Tourraine, 18th of June 1768.


Final autopsy report regarding the body found in the Canal.

From: Dr. P. Panacek, surgeon

To: Madame M. T. Milneaux - Vendramin.

Dear Madame,

I sincerely thank you for giving me the opportunity to examine the corpse found in the Venetian Canal near your palazzo. I am sending you a full report of my findings. One sign of warning must be mentioned: these results are puzzling and may even upset you.

The person brought to me was female, midst her twenties. She was dressed in a quite expensive and high quality gown, wich my dear fianc recognized as being designed by the famous designer Lady E. Luik from Paris. She was not wearing any jewellery.

First sight showed us a corpse who definitely bared the signs of being in the water for too long. The skin was all wrinkled and withered.
Her skin color was very pale, certainly a noble lady for sure, spending more hours inside the palazzo's than outside in the open air. One should expect a bit of a blue - greyish aspect of the skin, because we assumed that she was drown, but that sign was remarkably absent.
There was a clear state of rigor mortis. The body was cold. The expression on her face was one of great fear. What did she saw in her last minutes? What went on in her mind?
No other signs of injury could be found. No signs of bleeding, nor massive blood loss, also no signs of hematoma.

First i opened the thorax, taking a look at her lungs. They were both filled with water, what should emphasize the theory that the lady in question drowned.
Then i made an incision in the abdomen, revealing the intestines. I cut open the stomach and found the rests of her last meal, still intact. No signs of digestion already started. She ate some chicken, and tomatoes and drank some red wine.
The lady must have died quite short after having dinner. I took some samples and sended them to my new friend monsieur Eleas LeRoux, a promising medical student, apothecary, and herbalist who recently arrived at the Duch Du Coeur, for further examination.

Then suddenly something took my attention. I found traces of lipstick on her right inner thigh, and after closer examination i also found the same lipstick traces on the inside of her right ankle. Very strange indeed. Had she been with her lover just before the accident happened? Did they had dinner together?

But dear Madame, the most shocking fact came a bit later, when monsieur LeRoux came running to my practise in a state of high exaltation. He came telling me he found traces of arsenic in the remains of the mysterious lady's last dinner !!! He assured me that he had checked and double checked the results. He was quite clear about the fact that the food (or wine) contained a high dose of arsenic. I suggested him to take contact with sir Joshua, our potion-master to find out more details about the substance used.

Madame, these findings are clear. My conclusion is firm: the lady in question was poisoned, and probably fell (was pushed?) into the canal were she drowned...
The expression of fear on her face suggests the fact that she realized in her last moments the person who was with her wanted her death. Her former lover???

Madame, please warn the authorities... We have a coldblooded murderer among us....


Yours sincerely, Dr. P. Panacek.