Page 116 of Two Kinds of Stranger

As he took the Bible in his hand and swore his oath to tell the truth, I took a second to appraise him. A tall, gray-skinned individual with silver hair and pale eyes. I don’t know what it is about medical examiners, but the idea of working with the dead every day, cutting them open, and seeing what stories their bodies would tell, just made me uncomfortable. I always got the impression medical examiners were cold people. They had to work in morgues, which by their very nature were cold, but I thought Sharpling had ice in his veins anyway. By all accounts, he was a decent man. Thorough and respectful. Called the corpses he dealt with his ‘customers’ and would sometimes spend time with the bereaved families of those customers toreassure them or simply to tell them exactly how their loved ones had died–so they didn’t have to wait for a week on his report.

He was dressed in a steel-gray suit. The only strong color was in his dark navy tie.

‘Dr. Sharpling, you examined the bodies of all three victims in this case, did you not?’ asked Bernice.

‘I did, and without the benefit of having viewed Dr. Curry’s toxicology reports, which were prepared afterwards.’

Dr. Death was an old hand. He’d been cross-examined more times than most. He knew all the lawyers’ tricks. He was cutting off potential lines of attack already. If, for example, he’d had a toxicology screening before he’d conducted the autopsy, there was the potential for his findings to be biased because he had the benefit of knowing there was a lethal poison in the bodies. Then, he would look for signs of that poisoning and the damage it had done to organs and arteries, which may have meant he missed some other vital clue showing an alternative cause of death for his customer. Defense lawyers call it confirmation bias. And he was avoiding it.

Smart.

‘What were your findings in relation to James Parker?’

‘The same as those of Harriet Rothschild. Death was caused by fatal cardiac arrest. There was no evidence of chronic heart disease in either of these individuals. They were much too young. I concluded, given the relative findings in the heart and unobstructed arteries, that the heart attack was chemically induced.’

‘Is an overdose of tetrahydrozoline one such possible cause of chemically induced heart failure?’

‘It most certainly is. It narrows the arteries, temporarily, and cuts off blood flow. With little to no blood flowing to the heart, the consequences are inevitably fatal.’

‘As a consequence of your findings, did you have cause to examine a third body?’

‘Yes, the defendant’s father. I have dealt with a large number of poisoning cases. More than many of my colleagues. In my extensive expert experience, a poisoner will nearly always have multiple victims spread out over time. Once the type of poison used has been identified, and in particular the cause of death related to that poisoning, then it is common to find multiple victims within the suspect’s personal circle. It didn’t take long for me to search death records and find an identical cause of death in the case of the defendant’s father. I informed Detective Sacks that, given my findings, the death of Stewart Yorke should now be considered a possible homicide.’

‘What happened after you informed Detective Sacks about your suspicions?’

‘A court order for exhumation and examination was obtained. I instructed the detective to make a video recording of the exhumation to establish chain of evidence and custody of the body as it was delivered to my mortuary table. This was to ensure that there had been no disturbance or potential for contamination of the body from any outside source prior to my examination.’

‘What were your findings in relation to the body of the defendant’s father?’

‘The body had been through the usual embalming procedures, which meant there was no blood to test. However, if tetrahydrozoline had been administered in sufficient quantities before death, I would expect to find some trace to remain in the liver. I took a sample of the liver for testing. The tests returned with confirmation of the presence of tetrahydrozoline. This confirmed, in my mind, that there was a strong probability this victim had had a cardiac arrest due to tetrahydrozoline poisoning.’

‘Thank you, Doctor,’ said Bernice, and sat down.

Elly hung her head. She began to cry softly.

I whispered to her, ‘Your father loved you. And I know you loved him, and you didn’t do him any harm. We’re going to show that.’

I stood, with Elly still crying in the seat beside me.

Trials are brutal.

I had one important question, but not yet. I needed to do some prep work first.

In a trial, it’s not just about asking the right questions. It’s not even about asking the right questions in the right order. It’s really about making sure you get the right answer.

It’s a little like playing three-card monte. A hustler bends three cards in the middle so that they stand up on their sides, like little roofs. With two of the cards, it doesn’t matter what suit they are, or what number. But there always has to be a queen. He places the three cards, face down on a little table, turns over the queen to show the mark where it is in the line-up, then returns it face down. He then shuffles them around. The hustler will shuffle slowly enough to allow the mark to follow the queen.

Find the lady.

The mark points to the center card. He’s right. He wins five dollars.

Now he’s hooked.

Now he can be conned. Double or nothing. And the mark will play, and play, and play, and this time the dealer moves too fast for the mark to see. He will never find that queen again.

Now I had to start the game with Dr. Death.

First job, show him the queen.