It is Walsh's hope that the "stark truth" of Poe's death will emerge as Midnight Dreary progresses. In this, he is not entirely successful, because the possibility of illness still lingers, even if only tenuously. His own evidence points to Poe having had a fever; Shelton tried to keep him in Richmond because of it. The mistake of taking Dr. Carter's cane instead of his own could be explained as the lapse of a man who was sicker than he realized. So to, his leaving his case at a hotel may have been another absentminded lapse. He took an unnecessarily long journey on a boat to Baltimore when he could have taken a train; there, he worked hard for a commission. Having to work even while ill nearly all his life, resting was not an option. Perhaps, he worked while ill one time too many, and...