The Roman Hat Mystery (27 page)

Djuna had just cleared the table of the dinner dishes and was serving coffee to the two Queens at six-thirty that evening when the outer doorbell rang. The little man-of-all-work straightened his tie, pulled down his jacket (while the Inspector and Ellery eyed him in twinkling amusement), and marched gravely into the foyer. He was back in a moment bearing a silver tray upon which lay two calling cards. The Inspector picked them up with beetling brows.

“
Such ceremony, Djuna!
”
he murmured.
“
Well, well! So
‘
Doc
’
Prouty
’
s bringing a visitor. Show
‘
em in, you imp!
”

Djuna marched back and returned with the Chief Assistant Medical Examiner and a tall, thin, emaciated man, entirely bald and wearing a closely clipped beard. Queen and Ellery rose.

“
I
’
ve been expecting to hear from you, Doc!
”
Queen grinned, shaking hands with Prouty.
“
And if I
’
m not mistaken, here
’
s Professor Jones himself! Welcome to our castle, Doctor.
”
The thin man bowed.

“
This is my son and keeper of my conscience, Doctor,
”
Queen added, presenting Ellery.
“
Ellery
―
Dr. Thaddeus Jones.
”

Dr. Jones offered a large limp hand.
“
So you
’
re the chap Queen and Sampson keep prattling about!
”
he boomed.
“
Certainly happy to meet you, sir.
”

“
I
’
ve been fairly itching to be introduced to New York City
’
s Paracelsus and eminent Toxicologist,
”
smiled Ellery.
“
The honor of rattling the city
’
s skeletons is all yours.
”
He shuddered elaborately and indicated some chairs. The four men sat down.

“
Join us in some coffee, gentlemen,
”
urged Queen, and shouted to Djuna, whose bright eyes were visible from behind the kitchenette door.
“
Djuna! You rascal! Coffee for four!
”
Djuna grinned and disappeared, to pop out a moment later like a jack-in-the-box, bearing four cups of steaming coffee.

Prouty, who resembled the popular conception of Mephistopheles, whipped from his pocket one of his black, dangerous-looking cigars and began to puff away furiously.

“
This chitter-chatter may be all right for you men of leisure,
”
he said briskly, between puffs,
“
but I
’
ve been working like a beaver all day analyzing the contents of a lady
’
s stomach, and I want to get home for some sleep.
”

“
Hear, hear!
”
murmured Ellery,
“
I gather from your soliciting the aid of Professor Jones that you met with some obstruction in your analysis of Mr. Field
’
s corporeal remains. Lay on, ^Esculapius!
”

“
I
’
ll lay on,
”
returned Prouty grimly.
“
You
’
re right
―
I met with a violent obstruction. I
’
ve had some little experience, if you
’
ll pardon the professional modesty, in examining the innards of deceased ladies and gentlemen, but I
’
ll confess I never saw
‘
em in such a mess as this chap Field
’
s. Seriously, Jones will attest to the truth of
that.
His aesophagus, for example, and the entire tracheal tract looked as if some one had taken a blowtorch and played it gently over his insides.
”

“
What was it
―
couldn
’
t have been bichloride of mercury, could it, Doc?
”
asked Ellery, who prided himself on a complete ignorance of the exact sciences.

“
Hardly,
”
growled Prouty.
“
But let me tell you what happened. I analyzed for every poison on the calendar, and although this one had familiar petroleum components I couldn
’
t place it exactly. Yes, sir
―
I was stumped good and proper. And to let you in on a secret
―
the Medical Examiner himself, who thought I was pie-eyed from overwork, made a stab at it with his own fine Italian hand. The net result in his case, my boys, was zero. And the M. E.
’
s not exactly a novice either when it comes to chemical analysis. So we surrendered the problem to our fountainhead of learning. Let him spout his own story.
”

Dr. Thaddeus Jones cleared his throat forbiddingly.
“
Thank you, my friend, for a most dramatic introduction,
”
he said in his deep lumbering voice.
“
Yes, Inspector, the remains were turned over to me, and in all seriousness, I want to say here and now that my discovery was the most startling the Toxicologist
’
s office has made in fifteen years!
”

“
My, my!
”
murmured Queen, taking a pinch of snuff.
“
I
’
m beginning to respect the mentality of our friend the murderer. So many things point to the unusual lately! And what did you find, Doctor?
”

“
I took it for granted that Prouty and the Medical Examiner had done the preliminaries very well,
”
began Dr. Jones, crossing his bony knees.
“
They generally do. And so, before anything else, I analyzed for the obscure poisons. Obscure, that is to say, from the standpoint of the criminal user. To show you how minutely I searched
―
I even thought of that favorite standby of our friends the fiction writers:
curare
, the South American toxin which makes the grade in four out of five detective stories. But even that sadly abused member of the toxic family disappointed me . . . .
”

Ellery leaned back and laughed.
“
If you
’
re referring in a mildly satirical way to my profession, Dr. Jones, let me inform you that I have never used
curare
in any of my novels.
”

The toxicologist
’
s eyes twinkled.
“
So you
’
re one of them, too, eh? Queen, old man,
”
he added dolorously, turning to the Inspector, who was thoughtfully chewing on a piece of French pastry,
“
allow me to offer you my condolences . . . . At any rate, gentlemen, let me explain that in the case of rare poisons we can generally come to a definite conclusion without much trouble
―
that is, rare poisons that are in the pharmacopoeia. Of course, there are any number of rare poisons of which we have no knowledge whatever
―
Eastern drugs particularly.

“
Well, to make a long story short, I found myself faced with the unpleasant conclusion that I was up a tree.
”
Dr. Jones chuckled in reminiscence.
“
It wasn
’
t a pleasant conclusion. The poison I analyzed had certain properties which were vaguely familiar, as Prouty has said, and others which didn
’
t jibe at all. I spent most of yesterday evening mulling over my retorts and testtubes, and late last night I suddenly got the answer.
”

Ellery and Queen sat up straight and Dr. Prouty relaxed in his chair with a sigh, reaching for a second cup of coffee. The toxicologist uncrossed his legs, his voice booming more terrifyingly than ever.

“
The poison that killed your victim, Inspector, is known as tetra ethyl lead!
”

To a scientist this announcement, in Dr. Jones
’
s profoundest tones, might have carried a dramatic quality. To the Inspector it meant less than nothing. As for Ellery, he murmured,
“
Sounds like a mythological monster to me!
”

Dr. Jones went on, smiling.
“
So it hasn
’
t impressed you much, eh? But let me tell you a little about tetra ethyl lead. It is almost odorless
―
to be more exact, it resembles chloroform in physical appearance. Point number one. Point number two
―
it has an odor
―
faint, to be sure
―
but distinctly like that of ether. Point number three
―
it is fearfully potent. So potent
―
but let me illustrate just what this devilishly powerful chemical substance will do to living tissue.
”

By this time the toxicologist had gained the entire attention of his audience.

“
I took a healthy rabbit, of the sort we use for experiment, and painted
―
just painted, mind you
―
the tender area behind the creature
’
s ear with an undiluted dose of the stuff. Remember, this was not an internal injection. It was merely a painting of the skin. It would have to be absorbed through the dermis before it reached the bloodstream. I watched the rabbit for an hour
―
and after that I didn
’
t have to watch him any more. He was as dead as any dead rabbit I ever saw.
”

“
That doesn
’
t seem so powerful to me, Doctor,
”
protested the Inspector.

“
It doesn
’
t, eh? Well, take my word for it that it
’
s extraordinary. For a mere daubing of whole, healthy skin
―
I tell you, I was astounded. If the skin had an incision of some sort, or if the poison were administered internally, that would be a different story. You can imagine, therefore, what happened to Field
’
s insides when he
swallowed
the stuff
―
and he swallowed plenty!
”

Ellery
’
s brow was wrinkled in thought. He began to polish the lenses of his pince-nez.

“
And that isn
’
t all,
”
resumed Dr. Jones.
“
As far as I know
―
and I have been in the service of the city for God knows how many years, and I
’
ve not kept uninformed about the progress of my science in other parts of the world, either
―
as far as I know, tetra ethyl lead has never before been used for criminal purposes!
”

The Inspector drew up, startled.
“
That
’
s saying something, Doctor!
”
he muttered.
“
Are you sure?
”

“
Positive. That
’
s why I
’
m so keenly interested.
”

“
Just how long would it take for this poison to kill a man, Doctor?
”
asked Ellery slowly.

Dr. Jones grimaced.
“
That
’
s something I can
’
t answer definitely, for the very good reason that to my knowledge no human being has ever died of its effects before. But I can make a fairly good guess. I can
’
t conceive of Field having lived more than fifteen to twenty minutes at the utmost after having taken the poison internally.
”

The silence that followed was broken by a cough from Queen.
“
On the other hand, Doctor, this very strangeness of the poison should make it fairly easy to trace. What, would you say, is its commonest source? Where does it come from? How would I go about getting it if I wanted some for a criminal purpose and didn
’
t want to leave a trail?
”