"What if you take both? What were you talking about in there?", Beckett asked pressingly, leaning against the wall of the elevator as they headed back to the parking garage.
"I was just curious.", Castle defended, contemplating whether it was the right time to bring up his theory or not, then deciding to go for it, "Remember that guy that was freaking out and screaming at me at Lafayette's office?"
"Yeah."
"I just…I couldn't get that wild expression on his face out of my mind. And I was just wondering if our good doctor here might be doing some…experimenting of his own. He said so himself, when he talked about looking into alternative methods. See, he claimed that he hates prescribing drugs and noted that to be one of the reasons for his downfall. And yet, he stole copious amounts of these drugs here at the hospital. What if…instead of prescribing the regular pills used to treat a variety of mental illnesses…what if he decided to do some research himself, see if he can come up with the perfect drug combination for his patients. And throughout his charitable work, he has a large pool of troubled individuals he can experiment on."
"Wait a minute…", Beckett interrupted and stepped toward him, "You're saying that he is using the VSN Center as his own research facility, that his…his patients are his lab rats?"
"Why not? Let's say he didn't get the doses right the first time, maybe too much of one pill, not enough of the other…who would think twice if one of those old guys loses it in public? Nobody. Half, if not more of the guys we saw there obviously have no family, nobody who worries about them. It's perfect."
"But what is the purpose? Even if he came out with the right dosage, what does that prove?"
Pursing his lips, Caste fell quiet for a brief moment, reviewing his theories, then smiled.
"Maybe he doesn't want to prove anything. Remember how Swanson said one of the drugs helps create patient compliance? Maybe our good doctor is trying to form an army of ninja assassins. He will use them to blackmail people, demanding huge ransom payments, maybe even loan them out to the highest bidder so that he can return to his elegant lifestyle."
Chuckling, Beckett put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head.
"Ninja Assassins? There was nobody in that office under sixty years old. I don't know how far he'd get with his ninja assassin army if they need to stop for a pee break and a nap every five minutes. Come on, Castle, let's call it a day. It's obviously been wearing on you."
