Page 14 of Grace in Glasgow (Seduced in Scotland #3)

Without thinking, Grace took a step forward and bent down to see the fingertips of the dead man. They were completely black, fading into an unnatural paleness up his hands. She frowned. Cyanosis was the condition having blue fingertips.

“How can you tell? The fingers are black.”

“Do you know why?” She shook her head. “Blood begins to settle in the outermost part of a body’s extremities after death.

You wouldn’t be able to tell by the fingers, but if you notice at the lips.

” He paused and stepped back, allowing Grace to move in front of him.

Sure enough, there was a dull blue coloring around the entire mouth.

“It will occur around the mouth as well.”

She stared at him, wide eyed.

“So, it was poisoning?”

“That’s not been confirmed,” Dr. Stewart said, coming around the end of the table. “Blue around the mouth does not signify a poisoning. Cyanosis is just a discoloration, with which a dozen causes can be the culprit. He was half frozen when he was found, if you remember?”

“True, yet.” Dr. Hall took the instrument up once more, and moving around Grace, opened the man’s mouth once more. “Look at the teeth.”

Both Dr. Stewart and Grace leaned over the body. Sure enough, the teeth were a bluish-purple color and instantly Grace knew the cause of death.

“This man ingested monkshood,” she said, glancing at Dr. Hall, who appeared to be watching her with a semblance of surprise. “He was poisoned.”

“Yes. Or he took it voluntarily.”

She frowned.

“Suicide?”

He shrugged and placed the silver instrument on the side table before covering the body up with the sheet.

“Suicide or not, I cannot say. That is the police’s job,” he said. “But monkshood is without question the reason for his death.”

“Now wait a moment,” Dr. Stewart said, coming forward. “How can you be sure of this?”

Dr. Hall glanced at the older doctor.

“Who prepared the body for burial?”

“The family, of course.”

“And you did not check the body beforehand?”

“He was frozen,” Dr. Stewart said. “And Mrs. Flannery was inconsolable. She had him wrapped in blankets from the neck down trying to revive the poor bastard. I was practically thrown from the house before I was even able to confirm his death.”

Dr. Hall began to peel his gloves off his hands.

“Then there you have it. If the body was frozen, you likely wouldn’t have been able to open his mouth, and if it was the sons, I’m sure they had no issue removing you from the residence as soon as possible.”

“But how did she know it was monkshood?”

All the men who had been in the hallway had followed them in and now they were staring at Grace as if she were some sort of miracle.

“I,” she said, unsure how to address a room full of men.

But with an affirmative nod from Dr. Hall, who stood taller than everyone, she found her voice.

“Monkshood is a part of the aconitum genus and contains substantial amounts of aconitine. If ingested, it can cause respiratory paralysis and heart failure.”

“I ain’t never heard of monkshood,” one of the policemen said.

“It’s also known as wolf’s bane.”

The group glanced around at each other, silently stunned by Grace’s knowledge on such a deadly herb.

“How do you treat someone who’s ingested monkshood, Miss Sharpe?” Dr. Hall asked.

She shook her head.

“There is no antidote. Once ingested, depending on the amount, a person can begin to feel sharp pains in the abdomen, sweating, heart palpitations, and in some cases reported, they can see a bluish-purple haze in their vision, but if the amount is enough, death can be the result.”

“Very good,” Dr. Hall said, before calling the attention of the group back to him.

“Any questions?” No one spoke. “Well, I believe our work here is done. Constable? I’ve given my opinion and I believe once Dr. Stewart finishes his investigation, he’ll come to the same conclusion. Now if you will excuse us.”

Grace removed the face covering and apron as soon as they exited the room and followed Dr. Hall back down the hallway and up the spiral stairs until they were back in the foyer of the building.

To her surprise, Dr. Hall seemed to be walking with a bit of buoyancy in his step and when they were finally outside, he seemed almost jolly as she tried to keep pace with him as he headed toward her carriage.

The driver had jumped down and was swift to help Grace up and to her surprise, she was followed by Dr. Hall.

“That was satisfying,” he said, rather pleased as the carriage took off down the road. “Dr. Stewart is always so sure of himself, but I knew he missed something with that case.”

“You did?”

“Oh yes. The report about Mr. Flannery freezing to death had always struck me as strange. He was a patient of mine, you see, and had never shown signs of any malaise or addiction to the drink. In fact, he seemed to loathe wines and whiskeys alike. The fact that he had frozen to death from supposedly overindulging always confused me. But I wasn’t in Glasgow at the time and Dr. Stewart had taken inventory of the body.

I always guessed he’d done a poor job and that confirmed it. ”

“Oh.”

He glanced at her.

“You were rather impressive as well.”

Grace had to concentrate very hard not to break into a silly smile.

“Thank you.”

“I know Mrs. Fletcher likely taught you all she knows about medicinal plants. She’s a fountain of information, that one.”

“She taught you as well, didn’t she?”

“She did,” he said as the carriage turned north.

“For as long as I can remember, she had me out in the woods and fields, picking plants and flowers, sketching them, identifying them, taking notes on their properties and the reactions they cause in the human body. I suspected that’s why Dr. Barkley rented her one of his rooms above his practice in Glencoe.

To keep his patients close if they didn’t agree with his diagnosis and would turn to Mrs. Fletcher. ”

“She is your aunt, is she not?”

“Aye.”

“Then why do you call her Mrs. Fletcher?”

Dr. Hall’s dark brows lifted.

“I’m not sure. I’ve always called her that, ever since I was a boy.”

“Because she asked you to?”

“No, it’s just… What everyone else called her.”

Grace was unsure how to feel about that information. She knew Dr. Hall had been orphaned as a child and that he had gone to live with his only living relative, but how his parents passed and what his childhood had been like were a mystery. One that seemed to grow more interesting to her by the day.

“She has always been very kind to me.”

“That’s because she likes you.”

Grace smiled, her hand moving over her chest absently to where her necklace lay beneath her dress.

“Did she tell you that?”

“She did,” he said, and for a moment Grace saw something in his eyes, something kind, not unlike Mrs. Fletcher.

It was the most striking thing, to see a flash of white in contrast to his well-kept beard as a sweeping, fluttering sort of feeling filled her insides. He blinked then and the moment was gone, but Grace couldn’t seem to shake it the rest of the ride home.

Once they reached Aunt Belle’s house, Dr. Hall exited the vehicle and turned to help Grace down. She hadn’t even realized it until her feet touched the cobblestones and she tried to pull away, but he didn’t let go.

Grace’s entire being seemed to stall when she felt his fingers tighten slightly.

She didn’t peer up at him, or try to pull away, but instead glanced down at where their hands were joined together.

Much too soon, however, Dr. Hall released her hand and with a short bow and a mumbled “good evening,” he turned and walked away, leaving Grace to stare after him for a moment.

“My lady?” the driver said, waiting for her to climb the stairs to the front door.

“Hm? Oh yes,” she said, hurrying up the steps.

But it would be some hours before she was able to think of something else other than Dr. Hall’s fingers.