Chapter 14
"Ok so someone was poisoning the well that fed Arnold's house," Matthew said. Charlie, Bill, and Danny were gathered near the Chief Superintendent's desk. Lucien had taken a chalkboard and wrote down all the facts they knew, hoping that something would jump out at them.
"It caused Arnold's cancer and it made Mary quite ill. Alice told me that she won't have the full results from the tests until tomorrow. Meantime, she's being treated with IV fluids and Dimercaptosuccinic acid. The other farmhands have checked out fairly well," the doctor let them know.
"So, this person – whoever it was – wanted to target Arnold," Bill said.
"Yes, but this person was not in a rush. It can take years for cancer to develop from the doses of arsenic. First Arnold's body would rebel against the amounts in the water but at some point, it would tolerate them enough that he would probably ignore slight symptoms," Lucien explained.
"Having spoken to the Wagners, they don't seem like the patient type," Bill admitted.
"I would have to agree though that is odd considering that Robert Wagner was a sniper. Being a sniper is all about patience," Matthew said.
"A sniper has to be methodical. Poisoning like this fits that bill. Put too much in the well and Arnold gets rushed to the hospital and dies fairly quickly. Put just the right amount in and Arnold suffers like he was. A quick death would have been to shoot him, but that's not what happened," Lucien pointed out.
"No, someone shot Reginald instead. As far as the Wagners go, Lisa, Robert's wife, seemed very submissive. She would not speak unless asked a direct question and she never expounded on her answers when we did ask her questions," Charlie said.
"So, if her husband told her to do something…" Lucien gave him a look.
"She'd do it without question. I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't talk back to Robert," Charlie told him.
"What about the children?" The doctor asked.
"Well, that's just it. They aren't children anymore. I would say that Bobby is almost twenty-one and his sister, Rebecca, is nineteen. I don't get the impression that they got much schooling or left the farm much," Bill spoke up. It was an interesting comment from Bill, given that he was very much the old school policeman of the bunch. He had graduated high school and went straight into the police academy.
"Like they can't read or write or…" Lucien trailed off.
"They speak like rough back country folk. I find it hard to believe that Lisa raised those two kids alone and did the farmwork while Robert was serving in the Pacific," Bill admitted.
"Ah so she had help but from who?" Lucien asked.
"I took the liberty of contacting Melbourne for a better background check on the family. Lisa has a sister that doesn't live too far away. As for Robert, he was discharged from the Army after he punched his commanding officer. Apparently, he didn't like being told that he wasn't going home until the Army said he could. Just because the war was over didn't mean there wasn't more work to do," Danny broke into the conversation.
"How did he ever become a sniper?" Lucien gave Matthew a look.
"Robert was drunk when he hit his commanding officer. He was coming off quite the bender from the witness statements. Part of the reason we know about this is because Arnold reported Robert for beating Lisa. The Chief Superintendent at the time made sure to get Robert's army records and add them to the file. Robert served two months in lockup until Lisa refused to speak in front of the judge against her husband," Danny said.
"So, the war changed him but only for the worse it would seem," Lucien frowned.
"The Army records show that he volunteered for sniper duty and that prior to the punching incident, his record was clean," Danny admitted.
"I think it's safe to say that if Robert wanted Arnold gone, he'd find a way to do it. None of the farmhands have a record and I can't see wanting to kill their benefactor," Matthew figured.
"Something that we learned in detective training was that women more likely to poison themselves when committing suicide. Couldn't the same be said for murder?" Charlie asked.
"No one in the family seems to be trained in the art of using chemicals, but I do take your point Charlie. The poisoning was clean – very often, women who harm themselves, do not want to leave a mess. Poisoning often does not involve leaving a mess. The striking with the shifting spanner – was all about mess," Lucien said.
"The person who used the wrench, either lost patience, or didn't know the man was being poisoned. The house was not trashed but they went looking for the will and found it. With Arnold dying in the house, the person had to know that Mary wasn't there," Matthew said.
"Agreed. Is there anywhere nearby that Arnold's house could be surveilled from?" Lucien couldn't remember seeing a structure nearby that someone could hide in to snoop on the farm with.
"You're thinking someone knew that Mary was not in the house. We need to talk to Reginald. It's possible that he told someone at the farmer's market not even realizing that someone was listening in," the Chief Superintendent said.
"Excellent point," Lucien nodded.
"The Wagners have a stand at the farmer's market," Bill said.
"I have to get to the hospital, so I can speak to Reginald," Lucien offered.
"Charlie, go with him. Bill, Danny, go to the farmer's market. See if Mary not feeling well was common knowledge. Ask around and find out if anyone noticed a shifting spanner missing. If the Wagners didn't use one of their own, they may have "borrowed" one. Constable Benson and I will go visit Lisa's sister," Matthew ordered.
"We can't arrest all four of them. How are we going to narrow down who did what?" Charlie asked.
"I have a plan for that but I want to see what we can find out first," the Chief Superintendent told them.
"Shall we Doc?" Charlie asked.
"Your car or mine?" Lucien smirked.
To Be Continued...