AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, but I came here to speak to my friend, Dr. Gray, on another matter, and we were outside when—”
Mackay cuts McCreadie off with a wave of his hand. “I do not care how you got to be here. I am only glad that you are. You must arrest Lady Leslie. She poisoned her husband, and I promised Lord Leslie I would see her arrested…”
Mackay trails off as his gaze drops to the body. “You said you found him like this?”
“Yes.”
“That seems an odd position, if he died of the poison.”
“That was our thinking on the matter,” Gray says without a drop of sarcasm. “You would agree then, Dr. Mackay?”
“I would agree that this is clearly a case for the police surgeon.” He looks at McCreadie. “Yes?”
“It is, sir. I only needed you to confirm that. I will notify Dr. Addington posthaste.”
Here’s where it gets weird. Okay, yes, it’s already weird. A locked-room murder. Gray’s sister accused of killing her husband, whom she openly disdained. Her husband himself accusing her of poisoning him. Her husband dying before his lawyer could arrive to write her out of his will. Her husbandpoisonedwhile the city is aflutter over two other poisoning deaths, with the wives already convicted in the court of public opinion.
Yet the next bit of weirdness is another of those Victorian detective experiences that leave me shuddering. Like watching people tramp through a crime scene. Or leaving Gray with his brother-in-law’s body… when his sister is the prime suspect.
Admittedly, this new concern is just an extension of one that’s been boggling my mind for a while now. There’s one police surgeon in Edinburgh. Dr. Addington. The city isn’t that big yet and there aren’t enough murders—or deaths recognized as murder—to warrant a second position. With that in mind, I have no problem with the idea of a single primary medical examiner. I do have a problem with Addington.
The man is as incompetent as they come, but even here I can’t lay claim to the moral high ground on behalf of the twenty-first century, because we have our share of incompetent medical examiners. No, the real mind-boggle is that the guy whoactuallyexamines the bodies is Gray. Oh, Addington conducts the autopsies, which makes it worse—Gray would do a far better job. But being a lazy ass and a fastidious snob, Addington refuses to autopsy bodies in the local morgues. He likes Gray’s funeral parlor.
This is damned convenient for Gray, giving him a chance to study the bodies to further his forensic studiesandslide his observations into McCreadie’s ear for the investigators. Gray has a very sweet setup here, kindly letting Addington use his facilities, keeping them in pristine shape, even making sure he’s served tea and biscuits.
So that’s weird. Clever as hell, and a boon to the police, but still weird. And tonight it gets weirder still.
McCreadie sends Annis’s coach to fetch Addington and let him know that Gray’s brother-in-law has died and an autopsy is required. The coachman is instructed to also tell Addington that Gray’s sister has been at least unofficially accused of the murder. The coachman is to convey Addington to whichever morgue he wishes to use for the autopsy and then return to bring him the body.
Once the coach is gone, we wait. I’m not sure why, but we do, all of us in a room, drinking tea and not talking. It’s a very crowded sitting room, and there’s a lot to say, but no one seems eager to talk. We can’t discuss the crime in front of Annis and her sister-in-law, and they seem to have said all they wish to say to one another.
Thirty minutes later, the coachman returns. He walks into the room and clears his throat.
“Dr. Addington says we are to convey Lord Leslie’s remains to Dr. Gray’s house, and he will conduct the autopsy there.”
I look at Gray, trying to keep my jaw from dropping.
Gray only sips his tea, and I realize this is why we’re hanging around. To receive this answer, and to be clear to everyone concerned that thisisAddington’s answer, as bizarre as it might be.
“You gave him the entire message?” Gray says when he lowers his teacup. “He understands that Lord Leslie is my brother-in-law and my sister has been accused of his death.”
“Yes, sir, and he wanted to know what difference that made. He seemed most confused.”
“I only wished him to be aware of the circumstances.”
Gray looks at Leslie’s sister and the doctor. “Dr. Addington commonly utilizes my funerary parlor, as a convenient and well-stocked laboratory for his autopsies.”
They don’t stare at him in shock. They just wait for him to go on.
Gray continues, “If you have no objection, I will have Lord Leslie taken there, where Dr. Addington will meet us and conduct the autopsy.”
“In the morning,” the coachman says. “Begging your pardon, sir, but Dr. Addington said he is in bed and will do it in the morning.”
“The morning then,” Gray says. “Is that acceptable?”
“You aren’t sending him inmycoach, are you?” Mrs. Bannerman says.
“No, in one of Lord Leslie’s coaches.”
