Chapter One
‘POISONED? ARE YOU SURE?’ Detective Inspector Joseph Rafferty regretted his rash query as soon as it left his mouth. He barely had time to remove the phone from his ear, before Dr Sam Dally let him have it with both barrels.
‘Of course I’m sure. Would I be telling you the man was poisoned if I wasn’t? I never question your professional judgement’ – which was an out and out lie – ‘so I’d thank you not to question mine. Conium Maculatum was what killed him. Or to your uneducated ear, hemlock.’
‘Hemlock?’
‘That’s right. A very old-fashioned poison. Goes back to the classical Greeks, so I believe. Maybe even further back. Now, is there anything else you’d like to question while you’re at it?’
‘All right, Sam. Keep your hair on,’ said Rafferty. Which – given Sam’s rapidly baldi
