The Evil That Men Do.(Inspector Faro Mystery No.11) Read Online Free Page B

catastrophe.’
    Faro agreed sadly. In the tragedy of personal grief, Vince the doctor had been obliterated by Vince the lover, momentarily refusing to accept that the symptoms of indigestion could be also those of heart failure.
    ‘Men do drop dead in the street every day, in what seems like healthy middle age,’ Faro reminded him gently. ‘And women too. I thought you might be used by now to sudden deaths, lad. It’s only when it comes close to home, it’s so very hard to bear—’
    ‘If only you were right, Stepfather,’ Vince groaned. ‘But it’s worse, much worse than you imagined.’
    ‘In what way, worse? Sit down, lad. Come along now, have some breakfast.’
    Vince went instead to the sideboard and poured himself a whisky.
    ‘No. I need this more,’ he said and huddled exhausted over the fire. ‘I was expected to sign the death certificate.’
    ‘He was a patient of yours? Not Adrian’s?’
    ‘A member of the family cannot sign the death certificate, you know that. Anyway, Adrian asked me to attend the whole family, for purely minor ailments, since they refused to take him seriously. You know how it is. They all seemed exceedingly healthy and I never had more than a cough bottle to make up for any of them. As for Cedric, he was adamant that he never saw doctors, especially siblings or their partners. All he has ever asked for was a prescription for his indigestion.’
    ‘Which you dispensed?’
    ‘No. Adrian always made it up.’ Vince drained his glass and stared miserably at him. ‘I did the routine death examination while Theodore stood at my elbow. I knew that he found it painful and he was very anxious that I sign the certificate and get it over with.’
    Pausing, he shook his head. ‘Then I knew I couldn’t do it. There was something wrong.’
    ‘Wrong?’
    Vince nodded. ‘Very wrong. You see, I was quite certain that I wasn’t looking at a man who had died of a sudden heart attack.’
    ‘Then what—’
    Vince shook his head. ‘Nor did he die of a massive dose of indigestion. As I examined him I had an uneasy suspicion that I was looking at a man who had died of poisoning. I’ve seen it all too often, those discoloured and inflamed patches on his skin, particularly over his abdomen. And I learned from Maud that what he politely called indigestion for the family’s sake, was in fact chronic and persistent vomiting and diarrhoea.’
    With a sigh he added, ‘I hardly need to have the Marsh Test done on this one, Stepfather. The symptoms are unmistakable. Cedric died of arsenic poisoning.’
Chapter Three
     
    ‘I’m notifying the Procurator Fiscal,’ said Vince, ‘there will have to be a postmortem. You can imagine all the trouble that is going to get me into, hinting that my future father-in-law’s death was not due to natural causes.’
    If this was to be a murder enquiry, which Faro also dreaded, for inevitably the investigation would land on his desk, then he had better save time by getting certain facts in the right order.
    ‘You said Theodore was standing at your elbow. Surely you mean Adrian?’
    ‘No. Adrian was away at Musselburgh at the crack of dawn. He’s practising for a club championship, and of course that—’
    ‘Wait a moment. You said, at the crack of dawn. Hold on, lad. Let’s get back to the beginning. When did Cedric die?’
    ‘During the night. They stayed at Priorsfield, as you know.’
    ‘Was that unusual?’
    ‘Not at all. They frequently do so after a dinner party.’
    And so Maud made the unfortunate discovery this morning, after Adrian had left for the golf course. How very distressing for her.’
    ‘No, no. Early morning ritual is that the maid leaves trays outside the bedroom doors at seven o’clock and Maud noticed Cedric’s was still there on her way down to breakfast at nine—’
    ‘Wait a moment. Are you implying that Maud was not sleeping with Cedric that night?’
    ‘Exactly. She was sharing with Grace. You see, Grace refuses to