The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner Page B

system, it reaches the nails and the hair and lasts for a long, long time. Late this afternoon, Dr. Alton had samples taken of Lauretta Trent's hair and her fingernails. I, personally, had an analysis made by a laboratory that is highly competent.
    "The answer was arsenic poisoning. In the hair, they were able to trace the intervals of arsenic poisoning.
    "Now then, Dr. Alton is Lauretta Trent's personal physician. He's seen fit to disclose this information."
    "Because," Dr. Alton said, "I'm trying to save the life of my patient. I think I have treated her long enough to understand something of her temperament. The minute I tell her that she has been a victim of arsenic poisoning, things are going to start happening around here."
    "I'll say they are," Mrs. Briggs said. "Lauretta will hit the ceiling."
    "One dose of arsenic poisoning," Dr. Alton went on, "may be more or less accidental; two doses indicate a deliberate attempt at homicide. Apparently, there have been three."
    His announcement was greeted with silence.
    After a moment, Mrs. Kelvin said, "These tests, are they absolute-that is, could there be any mistake?"
    "They're absolute," Mason said. "There can be no mistake."
    Mrs. Briggs said, "That first time she got sick was after she ate all that Spanish food. George cooked up the food on the grill in the patio."
    "We all had it," Mrs. Kelvin said. "That is, the first time."
    "And only Lauretta got sick," her husband pointed out.
    Dr. Alton said, "Spanish food would be an ideal means of concealing an attempt at arsenic poisoning."
    "That second time she got sick," Mrs. Briggs went on, "George had been doing some more outdoor cooking."
    "Who is George?" Mason asked.
    "George Eagan, the chauffeur," Gordon Kelvin said.
    "And he doubles as a cook?" Mason asked.
    "He doubles in almost anything and everything. He's with Lauretta most of the time."
    "Too much of the time, if you ask me," Mrs. Kelvin snapped. "The man is positively trying to dominate her thinking."
    Mason said, "Would you, by any chance, know whether he is remembered in her will?"
    They exchanged shocked glances.
    "Does anyone know the terms of her will?" Mason asked.
    Again there were glances and a significant silence.
    "Apparently," Mason said, "Delano Bannock was Lauretta Trent's attorney during his lifetime. Does anyone know if she has a will which was drawn in his office, or whether she went to some other attorney after Bannock's death?"
    Kelvin said, "Lauretta jealously guards her private affairs. Perhaps she feels there is too much of her family living with her. She has become very secretive about all of her personal affairs."
    "Financial affairs," Mrs. Briggs said.
    "Both personal and financial," Mrs. Kelvin added.
    Mason said, "I have reason to believe that the situation at the present time may be somewhat crucial."
    "How did you get a sample of her hair and fingernails?" Kelvin asked.
    "I instructed the nurse," Dr. Alton said.
    Kelvin turned to Anna Fritch. "Did George Eagan know that you were taking samples of hair and nails?"
    "She told him," Anna Fritch said. "She was bubbling over with enthusiasm that her illnesses might have been the result of an allergy. She seemed in very high spirits."
    "An allergy?" Kelvin asked.
    Dr. Alton said, "I explained to Nurse Fritch here that I wanted some tests made for an allergy, that there was a possibility the patient's symptoms might have been a violent and acute reaction to an allergy. I asked her to get samples of hair and nails and to explain to the patient that I was taking the nails because I was going to give her some medicine that would cause a skin irritation and I didn't want her to scratch. I also said that I thought the digestive upset she had had might have been due to an allergic reaction to a certain type of hairdressing-those things do happen, you know."
    Kelvin said with dignity, "I think instead of standing here and becoming angry at Dr. Alton, we should give him our thanks and start doing