Chapter 3

"BERT. WAS. MURDERED!"

Seth's announcement was a shock to the mourners in the church. Everyone began talking at once.

Mort, who was standing close by, quickly shuttled Seth and Jessica over to the church's private office, away from the confused mourners.

"Doc, Mind telling me what made you shout out an announcement like that?" Mort asked testily, once the three of them were alone.

"I was thinkin' that people should know the truth!" Seth insisted, "A dear friend of mine was brutally murdered and no one want to step up and admit it!"

"But the records stated that he died of cardiac arrest!" Mort argued.

"It wasn't written in stone!" Seth stated indignantly.

Mort argued, "Yeah but according to the coroner-"

But before Mort could continue, the door burst opened.

WHAM!

A tall man with curly brown hair strode in. Jessica recognized him as one of the people attending the Wake and he did not look happy.

"Uncle Seth, what just happened out there?!" the man demanded to know, "that was quite a commotion you stirred out there...and I don't mean that in a good way! What has gotten into you?"

"What's more important, is what happened to your manners, Logan? " Seth brusquely told him, "Don't you know you shouldn't just come bargin' into a room without at least a greetin' of some sort? I do believe introductions are in order!"

"Really?" the tall man didn't look apologetic, "You yell out craziness to a roomful of people and I'm the unreasonable one?"

"For once, I agree with the Doc," Mort said, "so let me be the one to make the introductions. Logan, this is Jessica Fletcher. Jessica, this is Detective Logan McIntosh, the Judge's son."

Even in uncomfortable situations, Jessica was always polite as she stuck out her hand.

"Please to meet you, Logan, despite the sad circumstances" she greeted, as they shook, "and please, call me Jessica."

He lifted an eyebrow, "Jessica Fletcher? You aren't the mystery writer, J.B. Fletcher from Cabot Cove, are you?"

She lightly laughed, "Guilty as charged, I'm afraid!"

He didn't look impressed, "I've read a few of your books. Not bad. You're good at keeping the storyline moving, but, overall, I find the main mystery in your book rather pedestrian. I can usually figure out the murderer in the first 20 pages, which is why I haven't read most of your books."

"Oh, well, I appreciate your giving my books a try, at least," Jessica stated with a flair of sarcasm, "perhaps you'll find my next book more intriguing."

"I certainly hope so," Logan said, taking the comment seriously, "but, then, I've always been good at deductive thinking. That's what makes me a great detective."

"It also didn't hurt that his father, the judge, has quite a pull with the selection committee," Mort mumbled under his breath to Jessica.

"What?" Logan asked.

"Nothing," Mort stated innocently.

Logan shrugged it off. With introductions out of the way, he turned his attention to Seth.

"So why would you yell out there that Uncle Bert had been murdered?" he questioned, "Our coroner already stated that he died of cardiac arrest!"

"The coroner may be correct in his findin's," Seth concurred, "but that doesn't mean Bert WASN'T murdered! With cardiac arrest, quite a few things can make the heart stop, and one of those things could be poison!"

Mort, Jessica and Logan looked at Seth with complete surprise.

"Poison?" Logan questioned.

"Ayuh," Seth said.

Mort interjected, "You wouldn't HAPPEN to know what type of poison it was, would you, Doc?"

"I believe Bert Bradley died from some type of heavy metal poisoning," Seth stated with certainty, "Bert was probably given an accumulation of metals in toxic amounts. My guess is either arsenic or thallium. I'm not sure which, since I never got to examine the body."

Although the detective looked unconvinced, he pulled out a little black notebook and began jotting down a few words. Then he looked over at Seth, "How did you conclude Uncle Bert was poisoned when the coroner didn't rule it as such?"

"Because I noticed the leukonychia striata lines on his nails!" Seth stated impatiently, as if it were obvious.

"What?" Logan looked confused.

"I think what Seth is trying to say," Jessica explained, being that she had previously done research, "is that he noticed Mr. Bradley had a condition known as Mees' lines'. They are the white bumpy ridges that run across the fingernails and are a clear indication of some type of heavy-metal poisoning."

Mort looked impressed at Seth, "You noticed all that simply by looking at his fingernails, Doc?"

"Stood out like a sore thumb, if you excuse the pun!" Seth exclaimed, "I've seen enough of Bert's hands when he was reachin' for a beer or pretzels during TV football season, and they had looked perfectly normal and healthy! But when I saw his hands in the coffin, the nails showed milky white ridges. They were there in the pink portions of his nail as well as on his lunules."

Logan again was unclear, "the lunules?"

Surprisingly it was Mort who gave the definition, "That's the white half-moons on the bottom of the nails." When Seth and Jessica seemed surprised with Mort's knowledge, he further explained, "before I could give Adele a manicure, she insisted I learn and understand the parts of the fingernails!"

"I don't even want to know..." Seth deadpanned as Jessica hid a grin.

"So Uncle Seth," Logan was taking Seth's theory more seriously now, "anything else you can tell me about this supposed poisoning?"

"Well, from the position and intensity of the lines, I'd say Bert was exposed to a heavy dose of the poison a couple of weeks before his death," Seth speculated.

"The timeline fits," Mort said, "two weeks ago was about when Bert was found on the sidewalk by a neighbor."

"So it was the initial dose that caused his collapse," Jessica theorized.

"Ayuh," Seth agreed, "but there may have been additional doses given afterwards!"

"Wait a sec," Logan was thinking carefully, "if you're saying that Uncle Bert was given the first dose during that walk, then when he was in the hospital for dengue fever, was he also given the other poisonous doses there?"

"Not during the hospital stay, Logan," Seth corrected, "Dengue fever is a virus. There's no treatment except to wait it out, so he probably didn't stay long in the hospital. The other doses were probably given while he rested at home."

"Okay, whatever!" Logan said, frustrated "but my point is, the doctors had originally checked him out at the hospital. Wouldn't they have realized he had been poisoned? How could they have missed that?"

"Unfortunately," Jessica explained, "this heavy metal type of poison wouldn't show up in a standard blood test. Plus the doctors already knew what was wrong with him; supposedly he had dengue fever. There would be no need to do other types of testing."

Logan scribbled some more, "Okay...got it," he told everyone as he snapped his black notebook shut, "I think I may be investigating a homicide here. I'll probably need to call it in."

"I could assist you in the investigation, if you'd like," Mort volunteered.

Logan gave him an arrogant look, "This is my jurisdiction, Mort. My case, and I can handle it. I'm going to go out there at the front of the church and insist that daughter Beth delay the service. Then I will inform everyone that I have reached the conclusion that Bert Bradley has been murdered. Your help will not be required."

"Of course you would be the hero," Mort murmured under his breath.

#

Later, Seth had been invited over Jessica's for a quick meal of her clam chowder soup, homemade sourdough bread and shrimp salad.

"Detective Logan McIntosh is certainly an interesting character," Jessica commented diplomatically, as she took a sip of her soup.

"The man's a pill," Seth bluntly told her, "he's more self-absorbed than a sponge!"

Jessica laughed.

Seth looked happy whenever Jessica appeared happy. He reached over and grasped her hand.

"Ah, Jess, I do have to apologize," he said, sadly wistful.

Jessica looked surprised, "Why, whatever for, Seth?"

"For ignoring you," Seth mentioned, "Here I am, in love with the most wonderful gal in the universe, and I haven't even taken her out on our first date yet!"

"There'll be time enough for that," she promised, "but right now, we have a murder to solve!"

Uh-oh.

"We?" Seth repeated, not sure he liked where this conversation was heading, "were you in the same room as me when Detective Logan McIntosh mentioned that he's handling Bert's murder?"

"Oh, Pffft," Jessica brushed that thought away, "since when do we let a self-absorbed sponge work on a murder case of a dear friend?"

Seth broke out in a grin, thanking the heavens once again that he had Jessica by his side.

His life will never be dull again.

"Ayuh! Since when, indeed!"

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