Sad cypress - Agatha Christie [62]
Sir Edwin rose, still bland.
‘I should like to get it quite clear. You found in the stomach nothing but bread, butter, fish paste, tea and morphia. There were no other foodstuffs?’
‘None.’
‘That is to say, the deceased had eaten nothing but sandwiches and tea for some considerable time?’
‘That is so.’
‘Was there anything to show in what particular vehicle the morphia had been administered?’
‘I don’t quite understand.’
‘I will simplify that question. The morphia could have been taken in the fish paste, or in the bread, or in the butter on the bread, or in the tea, or in the milk that had been added to the tea?’
‘Certainly.’
‘There was no special evidence that the morphia was in the fish paste rather than in any of the other mediums?’
‘No.’
‘And, in fact, the morphia might have been taken separately – that is to say, not in any vehicle at all? It could have been simply swallowed in its tablet form?’
‘That is so, of course.’
‘Sir Edwin sat down.
Sir Samuel re-examined.
‘Nevertheless, you are of the opinion that, however the morphia was taken, it was taken at the same time as the other food and drink?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank you.’
IV
Inspector Brill had taken the oath with mechanical fluency. He stood there, soldierly and stolid, reeling off his evidence with practised ease.
‘Summoned to the house…The accused said, “It must have been bad fish paste.”…search of the premises…one jar of fish paste washed out was standing on the draining-board in the pantry, another half full…further search of pantry kitchen…’
‘What did you find?’
‘In a crack behind the table, between the floorboards, I found a tiny scrap of paper.’
The exhibit went to the jury.
‘What did you take it to be?’
‘A fragment torn off a printed label – such as are used on glass tubes of morphia.’
Counsel for the Defence arose with leisurely ease.
He said:
‘You found this scrap in a crack in the flooring?’
‘Yes.’
‘Part of a label?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you find the rest of that label?’
‘No.’
‘You did not find any glass tube or any bottle to which that label might have been affixed?’
‘No.’
‘What was the state of that scrap of paper when you found it? Was it clean or dirty?’
‘It was quite fresh.’
‘What do you mean, quite fresh?’
‘There was surface dust on it from the flooring, but it was quite clean otherwise.’
‘It could not have been there for any length of time?’
‘No, it had found its way there quite recently.’
‘You would say, then, that it had come there on the actual day you found it – not earlier?’
‘Yes.’
With a grunt Sir Edwin sat down.
V
Nurse Hopkins in the box, her face red and self-righteous.
All the same, Elinor thought, Nurse Hopkins was not so frightening as Inspector Brill. It was the inhumanity of Inspector Brill that was so paralysing. He was so definitely part of a great machine. Nurse Hopkins had human passions, prejudices.
‘Your name is Jessie Hopkins?’
‘Yes.’
‘You are a certificated District Nurse and you reside at Rose Cottage, Hunterbury?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where were you on the 28th of June last?’
‘I was at Hunterbury Hall.’
‘You had been sent for?’
‘Yes. Mrs Welman had had a stroke – the second. I went to assist Nurse O’Brien until a second nurse could be found.’
‘Did you take a small attaché-case with you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell the jury what was in it.’
‘Bandages, dressings, a hypodermic syringe and certain drugs, including a tube of morphine hydrochloride.’
‘For what purpose was it there?’
‘One of the cases in the village had to have hypodermic injections of morphia morning and evening.’
‘What were the contents of the tube?’
‘There were twenty tablets, each containing half-grain morphine hydrochloride.’
‘What did you do with your attaché-case?’
‘I laid it down in the hall.’
‘That was on the evening of the 28th.