All right, maybe dying beneath the stars was a beautiful way to go, but that was far too Surrealist. Only city people would think that way. Why couldn't a wife find a way to kill her big, strapping husband, inherit his estate, and then live out her peaceful days alone?
Though no one knew how Bishop had done it, people in the seventeenth century did not yet know about the poisonous plant White Snakeroot. It was very common on the North American plains. Herbivores that ate it developed an illness called Trembles. Humans who drank milk produced by cows that had eaten the plant could contract Milk Sickness, which could be fatal. Abraham Lincoln's mother had died after drinking poisoned milk.
It was a workable method: make him drink that poisonous milk, and make sure he drank plenty of it. Poisoning had to leave no trace. Otherwise, when the police came asking questions, she could wipe away tears with her apron and sob, "I didn't know this stuff was poisonous." After all, she was a weak-willed, uneducated woman. Perhaps the police would dismiss it as an accident or witchcraft.
Male police officers generally were not that observant and would not notice a criminal's microexpressions, but the court clerk had noticed them during Martha's interrogation. Whenever Martha clenched her hands, the girls would unconsciously shudder. Whenever she shifted her weight, the girls would stamp their feet. Whenever she bit down on her lips, teeth marks would appear on the girls' arms and wrists.
When people were nervous, they swallowed. Since there was no food in their mouths at the time, what they swallowed was saliva. Some people bit their nails or chewed pencil ends under pressure to relieve their stress. Through the mouth, these actions told their nervous systems, "Don't be