Chapter 134: The Poison Tes (2/2)
I shook my head and snickered. So Dr. Wu really did get it wrong!
“I think everything’s clear as day now,” said Dr. Wu. “The victim had an overdose of papaverine in her system, which led to heart and lung failure. What do you have to say, Song Yang?”
“Well,” I began with a sneer. “I do have some questions, actually. What is the lethal dose of papaverine? And why is one of them completely fine while the other died almost instantly if both of them took the same drug?”
“Well, the lethal dose is…” Dr. Wu paused and started to sweat. He probably realized it now. Even if the pills were 100% pure papaverine, how many grams could two tiny pills weigh? It just wouldn’t be even near the lethal dose at all. When people in the ancient times used opium, a drug similar to papaverine, to commit suicide, they would need about two hundred grams of the drug in order for it to work.
Besides, opioid substances weren’t so foreign in our daily lives. Many hot-pot stalls would add poppy seeds that contained traces of opium in order to make customers get addicted to their food. Even Coca-Cola was rumoured to contain traces of the drug, but only three people in the world knew of the secret recipe.
Dr. Wu must’ve tested papaverine from the pills and came to a hasty conclusion that he’d stumbled on a breakthrough and ran here to show off his discovery without carefully thinking about it first.
Seeing that Dr. Wu had fallen silent for a while, Captain Xing asked, “What’s wrong, Dr. Wu?”
“I… I think I might’ve gotten it all wrong!” said Dr. Wu. He then suddenly pointed at me and continued, “But I refuse to believe that this kid would get it right! He doesn’t have any equipment! It’s impossible for him to get it right!”
I raised my hand to show everyone my answer and said, “The real culprit is nitrite, a common toxin. The lethal dose is three grams, which is an amount that can be easily dissolved in water. Its taste and appearance are very similar to table salt, which has caused many cases of accidental nitrite poisoning. It’s also a cardiovascular drug that can be obtained from any major hospital.”
Everyone was shocked. Dr. Wu laughed and sneered, “Did you figure that out because you tasted it with your mouth?”
“The signs of nitrite poisoning are dark brown blood vessels,” I began to explain, “cyanosis near lips and nails, and a small amount of urine seeping out. You can check the body for the signs yourself, or you can test it with your trusty machines again if you like.”
Large beads of sweat began to form on Dr. Wu’s forehead. I believed that as an experienced coroner, there was no way these signs went unnoticed to him.
“But how was the victim poisoned?” asked Captain Xing.
“The condom!” I answered simply.
“What?” murmured everyone in the room.
“The murderer smeared the poison on the surface of the condom and secretly placed it in the hotel room,” I explained. “There is a mucous layer inside the vagina which would absorb the drug. That was how the victim died mid-coitus.”
Captain Xing glanced at the bedside table and remarked, “But there are three packets of condoms here. How did the murderer know which one would be used? Are all three packets poisoned?”
I turned to the rich man and asked, “Why did you pick this one?”
He was still in shock, but he shook himself out of the daze and answered, “I remember that one of them was opened and the other one looked dirty. That’s why I chose this one without thinking much about it at the time.”
And that was the answer. The murderer was as cunning as a fox. They had deliberately laid out their plan like a game of chess, manipulating the man to choose the poisoned condom subconsciously!
Captain Xing frowned.
“In other words,” said Captain Xing, “the murderer had intentionally set up the scene to frame this man. But isn’t this plan too risky? What if he just brought a condom with him and used that instead?”
I asked the man how he ended up staying in this room and he answered, “I didn’t plan to be here at all today, but Xiaowen suddenly called and said she’d already booked a room, so I hurried over. I did wonder at the time why she would choose such a cheap hotel to stay in! But we just ordered takeaway and jumped into bed after the meal… Then this happened…”
I suddenly had a hunch that the victim might have planned to be in this room with someone else, but for some reason that other person cancelled on her so she called this guy as a substitute.
“Is the victim your girlfriend?” I asked.
“Not exactly…” he replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he began with some hesitation, “let’s put it this way: she is one of my many women, and I am one of her many men.”
“Ah, so the two of you are friends with benefits!”
1. An opioid that helps the dilation of blood vessels and is occasionally used to treat erectile dysfunction.
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