Deadline for next Issue of "Mirror", 1 May, 1993 S out to their wives. For Charles Turiey wasn't the only lout they were aware of, or had treated the results of, in their medical practice, HOS "One wonders if Agnes isn't better off out ofit ail, observed quietly. "Any idea how she died?" "Something caused her to stop breathing. At first glance, | thought of a massive heart attack. The skin under her nails and her lips were cyanosed. But there was noth- ing wrong with her heart." Jeremy handed the plate of muffins to his associate. *l can find no natural cause for her death, therefore | must assume that the cause was some- thing deliberately administered to her in someway ... hence murder." "Can't be old Charlie. He'd have bludgeoned her to death," Freddy stated, bighting irto a muffin. "These are good. | missed breakfast this morning. As a matter of fact I almost missed this morning, having been up all night, | find it hard to believe this is not just a continuation of yesterday." "Who was it last night?" "The little Caldwell boy. He got into some spray his father was getting ready to put on a crop of tomoatoes he grows for market. We had to do atracheotomy, but even with that we had to hook him up to life support. Nearly iost him a couple of times during the night." He took another hungry bight of his muffin. "He seems fine this morning. A little out of it, but able to breath on his own." 'What did he do, drink it?" "No, that's the strange part. He just came in contact with adrop or two of the stuff full strength. tisn'tstrong enough to kill an adult, but for a thirty pound toddler, it can be fatal. Goes in through the skin you know." He brushed the crumbs from his white lab coat. *Well old boy. The haven't aged me. I'll just take a quick peek in at the little fellow and then toddie off home for some shut eye. | have office hours this afternoon." Jeremy gave responded vaguely as Freddy stood up. "Get some sleep. You lock done up." For some minutes Jeremy stared, unseeing, at the door. "Spray! | wonder." He picked up the telephone and dialed. As he waited for the phone to be answered, he tapped a encil in a quick, impatient, rythm on the desk blotter. "Good-morning. Ontario Provincial Police ... may | help you," a voice came on the line. "Yes. This is Dr. Fegan calling. Is Corporal Fairchild available please" "One moment, doctor." There was the click of the phone as he was put on hold, then Fairchild's voice came on the line. "Dr. Fegan, Fairchild here." JETEMY "I just had a thought. When you fellows were gathering evidence at St. Annes the other day, did you by chance think to take a sample of the contents of the can of brass r did you get any of the rags Agnes was using to an the brass?" "Just give me a minute. We have a list of things that we've sent for testing. I'll check it." There was the sound of papers being leafed through. *No rags, but the can of brass polish was taken and a sample has been sent away. Anything special we shouid be testing for?" "Just a thought, but have it tested for pesticide residue. I sent some scrapings from under her nails, but even if they come back positive, we still need the method used to get it there. She may have died from exposure to a con- centrated pesticide." "But that would have just made her ll, It shouldn't have Killed her. After all, she wasn't a small woman," Fairchild protested. "Perhaps not under normal circumstances, but what if it had been super-concentrated for just that purpose?" "Is that possible? He had the police officer's interest now. "If it is water based, it would be possible by simply distilling the water from it." "Wouldn't that take a large quantity of the original pes- ticide ... to get that strong a concentration?" "Maybe ... | don't really know. Butit's worth looking into." "Should be easy to find cut who has bought any pes- ticides. The only ones that can buy it now are people who have taken a course in the use of these sprays, and then they have to register when they buy it." "That may be a help. Or it might be someone who has asupply of sprays and hasn't needed to buy any in the past year. Could even be a banned spray." '| suppose vou're right, but I'll get someone to check around and at least find out who took the pesticide spraying course. That would be place to start. I'll let you know as soon as | find out." "Il imagine we both sent out samples to the forensic lab in Toronto, so we will both get the results back about the same time, but if you could let them know to test both sets of sample for residue, it would be a help, Oh yes, and have copies of both sets of reports sent to me as well. They don't always do that, I've found." "Sure. I'll even phone down and put a bit of speed into the act," the officer promised. "Oh, | gave Charlie a lift yesterday. Now there's a bad piece of property." "Bad, ves. A brute, ves. Smart, no. He would have, as one of my colleagues said this morning, 'bludgeoned her to death', but he wouldn't have done anything that required planning or some inteligence." "You are probably right," Fairchild agreed. "If my theory is right, then Charlie's in the clear, more's the pity," the doctor said with genuine disapointment. "in the mean time, I;m going to call the Poison Control Centre in Ottawa. See if they can fax me some imformation." "Glad you called. Keep in touch." "I will.® Jeremy thought a minute after he had hung up, then dial a four diget number.