The Case of James Carmichael: Part 2
"I awakened the next morning with a start, for I had just remembered a most significant point concerning Alice Carmichael's background. Before I could dwell any further on that thought, however, there was a violent pounding on my front door. Dr. Brighton greeted me with a tired-looking smile. I could immediately sense that he had little to no sleep the previous night, for his clothes were rumpled, his face unshaven and his eyes red-rimmed.
" 'I had a rather busy night at the Carmichaels, Mr. Holmes.' He paused to yawn. 'Would you like to accompany me to their place again? I believe your visit yesterday was cut short, and perhaps you would like to see the children as well.'
"I hurriedly agreed, and for a moment had half a mind to tell him of what had occurred during Mrs. Carmichael's visit, but knew that it would seem treacherous on my part. We arrived at the estate once again, and were once again shown into the sitting room by that sniffing butler. Before long, Mr. Carmichael had joined us, looking even more fatigued and gaunt than I remembered.
" 'Doctor Brighton, Mr. Holmes,' he began, 'I am afraid it has been a rather sleepless night in this household, so you must excuse my appearance. Alice and the children -' He stopped mid-sentence as the maid burst into the room, nearly in hysterics. The three of us jumped up in shock, and Carmichael rushed over to the wailing girl.
" 'Trudy, calm yourself! Whatever is the matter with you?'
" 'Sir! Emily and Peter! Oh!' she struggled to speak between gasps and moans, 'The doctor, quick! They're at death's door!' Upon her words, Dr. Brighton, with Carmichael and I at his heels, rushed up the stairs with his medical bag. He evidently knew his way around the maze of corridors, and reached a door at the end of a hallway.
"The room was evidently a makeshift sickroom, for there were two beds divided by an end table, a couple of rocking chairs and a couch. The end table displayed the remains of an earlier meal, as well as a few bottles of what I assumed to be the prescribed medicine. Mrs. Carmichael was sitting beside the girl, clasping her hand with tears streaming down both cheeks. Gone was the cool, sophisticated demeanor she had presented earlier; she was shaking from the sobs that wracked her small frame. The doctor went immediately to work, checking the pulses and vital signs of each child. He slowly straightened up and began to tidy up his bag, and I knew that we had come too late.
" ' I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Carmichael,' he whispered, clasping the hand of the horrified man beside me, 'They have succumbed. Though I recognize that this is a time to mourn, I suggest that you do not compromise your own health, and take some rest as soon as possible. Mr. Holmes, I believe that this is our cue to leave.'
" 'Let me clean up this table for you before we leave, Mrs. Carmichael,' I said.
" 'That would not...be necessary,' she said, trying to catch her breath.
" 'Please, it's the least I can do,' I insisted. She raised her face to look at me in gratitude and forced a brave smile, but not before I noticed her gaze lingering upon the plates and medicine bottle in my hands. As we walked out, we heard a piercing cry followed by sobs that were no doubt from Carmichael.
"My mind was working like mad from what I had just seen. Dr. Brighton kept his composure, for he had seen far worse than this, and we spoke little as we descended down the stairs and out the front door. As he quietly shut the door behind us, the doctor looked at me and said, 'Holmes, those were two cases of gastric fever. The same thing that killed Polly. But I have never seen them give way this quickly, and at the same time. I must leave now, but I will return tomorrow to certify the death for insurance purposes. I beg of you, please find the cause behind all of this! It nearly tore me apart to see the Carmichael family in such a state.'
"Now, Watson, from all the clues that I have presented to you coupled with your physician's expertise, you should have an idea of why I purposely cleaned the end table. I positively raced home, for I had some research to do before I solidified my speculations. The fact that Mrs. Carmichael came from Manchester a year ago had been dwelling heavily on my mind all morning. I just about ransacked my sitting room looking for my notebook in which I kept important newspaper clippings. My habit of keeping up with crime in the papers was well established by then, and I found the article that I was searching for. "Man and young boy die from mysterious illness," was the title. It is included in that packet in your lap, Watson, if you wish to read it for yourself. You may wonder why I had kept such an inconspicuous article as that among my collection. I had found the circumstances surrounding the dead persons to be notable; their symptoms were similar to those I had encountered over at the Carmichael household. Apparently, in the Hollingsworth household featured in the clipping, the boy died, and his father followed within weeks after coming down with what seemed to be gastric fever. They were survived by only the mother, Eliza who, in her grief and loneliness, left town to start a new life elsewhere. She was never seen again. If you will look right over here under the title, my friend, you will see the year and city: 1878, Manchester."
Sherlock Holmes leaned forward in his chair towards me, eyes glittering in his building excitement.
"I nearly kicked myself for being such an ass, Watson; I should have recognized the signs earlier. The Carmichael and Hollingsworth cases seemed to parallel each other too similarly to be coincidental. I recalled my short time spent at the Carmichaels, and the mesmerizing effect of Alice Carmichael upon me, that nearly blinded me. All the information that Mr. Carmichael and Doctor Brighton presented did not point to illness by disease, but illness by poisoning. The symptoms were characteristic of arsenic poisoning, but I still needed more evidence, more proof, of Mrs. Carmichael's part in the case. This is where the plate and medicine bottle came into use, and I swept my laboratory table clean to perform the needed test. Now there are two possible tests one could use to detect arsenic. The Reinsch test is quick, but oftentimes yields false positive results due to arsenic impurities usually found in copper foil that is needed for the test. I therefore decided to perform the Marsh test, a much slower but highly sensitive test, able to detect the smallest traces of arsenic. As the victims were children, I reasoned that much smaller amounts of arsenic were needed to match their smaller body mass. You can probably feel my triumph when the test came out positive in both the medicine bottle and the plate of food. I was also able to detect minute traces of white substance on the plate with a powerful magnifying glass, confirming my suspicions. I now had the proof of poison, but I needed a witness as to identify the guilty party before I closed the net. I played with the thought of Doctor Brighton himself adding arsenic to the medicine, but quickly ruled it out, for he had no reason to do so; the dreadful substance could easily be added by anybody.
"I set out once again for Carmichael's neighbourhood. After questioning several locals, I found the locations of several apothecaries nearby where one could have easily obtained arsenic. As you know, it is widely used to deal with rats in one's house. The first two leads came nowhere, but the third proved to be more successful. The owner of the store recalled a timid, rather jumpy young girl who needed some rat poison for her mistress. She arrived about a week ago; the timing is consistent with the beginning of the children's sickness. His physical descriptions fit Trudy perfectly, and he could identify her if necessary.
"By now I had little doubt of Mrs. Carmichael's guilt. She had the means and opportunity. But what was the motive? What did she have to gain by poisoning the two children? The first child's death had occurred shortly after her marriage to Carmichael; I was sure she had been poisoned as well. A simple test of the stomach can determine the cause, for arsenic remains in the body long after death. While these thoughts were running through my head, I was quickly making my way towards the Carmichael estate once again. It had become quite late, but Carmichael needed to know about his wife. I began to run out of a growing sense of desperation. I reached the door by nightfall, and banged hard on the knocker.
"The butler who answered the door looked quite annoyed at my unwelcome intrusion, which I ignored.
" 'I'm sorry, sir, but Master Carmichael has retired for the night,' he sniffed pompously.
"I did not have the time to argue with that dim-witted man, so I pushed my way past him and made way for the stairs, with him snapping at my heels. I had to try quite a few doors before I stumbled upon what I presumed to be the master bedroom. I was relieved to see that Carmichael was still awake, for he was sitting up in bed with a teacup in his hand and Mrs. Carmichael standing beside him, holding a teapot. As he raised his lips to the cup, his eyes glanced up in surprise at my appearance. The butler began to babble about my forced entry and trespassing, and promptly left to fetch a policeman. I faced no other choice. I immediately rushed to the unsuspecting Carmichael and gripped my hand around his throat. His hands dropped the teacup and he began struggling and sputtering, but I held firm.
" 'Whatever you do, do not swallow the tea! For God's sake, spit it out!' I said through clenched teeth. After what seemed like an eternity, he spat out a mouthful of the tea. I let go as he began to cough violently.
" 'What is the meaning of this, Holmes?' he roared.
" 'I think I will allow your wife to explain,' I replied grimly, 'Otherwise known as Eliza Hollingsworth!'
"Just as I expected, Mrs. Carmichael immediately responded to my calling. She realized her mistake a moment too late, for her husband had also noticed her reaction.
" 'I am afraid you are mistaken, Mr. Holmes,' she said calmly and coldly, with none of the emotions she showed me the night before, 'I should let you know that you are indeed unwelcome in our home at this hour, and I shall have you arrested as soon as Matthew returns with the police.' However, her face betrayed her agitation, for it had gone pale and her hands were trembling slightly.
" 'Mr. Carmichael, your wife is responsible for murdering your three children with arsenic, which you will find was also present in your tea. She has been poisoning you slowly, in small doses, to make it seem like an illness. I have noticed earlier yesterday afternoon that you touched your stomach several times as if in pain. Tell me, Mrs. Carmichael, why would you send your servant to the apothecary for rat poison if there were no rats in the house?'
"Before she could protest her innocence, the butler arrived with a policeman.
" 'That's the trespasser, officer!' he pointed out.
" 'No need for this nonsense, Matthew,' I said coolly, 'The real criminal is Mrs. Alice Carmichael here, also known as Eliza Hollingsworth of Manchester, for murdering the three Carmichael children and the attempted murder of Mr. James Carmichael. If you test that cup lying on the bed there for arsenic, you will no doubt find it with a simple chemical test. In fact, if you examine it as well as the teapot with your naked eye, you will see trace amounts of the white substance. I also have here with me a glass vial of what came out of my own testing of the plate and medicine bottle taken after the two children's deaths. See the white residue also? And if you question the servant girl, Trudy, and the local apothecary, they will correlate the fact that Mrs. Carmichael here specifically requested arsenic one week ago, about the same time the two children became sick.'
"I glanced over at Mrs. Carmichael, who had completely transformed at my speech. She had gone deathly pale, her entire body quivering with a look of utter hatred on her face.
" 'Yes!' she burst out, her stormy eyes flashing with passion and rage, 'Yes, dear Sherlock Holmes, I am Eliza Hollingsworth! I killed my first husband and children just like your own precious little ones, and would have done the same to you! Do you men ever know what it is like to be a lone woman, penniless, in this God-forsaken society? I worked and worked from being a washerwoman to governess to aristocrat in a matter of years! But what does virtue and diligence matter to you power-hungry, self-centred men anyway, you who demand respect and give none in return? But with money, people stopped turning their aristocratic noses at me. With money, I was able to afford the finer things in life, clothes, jewels, food. With money, I can free myself from marrying self-indulging prigs like you! Once you were gone, everything would have been mine!' Alice Carmichael gave a high-pitched laugh; I was sure she had lost her sanity. 'Why do you think, James,' she added slowly and deliberately, 'that I persuaded you have the whole family insured?
"Such was the case of the Carmichael poisoning. Alice Carmichael's confession sealed her fate; further tests upon the bodies of the three children as well as the exhumed bodies of the Hollingsworths proved to be positive. The woman was quite clever, I admit, at hiding her past, moving from one place to another, never staying long enough to raise suspicions. She had various names from before the Hollingsworth marriage: Anne Smith, Jane Wainwright, Mary Hunt. The irony of the situation turned out to be that she could not have collected the insurance money from the two Carmichael children without a death certificate signed by a doctor. Dr. Brighton had intended to certify the death the following day. However, her confession and the evidence were sufficient to convince the jury to convict her; she was eventually hung."
Sherlock Holmes sighed and leaned back into his chair again, blowing smoke rings at the ceiling. He had lost the triumphant gleam in his eyes, and looked quite pensive in a rare expression of human emotion.
"After returning home that night, I could not bring myself to celebrating the fact that I had put a criminal to justice. I felt betrayed, Watson; I had let down my guard with disastrous results that could have been prevented. Alice Carmichael had obviously visited me in an attempt to convince me of her innocence, and for a moment, I had felt certain of my judgment towards her. I had underestimated a woman's seductive powers, and I resolved never to let personal sentiments interfere with another case.
"All in all, she was a victim of society, Watson, bonded by the need for financial security. To this day, I do not feel entirely at ease for having secured the death sentence of a woman who clearly could have done much in life."
" 'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,'" I said thoughtfully. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
"Why, Holmes, I have heard you mention her before!" I exclaimed, "Right after we first met my wife, who was still Miss Morstan then, we were sitting in this very room and you alluded to Alice Carmichael!"
Holmes gave me a wry smile as he stood up and stretched, the cold, stoic countenance returning to his thin face.
"Well, I am going to bid you an early good-night, my friend. I'm sure you can see your way out."
As he disappeared to his room, I began to collect my coat and hat, shaking my head at what I had learned of Holmes's history and character. I was quietly closing the front door behind me when the slow, haunting notes of the violin reached my ears, the true expression of a man who chose to hide his heart behind a great and brilliant mind.