North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 36 Miracle Medicine in Hand
Poe said in a delirious tone: "I personally opened the coffin of little Cameron and performed an autopsy. He was poisoned by inhalation toxins."

"Compared to food and water, the requirements for poisoning with inhaled toxins are very stringent!"

"To kill someone by breathing poison, you need a confined space, a rapidly lethal inhaled poison, and it's very easy for the victim to detect and escape."

"Unless, the victim was poisoned while unconscious, or... the victim inhaled the deadly poison on their own initiative!"

Poe looked at A-Zu with a dazed look in his eyes. "There were no signs of a struggle at the scene, and little Cameron had no external injuries. Moreover, after being poisoned, he vomited blood and crawled a short distance."

"This means he must have been conscious when he inhaled the deadly poison! Therefore, we can basically rule out the possibility that Cameron Jr. was poisoned after he fell into a coma!"

"Therefore, the only possibility left is that little Cameron deliberately inhaled the deadly poison!"

As A Zu poured himself a drink, he asked in surprise, "From what you said, did the mayor commit suicide?"

"No!" Poe shook his head. "If little Cameron committed suicide, a container of poison should have been left at the scene!"

"If Cameron Jr. committed suicide, after inhaling the poison, would he have hidden or destroyed the container himself? This is totally illogical!"

A-Zu nodded: "Yes, your inference makes sense!"

Poe continued, "No trace of poison was found at the scene, which is even more illogical, unless...!"

"Unless what?"

"Unless, after poisoning little Cameron, the murderer returned to the scene and cleaned up all traces of the poison!"

A Zu thought about it for a while before nodding and saying, "That makes sense! But what kind of murderer would openly return to the crime scene and clean up all traces in public?"

"That's why I said that guy is definitely a crazy genius!"

"After poisoning little Cameron, that guy took advantage of the brief period of chaos in the municipal building before the police arrived to return to the crime scene and clean up all traces of the poison."

"Without the source of the deadly poison and the traces of poisoning, most of the clues are gone."

"And the most crucial thing...!" Poe continued in his raving voice, "How on earth did that fellow get little Cameron to inhale the deadly toxin on his own initiative?"

"How on earth did he do that?!!"

"I was tormented by this problem for many days, until...!"

“Until it suddenly occurred to me that little Cameron loves cigars!!!”

"That guy must have known that little Cameron loved cigars. So, he put the deadly poison inside the cigar, causing little Cameron to inhale the poison on his own initiative!"

Poe continued, "I've asked several people who worked with Cameron Jr., and they all confirmed that his favorite Cuban Partagas cigars are always on display in his office!"

"But that crucial box of cigars... is missing!"

"Missing?" A Zu was slightly stunned. He had clearly replaced all the non-toxic cigars.

Why did you disappear?

"Later, I found the box of cigars in Chief Hawke's office at the police station!"

"Ah?" A Zu didn't expect that there would be such a change afterwards.

"Chief Hawke took that box of Partagas cigars and smoked most of them, but he wasn't poisoned! I checked the remaining cigars, and they're completely non-toxic!"

Poe added, "So, I infer that the murderer not only knew that little Cameron loved cigars, but also knew the brand of cigars he liked."

"There must be a box of non-toxic cigars and another box of poisonous cigars! Otherwise, little Cameron wouldn't be so unlucky as to smoke the only poisonous cigar."

"After poisoning little Cameron, the murderer replaced the box of poisoned cigars with non-toxic cigars."

"So, I found the only store in San Francisco that sells Partagas cigars." "These expensive cigars, which cost $75 a box, are sold in very small quantities, and the customers are almost always the same wealthy and powerful people."

"According to the clerk's recollection, only a few days before Cameron Jr. was poisoned, there was a tall, thin white man wearing glasses and a full beard. This stranger bought a box of Partagas cigars in the evening!"

"Li, I finally found a definitive clue! That tall white man is either the murderer or an accomplice!"

"But... the clues are cut off here!"

"I asked almost everyone, and no one had seen or remembered this white man!"

"He seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then disappear out of nowhere!"

A-Zu calmly took a sip of Macallan whiskey and said, "So, that white man is most likely the murderer?"

Poe nodded and admitted: "Yes! It is very likely that he was the one who poisoned little Cameron!"

"Then...!" A-Zu smiled faintly: "Is this enough to prove that I have nothing to do with this matter?"

"No!" Poe shook his head stubbornly. "That white man could very well be you in disguise!"

"Really?" A-Zu shrugged. "According to your line of thought, anyone could be pretending to be this white man. Why are you so sure it's me?"

"intuition!"

A-Zu was a bit too lazy to argue with this stubborn guy and continued to argue: "Dear Mr. Poe, we agreed to come back in seven days. You said you would bring back evidence, but in the end, you only brought back a bunch of unfounded speculation!"

"Although I admit that your speculation is reasonable and logical, I have not seen any evidence at all. Therefore, I feel that these seven days are a complete waste of the little life you have left!"

"Cough, cough, cough...!" Compared to seven days ago, Poe's cough was undoubtedly more violent and he vomited more blood.

His already severe pneumonia infection, coupled with seven days of almost no sleep, caused his body to deteriorate quickly.

A Zu waited until he had finished coughing up blood before saying, "Although you wasted seven days, I wasn't idle."

"Dear Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, are you ready?"

Poe looked up in surprise: "Prepare for what?"

"I told you I would heal you!"

As he spoke, A-Zu took out a syringe filled with clear liquid from the drawer.

"Lee, what do you want to do?" Poe couldn't help himself and put his hand to his waist again.

Facing this biggest suspect, although Edgar Allan Poe was not afraid of death, he definitely did not want to be poisoned to death like little Cameron.

"Don't be nervous!" A-Zu flicked the needle of the syringe and said calmly, "Mr. Poe, if I want to kill you, I have at least a thousand ways to do it!"

"For example, poisoning the wine!"

Poe was startled! He then remembered that he had poured the wine for himself today and drank it without the caution he had shown last time.

A-Zu stared at the syringe in his hand and said softly.

"Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, this is a groundbreaking medicine I prepared especially for you!"

"Li, is this really medicine? What medicine?"

"This medicine is...Penicillin!!!"

(End of this chapter)