Strong Poison

“Perhaps it didn’t occur to him. Or there might even be other relatives surviving. How about that uncle in Australia?”

“True. At any rate he didn’t destroy it. In 1925 Mrs. Wrayburn became completely paralysed and imbecile, so that there was no possibility of her ever enquiring into the dispostion of her estate or making another will.

“About this time, as we know from Mr. Arbuthnot, Urquhart took the dangerous step of plunging into speculation. He made mistakes, lost money, plunged more deeply to recover himself, and was involved to a large extent in the great crash of Megatherium Trust, Ltd. He certainly lost far more than he could possibly afford, and we now find, from Miss Murchison’s discoveries – of which I must say that I should hate to have to take official notice – that he had been consistently abusing his position as Trustee and employing Mrs. Wrayburn’s money for his private speculations. He deposited her holdings as security for large loans, and embarked the money thus raised in Megatherium and other wild-cat schemes.

“As long as Mrs. Wrayburn lived, he was fairly safe, for he only had to pay to her the sums necessary to keep up her house and establishment. In fact, all the household bills and so on were settled by him as her man of affairs under Power of Attorney, all salaries were paid by him, and so long as he did this, it was nobody’s business to ask what he had done with the capital. But as soon as Mrs. Wrayburn died, he would have to account to the other heir, Philip Boyes, for the capital which he had misappropriated.

“Now in 1929, just about the time that Philip Boyes quarrelled with Miss Vane, Mrs. Wrayburn had a serious attack of illness and very nearly died. The danger passed, but might recur at any moment. Almost immediately afterwards we find him becoming friendly with Philip Boyes and inviting him to stay at his house. While living with Urquhart, Boyes has three attacks of illness, attributed by his doctor to gastritis, but equally consistent with arsenical poisoning. In June 1929, Philip Boyes goes away to Wales and his health improves.

“While Philip Boyes is absent, Mrs. Wrayburn has another alarming attack, and Urquhart hastens up to Windle, possibly with the idea of destroying the will in case the worst happens. It does not happen, and he comes back to London, just in time to receive Boyes on his return from Wales. That night, Boyes is taken ill with symptoms similar to those of the previous spring, but much more violent. After three days he dies.

“Urquhart is now perfectly safe. As residuary legatee, he will receive, at Mrs. Wrayburn’s death, all the money bequeathed to Philip Boyes. That is, he will not get it, because he has already taken it and lost it, but he will no longer be called upon to produce it and his fraudulent dealings will not be exposed.

“So far, the evidence as to motive is extremely cogent, and far more convincing than the evidence against Miss Vane.

“But here is your snag, Wimsey. When and how was the poison administered? We know that Miss Vane possessed arsenic and that she could easily have given it to him without witnesses. But Urquhart’s only opportunity was at the di

“I know,” said Wimsey, “but that is what is so suspicious. Did you ever hear of a meal hedged round with such precautions? It’s not natural, Charles. There’s the sherry, poured out by the maid from the original bottle, the soup, fish and casseroled chicken – so impossible to poison in one portion without poisoning the whole – the omelette, so ostentatiously prepared at the table by the hands of the victim – the wine, sealed up and marked – the remnants consumed in the kitchen – you would think the man had gone out of his way to construct a suspicion-proof meal. The wine is the final touch which makes the thing incredible. Do you tell me that at that earliest moment when everybody supposes the illness to be a natural one, and when the affectionate cousin ought to be overwhelmed with anxiety for the sick man, it is natural or believable that an i

“Exactly. The nurse did have her suspicions.”

“If he knew about them, he ought to have taken steps to refute them in the proper way. But I don’t think he did know about them. I was referring to what you told us today. The police have got in touch with the nurse again, Miss Williams, and she tells them that Norman Urquhart took special pains never to be left alone with the patient, and never to give him any food or medicine, even when she herself was present. Doesn’t that argue a bad conscience?”

“You won’t find any lawyer or jury to believe it, Peter.”

“Yes, but look here, doesn’t it strike you as fu

“Lots of people are nervous about looking after invalids,” said Miss Murchison.

“Yes, but most people can pour stuff out of a bottle into a glass. Boyes wasn’t in extremis – he was speaking quite rationally and all that. I say the man was deliberately protecting himself.”

“Possibly,” said Parker, “but after all, old man, when did he administer the poison?”

“Probably not at the di

“Alas, he did not. Bunter has been cultivating Ha

“Not so much as a digestive tablet?”

“Nothing.”

“How about after di

“When they had finished the omelette, Urquhart said something about coffee. Boyes looked at his watch and said, ‘No time, old chap, I’ve got to be getting along to Doughty Street.’ Urquhart said he would ring up a taxi, and went out to do so. Boyes folded up his napkin, got up and went into the hall. Ha

“It seems to me,” said Miss Murchison, “that Ha

“He says,” replied Lord Peter, “that he believes Ha