XXIII
BOTULIN TOXIN
Mackay drove us to the laboratory in his little car and it was dark andwe were dinnerless when we arrived. Knowing Kennedy's habits, I sentout for sandwiches and started in to make strong coffee upon anelectric percolator. The aroma tingled in my nostrils, reminding methat I was genuinely hungry. The district attorney, too, seemed more orless similarly disposed.
As for Kennedy, he was interested in nothing but the problem beforehim. He had been strangely quiet on the way, growing more and moreimpatient and nervous, as though the element of time had entered intothe case, as though haste were suddenly imperative. Once the lightswere on in the laboratory he hurried about his various preparations.The food samples he laid out, but he gave them no attention. The bloodsmears and stomach contents he put aside for future reference. Hisattack was upon the drop or two of liquid adhering to the stem of thebroken champagne glass.
The entire chemical procedure seemed to be incomprehensible to Mackayand he was fascinated, so that he had considerable trouble at timeskeeping out of the way of Kennedy's elbow. Kennedy first washed thestem out carefully with a few drops of distilled water, then he studiedthe resulting solution. One after another he tried the things thatoccurred to him, making tests wholly unproductive of results. Slowlythe laboratory table became littered completely with chemicals andapparatus of all sorts, a veritable arsenal of glass.
The sandwiches arrived, but Kennedy refused to drop his investigationfor a moment. I did succeed in making him take a cup of strong coffee,and that was all. Over in a corner Mackay and I did full justice to thefood, finishing the hot and welcome coffee and then refilling thepercolator and starting it on the making of a second brew. The hourslengthened, and when Mackay grew tired of watching with intenseadmiration he joined me in the patient consumption of innumerablecigarettes.
Kennedy was filled with the joy of discovery. I noticed that he did notstop even for the solace of tobacco. It seemed to me that at times hisnostrils dilated exactly like those of a hound on the scent. Finally heheld up a test tube and turned to us.
"What is it?" I asked. "Some other poison as rare and little known asthe snake venom?"
"No--something much more curious. In the stem of the glass I find thetoxin of the Bacillus botulinus."
"Germs?" Mackay inquired.
Kennedy shook his head. "Not germs, but the pure toxin, the poisonsecreted by this bacillus."
"What does it do?" was my question.
"Well," thoughtfully, "botulism may be ranked easily among the mostserious diseases known to medical science. It is hard to understand whyit is not a great deal more common. It is one of the most dangerouskinds of food poisoning."
"Then the apple juice they used for the wine was bad, spoiled?"
"No, not that. Werner was the only one stricken. Somebody put the puretoxin in his glass. It was, as I suspected, deliberate murder, as inthe case of Miss Lamar. Bacillus botulinus produces a toxin that isextremely virulent. Hardly more than a ten-thousandth of a cubiccentimeter would kill a guinea pig. This was botulin itself, the puretoxin, an alkaloid just like that which is formed in meat and otherfood products in cases of botulism. The idea might also have been tomake the death seem natural--due solely to bad food."
"Do you suppose it was used because it was quick and was colorless, soas not to be noticed in the glass?" I hazarded.
Kennedy paced up and down the laboratory several times in thought. "Tome, Walter, this is another indication of the satanic cleverness of theunknown criminal in the case. First Miss Lamar is to be killed. Forthat purpose something was sought, probably, which could not be tracedeasily to the perpetrator. In snake venom an agent was employed whichmay be said to be almost ideal for the grim business of murder. It isextremely difficult to identify in its results, it is comparativelyunknown, yet it is swift in action and to be obtained with fair ease.
"Differing from most poisons, it may be inflicted through a prick soslight as to be almost unnoticed by the victim. The scheme of fixingthe needle in the curtain was so simple and yet so effective that theguilty person need never have feared its discovery under ordinarycircumstances, or its association with the girl's death, if some onestumbled upon it accidentally. The idea of returning for thedeath-dealing point was only one of the many details of a precautionarymeasure upon which we have stumbled. Had I found it the next morning Iwould have been unable, in all probability, to identify it as belongingto or as obtained by any of our suspects.
"You must realize, Walter, that with all the scientific aids I havebeen able to bring to bear we possess almost no direct evidence. Thereare no fingerprints, no cigarette stubs, no array of personal, intimateclues of any sort to this criminal. These are the threads which leadthe detective to his quarry in fiction and on the stage. Here we lackeven the faintest description of the man, or woman if that is her sex.It is murder from a distance, planned with almost meticulous care,executed coolly and without feeling or scruple.
"After the death of Miss Lamar I was not so sure but that the selectionof the snake venom was simply the inspiration of a perverted brain, theevolution of the detailed method of killing her--an outgrowth ofsomeone's familiarity with studio life in general, with the script of'The Black Terror' in particular. Now I realize that we are face toface with the studied handiwork of a skilled criminal. These two deathsmay be his--or her--first departure into the realm of crime. Butpotentially we have a super-villain.
"I make that statement because of the manner of Werner's demise. It isevident that the director stumbled on a clue to the murderer. If myfirst hypothesis had been correct, if the use of snake venom and theunlucky thirteenth scene had been largely a matter of blind chance inthe selection of poison and method, then we might have expected Wernerto be struck down in some dark street, or perhaps decoyed to hisdeath--at the best, inoculated with the same crotalin which had killedMiss Lamar.
"But let us analyze the method used in slaying the director. If he hadbeen blackjacked there would be the clue of the weapon, always likelyto turn up, the chance of witnesses, and also the likelihood in anextreme case that Werner might not die at once, but might talk and givea description of his assailant, or even survive. Much the sameobjections--from the criminal's standpoint--obtain in nearly all theaccepted modes of killing a man. Even the use of venom a second timepossesses the disadvantage of a certain alertness against the verything on the part of the victim. Werner was a dope fiend, fully awareof the potency of a tiny skin puncture. I'll wager he was on constantguard against any sort of scratch.
"On the other hand, the few drops of toxin in the glass possessed everyadvantage from the unknown's standpoint. It was invisible, and as surein its action as the venom. Also it was as rare and as difficult totrace. For, remember this. Botulism is food poisoning. If I had notfound the stem of that glass it would be absolutely impossible to showthat Werner died from anything on earth but bad food. That is why I donot even take time to analyze the stomach contents. That is why I saywe are confronted by an archscoundrel of highest intelligence anddownright cleverness. More"--Kennedy paused for emphasis--"I realizenow the presence of a grim, invisible menace. It has just now beendriven home to me. The botulin, with its deadly paralyzing power,sealed Werner's tongue even while he tried to tell me what he knew."
Mackay was tremendously impressed by Kennedy's explanation. "Does thismean," he asked, "that the guilty man or woman is some outsider? Thosewe have figured as possible suspects would hardly have this detailedknowledge of poisons."
"There are two possibilities," Kennedy answered. "The real personbehind the two murders may have employed some one else to carry out theactual killing, a hypothesis I do not take seriously, or"--again hepaused--"this may be a case of some one with intelligence starting outupon his career of crime intelligently by reading up on his subject. Itis as simple to learn how to use crotalin or botulin toxin or anynumber of hundreds of deadly substances as it is to obtain the majorityof them. In fact, if people generally understoo
d the ease with whichwhole communities could be wiped out, and grasped that it could be doneso as to leave virtually no clue to the author of the horror, theymight not sleep as soundly at night as they do. The saving grace isthat the average criminal is often clever, but almost never trulyscientific. Unfortunately, we have to combat one who possesses thelatter quality to a high degree."
"What is the invisible menace of which you spoke, Craig?" I inquired.
"The possibility of another murder before we can apprehend the guiltyperson or gain the evidence we need."
"Good heavens!" I imagine I blanched. "You mean--"
"Werner was struck down, apparently, for no reason but that he hadguessed the identity of the villain. There is a second man in thecompany who has certain suspicions and is acting upon them. If he is onthe right trail, by any chance--" Kennedy shrugged his shoulderssoberly.
"Shirley?"
"Exactly! And there is still another possibility."
"What is that?"
"Here in this laboratory I have blood spots made on the portieres atthe house of Phelps by the man who removed the needle, probably theunknown himself, possibly his--or her--agent. In any case it is a clueand--THE ONLY DIRECT AND INFALLIBLE CLUE IN EXISTENCE TO THE CRIMINAL!Also I have the evidence of the snake venom and of the botulin toxinhere. Sooner or later the person who killed Werner because he suspectedthings will wake up to the fact that we possess tangible proof againsthim."
I grew pale. "You mean, then, that you may be attacked yourself? Thateven I--"
Kennedy smiled, unafraid. But from the expression in his eyes I knewthat he took the thought of our possible danger very seriously.