The Pershore Poisoners by Kerry Tombs Page B

tricks with his reasoning.
    If Talbot had not poisoned Jones, either for financial gain, or in a pique of temper, then who had? He could rule out both themaid, Maisie – after all it was she who had alerted Ravenscroft to the case, through Stebbins – and Mrs Talbot, who clearly had no reason to kill her lodger. That just left the eight lodgers. One of them must have killed Jones, but which one – and why?
    He had first interviewed the old Jewish professor, Jacobson, and his young wife. Could they have poisoned Jones? Jacobson had arrived in England some years ago, after choosing to leave his homeland in Russia where he claimed that he had been persecuted. Whilst in London he had met the youthful Rosanna, and the two had married, arriving at Talbots’ five years ago. Could there have been something in either of the couples’ past histories that linked them to Jones? No one had suggested that Jones had been Russian, so it was unlikely that he had originated from there, but could he have been some former lover of the woman? Jacobson had accidentally let slip that the couple met whilst Rosanna had been staying at the Crosskeys Lodging House in Whitechapel. Ravenscroft knew from his days of police service in that area that Crosskeys was not the kind of establishment where young ladies of virtue resided. Could Jones have been a former client of the woman – and if so, could she have poisoned him to prevent her secret being revealed to her husband? But then Jacobson must have known about his wife’s dark past, so perhaps Jacobson himself poisoned the man, to protect his wife? Jacobson claimed to be blind, but maybe that was a feint, and he could really see more that he claimed. Either way the couple seemed something of a mystery. Why had she married a man so much older than herself – and why had that room been so dull, so full of gloom and lost hope?
    Ravenscroft next considered the Fanshaw sisters. Arabella, the eldest, seemed the more dominant of the two, she clearly saw herself as the younger sibling’s protector. They were the oldest residents at Talbots’, having lived there for some ten years or more. Why had they never moved on to more pleasantsurroundings? Was there something in their past that had kept them at the run-down lodging house? Could they have met Jones many years ago?
    Then there was Miss Martin. Mrs Talbot had hinted of some kind of relationship between her husband and her lodger, and Miss Fanshaw had observed Miss Martin and Jones talking in low whispers on the landing one evening. Had she known Jones in the past, a former lover perhaps who had caused her great harm at that time, and whom she had now killed as an act of personal revenge? That was a possibility. Miss Martin had certainly adopted a defensive manner during his questioning. Why had she never married? In her late twenties, she was far from being unattractive, and if Talbot had made unwelcome advances towards her, why had she not left the lodging house rather than stay in a place where she would have seen the man day in and day out? Ravenscroft knew that he would need to question the spinster further if he were to obtain the truth.
    Next there was the Italian violinist, Count Turco. He had claimed that Jones had complained about his playing and that there had been some kind of argument between the two men. The Italian behaved as though he possessed a volatile temperament. Could he have killed Jones in a rush of temper? Death by poisoning required careful planning however, and then again if Turco had killed Jones in this way why would he have drawn attention to himself by telling the policemen about their disagreement? Ravenscroft could see no obvious reason why Turco would have committed the crime, but there was something about the man that did not quite ring true. Was he really a Count? Did he even come from Italy? And had he been exaggerating when he claimed to give concerts in London, Manchester and Birmingham? Surely such a great