"Albert, Susan Wittig - An Unthymley Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Albert Susan Wittig)

"Nicotine poisoning?" Ramona asked blankly. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"I have," Barbara said in a grim voice. "Nicotine is wicked stuff. Terribly toxic."

"Tobacco is toxic, all right." I nodded, agreeing with Barbara "It's one of our most problematic herbs."

Ruby gawked. "You're saying that tobacco is an herb?"

"Sure," I said. "It's a member of the nightshade family, like peppers, belladonna, and angel's trumpet. Vegetables too -- tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant. Tobacco has been used to treat all kinds of ailments, including cancer. Native peoples smoked the dried leaves as a stimulant and a narcotic, and priests used it as part of their religious practices."

Ramona frowned. "Well, I know that nicotine in cigarettes is bad news, but..."

"It's not just cigarettes," Barbara said. "I prosecuted a case a few years ago where the defendant poisoned his victim with a pesticide containing nicotine."

"Gardeners sometimes make their own pesticide spray by steeping cigarettes in water," I said. "Some people have been poisoned by getting it on their hands."

Barbara gave me a curious look. "So the police, acting on a tip, searched Jessica Powell's room?"

"And found the tobacco can," Ruby said. "They think she made a nicotine concentrate and somehow administered it to Hannah. In her coffee, maybe, or in some strong-tasting food, like chili."

"But why?" Ramona asked with a bewildered look. "Everyone liked Hannah."

"Because Jessica was the beneficiary of her will," I said.

"And Hannah had become afraid of her and decided to change it," Ruby added. "It's a clear motive for murder."

"Change it?" Barbara asked, surprised.

"That's why Hannah called China," Ruby explained. "According to Luella Mitchell, her aunt intended to make a new will and..."

"But she had just made that will!" Barbara exclaimed. "I know, because I prepared it for her, less than two months ago. I can't believe she changed her mind, or that she would make another will without consulting me."

I stared at her. "You were Hannah Bucher's lawyer?"

"I've been Hannah's lawyer for over two years." Barbara's eyes narrowed. "And she never said a word about being afraid of Jessica Powell. She and Jessica have been friends for several years. Hannah gave her a place to live and a job right after she got out of prison."

"She killed someone, Luella told us," I remarked.

Ramona nodded. "She did six years for manslaughter. She shot an abusive husband."

Ruby frowned. "Maybe Hannah just didn't want to tell you she was afraid of Jessica."

"Maybe," Barbara replied. "But she did tell me that she was afraid of her brother."

"Her brother?" I asked.

Barbara nodded. "Luella's father. When Hannah told him she was leaving her property to Jessica, he got so angry that she thought he was going to hit her." She poured herself a second cup of coffee and passed around a plate of Lavender Madeleines. "If you ask me, the case against Jessica Powell isn't as open and shut as it appears. I think you should have a talk with Harold Bucher."

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