly, half-drunk man, who appeared to have forgotten the little science that he had ever learned. The patent pills that he had prescribed appeared to me to be little more than placebos, and seemed to contain nothing that would account for the symptoms described, if the label on the bottle that he showed me was indeed accurate.
“ ‘ I swear by these things,’ he told me. ‘ Children, young wives, old maids, they can all benefit from them, to be sure. Why, old Miss O’Donnell has swallowed fair hundreds of them in her time.’
“ ‘ Has she indeed ? ’ I asked, and was assured that this was so.
“ My only conclusion was that Mrs. O’Donnell was a consummate actress, and had somehow introduced poison into the children’s food while pretending to nurse them and to demonstrate her devotion to them. Of the composition of the poison, and the actual method by which it was administered, I was as yet unsure, but I was confident that I knew the perpetrator and the broad strokes by which the crime had been accomplished.”
“ But to what end ? ” I could not help asking.
“ That was another area in which I had to confess my ignorance. It was, I supposed, possible that the family fortune was at stake in some way, but given the youth of the children, and the fact that my friend was the eldest son, it did not seem that there would be any significant gain to be enjoyed by doing away with the younger children.
“ I now had to tread with extreme caution. It was not then, and indeed would not be now, a pleasant task for me to accuse one’s hostess of the murder of three young children. You smile, Watson, but I can assure you that it was no laughing matter. Somehow I had to discover the evidence that would confirm my suspicions. My chance came the very next day, when Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell, together with Miss O’Donnell, were invited to a dinner at a neighbouring house, given by friends who wished to express their sympathy for the family’s recent loss. My college friend was to accompany them, and beseeched me to accompany him as a friend of the family, but I declined on the grounds that the occasion was to be a family affair, and I, as one outside the family circle, would be superfluous.
“ I therefore had the run of the house, and I accordingly made my way, unobserved, to Mrs. O’Donnell’s bed-room and dressing-room, reasoning that this would be the most likely repository for any apparatus and materials that she had used to accomplish her ends. To my surprise, I discovered nothing following a search of the chambers. I have since refined the methods that I use to conduct such searches, but even at this early stage in my career, I can safely say that my technique was far in advance of the police of the day. It was, of course, possible that she had hidden the poison elsewhere, or even disposed of it altogether, but I closed the door of the bed-room behind me, somewhat baffled and frustrated by my failure.
“ It occurred to me that, unlikely as it might be, I should extend the same courtesy to Miss O’Donnell. The scientific approach, if nothing else, demanded no less. And there it was, Watson, that I came across something that turned my previous suppositions on their head. It was a piece of paper, bearing three names – the names of the dead children – and headed by the name of a well-known City insurance company. It was a letter advising Miss Charlotte O’Donnell of the fact that a considerable sum of money would be paid to her, through the medium of her bankers, following the demise of the three children. I was thunderstruck by this. In my limited experience, I had never heard of an uncle or an aunt insuring the lives of their nephews and nieces, and certainly not for the considerable sums listed on the paper. It is no exaggeration when I tell you that the money would have maintained a respectable family for several years.
“ I now had a motive for murder, but the motive was of the woman I had least suspected of the crime. I now cast about the room and discovered a very interesting collection. Two bottles of those diabolical pills, which were to be expected, given what I had been told by the doctor, but also a blue bottle of white powder, clearly marked “Poison”. The bottles of pills were arranged in what appeared to be a deliberate fashion ; one by the poison bottle, and the other at some distance from it. Here I should perhaps explain that the pills themselves were of the type where the drug is enclosed in a gelatine capsule which may be pulled apart and re-closed, after, perhaps, some other substance has been introduced using a spill or some such implement.
“ I reasoned that the pill bottle by the poison bottle contained capsules that had been laced with the poison, while the other was innocent. I therefore secreted the suspect bottle in my pocket, and made my way to the stables. There, I came across one of the stable cats, and forced three of the capsules down its throat.”
“ Holmes ! I am disgusted by such wanton cruelty to a dumb animal,” I expostulated.
He smiled ruefully. “ It was in a good cause, I told myself, and in any event, the beast repaid me for any discomfort, in the form of the wild bites and scratches it inflicted on me. It was not my intention to cause the death of the animal, in any case. I watched to see if there would be any effect, but instant poisons, as you know, are more a matter of romance than they are of reality. However, I judged that such a poison would probably take effect by the next morning.
“ I now had the motive and the means. And since she was in the sick-room, she had the opportunity to administer the fatal doses.”
“ But,” I objected, “ if I recall correctly, the children’s condition worsened when the aunt was absent and only improved when she was present.”
“ That is very true, and it definitely gave me pause for thought. But then a possible solution occurred to me in the night as I lay awake, ruminating. What if, I asked myself, my adversary here was more subtle than I had previou
sly imagined ? If, for example, she had managed to introduce a little poison into the children’s food prior to her leaving the house, so that they fell ill, and then arranged, with her devoted servant, to exchange the bottle of pills that the doctor was sure to prescribe for the invalids with the bottle she had previously prepared ? When summoned to return, the harmless nostrums would take the place of the poisoned medicine, and the children would recover. The inference to any observer would be clear ; that is, that the older woman had saved the life of the children from the wiles of the young wife.”
“ But the first occasion ? ”
“ That, I concluded, was an experiment in dosage. Since the aunt alone was with the children, we do not know how serious their condition actually was on that occasion, and it was my surmise that the time had been spent attempting to discover the dosage which would do a minimal amount of permanent damage to the children’s health, while giving the impression that they were seriously ill. The next two occasions were deliberate attempts to place the blame on another, while at the same time raising the status of the actual culprit and helping to establish her innocence with regard to the matter.”
“ A truly diabolical plot, Holmes,” I exclaimed.
“ Indeed. I turned over and went to sleep, waking early. I made my way to the stables, and discovered that the cat was apparently suffering from the effects of its involuntary medication the previous evening, though, you will be pleased to hear, the effects did not appear to be too serious. I now determined to confront Bridget, the maid to Miss Charlotte O’Donnell. I encountered her in the servants’ hall, and much to her surprise, bade her come with me where we could talk without being overheard. I confronted her with my theories, with all the force and vehemence of which I was capable, and was gratified to have her confess, in tears, that my suspicions were true. She had been promised, she told me, a tidy sum of money for her part in the crime, which she had taken part in for fear of being turned out with a bad reference.
“ I was now happy with my results. As I walked into the dining-room, I had in my pockets two bottles of these wretched pills, one as they had been delivered, and one which had suffered the attentions of Miss O’Donnell. I walked to the place at the table where she was sitting, and stood in such a way that she could not ignore my presence.
“ ‘ Mr. Holmes, a very good morning to you,’ she said with a sweet smile that could have melted the heart of a stone.
“ ‘ I fear you are a little fatigued after last night’s visit to your friends,’ I said.
“ ‘ Why, a little, perhaps,’ she acknowledged.
“ ‘ Perhaps one of these pills would be of some benefit to your health,’ I said, pulling out one of the bottles – the un- altered one.
“ ‘ Why, how did you know that I took that medicine ? ’ she asked, a little taken aback.
“ ‘ Or perhaps the pills from this bottle ? ’ I said, taking the other from my pocket. Her face turned white.
“ ‘ Where did you find those ? ’ she asked, suddenly angry. ‘ I demand to know. And what do you mean by this farce ? ’
“ ‘ Why Charlotte,’ said her brother from his place at the head of the table. ‘ The young man’s only having a bit of fun.’
“ ‘ This is no fun for me,’ she snapped.
“ ‘ Nor was it fun for Daisy, Mary, and Dermot,’ I answered her.
“ All colour had now drained from her face. ‘ So you know all ? ’ she gave out in a hoarse whisper.
“ ‘ I believe I do. Bridget has just confirmed to me what I deduced last night.’
“ ‘ Why... why...’ but she got no further. Young Mrs. O’Donnell stepped between us, and slapped the older woman hard about the face before moving behind her and pinioning her arms in a manner that would have done credit to a police officer.
“ ‘ You foul murderer ! ’ she spat at the older woman.
“ ‘ What in the world is going on here ? ’ demanded her husband. I briefly gave the facts of the matter as I understood them, and his face turned ashen. ‘ Is this true, Charlotte ? ’ he asked his sister, who gave no answer, but nodded dumbly, the tears falling silently down her cheeks. ‘ Then there is nothing to be done,’ he said, and rang the bell for a footman, to whom he gave orders to fetch the police.
“ The wretched woman was escorted from the house, weeping. I next saw her in the dock when I was called to give evidence at her trial for murder. It transpired that she had been a major beneficiary in her brother’s will following the death of his first wife. Not expecting him to marry again, she had borrowed heavily – gambling again, Watson, you see,” and the finger wagged once more in my direction, “ on a post obit basis, expecting to repay on the death of her older brother.”
“ And then her plans were thwarted by the arrival of the new wife ? ”
“ Precisely. The new wife had to be disposed of, and some money raised quickly, as it seems the creditors were snapping at her heels. She decided to use the same action to achieve both ends. By taking out insurance on her nephew and nieces, she could assure herself of the benefits should they die, and if she could somehow contrive to cast the blame on her rival, as she saw Kathleen O’Donnell, her other purpose could be realised.
“ The system of dosing and recovery was carried out as I had deduced. The servant was bribed and threatened into acting as an accessory. Given the hideous nature of the crimes and the tender age of the victims, the jury did not even need to retire before announcing their verdict and their sentence.”
“ And the result ? ” I asked, though I knew the answer.
“ She was hanged,” he said briefly, and there was silence in our compartment for a number of minutes as the train slowed. “ Ah, here we are at Paddington,” he remarked, as our journey ended. “ Let us hurry. Sarasate plays at the Windsor Hall at half past three, and it is close on the hour now.”
-o-
If you enjoyed these stories …
You may enjoy some other adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Hugh Ashton, who has been described in The District Messenger, the newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, as being “one of the best writers of new Sherlock Holmes stories, in both plotting and style”.
Volumes published so far (all published by Inknbeans Press) include :
Tales from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD
More from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD
Secrets from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD
The Darlington Substitution (novel)
Notes from the Dispatch-Box of John H. Watson MD
Further Notes from the Dispatch-Box of John H. Watson MD
The Reigate Poisoning Case : Concluded
The Death of Cardinal Tosca (novel)
The Trepoff Murder (ebook only)
The first three “Deed Box” volumes have been bound together with The Trepoff Murder in a hardcover volume entitled :
The Deed Box of John H. Watson MD
There is also a children’s detective story, with beautiful illustrations by Andy Boerger (who produced the illustrations for this volume), which has been nominated for the prestigious Caldecott Prize :
Sherlock Ferret and the Missing Necklace
Full details of all of these at :
http://221BeanBakerStreet.info
Hugh Ashton has also written At the Sharpe End (a Tokyo-based thriller) and a collection of short stories, Tales of Old Japanese (both Inknbeans Press) as well as two acclaimed alternative histories : Beneath Gray Skies and Red Wheels Turning (j-views).
About Inknbeans Press
Inknbeans Press is all about the ultimate reading experience. We believe books are the greatest treasures of mankind. In them are held all the history, fantasy, hope and horror of humanity. We can experience the past, dream of the future, understand how everything works from an atomic clock to the human heart. We can explore our souls, fight epic battles, swoon in love. We can fly, we can run, we can cross mighty oceans and endless universes. We can invite ancient culture
s into our living room, and walk on the moon. And if we can do it with a decent cup of coffee beside us...well, what more can we ask, right?
Visit the Web site at www.inknbeans.com
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