Two reports lay before him, one an analysis of Slater O’Shea’s bourbon from the bedside bottle and the other of Slater O’Shea’s interior. Neither report, from Grundy’s point of view, was ideal. For they disturbed his personal concept of the good detective life, which was based on as little trouble as possible for himself. His reputation as a death-on-rats sourpuss stemmed from this—the more ruthlessly he pursued an investigation, the more quickly it came to an end and restored the pleasant status quo ante of police life in Cibola City. He read the reports again. Slater O’Shea’s bottle of bourbon had been liberally laced with a drug identified as a synthetic substitute for insulin. This drug was used in the treatment of diabetes. An overdose was fatal. But the effect was a delayed one, taking about an hour to produce unconsciousness and death. This delayed-action effect had indubitably taken place inside Slater O’Shea, where the identical insulin substitute had been found in lethal quantity.
