Chapter Two-4
229 Words
‘YOUNG SMALES SEEMS full of himself,’ Sam Dally, the police surgeon c*m pathologist complained as he divested himself of his overcoat, hat and woolly tartan scarf in the reception area. ‘Told me yon cadaver was likely poisoned by the toxins in the rhododendron plant. Is he after my job do you reckon?’
Rafferty smiled. ‘I reckon you’re safe enough, Sam. It’s only toxicology he’s been studying, not pathology.’
‘Toxicology, is it?’ Sam smoothed the hair around his bald spot, and remarked silkily, ‘Then you’ll be glad to know I did my bit to extend his education in that direction. Do you know, Rafferty, he was nae aware that there are poisons so subtle they leave no trace in the human body?’
‘Is that so?’
‘Och, yes. Your clever sergeant reads the classics so probably knows all about them. There’s one – the name escapes me for the minute – where the only thing the body tells you when you cut it open is that the victim died of asphyxia. I was only saying to young Smales that it’s a curious thing, but it’s my experience that these particular poisons work best on wee young smart-arses. Strange that.’
Sam seemed tickled that he’d been able to indulge his heavy-handed and barbed humour at Smales’s expense. He beamed, struggled into his protective gear, and picked up his bag. ‘So where’s the body? I gather you do still want my opinion now that I’m here? I wouldn’t like to feel I’d entirely wasted by evening, you having such an undoubted expert on hand and all.’
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