Bats Fly at Dusk by A. A. Fair & Erle Stanley Gardner

Author:A. A. Fair & Erle Stanley Gardner [Fair, A. A. & Gardner, Erle Stanley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345330802
Amazon: 0345330803
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1986-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XIX

A TAXICAB Took Bertha Cool to the residence of Dr. Howard P. Rindger. Bertha rang the bell and when the doctor himself came to the door, said, “I think you remember me, Doctor. I’m –”

“Oh yes, Mrs. Cool, the investigator. Do come in, Mrs. Cool.”

“I wanted to consult you professionally Doctor.”

He looked at her shrewdly. “Feeling all right? You look as sound as a nut.”

“Oh, I’m all right. I want to get a little professional advice.”

“All right, come in this way. I have a little office fixed up here at the house for emergency treatment. Some of my patients come in at night. Now, sit down and tell me what I can do for you.”

Bertha said, “I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it’s really important.”

“Quite all right. I’m always up late Sunday nights reading. Go ahead, tell me what it is.”

Bertha said, “I want to find out something about poison.”

“What about it?”

“Is there any poison that would take effect say, an hour or two after a breakfast at which the poison was taken, to cause nausea, a burning in the throat, and a sort of collapse that would exist until the person died?”

“When did he die?”

“Around four o’clock in that afternoon.”

Dr. Rindger opened the glass door of a bookcase. “Cramps in the calves of the legs?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Diarrhoea?”

“Probably, but I can’t tell you positively.”

“Nausea persistent until the time of death?”

“At intervals, yes.”

“Any treatment?”

“Hypodermics.”

“Tenderness over the stomach and intestines?”

“Yes. He was very sore.”

“Greyish skin? Perspiration?”

“From what was told me, I gather there might have been greyish skin.”

“Anxiety? Depression?”

“I don’t know.”

Dr. Rindger drummed with his fingertips on the desk, reached up to the shelf, and took a book entitled Forensic Medicine. He opened it, and after reading a couple of pages, closed the book and put it back. “Is this just between you and me, or am I speaking officially for publication, and would I be quoted?”

“Just between you and me,” Bertha told him. “You won’t be quoted.”

“Arsenic poisoning,” he said.

“Those are the symptoms?”

“An almost typical case. The burning thirst and nausea are very typical, also the soreness over the stomach and upper abdomen. If you want to be certain, check on the diarrhoea, the cramps in the calves of the legs, the feeling of depression, and note the nature of the vomitus. Rather a rice-water appearance in cases of arsenic poisoning.”

Bertha Cool got up, then hesitated, and said, “How much do I owe you?”

“That’s all right—in case I’m not to be quoted or called as a witness. If I am, that, of course, will be something else.”

Bertha shook hands with him and said, “I’m sorry I disturbed you this late, but it’s an emergency, and I had to know tonight.”

“That’s quite all right. I hadn’t gone to bed yet. Don’t usually go to bed before midnight, although I try to finish u: with my office work by eight-thirty so I have a little time to relax. How about your partner, Mrs. Cool? What’s his name?”

“Donald Lam.

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