Finding the Fit Chapter 77
"What have we got, Lanie?" Kate asks her ME friend, who is kneeling next to a body.
"No ID, but I recognize her."
"A colleague?" Rick inquires.
"Not exactly. But she's popped up in discussions I've had with other ME's. Her name is Francine Meyers. She's been charging that side effects of a new weight loss drug were kept from the public – starting with herself."
"Was she right?" Rick asks.
"She may have been. Look at her. As far as anyone's reported, she wasn't actually ill. I'll have to do a complete post-mortem to be sure, but she shows the kind of wasting we'd normally see in terminal patients."
"What was the COD?" Kate asks.
Lanie pulls back Francine's bloodstained blouse. "She was stabbed multiple times. Her liver was lacerated. She bled out."
"When?" Kate asks.
"With the damage to her liver, I can't get an accurate temperature. I'll have to get her back to the lab to be sure. I'll probably get the tightest range from her eyes. But just from the signs I can observe right now, she hasn't been dead more than a couple of hours."
"Was she killed here, or was she dumped?" Kate asks.
"Lividity says she was killed here, and the stabbing could have been quick."
Kate nods. "It would have had to be. People come through here all the time. If the attack had taken very long, someone would have seen it. Who discovered the body?'
"I can tell you that," Ryan says, coming down a nearby path. "A guy, name of Jeremy Peters, was walking his dog. Suddenly, the pooch started pulling on the leash, bringing him over here. He saw the body and all the blood and called 911. I got his statement."
"Where's Espo?" Rick asks.
"In the museum. He took a picture of the vic on his phone, and he's checking to see if any of the staff knew her."
"Yo!" Esposito calls from the opposite direction. "Turns out the vic had an appointment to see a Dr. Lisa Jenelle at the museum. She never showed up."
"Did Dr. Jenelle know Francine Meyers?" Kate inquires.
"Jenelle says no," Esposito reports. "She isn't regular museum staff. She's visiting to lecture and gather material on conditions that might have affected ancient civilizations. The vic called her and asked to see her. They were supposed to meet at five o'clock."
"It wouldn't have taken her more than a few minutes to get from here into the museum," Rick notes.
"Which would have put her here sometime between four forty-five and five," Kate figures.
"Which gives you a better TOD than my post-mortem could," Lanie points out. "And it's consistent with what I've seen so far."
"Guys, set up the canvass in the neighborhood," Kate instructs Ryan and Esposito. "Concentrate on anyone who regularly is in the park late afternoons. Maybe someone noticed somebody out of the ordinary. Castle and I will go talk further with Dr. Jenelle."
"Dr. Jenelle, did Francine Meyers give you any idea of what she wanted to speak with you about?" Kate asks as she and Rick take seats in Jenelle's crowded temporary office.
"When I talked to her on the phone, she asked me if I knew of any conditions under which diseases thought to be extinct might be revived."
"You mean like ancient viruses being released from melting permafrost?" Rick asks.
Janelle nods. "The scientific community is considering that as a serious possibility. But she was asking about transmission of diseases from bones, hair, teeth, the kinds of fossils anthropologists study. I told her that I didn't know of any cases in which that had actually taken place. None of my colleagues or co-workers ever developed symptoms that were proven to have originated in that way. Still, since we go poking around in what are essentially old graves, diseased tissue, as well as the causes of fatal diseases, would have been there at some time. We often see signs of illnesses among the remains."
"So Francine was interested in old germs?" Rick probes.
"Not bacteria and viruses per se, if that's what you're thinking, Mr. Castle," Janelle responds. "More about customs that might have contributed to the rise or transmission of certain diseases. Those exist today. For example, the hugging and washing of the bodies of Ebola victims in Africa spread the virus through secretions that remained on the bodies. From what Ms. Meyers told me, she was interested in some very specific kinds of customs and symptomology. That's what she wanted to talk about."
Rick leans forward in his chair. "Dr. Janelle, could any of that relate to the side effects of a drug?"
"Ms. Meyers might have been able to explain during our meeting, but frankly, Mr. Castle, I don't see how," Janelle admits.
"Thank you very much for your time, Dr. Janelle," Kate says, getting up. She hands the anthropologist a card. "If you think of anything else, please let me know."
"Beckett," Rick says as they leave the museum, "I think Francis Meyers wanted Dr. Janelle to help her make her case against the company making that weight loss drug."
"How, Castle? Janelle studies societies that were dead and gone before anyone ever heard of a pharmaceutical company."
"But many pharmaceuticals are derived from plants and herbs that ancient peoples might have used, and some remote tribes still use them today. Remember in Crashing Storm when Derrick was shot down over the Amazon, and the local wise woman and her daughter saved his life with that kind of stuff?"
"I read the book, Castle. But it was fiction."
"You know by now how much my fiction is based on fact. I did a lot of research for that story. There are all kinds of natural remedies that actually work, but also some that can be very dangerous if mishandled. What not to do can be as important as what to do. Maybe more so. Shamans, wise women, herbalists, spend their lives learning about those subtleties and teaching their successors the secrets."
"So you think that Francine Meyers was looking for some lost secret as to why that drug would produce dangerous side effects?"
"Given what we know so far, it would make sense," Rick insists. "And finding it could cost the drugmaker a lot of money – money they wouldn't want to lose.
Kate sighs. "All right, Castle, if you want to look into Francis Meyers and her theories, go ahead. The boys may come up with a witness. I'll check for security video and pull Francis Meyers' financials and her phone records. Something may pop."
"I can use the resources at my loft," Rick decides. "It will give me something to get my nimble fingers into while I'm waiting to see what Bosco comes up with about Julia's kidnappers."
"How long do you think Bosco will take?"
"A few days, maybe. Bosco's not exactly a speed demon, but hearing about Julia motivated him. If there's a vehicle to be spotted, he'll find it ASAP. But maybe, in the meantime, we can find Francis' killer. See you later?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure when. You know how the clock ticks during a murder investigation. If I come up with anything, I'll have to jump on it immediately."
"I know. But if you do get something, call me, and we'll jump together."
"And if you find something, call me."
Rick leans in for a kiss. "Can't think of a thing I'd rather do."