“Cyanosis,” he said after a moment, standing up. “I’m sure of it.”
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 adozen 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 theaconitumgenus 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.
