命案目睹记46
时间：2025-10-20 07:32:13
（单词翻译:单击）
V
Inspector Bacon was looking upset.
“Arsenic?” he said. “Arsenic?”
“Yes. It was in the curry. Here’s the rest of the curry—for your fellow to
have a go at. I’ve only done a very rough test on a little of it, but the result
was quite definite.”
“So there’s a poisoner at work?”
“It would seem so,” said Dr. Quimper dryly.
“And they’re all affected, you say—except that Miss Eyelesbarrow.”
“Except Miss Eyelesbarrow.”
“Looks a bit fishy for her….”
“What motive could she possibly have?”
“Might be barmy,” suggested Bacon. “Seem all right, they do, sometimes,
and yet all the time they’re right off their rocker, so to speak.”
“Miss Eyelesbarrow isn’t off her rocker. Speaking as a medical man,
Miss Eyelesbarrow is as sane as you or I are. If Miss Eyelesbarrow is feed-
ing the family arsenic in their curry, she’s doing it for a reason. Moreover,
being a highly intelligent young woman, she’d be careful not to be the only
one unaffected. What she’d do, what any intelligent poisoner would do,
would be to eat a very little of the poisoned curry, and then exaggerate the
symptoms.”
“And then you wouldn’t be able to tell?”
“That she’d had less than the others? Probably not. People don’t all react
alike to poisons anyway—the same amount will upset some people more
than others. Of course,” added Dr. Quimper cheerfully, “once the patient’s
dead, you can estimate fairly closely how much was taken.”
“Then it might be…” Inspector Bacon paused to consolidate his idea. “It
might be that there’s one of the family now who’s making more fuss than
he need—someone who you might say is mucking in with the rest so as to
avoid causing suspicion? How’s that?”
“The idea has already occurred to me. That’s why I’m reporting to you.
It’s in your hands now. I’ve got a nurse on the job that I can trust, but she
can’t be everywhere at once. In my opinion, nobody’s had enough to cause
death.”
“Made a mistake, the poisoner did?”
“No. It seems to me more likely that the idea was to put enough in the
curry to cause signs of food poisoning—for which probably the mush-
rooms would be blamed. People are always obsessed with the idea of
mushroom poisoning. Then one person would probably take a turn for the
worse and die.”
“Because he’d been given a second dose?”
The doctor nodded.
“That’s why I’m reporting to you at once, and why I’ve put a special
nurse on the job.”
“She knows about the arsenic?”
“Of course. She knows and so does Miss Eyelesbarrow. You know your
own job best, of course, but if I were you, I’d get out there and make it
quite clear to them all that they’re suffering from arsenic poisoning. That
will probably put the fear of the Lord into our murderer and he won’t
dare to carry out his plan. He’s probably been banking on the food-poison-
ing theory.”
The telephone rang on the inspector’s desk. He picked it up and said:
“OK. Put her through.” He said to Quimper, “It’s your nurse on the
phone. Yes, hallo — speaking… What’s that? Serious relapse… Yes… Dr.
Quimper’s with me now… If you’d like a word with him….”
He handed the receiver to the doctor.
“Quimper speaking… I see… Yes… Quite right… Yes, carry on with that.
We’ll be along.”
He put the receiver down and turned to Bacon.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Alfred,” said Dr. Quimper. “And he’s dead.”
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