"Baldy" Rathbone shook them out of a reverie.
He had a body like a triangle upside down. His wide shoulders showed strength and assurance. He was a youngish middle-aged man. A spreading part ran up the center of his scalp and connected his wide forehead with the bald spot on top.
He had been raised an orphan and worked his way through college at night, and then worked his way up at the Elijah Wilson. There was a sense of definite knowledge about the face and figure. His eyes bore the marks of childhood suffering, but his smile heartened the men.
"Sit down, Baldy," Dr. MacArthur motioned to the "witness chair"; then a deep blush steeped his face, and he smiled. Rathbone returned the smile, took the chair, and ran his eyes over the staff. He had never seen any of them so perturbed.
"Er ... er ... Rathbone, did you check the prescriptions?"
"As far as possible, sir. A compounded prescription, as you know, cannot be checked as to relative quantities and so ... but the ingredients from the remainder (I understood from the order that I was to have two capsules compounded, in case the first failed to take effect) were checked. They tallied as to substance, perfectly."
"Who compounded the prescription?" Dr. Hoffbein queried.
"McInnis, my first assistant, sir. He can be trusted."
He was interrupted by the telephone bell. It jarred the men like a steam siren. MacArthur's, "Yes, Heddis. Are you sure? Soon as possible. Thank you," held the eight men to a dead silence. A silence which screamed for knowledge.
Dr. MacArthur placed the hook too carefully upon the receiver, Hoffbein thought, and then he spoke:
"Coniine, gentlemen. One of the deadliest poisons. Heddis will be over in fifteen minutes."
"Hypodermic syringe, then," Bear Sterling growled.
Cub Sterling jumped as though he had been shot.
"What's the matter, Ethridge?" Dr. Harrison put his hand on his knee....
"Nothing. Except she was giving hypodermics all night. She...."
Dr. MacArthur's pointer nose had a dreadful struggle with his judicial brain.
"We must make no decisions ... nor allow ourselves any prejudices, until we are in possession of all evidence."
"That Dr. Heddis believes it was done ... hypodermically. He suspected coniine and called me twenty minutes ago, and as a result all of the medicine closets in Medicine Clinic have just been checked. Nothing was found."