Read Online The Devil's Grin - a Crime Novel Featuring Anna Kronberg and Sherlock Holmes by Annelie Wendeberg - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Annelie Wendeberg
Tags: Romance, Murder, Victorian, Abduction, sherlock holmes, women in medicine, 19th century london, history of medicine
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that kind. I thought of strychnine then, until I finally found the tetanus infection. It was in his heart!’
‘ In his heart!’ cried Holmes. ‘How could it have got there?’
‘ I don't know,’ I rubbed my eyes and uncomfortable thoughts started creeping into my head.
‘ What is it?’ Holmes asked me while Watson was still quietly sitting on the coffee table, digesting the fact that I was a female medical doctor, and a well known one on top of it.
‘ The man from Hampton hadn't had any infection in his guts either,’ I explained quietly. ‘Well, aside from cholera. But no tetanus infection. Neither of the two men seemed to have taken the tetanus germs orally. For the toxins alone to be lethal, one would have to eat quite a lot of tetanus infected animal. The size of a human, to equal the amount of a lethal dose, I guess.’
‘ You did not section the left hemisphere of the Hampton man’s brain,’ noted Holmes.
‘ No.’
‘ Is there a way to obtain the hemisphere?’
I sighed. ‘Cholera fatalities are burned as soon as possible. The man is ash, Mr Holmes. I am very sorry.’
‘ Would someone be as forthcoming as to explain why Dr Kronberg is a woman and why the two of you are investigating a case where, quite obviously, a crime has not been committed?’ said Watson regaining his ability to speak.
~~~
I could not help but think of the body snatcher business many years ago. Anatomical research needed bodies for dissections, but only hanged murderers were delivered to medical schools. The result was that their bodies had been re-used so often, their remains looked more than just tattered. But when there is a demand, there will be a market. Body snatchers soon figured out that freshly buried people could be dug up in the dead of the night and sold to medical schools. But these few cadavers, mostly old or diseased people, did not suffice…
Holmes and Watson fell quiet and the silence interrupted my train of thoughts. Both were now looking at me.
‘ Watson and I were just discussing the curious incident of the nonexistent entry wounds. Watson thinks it must be an airborne version of tetanus.’
‘ Hum. That could be a possibility, if tetanus germs wouldn't be strictly anaerobic. They peg out when they get a whiff of fresh air.’
Watson coughed, I smiled at him, and he remarked: ‘Well, then someone must have injected it, but that is impossible!’
‘ Why would that be impossible, Watson?’ asked Holmes.
‘ Because no one could possibly do such a horrid thing!’
I stared into the fire and spoke quietly: ‘How do you think could we learn so much about anatomy in such a short time? History is repeating itself, Dr Watson. Humans always exploited the weak, be it actively or by ignorance. When anatomists needed fresh bodies they got them! How anyone could believe them as they claimed not to have had knowledge that these were indeed murder victims they had procured, is a mystery to me! Some medical doctors even placed orders - pregnant women, children, newborns, and malformed people. And they got these delivered as well!’
I shuddered at the thought of the homeless not daring to fall asleep on the streets. The danger was ever present; someone could suffocate you and cart you off to the next anatomical school. The two men behind me where quietly listening and I continued: ‘William Burke and William Hare had killed seventeen people in Edinburgh in a single year and sold all bodies to Dr Robert Knox, who could convince the authorities that he had no idea they had been murdered.’
I turned around to face the two. ‘How can an anatomist not know he is dissecting a murder victim?’ Both men sat there with eyebrows raised. ‘Then the Anatomical Act was passed, which gave free license to medical doctors to use donated bodies for dissections. Tell me, Dr Watson, who would donate the loved and deceased baby, mother, or husband?’
He did not reply.
‘ No one but the poorest, to feed their
‘ In his heart!’ cried Holmes. ‘How could it have got there?’
‘ I don't know,’ I rubbed my eyes and uncomfortable thoughts started creeping into my head.
‘ What is it?’ Holmes asked me while Watson was still quietly sitting on the coffee table, digesting the fact that I was a female medical doctor, and a well known one on top of it.
‘ The man from Hampton hadn't had any infection in his guts either,’ I explained quietly. ‘Well, aside from cholera. But no tetanus infection. Neither of the two men seemed to have taken the tetanus germs orally. For the toxins alone to be lethal, one would have to eat quite a lot of tetanus infected animal. The size of a human, to equal the amount of a lethal dose, I guess.’
‘ You did not section the left hemisphere of the Hampton man’s brain,’ noted Holmes.
‘ No.’
‘ Is there a way to obtain the hemisphere?’
I sighed. ‘Cholera fatalities are burned as soon as possible. The man is ash, Mr Holmes. I am very sorry.’
‘ Would someone be as forthcoming as to explain why Dr Kronberg is a woman and why the two of you are investigating a case where, quite obviously, a crime has not been committed?’ said Watson regaining his ability to speak.
~~~
I could not help but think of the body snatcher business many years ago. Anatomical research needed bodies for dissections, but only hanged murderers were delivered to medical schools. The result was that their bodies had been re-used so often, their remains looked more than just tattered. But when there is a demand, there will be a market. Body snatchers soon figured out that freshly buried people could be dug up in the dead of the night and sold to medical schools. But these few cadavers, mostly old or diseased people, did not suffice…
Holmes and Watson fell quiet and the silence interrupted my train of thoughts. Both were now looking at me.
‘ Watson and I were just discussing the curious incident of the nonexistent entry wounds. Watson thinks it must be an airborne version of tetanus.’
‘ Hum. That could be a possibility, if tetanus germs wouldn't be strictly anaerobic. They peg out when they get a whiff of fresh air.’
Watson coughed, I smiled at him, and he remarked: ‘Well, then someone must have injected it, but that is impossible!’
‘ Why would that be impossible, Watson?’ asked Holmes.
‘ Because no one could possibly do such a horrid thing!’
I stared into the fire and spoke quietly: ‘How do you think could we learn so much about anatomy in such a short time? History is repeating itself, Dr Watson. Humans always exploited the weak, be it actively or by ignorance. When anatomists needed fresh bodies they got them! How anyone could believe them as they claimed not to have had knowledge that these were indeed murder victims they had procured, is a mystery to me! Some medical doctors even placed orders - pregnant women, children, newborns, and malformed people. And they got these delivered as well!’
I shuddered at the thought of the homeless not daring to fall asleep on the streets. The danger was ever present; someone could suffocate you and cart you off to the next anatomical school. The two men behind me where quietly listening and I continued: ‘William Burke and William Hare had killed seventeen people in Edinburgh in a single year and sold all bodies to Dr Robert Knox, who could convince the authorities that he had no idea they had been murdered.’
I turned around to face the two. ‘How can an anatomist not know he is dissecting a murder victim?’ Both men sat there with eyebrows raised. ‘Then the Anatomical Act was passed, which gave free license to medical doctors to use donated bodies for dissections. Tell me, Dr Watson, who would donate the loved and deceased baby, mother, or husband?’
He did not reply.
‘ No one but the poorest, to feed their
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