Kennedy cut it short, especially as he noted the evident restlessness of Mrs.Lovelace.However, he had gained his point.Whether or not the duke was in New York or Washington or Spitzbergen, he now felt sure that Miss Lovelace knew of, and perhaps something about, Madame de Nevers.In some way the dead woman had communicated with her and Miss Lovelace had been the woman whom the hotel clerk had seen at the Vanderveer.We withdrew as gracefully as our awkward position permitted.
As there was nothing else to be done at that late hour, Craig decided to sleep soundly over the case, his infallible method of taking a fresh start after he had run up a cul-de-sac.
Imagine our surprise in the morning at being waited on by the coroner himself, who in a few words explained that he was far from satisfied with the progress his own office was making with the case.
"You understand," he concluded after a lengthy statement of confession and avoidance, "we have no very good laboratory facilities of our own to carry out the necessary chemical, pathological, and bacteriological investigations in cases of homicide and suicide.We are often forced to resort to private laboratories, as you know in the past when I have had to appeal to you.Now, Professor Kennedy, if we might turn over that research part of the case to you, sir, Iwill engage to see that a reasonable bill for your professional services goes through the office of my friend the city comptroller promptly."Craig snapped at the opportunity, though he did not allow the coroner to gain that impression.
"Very well," agreed that official, " I shall see that all the necessary organs for a thorough test as to the cause of the death of this woman are sent up to the Chemistry Building right away."The coroner was as good as his word, and we had scarcely breakfasted and arrived at Craig's scientific workshop before that official appeared, accompanied by a man who carried in uncanny jars the necessary materials for an investigation following an autopsy.
Kennedy was now in his element.The case had taken an unexpected turn which made him a leading factor in its solution.Whatever suspicions he may have entertained unofficially the night before he could now openly and quickly verify.
He took a little piece of lung tissue and with sharp sterilised knife cut it up.Then he made it slightly alkaline with a little sodium carbonate, talking half to us and half to himself as he worked.The next step was to place the matter in a glass flask in a water bath where it was heated.From the flask a Bohemian glass tube led into a cool jar and on a part of the tube a flame was playing which heated it to redness for two or three inches.
Several minutes we waited in silence.Finally when the process had gone far enough, Kennedy took a piece of paper which had been treated with iodised starch, as he later explained.He plunged the paper into the cool jar.Slowly it turned a strong blue tint.
Craig said nothing, but it was evident that he was more than gratified by what had happened.He quickly reached for a bottle on the shelves before him, and I could see from the label on the brown glass that it was nitrate of silver.As he plunged a little in a test-tube into the jar a strong precipitate was gradually formed.
"It is the decided reaction for chloroform," he exclaimed simply in reply to our unspoken questions.
"Chloroform," repeated the coroner, rather doubtfully, and it was evident that he had expected a poison and had not anticipated any result whatever from an examination of the lungs instead of the stomach to which he had confined his own work so far."Could chloroform be discovered in the lungs or viscera after so many days? There was one famous chloroform case for which a man is now serving a life term in Sing Sing which I have understood there was grave doubt in the minds of the experts.Mind, I am not trying to question the results of your work except as they might naturally be questioned in court.It seems to me that the volatility of chloroform might very possibly preclude its discovery after a short time.Then again, might not other substances be generated in a dead body which would give a reaction very much like chloroform? We must consider all these questions before we abandon the poison theory, sir.Remember, this is the summer time too, and chloroform would evaporate very much more rapidly now than in winter.
Kennedy smiled, but his confidence remained unshaken.
"I am in a position to meet all of your objections," he explained simply."I think I could lay it down as a rule that by proper methods chloroform may be discovered in the viscera much longer after death than is commonly supposed - in summer from six days to three weeks, with a practical working range of say twelve days, while in winter it may be found even after several months - by the right method.Certainly this case comes within the average length of time.More than that, no substance is generated by the process of decomposition which will vitiate the test for chloroform which I have just made.Chloroform has an affinity for water and is also a preservative, and hence from all these facts I think it safe to conclude that sometimes traces of it may be found for two weeks after its administration, certainly for a few days.""And Madame de Nevers? "queried the coroner, as if the turn of events was necessitating a complete reconstruction of his theory of the case.
"Was murdered," completed Kennedy in a tone that left nothing more to be said on the subject.
