Kronberg Crimes 01 - The Devils Grin

part in the test trial wasn’t necessary. And after all, who was he to order me around?
    But Holmes was not to be seen at Fulham’s, nor in the other two workhouses we inspected the following day. After yet another night, I got so worried about his wellbeing that I placed the vase in the window.
    But no one came.

    ~~~

    ‘Strowbridge, I need to talk to Dr Bowden. Send him a wire, if you please,’ I said the moment I walked into the laboratory early the next morning.
    Strowbridge nodded and left at once. The recent change of climate in the laboratory was obvious. My two assistants were friendlier and more cooperative than ever. The surveillance was still under operation, but my space to manoeuvre has widened considerably.
    Now only Bonsell was left in the room and he was the less observant of the two. Carefully, I took the beakers containing the liquid pure cultures of cholera germs and walked them over to the workbench. We would need both active and heat-inactivated bacteria for the tests on human subjects. My assistants had sterilised four fresh flasks this morning and I would seal them now for tomorrow’s use. I knew precisely what to do — the same I had done with the tetanus germs.
    ‘Mr Bonsell, would you give me a hand?’ I asked.
    Bonsell approached and eyed the liquid cultures, all four beakers standing in front of me, next to the lit Bunsen burner.
    ‘Be careful; they are active,’ I noted in a low voice. A sideways glance at Bonsell’s hands told me that my words were having the desired effect, causing a slight trembling of the man’s fingers.
    ‘Take these empty Petri dishes. Use them to cover the beakers, then place the cultures into the water bath. It needs exactly eighty degrees Celsius for exactly two hours. In the meantime, I will get the active germs ready.’
    Bonsell nodded. He did not know that the process of vaccine production would require exactly twenty minutes of heat inactivation, balancing the killing of germs while leaving cell surface proteins mostly intact. A risky undertaking, as the cultures were to be injected into humans. Any surviving germ could cause an infection — a great hazard, given the short time of the heat treatment. But I made sure that the cultures would be boiled to death and that no life could be threatened.
    The liquid in the beakers trembled in unison with Bonsell’s hands.
    ‘Pull yourself together, Bonsell! The germs are in a bottle; they are not going to jump at you.’
    His eyes shot nervously to me and back to the flasks before he took the Petri dishes and placed them carefully on the beakers’ mouths. The liquid shook, and the glass made little clonking noises as he carried them over to the water bath. As soon as Bonsell had turned his back, I started to count down from twenty.
    Quickly and carefully, as I had practised at home, I plugged the active cholera cultures with a rubber stopper and made sure the seal was very tight – sixteen . I opened my bag – eleven , removed two identical bottles – eight , and placed them on the lab bench – five . Then I slipped the bottles filled with cholera germs into two separate leather bags inside the doctor’s bag – two . At home, I would add a large amount of creosote and pour them into the Thames the next morning, when they would be rendered harmless.
    Bonsell turned around and I was back under surveillance. After two more minutes, Strowbridge joined us.
    Around noon a wire from Bowden arrived: Will call tonight, six o’clock, your quarters, J.B.

    ~~~

    I poured boiling water onto the tea leaves and placed two cups and the teapot on the coffee table. The armchair was for Bowden, my one kitchen chair was for me. The bell announced his arrival. I opened and beckoned him in.
    ‘Dr Bowden, thank you for coming. Please take a seat. Can I offer you some tea?’
    He nodded and inspected the cup before taking a cautious sip. The click of the cup set back onto its saucer coincided with his expectant gaze catching mine.
    ‘The cholera cultures are ready, Dr Bowden. Bonsell and I prepared enough liquid of both active and heat-killed bacteria to test them tomorrow if you should so choose. However, I must caution you — we have to use them within the next two days. If kept at this state for too long, they will be rendered ineffective.’
    Bowden nodded slowly. He hadn’t said anything yet. Slowly, I let myself relax against the back of my chair, the wooden backrest produced a pop. ‘Do you want me to