00:00.00]Text Hobbyist
[00:03.58]"I heard a rumor,"Sangstrom said,
[00:08.05]"that you"He turned his head and looked about him to make absolutely sure that he
[00:15.70]and the druggist were alone in the tiny drugstore.
[00:20.38]The druggist was a little man who could have been any age from fifty to a hundred.
[00:27.92]They were alone,but Sangstrom dropped his voice just the same.
[00:34.27]"that you have a completely undetectable poison."
[00:41.04]The druggist nodded.
[00:44.28]He came around the counter and locked the front door of the shop,
[00:50.02]then walked toward a doorway behind the counter.
[00:54.28]"I was about to take a coffee break,"he said.
[00:58.54]"Come with me and have a cup."
[01:02.09]Sangstrom followed him around the counter
[01:06.14]and through the doorway to a back room
[01:10.58]ringed by shelves of bottles from floor to ceiling.
[01:16.64]The druggist plugged in an electric coffee pot,
[01:21.61]found two cups and put them on a table that had a chair on either side of it.
[01:27.77]He motioned Sangstrom to one of the chairs and took the other himself.
[01:33.65]"Now,"he said."Tell me.Whom do you want to kill,and why?
[01:40.10]"Does it matter?"Sangstrom asked."Isn't it enough that I pay for"
[01:46.45]The druggist interrupted him with an upraised hand.
[01:51.20]"Yes,it matters.
[01:54.55]I must be convinced that you deserve what I can give you.
[01:59.61]Otherwise"he shrugged.
[02:03.45]"All right,"Sangstrom said.
[02:06.82]"The whom is my wife.The why"he started the long story.
[02:14.37]Before he had quite finished,the coffee pot had finished its task
[02:20.62]and the druggist briefly interrupted to get the coffee for them.
[02:26.36]Sangs trom finished his story.The little druggist nodded.
[02:32.11]"Yes,I occasionally give out an undetectable poison.
[02:38.46]I do so freely;I do not charge for it,if I think the case is deserving.
[02:46.22]I have helped many murderers."
[02:50.37]"Fine,"Sangstrom said."Please give it to me,then.
[02:55.41]"The druggist smiled at him."I already have.
[03:00.69]By the time the coffee was ready I had decided that you deserved it.
[03:07.82]It was,as I said,free.But there is a price for the antidote."
[03:14.66]Sangstrom turned pale.
[03:19.31]But he had expected not this,but the possibility of a double-cross
[03:29.16]some form of blackmail.
[03:33.32]He pulled a pistol from his pocker.
[03:38.04]The little druggist chuckled.
[03:41.88]"You daren't use that.Can you find the antidote"
[03:46.93]he waved at the shelves"among those thousands of bottles?
[03:56.77]You'll know the answer within three hours when the poison starts to work.
[04:02.70]"How much for the antidote?"Sangstrom growled.
[04:08.16]"Quite reasonable.A thousand dollars.After all,a man must live.
[04:15.53]Even if his hobby is preventing murders,
[04:19.97]there's no reason why he shouldn't make money at it,is there?"
[04:25.12]Sangstrom growled and put the pistol down,but within reach,
[04:32.85]and took out his wallet.
[04:36.40]Maybe after he had the antidote,he'd still use that pistol.
[04:42.78]He counted out a thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills
[04:49.02]and put them on the table.
[04:52.68]The druggist made no immediate move to pick them up.
[04:57.72]He said:"And one other thing for your wife's safety and mine.
[05:04.27]You will write a confession of your intention your former intention,
[05:11.54]I hope to murder your wife.
[05:16.40]Then you will wait till I go out and mail it to a friend of mine in the police.
[05:24.44]He'll keep it as evidence in case you ever do decide to kill your wife.
[05:30.48]Or me,for that matter.
[05:33.82]"When that is in the mail it
[05:37.29]will be safe for me to return here and give you the antidote.
[05:43.14]I'll get you paper and pen...
[05:47.11]"Oh,one other thing although I do not absolutely insist on it.
[05:53.96]Please help spread the word about my undetectable poison,will you?
[06:01.12]One never knows,Mr.Sangstrom.
[06:05.37]The life you save,if you have any enemies,just might be your own."
|