THE FOURTH HUSBAND
It was time to ask about her fourth husband, Sir John le Poer:
Did her fourth husband, Sir John le Poer, die for the same reasons as Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle did? Did Dame Alice make a mis-diagnosis of his health, consult a medical professional, then administer a treatment which led to his death?
WRONG QUESTION
Was it somebody else who poisoned John le Poer?
NO
Did Dame Alice Kyteler poison her fourth husband, John le Poer?
NO
Did John le Poer, in fact, die by poisoning?
WRONG QUESTION
Was it a disease or hereditary condition which led to John le Poer’s death?
YES
Did John le Poer express his suspicion to someone that he was being poisoned in the belief that he was being poisoned by his wife, Alice?
WRONG QUESTION
Okay, let me be more direct. When he came down ill, did John le Poer suspect he was being poisoned by his wife?
NO
So Sir John le Poer didn’t die of either deliberate or unintentional poisoning, and he didn’t think his wife Dame Alice was trying to kill him. She is in the clear about her fourth husband’s death. Her second and third husbands’ deaths were well-intentioned, tragic mistakes; she didn’t intentionally mean to kill them. That left the mystery of her first husband’s death still hanging in the air, the one whom the stones indicated she deliberately-murdered. I had to go back to it, and given how the stones confirmed husbands #2 and #3 died, an ominous hunch started percolating in my mind:
Did Alice Kyteler mis-diagnose an ailment her first husband, William Outlawe Sr. had, then administer the wrong treatment to him?
WRONG QUESTION
Okay, let me put it this way: Did Alice Kyteler give the appearance of wanting to remedy a real or supposed affliction her first husband, William Outlawe Sr. had, then administer the wrong treatment deliberately, knowing it would kill him?
YES
Yow. The manner by which she dispatched her first husband bespeaks an intelligent woman, and also a cunning and coldly-calculating one when she felt it necessary. A woman capable of playing the role of concerned and caring wife, while secretly carrying out a murder, and evading a murder accusation afterward. And it does throw a shadow of doubt on the way Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle died, even though the yes-and-no stones say those two men’s deaths were honest medical mis-calculations, not deliberate murder. Did she feed all three the same medicine? I never asked.