Bruce Alexander - [Sir John Fielding 01]

by Alexander, Bruce

A knock at the door of his chambers interrupted him.

  He turned in annoyance. “Jeremy,” said he, “would you see who that is? Unless it is Mr. Marsden, or one of the constables, send him away.”

  I bounded out of my chair and to the door. Opening it a bit, I saw the eager, excited face of Mr. Gabriel Donnelly. It would be difficult to shut the door on him. And in the event, it proved impossible.

  “I must talk to Sir John,” said he, pushing against the door, forcing it back.

  “Who is that?” bellowed the magistrate.

  Having thus made his entry in spite of me, Mr. Donnelly rushed forward to him, leaned across the table in an urgent posture, and declared, “It is I, Gabriel Donnelly, and I’ve come—”

  “Why could you not wait to be properly announced?” demanded Sir John. His feet were down from the table now, and he was groping about for his periwig.

  “Because, don’t you see, my news is too important to wait, even for that. Let me tell you of what I am sure. I have conducted the obduktion; have examined most, though not all the organs of the corpus. I found the texture of the kidneys quite destroyed; I found the liver in a bad state with lesions of a most remarkable sort. The lining of the stomach was badly inflamed and had also lesions and ulcer-like sores. The alimentary canal—”

  “Enouffh. enough! What are you saying, Mr. Donnelly?

  “1 am saving, Sir John, that Lord Goodhope was poisoned by a strong caustic, a sample of which I have taken from h stomach. That, and not the gunshot wound, was the cause of his death. I am sure of it.”

  Chapter Five

  In which I hear a shocking

  story and once more meet

  Mr. Boswell

  This indeed put another complexion on matters. Even I immediately saw the awful discrepancy that followed from Mr. Donnelly’s startling revelation. If Lord Goodhope had been poisoned, then why had he been shot? Why should it have been necessary to kill a man twice? Or could it be that he himself took poison, and then in his death throes had a pistol exploded in his face? This last seemed to make no sense at all. But then, what in this contradictory set of circumstances did make sense?

  If such thoughts as these passed through my childish mind, what more grave considerations occupied Sir John at that moment after the surgeon announced his news? He sat silent as a stone for a great space of time, withdrawing into himself as only a blind man can. The expression on his face did not alter. It showed not so much surprise as some slight vexation at this added complication.

  Growing impatient at the prolonged silence, Mr. Donnelly spoke out rather impetuously: “Did you hear. Sir John? I said it was poison that killed him.”

  “I am not also deaf,” said he, grasping his periwig firmly at last and placing it casually upon his head, “In point of fact, I hear better than most.” (Indeed, I knew that to be an understatement.)

  “Forgive me. That was both unnecessary and unkind.”

  “It’s of no matter. What does matter, of course, is that this tells me I had been asking the wrong questions entirely. For instance, I had placed some weight on the time the shot was fired. That would hardly matter so much now since you inform me he was then already dead.” He paused then put it to the surgeon quite directly: “You would swear to that in court.”

  “I would,” said he without hesitation.

  “Could you venture to say how long he had been dead before the shot was fired?”

  “No, there was virtually no food in his stomach. By your description of the body at the time your Mr. Bailey viewed it, the rigor of death had not yet begun.” For the first time since he had pushed past me at the door, Mr. Donnelly turned to me and said, “Jeremy, at the time you looked at the corpus the limbs were still pliable, were they not?”

  “The neck, too?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  I described how Lord Good hope’s head had flopped most hideously when Mr. Bailey had pulled off his wig to examine the wound behind the ear. Then I recalled something more: “The footmen had carried the body down to the cellar. He was there, laid out flat, when next we viewed him. So …”

  “Just so,” said Mr. Donnelly. “No rigor. He could not have been dead more than four hours, six at the most.”

  “A long period of time,” said Sir John, then sat silently musing for a moment. “Damn me for a fool,” he exclaimed of a sudden. “So taken was I with the matter of the pistol shot I haven’t even established when he went into the library, his condition at the time, none of it. I’ve made a hopeless botch of this inquiry so far.”

  “Och,” said the surgeon, “don’t scold yourself so. It was cleverly done, with the pistol and all. Who would have guessed it?”

  “/ should have guessed it,” said the magistrate with conviction. Then, with a sigh, he began in a more constructive manner: “What little do we know? If there was not food in his stomach, then it is not likely the poison was administered in that way?”

  “Quite right you are.”

  “Perhaps disguised in liquid: Jeremy, was there a decanter or a bottle on the desk? In the room? Do you recall any such thing?”

  I tried to call up a picture of the place, or rather some several pictures since Mr. Bailey and I had roamed the room so thoroughly. “No,” said I at last, “I can’t recall any. But I can only be certain about the desk. The desk was empty, quite bare of bottles.”

  “Hmm. That in itself is unusual.” Then to Mr. Donnelly: “Do we know what kind of poison it was that killed him?”

  “No,” said the surgeon hesitantly. “As I gave earlier, I took a sample of liquid from the stomach. I shall deliver it to a chemist, but in all truth, it was so mixed with blood and bile that it may be impossible to identify. It did such damage, though, so that it must have been a caustic, some sort of acid: a very painful death.”

  “What will you now do with the corpus?”

  “Why, return it, sir. My promise to Lady Goodhope was that I should bring her husband’s corpus back in a few hours’ time, so that it might finally be prepared for funeral. Putrefaction has already begun: not yet far advanced, of course.”

  “Well, I must ask you,” said Sir John, “to write a report addressed to me on this. Include all those details I was too impatient to hear. Give all the details of any kind you can, for this document, I pray, will go beyond me to the Crown prosecutor.”

  “I’ll do that, certainly.”

  “What do you intend to tell Lady Goodhope?”

  “The truth. Any sort of fabrication would be not just wrong but difficult to support. She’ll know eventually, anyway.”

  Sir John sighed. “You’re right, of course. But ask her to keep it to herself. And when you do tell her, make sure there are no servants listening in. The butler is particularly bad in that regard. There’s no need for this to get out just now.”

  “I understand, but won’t you tell her that yourself? Aren’t you coming along, sir?”

  “No, I had planned to spend time with my wife.”

  “With your wife. Sir John?” It was, I fear, quite obvious from his tone and expression that Mr. Donnelly had supposed that the information he had brought would be of such moment that Sir John would be drawn immediately back into the inquiry.

  Yet it was just as obvious from Sir John’s set expression that he had no intention of altering his domestic plans for the evening.

  Then he addressed the surgeon with brutal directness: “Mr. Donnelly, no blame falls upon you in this, for you are ignorant of my private matters. But I intend to spend time with my wife, for it is certain there is not much more time to be spent with her. Simply put, sir, she is dying.”

  Mr. Donnelly was instantly overcome with remorse. The French say desole, in their bombastic way, as a simple expression of sorrow or regret. But he did then truly appear desolated. His face crumpled so that I thought for a moment he might weep, but he did not.

  He nodded and took a step back from the desk. “Sir, I cannot tell you how—”

  Sir
John waved his hand as if chasing away a fly. “No need to, Mr. Donnelly, no need to discuss it further. You had no way of knowing.”

  “Could I help? Perhaps if I visited her…”

  “And bring along your diploma from Vienna?” He sighed. “Forgive me. That was uncalled for. No, sir, a whole troop of medicos have looked at her. Medicines have been tried: all without help.”

  “What is her sickness. Sir John?”

  “A tumor, the doctors agree on that, but all seem to disagree as to its location. All believe the end is near, however, and I feel it myself. I was away from her last night and this morning. I must be with her tonight.”

  “Of course. I understand. But do let me pay a visit in the morning.”

  “She’s beyond diagnosis, beyond help. My poor, dear Kitty must weigh no more than five stone. She who was once a corpulent woman.”

  “But I’m sure she’s not beyond pain. I may be able to give her something to ease that a bit.”

  Sir John remained silent for a moment. “Then by all means do come,” said he.

  “You do well to carry on in the courtroom,” said Mr. Donnelly. “And this inquiry …”

  “Which could not have come at a more inopportune time, believe me. No wonder I make such a botch of it. But hold, sir, although I have no intention of coming along tonight, let me send Jeremy with you. He might be of more help to us than you might suppose.”

  My young heart leapt at this new opportunity. “How, Sir John?” I asked. “How may I help?”

  “Why, by talking to those below the stairs. Don’t mimic me by questioning them formally. Converse with them. They will have questions of their own, be sure of it. Answer them all, except any to do with this latest matter of the poison. There is no need for them to know that. But give information so that you may get it in return. Be my spy.”

  “I’ll try. Sir John.”

  “Does that satisfy you, Mr. Donnelly?”

  “I shall be happy to have Jeremy with me.”

  Thus came I to be seated astride a discreetly draped coffin in the back of a dray wagon driven by the incomprehensible Ebenezer Tepper. Mr. Donnelly rode beside him and seemed to have no better understanding of him than I. He had made a few attempts at conversation with the Lancashire man: a question about the route and a comment on the crowded thoroughfare. These were put to him in his usual speech, which was good King’s English softened and sung a bit in the Irish manner. Ebenezer had no trouble understanding him, but his responses, fairly long and windy they were, clearly bewildered the surgeon. With the second of these Mr. Donnelly cast me back an inquisitive look. All I could give him in answer was a shrug. Nothing passed between them after that.

  And so, for the most part in silence, we made our way slowly through the streets of the city, until at last, quite near St. James Street, we turned down a narrow, dirt way which seemed quite familiar to me. It took me but a moment to realize that we were making passage to the rear of the house on St. James along the bleak, tight way I had viewed briefly with Potter. Ebenezer had proved what I had a little doubted. I had judged it perhaps too narrow for a wagon as wide as this. I told myself that I must amend the description I had given to Sir John.

  Ebenezer reined the horses in before the privet hedge and just beyond the gate. Mr. Donnelly called to me to get down from the wagon and hold the team. This I did somewhat reluctantly as the two men hauled down the coffin and struggled with it through the gate. Although by the standard of London I was a country boy, I had little experience of animals and next to none of horses. On the few occasions my father had found it necessary to rent a team and a wagon, he had handled matters without my questionable aid. We were pedestrians, the two of us, as are most of the folk in England’s towns and villages.

  And so I could but hold on to the traces of these two huge beasts and hope for Ebenezer’s early return. One was gentle and one was not. The gray grew restive, shuffling his feet in an impatient manner, making the wheels of the wagon behind them creak. I tried talking to him in a gentle and reasonable manner, but he would have none of it. He turned his head sharply and made to bite me on the arm.

  Quite by instinct, I left my feet and leapt back, dropping the traces and landing against the hedge: the way was just so narrow. There was a dull thud where my feet landed. It was one of those details not at first noted. Indeed I had no mind just then but to grab hold of the traces once again and master that fractious gray. Fright made me bold. I cursed him in my childish way, calling him a devil and making threats I could not hope to carry out. Harsh words worked better than sweet. I took a grip lower down and pushed against his head. When the wheels of the wagon ceased to creak I knew I had triumphed.

  It was not until then that the sound my flying feet had made when they hit ground echoed in my mind’s ear. I had no certainty about it: simply the feeling that it was not quite as it should have been. Twisting about, managing to keep my hold on the horses, I searched out the place where my heels had dug in the dirt. It looked no different from the place I now stood. It had been firm under my feet: yes, perhaps a bit too firm. Testing, I made a jump in place, found the ground softer, and got no answering thud. This peculiar exercise disturbed both horses, however, and so I determined to do no more until Ebenezer arrived, which was soon after. In the end, however, all I did was estimate the distance from that spot to the hedge gate and thus mark it for further investigation.

  Relieved of my onerous task, I made through the gate and the garden, and entered the Goodhope residence through the rear door. Then to the cellar and the kitchen. There I found the staff not engaged, as I had expected, in the preparation of dinner; but rather, dawdling about their own evening meal, all seated at the long table whereon Lord Goodhope’s body had laid the night before. In addition to the two young females I had met upon then, there was Ebenezer’s companion footman, whose name I would learn was Henry, and a woman unknown to me and senior to them all, whom I judged rightly to be the cook. Where Potter was I could not guess. I was, however, glad to note his absence.

  As I entered, all conversation ceased. I should not have been surprised at that, for when last I visited them, I had performed in an official capacity quite officiously. But I wisely approached them on this occasion all meek and humble.

  “I was wondering,” said I to the assemblage, “if I might beg a little something to eat; a crust of bread would do me well.”

  “And who might you be?” asked the older woman. “In off the street, are y’?”

  “By no means, mum,” said I to her. “I arrived with Mr. Donnelly, the surgeon.”

  One of the kitchen girls, the one who had giggled the night before at Potter’s discomfiture, whispered earnestly in the cook’s ear, and the expression on the latter’s face softened considerably.

  “Well,” said the cook, “you talks like a gent’man. P’rhaps I ought feed you as one. You may eat as we’re eatin’, if you like: dining as ladies and gents ourselves, we are. Must eat it up. Meat don’t keep forever.” She paused, assessing me. “What about a chop?”

  “A chop of what?” I asked rather boldly.

  “A chop of good English mutton,” said she.

  “Done!” said I, as if engaged in commerce.

  This brought a lightening of mood at the table, a place set for me, and in no time at all, a thick chop, a bit of dripping, and a chunk of bread to sop it up with. This was indeed sumptuous dining.

  In no time at all, those at the table with me were laughing and talking as before, but this time, as predicted by Sir John, most of the talk was directed at me in the form of questions to do with the swift and unexpected demise of Lord Goodhope.

  “Was it not by his own hand then?” asked Henry, the footman. He had recognized what his master’s two clean hands might mean and communicated it to the others.

  “Sir John does not think so,” said I. But there I was, acting officiously again, speaking for the magistrate. “What would you say?” I added.

  “Well,” said h
e, “if a man fires a pistol, it’s sure his hand will show it.”

  I simply nodded in agreement as I cut into the chop.

  “Who’re you to him?” asked the giggler, who introduced herself as Annie. “Y’seem a bit young to be a constable.”

  I sought the proper title and then remembered the one Sir John had given me. “I am his helper,” said I. “You may have noted he has a bit of trouble with his sight.”

  “Indeed,” she said, “wi’ that black band over his eyes, I sh’d think he would.”

  There was a general murmur of disapprobation at her saucy comment. I moved in swiftly to show that no offense had been taken.

  “I help him in observing details,” said I, “reporting them to him. He then puts his wit to work on them. He’s a powerful thinker.”

  “Aye,” put in the cook, “he’s known for that.”

  “Was it you noticed Lord Dickie’s clean hands?” asked Henry.

  “It was,” said I immodestly, failing to add that I had no sense of the significance of what I had seen.

  “That was quick of you,” said he.

  And so it went around the table, I chewing away on what the cook had rightly called good English mutton, answering questions as they were put to me by the company. The only one at the table who remained silent was Annie’s much comelier companion, she whom I had noted the night before. That one kept her silence, speaking only with her eyes. There was something of fright in them. Could it be awe? I quite swelled with her admiration.

  The only questions I failed to answer were those Sir John had foreseen: Why had Lord Goodhope’s body been removed by the surgeon? What had the surgeon discovered? The first was put to me by Henry; the second by the cook. I wondered at her. Had she some notion of poison? In the ordinary course of things, suspicion might fall upon her in the case of poisoning. Yet Mr. Donnelly had made it clear that the murderous agent had not been introduced by means of food. She seemed uneasy. I wished to allay her unease but was unable to do so without divulging information I had been strictly charged to keep secret. And so I shrugged away the cook’s question much as I had the footman’s, declaring that the ways of doctors and surgeons were beyond me, that I put little store by them, as indeed Sir John did not. That last, perhaps not entirely a lie, seemed to relieve her.