The Anatomy of Deception - Lawrence Goldstone [57]
Farnshaw put down his pen with a start. “Well,” he began, “perhaps …”
“You have no idea, do you?”
“No, Dr. Osler,” Farnshaw admitted.
“Simpson?”
A smile played at the corners of Simpson’s mouth, which, although she never took her eyes from the Professor, I knew was meant for me. But then, instead of responding with the correct answer, she said, “I don’t know, either.”
“Well, Carroll, why don’t you tell them then?” the Professor said.
“Hair follicles and toenails are the most reliable places to test for residual arsenic trioxide. The chemical remains in those areas after it has been flushed from other parts of the body.”
“And why test for arsenic trioxide?”
“The symptoms of arsenic poisoning can easily be confused with those for cholera. Those affected die of severe dehydration, often in the same time period as those with cholera.”
“So, it is your theory, then, that Turk was poisoned.”
“Not a theory, but it cannot be ruled out.”
“Quite so. Quite so. Very good work. Would you be so kind as to take the samples?”
As I began to do so, the Professor asked, “How can we test for arsenic poisoning, Farnshaw? Or did they not cover unnatural death at Harvard?”
“Marsh’s test,” replied Farnshaw instantly. “Developed by James Marsh in England about… 1835, I believe.”
“’36,” noted Simpson.
“Quite right,” said the Professor. “Go on, Farnshaw.”
“Marsh was angered when a poisoner was acquitted of his crime because the test used for detecting arsenic, passing hydrogen sulfide through it in hydrochloric acid—”
“Hahnemann’s test, yes?” prompted the Professor.
“Yes,” agreed Farnshaw. “Hahnemann’s test allowed the resulting arsenic sulfide to deteriorate before it could be used in evidence. Marsh decided to create a better test. He started with nitric acid, but eventually discovered that mixing the suspect substance with sulfuric acid, exposing the product to zinc, and igniting the resulting gas, would result in a silvery deposit on a cool surface if arsenic had been present.”
“Bravo, Farnshaw,” said the Professor. “My faith in Boston is restored.” He turned to me. “Only one thing wrong with your approach, Carroll. Marsh’s test does not always detect small amounts of arsenic in hair or toenails. In this case, however, there should be no problem. If arsenic was the cause, there should be plenty of it around. Well, let us finish with poor Turk here and go upstairs and see what we find, eh?”
Thirty minutes hence, we had prepared and were viewing slides taken from Turk’s intestinal tract under a microscope in the chemistry room on the second floor. We checked six separate samples.
“Anyone detect Vibrio cholerae?” asked the Professor, but no one had. “It appears Carroll’s notion has gained credibility.”
We soon set up the apparatus for Marsh’s test. The Professor warned us that arsine gas, the initial product of the sulfuric acid–zinc process, was quite deadly, and thus we had to take care to ignite the gas as it escaped the tube. As the experiment began, we waited to see if the distinctive silvery product would form on the cold ceramic plate that Simpson held near the stream of combusted gas. Within seconds, we all knew the truth. I had known it, I suppose, all along.
Turk, as he so correctly determined, had been poisoned.
CHAPTER 11
THE POLICE CAME TO THE hospital the following morning in the person of a diminutive, sandy-haired sergeant named Borst from the Fifth Street station, who tended to clench and unclench his fists as he spoke and in general conduct himself with bullying pugnacity. We later learned that his moniker on the force was “Brass Buttons.” He specifically asked to see the Professor and me, and we convened in the Professor