Kronberg Crimes 01 - The Devils Grin

with long strides. He had overheard us and I was satisfied. This charade had been played solely for him.
    ‘Mr Bonsell, if you could give us a moment of privacy,’ said Bowden, and positioned himself to my right, his arms folded over his chest, eyes black like the fetid mud on the Thames’s bank. I sat back down and let Bowden tower over me.
    ‘Dr Kronberg, how far did you advance with the cholera germs?’
    ‘I have isolates that need to be characterised and identified. Strowbridge is getting mice this very moment. I’ll use them to test the cultures, and in no more than five days we should be able to tell which ones are the cholera germs. After that, I can grow the amount you require.’
    Bowden merely inclined his head, cleared his throat and took a step closer. I forced myself to meet his gaze and remain steady. It took some effort; his eyes made me feel as though I was drowning in tar.
    ‘How come you contracted cholera? Shouldn’t you, of all, know how to avoid it?’
    ‘One would expect so, yes. It was inevitable, though.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ responded Bowden to my cryptic statement.
    ‘My two assistants brought in a dying woman and smeared a trail of her contagious feces from the entrance all though my laboratory. That left me with two choices – fume the room with concentrated acid and sacrifice my tetanus cultures, or scrub the floor. Naturally, I chose the latter.’
    ‘You could have told them,’ Bowden jerked his head towards the door, ‘to do it for you.’
    ‘Excuse me, Dr Bowden, but had they not proved unreliable?’
    Bowden’s eyes narrowed and he contemplated for a moment. Then he leaned forward and rasped, ‘What, in your opinion, should we be doing with the isolated cholera germs?’
    I stared into the flame. In contrast to all other fires, the Bunsen burner flame was perfectly steady. My answer would most likely decide whether I would survive this day or not.
    I swallowed the possibility of a very short life span and answered calmly, ‘I can only guess, Dr Bowden. But the fact that you abducted a cholera victim must raise the impression that you are a man without scruples.’
    The blood vessels in Bowden’s throat tapped hectically against the skin, his blood rose to his cheeks and his mouth compressed to a thin line.
    I smiled and said, ‘I admire that.’
    The colour drained from his face again and I added, ‘You are well aware that my neck is already in your noose. I euthanized the woman. That might be interpreted as manslaughter, but more likely as murder. How often do I have to prove my trustworthiness, Dr Bowden?’ I tried to keep most of the rage out of my voice. Just a little remained audible, to let him taste my impatience.
    ‘I repeat my question: What are we doing, then?’ he hissed and suddenly I saw the door of opportunity open wide.
    ‘Test both germs and vaccines on human subjects,’ I replied.
    Bowden’s face relaxed, but there was still a trace of doubt in his eyes. I took a deep plunge into the black and let my imagination go rampant. ‘Considering that the Kaiser plans a war, I would try to develop highly aggressive strains of pathogenic bacteria to use them in systematic germ warfare.’
    It was an insane idea, a wild guess, something to press the point that I had absolutely no scruples.
    It had the desired effect — Bowden was thunderstruck.

Chapter Nineteen

    Two days later, Stark and I met with Mr Standrincks, chairman of the Holborn Union board of guardians. Standrincks was to distribute contracts, in all of Holborn’s workhouses, which allowed the testing of novel vaccines on inmates. The Club had prepared leaflets that ought to be signed by men, women and children willing to take part in our vaccine test trials. Most of them couldn’t read well enough and thus would miss the small clause — it allowed the Club to inject active bacteria any time of their choosing to test the efficiency of immunisation. None of the paupers knew they were about to sign their own death sentence for the pitiful price of two sovereigns.
    As the poorest of London were to receive money in exchange for a small prick in their biceps, the Club expected a large number of volunteers to choose from. After our meeting in Standrincks’s office, we took a four-wheeler to inspect Fulham Road’s workhouse. The selection process would start tomorrow.

    ~~~

    The vase was waiting on my coffee table as I returned to my flat late in the evening. It was like a slap