Finding the Fit Chapter 79
Holding up a page of the printout, Rick leans over the desk toward Kate. "Beckett, I found something a little weird. Francine ordered cases of quinoa."
"Lots of people who are into the whole healthy diet thing eat quinoa, Castle," Kate offers. "What's so weird about that?"
"They don't usually order it by the case. And if they want to get it in bulk they pick it up at one of the membership stores like Costco. She got this from a strictly online vendor. With those, it can be hard to know what you're getting. And it was really cheap. That's usually a red flag She was a computer person and checked out a lot of rip-offs. You'd think she'd be more careful."
"Maybe she was trying to save money, Castle. I've been looking at her recent bank balances. She had been making a lot less money."
"Probably because she was spending so much time in the gym and on the health thing," Rick figures. "Wait, I want to check something." Quickly linking his cellphone to the loft's network, Rick brings up the most comprehensive article on Francine Meyers. "Yeah, I thought that was what I remembered. Francine didn't start seeing serious side effect symptoms until after the date she bought the cases of quinoa. They could be connected somehow."
"How, Castle?" Kate questions.
"I have no idea," Rick admits. "But Dr. Janelle knows about populations like the one that used the plant that led to Glipsovy. Maybe she can figure out the link. If not, the museum is full of experts who work on strange stuff. Maybe one of them can come up with something. Anyway, I'll finish going through the financials with you. But if nothing more enlightening pops, I'm going back to the museum."
"If nothing else pops from the financials," Kate declares, "I'll drive."
Lisa Janelle idly fingers the braid that keeps her hair from straying into her face. "I'm sorry, I can't give you any brilliant insights connecting a case of cheap quinoa to Francine Meyers' symptoms. But I haven't been on any expeditions around Lake Titicaca where it's grown."
Rick's mouth gapes. "Quinoa is grown around Lake Titicaca?"
"Yes, in the basin in Peru and Bolivia."
"That's where the plant that was the basis for Glipsovy comes from," Rick exclaims. "That can't be a coincidence."
"Is there anyone at the museum who specializes in that geographic area?" Kate inquires.
"I believe that Avis Goldsmith, one of the grad students on fellowship here, worked on several projects there with Carlos Diaz, who's made a career studying civilizations in that vicinity. Avis might be able to help you. She's probably in her office. I can walk you down there."
"Down?" Rick questions.
"Yes," Janelle confirms. "The fellows have their offices in the basement. I think they like being close to all the specimens in storage."
Avis Goldsmith's office has more room in it than the one temporarily assigned to Lisa Janelle, but most of it is taken up by shelves holding books and artifacts. She waves Kate and Rick into chairs crammed into the remaining space. "I have read several of your novels, Mr. Castle. I buy them at the airport to read during flights. You come up with some interesting plot twists."
"Then perhaps you can help us with a twist in a real-life mystery," Rick suggests. "Do you know anything about a plant that a tribe in the Lake Titicaca Basin area uses to stave off hunger? It was used to develop the drug Glipsovy."
Avis nods. "Oh yes. Some of the Orus use that. They call it ruma."
"How about quinoa? Do those Orus eat that?" Rick continues.
"That name is a bastardization of what they call it, but yes they do. It's a staple because the area has very high salinity. Many plants can't survive there, but quinoa has a natural resistance. Actually, one strain has so much of the chemical that affords the resistance that it causes illness. When you eat it, your body can't process sodium properly. It grows wild, but the native peoples know to stay away from it."
"So if someone ate that strain of quinoa, they'd get sick?" Rick questions.
"As I understand it, they'd have to eat quite a bit of it to get really ill, but yes," Avis confirms. "Would that impact the case you're working on?"
Rick grins. "It might blow it wide open. Thank you! You won't have to buy my next book at the airport. I'll send you a signed copy. Hell, I'll send you signed copies of all of them."
Avis smiles back. "Actually, I pass your books on to my grandmother when I finish them. She loves them, and she thinks you're adorable. If you send them to her, she'll be over the moon."
"Give me her name and address," Rick responds, "and consider it done."
"OK, Castle," Kate says as she and Rick return to her unit. "I think I get where you're going with the whole quinoa thing, but you want to lay it out for me?"
"It's pretty straightforward, Beckett. Lilavonera wasn't after Francine Meyers, although I'd guess that the company didn't like her much. It was the suspicious quinoa that made her sick. The story I read about her said her lytes were all messed up."
"Lanie said her post-mortem confirmed that part of her medical records."
"Right. So, if I remember my biology, not being able to use sodium properly would do that. Francine must have eventually come to the same conclusion that I did, that it wasn't the drug that made her sick; it was the questionable quinoa she'd been practically living on. She must have tracked down the supplier and threatened legal action. The vendor shipped it to her and would have had her address. It wouldn't have been that tough to follow her, knife her in the park, and just walk away. It was still rush hour. The murderer could have gone straight down into the subway and melted into the crowd. End of Francine, end of problem."
"But Castle, the cameras in the 81st Street station are broken, and the killer doesn't show up on the park or museum security cameras. We have no way of spotting anyone."
"Beckett, I think you need fresh coffee. We don't need to do any spotting. Big shipment of poison quinoa, remember? There has to be some record of the sender's identity and, if we're lucky, a name and address."
"And Francine was killed in New York. The quinoa could be warehoused here, which would base the killer here," Kate realizes.
"Aw, and here I was hoping for a trip to Peru," Rick teases.
"Castle!" Kate reaches across the console to smack his thigh.
Rick's eyebrows bounce. "We can discuss how you'll punish me later."
"So, did you get it?" Rick questions as Kate puts down her landline's receiver.
"You bet! The shipment came out of the Lakos warehouse near the East River. The sender is listed as Nick Lakos."
"I've seen that place. It's not far from The Old Haunt. Lakos may even be one of my customers. Brian, my bartender, knows everyone. If Lakos is a regular, Brian can tell us just when he'll be in and off his guard. You can pick him up, no muss, no fuss, no ESU required."
"Call him, Castle," Kate urges.
"As you wish."
A/N Quinoa grows in the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia. It is tolerant of salinity. The dangerous strain, however, is my own invention.