Bert opened the door for her and she waited on the pavement while I clambered out the other side. Then with brief instructions to Bert to wait nearby because “we shan’t be too long”, Lady Hardcastle and I made our way inside the hospital where a smartly-dressed porter gave us directions.
After a long walk down echoing corridors that smelled strongly of disinfectant, we finally arrived at a closed door whose brass nameplate declared it to be the office of Dr Simeon Gosling. Lady Hardcastle knocked.
‘Yes? What?’ said an irritated voice from inside.
She opened the door and we both stepped tentatively into the cramped office.
A bespectacled man of about Lady Hardcastle’s age was sitting behind a desk piled high with folders and papers. His expensive suit was rumpled and his collar slightly askew. Without looking up, he said, ‘Look, I really am most fearfully busy. Can you just leave whatever it is there and I’ll deal with it presently.’
‘Good morning to you too, Sim, dear,’ said Lady Hardcastle, cheerfully.
He looked up and his weary face broke into a smile that made him look a great deal more handsome than I had at first thought. He stood, knocking a teetering pile of paper to the floor.
‘Emily! What ho, my darling girl. How the devil are you? What a delight.’
‘Uncommonly well, thank you, dear,’ she said, leaning across the chaos of the desk to greet him with a kiss on the cheek.
‘I heard you’d been in the wars, old girl,’ he said, looking her up and down. ‘But you’re looking well on it, whatever it was. Sit down, do.’
‘Thank you, dear. You remember Armstrong?’
‘I do indeed. Welcome to my lair, Miss Armstrong. My apologies for the mess; it’s so hard to find decent help these days. Don’t fancy a part-time job on the side, I suppose?’
‘Full time if you like, sir,’ I said, sitting down on one of the rickety bentwood chairs. ‘I can start on Monday.’
Lady Hardcastle harrumphed.
‘So what can I do for you, Emily?’ he asked. ‘I presume this isn’t a purely social call.’
‘I regret to have to admit that it isn’t, darling, no. Though we really must have lunch soon.’
‘Any time you like,’ he said with a smile. ‘We have a delightful canteen.’
‘I’m sure that would be charming,’ she said, and he laughed. ‘But for now, dear, I need to pick your considerable brains. What do you know about poisonous fungi?’
‘A little,’ he said. ‘Why? Planning to do someone in?’
‘Not quite, but it might have something to do with a case we’re working on.’ Once again she ran succinctly through the events of the past fortnight, this time starting with our trip to the cattle market with Lady Farley-Stroud and Maude Denton. When she had finished, she handed over the manila folder that Inspector Sunderland had given us.
‘Well I never,’ said Dr Gosling once he had finished skimming through the contents of the file. ‘What a world you live in. I thought it was all country dancing and “Who’s Got the Prettiest Pig?” competitions out there.’
‘“Out there”?’ said Lady Hardcastle with a laugh. ‘We’re about fifteen miles away. “Out there” indeed!’
‘You know what I mean,’ he said. ‘It’s scarcely the beating heart of modern civilization, is it?’
‘Perhaps not, dear. But unfortunately they still find the time between all the country dancing and pig fancying to do each other to death over the slightest things.’
‘And deadly webcap is a particularly nasty way to do it,’ he said after a moment’s consideration.
‘You think it’s possible?’ she said. ‘Could it be the mushrooms?’
‘Well, the symptoms fit, certainly,’ he said. ‘We don’t know much about the poison, but its effects are well documented.’ He got up and reached down a thick book from the shelves beside his desk. ‘If the mushrooms were in his pie on market day,’ he said, riffling through the pages to find the reference he was after, ‘then the timing is right, too. Here we are, Deadly Webcap, Cortinarius speciosissimus… He’d have started feeling poorly a few days later: stomach pains, headache, nausea and the like. It would have seemed like influenza or something similar. Then once the kidney damage started to show, he’d have had all sorts of problems with his waterworks that he’d most likely have kept to himself. Hang on…’ He looked back at the file. ‘Ah, yes, here it is. One of the witnesses says he looked a little “funny coloured”. Jaundice is another sign. Convulsions and death usually come in about a week. I’m surprised he hadn’t succumbed to the effects sooner, though. It says here victims usually slip into a coma.’
‘Strong as oxen, these farming types. It’s all the country dancing,’ said Lady Hardcastle, thoughtfully. ‘But you think it’s possible?’
‘I’d have to run a few tests of my own on the body to be certain,’ he said. ‘But the police surgeon’s report is very thorough and he has taken great pains to rule out most other possible causes. He’s definitely of the opinion that it’s some sort of poison rather than illness or infection. So yes, on balance I’d say it’s extremely possible. Is that what you wanted to hear?’
‘One always likes to have one’s hypotheses validated, so yes, I suppose it is,’ she said. ‘The world would be a much nicer place if he had died of natural causes, I suppose, but if it has to be murder, I’d rather be right about the method than not.’
‘Do you have a suspect?’ he asked.
‘As a matter of fact,’ she said, ‘I do. But I need to confirm another matter before I’m certain. That’s our next stop.’
‘How exciting. Will you let me know how you get on?’
‘Of course, darling. The Crown might need an expert witness when it gets to trial.’
‘Not sure that’s me, old girl,’ he said, modestly. ‘But I can put you in touch with a chap at Bart’s – he’s quite utterly utter when it comes to organic poisons.’
‘Thank you, darling. And thank you for letting us interrupt you this morning. You look frightfully busy.’
He looked ruefully at the paper-strewn desk. ‘Trying to prepare a report for the Board on post-operative infection rates.’
‘Well that sounds rather important,’ she said, standing. ‘We shall leave you to it. Are you still at the same address in Clifton?’
‘I am, yes.’
‘Then expect my invitation to lunch very soon,’ she said, leaning across the desk to kiss him goodbye.
‘I shall look forward to it.’
I nodded my own farewell and we let ourselves out. He was already writing as I shut the door behind us.
‘That was very encouraging,’ said Lady Hardcastle as we navigated our way back through the maze of hospital corridors to the entrance.
‘It was?’ I said, still somewhat nonplussed.
‘Yes, very much so. There’s been something nagging at me since we started all this, something I only confirmed when I looked at my notes yesterday, and having Simeon confirm that it could easily have been the mushrooms makes my latest hypothesis possible.’
‘You’re not going to tell me, are you,’ I said as we emerged into the spring sunshine.
‘No pet. Poor Emily needs to be indulged.’ She clutched her side. ‘I’ve been poorly.’
I frowned. ‘You know you’re not going to be able to get away with that for much longer, don’t you, my lady.’