Poison is disagreeable to the system.
I found the Martin boys’ aunt in South Berwick, more by chance than anything else. It was early morning, and I stopped in a store for a bit of tobacco and to see if anyone knew of the Martins.
A large woman who introduced herself as Jolene Nesbith said she knew the boys. Said she knew the whole Martin family from top to bottom and inquired as to why I was asking after them. I told her a bit of the truth when I said I had questions of the brothers concerning an incident in Cross, Massachusetts.
She nodded and said her maiden name was Martin and the Martin boys I was asking after were her good-for-nothing nephews on her brother’s side.
The vehemence with which she spoke made her suspect, but when she offered a cup of coffee and to draw me a map of where I might be able to find the boys, I nodded and agreed. I had no doubt she would attempt to throw me off the trail, but I hoped to get some sort of information from her.
She lived in a white, clapboard house not far from the store. Jolene Nesbith was a widow, whose husband had left her well off after having died several years earlier. She fixed me a pot of coffee while she drank a cup of weak tea, explaining that she had a weak stomach.
By the size of her, I doubted it was true, but I kept my peace.
I sipped her coffee and tasted the poison instantly, though I did not reveal it. I’ve had my share of poison over the years, and my system is quite used to processing it. As I steadily drank, she took out a piece of paper and sketched a rough map of the area, always watching me with one eye. By the time I finished the coffee, she was staring at me, horrified.
I didn’t explain why her poison failed. Nor did I ask her any questions until after I had nailed both hands to the table with steak knives.
By the time I was done, she told me where Danny Martin was, though she did not know where Luke was hiding.
I believed her, and she was glad until I made her drink the rest of the coffee.
She died slow, and that was fine by me.
#horror #monsters #supernatural #death
