White Collar: Knock on Wood
Chapter Thirteen: The Magician
"Come on, Neal, keep drinking."
"Honestly, Peter," Neal moaned in exaggerated agony "I physically can't hold any more."
"You have another full glass of that chelating agent to drink to get rid of the mercury and it only works if you flush your system with lots of water."
"Admit it, Peter, you secretly want me to throw up on you again."
"Not particularly, which is why I'm sitting over here."
"I was wondering about that."
Sitting up in a hospital bed Neal looked doubtfully at the large glass of purple drug he was supposed to be drinking. To get the mercury out of his system he needed to drink enough of the metal binding chelating agent to allow his system to deal with the toxic metal. They had mixed it with a powdered sugary drink to try and mask the sulfur taste, but if anything it just made it worse.
The hospital had given Peter a scrub top to wear and tended to his burns again. Peter was currently sitting in a chair a good six feet from the bed holding his injured hand protectively against his chest. The mercury treatment hadn't been much fun so far. Half of everything Neal tried to drink came right back up again, however he was slowly making progress. Making sure the plastic basin was near by Neal tried to muster up the motivation to drink the supposedly grape flavored chelating agent.
"Staring at it isn't going to make it go away." Peter pointed out.
"Just give me a second."
Before Neal could bring himself to drink his fourth glass of the dimercaptosuccinic acid the doctor stepped in with two more glasses of the dreadful purple liquid. Neal's already upset stomach lurched, however he managed to keep it under control by telling himself the more he threw up the medication the more he'd have to try and drink. Neal thought Sandeen was going to put the two new glasses on the small table by his bed, but instead he walked up to Peter and offered them to him.
"What's this?" Peter asked warily.
"I was reading the report on the fire you were in. A lot of the items reported destroyed were antiques and had a good chance of having lead paint."
"So?"
"Peter," Neal smiled "he's trying to tell you that you probably have lead poisoning."
"Oh no," Peter said quickly "I'm fine."
"The dimercaptosuccinic acid can't hurt." Sandeen added. "Lead poisoning is a lot slower acting than mercury."
"Peter," Neal mocked "man up and drink it."
Peter looked at the purple drink nervously. Neal could see him trying to figure out a way of getting out of it. However it was clear that the doctor wasn't about to back down. Rolling his eyes Peter reached out and took one of the glasses with his left hand. Neal held up his own glass in a mimic of toasting before chugging as much as he could stand. Peter hesitated a little longer before taking a pull on the purple drink.
"Ugh..." Peter gagged. "Tastes the way my college roommate's mini fridge smelled."
"Kind of like rotten eggs." Sandeen agreed. "The only other good treatment for mercury and lead poisoning is British anti-Lewisite."
"What does that taste like?" Peter asked.
"Nothing, it's an injection. However it is an *intensely* painful one."
"On the other hand this stuff isn't so bad." Peter remarked as he took the second glass.
"I'm suddenly liking it more." Neal added.
"I thought you might." Sandeen chuckled. "Speaking of which how are you feeling, Mr. Caffrey?"
"Good. Still a little nauseous, but I think part of that is trying to drink so much."
"Any hallucinations?"
"None." Neal reported.
"Excellent. I'd like to do one more blood test for mercury just to make sure your levels are back down."
"Okay."
"Can you hold your hands out for me?"
Neal put down the glass and held his hands out for the doctor. His fingers still twitched slightly, but it was far from the violent tremors that he had suffered from just hours ago.
"You're recovering remarkably fast." Sandeen approved. "You were lucky that Agent Burke was able to pin point the source so quickly. Another day in your state and the neurological damage could have become permanent."
"I have I said 'thank you' yet, Peter?" Neal asked with a vulpine grin.
"Not that I can recall."
"Really? My memory must be worse than I thought."
"I still haven't heard it." Peter teased.
"'Thank you'."
"You're welcome."
"Keep drinking," the doctor ordered "both of you."
"Not everyday a doctor gives you orders to drink." Neal chuckled.
Peter wasn't about to encourage Neal and just shook his head sadly. The doctor seemed satisfied that his patients were doing well and left. Two hours, nearly three gallons of water, and a record number of trips into the restroom both of the men had just about as much drinking as they could stand.
"Alright, no more water." Peter grumbled. "I am peeing clear at this point."
"More information than I needed, but so am I."
"How are you feeling?"
"I feel great. In fact I want to go home."
"Your place is kind of a mess right now." Peter said.
"What happened?"
"I assume you did."
"Oh, right." Neal replied and then gasped sharply. "Sparkles!"
"And we're back to the hallucinating..."
"No, Sparkles, June's granddaughter's cat, I locked her in the cedar trunk."
"I found her. She's fine."
"Good. Honestly though, is there any reason we have to stay here? Shouldn't we be helping in the hunt for Josephine?"
"She tried to kill a Federal Agent, there are plenty of people looking for her."
"That's something that's been bothering me."
"That she tried to kill me?"
"That she tried to kill either one of us." Neal corrected. "What was in it for her?"
"We had her arrested."
"Yeah, but for identity fraud. Even if it had gone to trial she probably would have gotten away with just a hefty fine since it was her first offense. Besides, she was clearly planing on just disappearing anyway. Why risk bringing the entire F.B.I down on herself by adding murder?"
"Spite?"
"Seriously, Peter."
"I do see what you're saying." Peter nodded. "Do you think she feared that we might stumble onto something larger?"
"Makes sense to me."
"Me too. Let's see what else was on that card." Peter texted the lab and asked for the results to be sent to his phone which came quickly. "Okay, this is interesting. The crystal ball was coated in olive oil mixed with datura metel. According to the report the concentration wasn't enough to deliver a lethal dose, even with extended exposure."
"What about the card?"
"The card had a much high concentration of datura inoxia, as well as: linseed oil, caster oil, arsenic, atropa belladonna a.k.a 'deadly nightshade', ethanol, mercury, cellulose, polyesterio...the list goes on and on."
"The only real contact poison in that is the datura, everything else needs to be ingested or inhaled. Why have so many ingredients?"
"That is a little weird. What's this one: 'traces of sclera cells and amphibian vitreous humor'...how do have humor as an ingredient?"
"Amphibian vitreous humor is a key ingredient in any good potion." Neal grinned.
"What the hell is it?"
"Eye of newt of course."
"That's disgusting."
Neal ran through the list of ingredients through his mind again. Something seemed out of place. Peter seemed to be having a similar thought as he started typing into his smartphone with his brow furrowed in thought.
"Wait," Neal suddenly realized what was wrong "you said the crystal ball had datura metel and the card had datura inoxia...what is the difference?"
"I'm looking that up right now." Peter said as he scrolled through a page. "There are nine species in the genus 'Datura'. Metel is commonly called 'Devil's trumpet', inoxia is known as 'Moonflower'. Both contain hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids."
"But they are different. Why would Josephine have two different species of Datura concentrate?"
"Different suppliers?"
"Maybe." Neal agreed. "But the two mixes are so different in their nature as well. Once is like a child's drawing, the other is more like a Raphael or a Botticelli."
"English, Neal, English."
"I think we're dealing with two different people."
"Two?"
"Josephine was just a con woman, whoever prepared the tarot cards was a certified con artist."