Kathy Reichs - Flash and Bones

“You’re kidding.” I was astonished. Normally it takes weeks, even months, to get lab results.

“My mention of pulmonary lesions and edema coupled with gut ulceration and hemorrhage must have triggered something for Williams. He had my specimens driven to the CDC and fast-tracked through immunochromatographic analysis.”

Larabee referred to a type of immunoassay, a chemical test designed to detect organic substances. I wasn’t an expert but knew a little about the process.

Short course.

Antigens are molecules recognized by our immune systems as outsiders. Could be toxins, enzymes, viruses, bacteria. A transplanted lung that looks wrong. Antibodies are proteins that attack and neutralize these foreign invaders.

Antibodies are present normally in our bodies or are produced in response to specific antigens. This is known as an immune reaction.

Immunoassay tests are based on the ability of antibodies to bind to specific antigens. Threat X triggers response Y. Gotcha! In forensics, the technique is used to identify and quantify unknown organic compounds in samples. This antibody reacted, so this substance must be present.

I waited.

“The test indicated the presence of ricin in two of my samples.”

“Ricin?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice.

Ricin is a naturally occurring toxin derived from the beans of the castor-oil plant, Ricinus communis. One of the deadliest poisons known, it can cause death in thirty-six to seventy-two hours after exposure.

In addition to binding specificity, the other key feature of an immunoassay is that the test produces a measurable signal in response to a particular antigen-antibody hookup. In the case of ricin, a green light is given off. That’s the chromatographic part of the long term.

The green light is measured by a spectrophotometer or similar piece of equipment. Basically, the brighter the glow, the more ricin there is in a sample.

Larabee nodded.

“That explains the fast turnaround time,” I said.

In the past few years immunoassay testing has become quick and simple. There are now kits for the detection of ricin, anthrax, plague, tularemia, and many other biotoxins.

“But it doesn’t explain how ricin got into our John Doe,” Larabee said.

“That’s the stuff that killed Georgi Markov.” I referred to a Bulgarian journalist murdered in London in 1978.

“I doubt our John Doe was ass-stabbed with an umbrella.” “Markov was jabbed in the leg,” I said.

Larabee gave me a look.

I thought a moment. If ingested, inhaled, or injected, ricin causes nausea, muscle spasm, severe diarrhea, convulsion, coma, and ultimately, death.

“Ricin poisoning would fit your autopsy finding,” I said.

“And would explain the interest of the feds.” The phone rang. Larabee ignored it. “The military has been studying ricin for years. They’ve tried coating bullets and artillery rounds with it. They’ve tested it in cluster bombs. I did a quick check after this thing came in.”

He flapped a hand at the fax. “Ricin is listed as a schedule-one controlled substance under both the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.”

“But other toxins are much more effective bioweapons. Anthrax, for example. You’d need tons of ricin compared to a kilo of anthrax.” I’d read that somewhere. “And ricin breaks down relatively quickly. Anthrax spores can remain lethal for decades.”

“The average person can’t lay his hands on anthrax. Or botulin. Or tetanus. The castor bean plant is a friggin’ ornamental. Any loon can grow it in his garden.”

I started to comment. Larabee wasn’t finished.

“Close to a million tons of castor beans are processed every year. About five percent of that ends up as waste containing high concentrations of ricin.”

“So how’d our John Doe die of ricin poisoning?” I asked.

“And end up in a barrel of asphalt in a landfill in Concord?”

“And where the hell is he?”

Without a word, Larabee put his desk phone on speaker and jabbed the buttons. Ten beeps, a buzzy ring, then Hawkins’s voice answered.

“Can’t survive without me, eh, Doc?”

“Sorry to bother you on your day off.” Taut.

“No bother.”

“This may sound odd. But we can’t find the body from the landfill.”

There was no response. In the background I could hear the cadence of a televised baseball game.

“You there?”

“I’m here. Just trying to figure the question.”

“MCME 227-11. The man in the asphalt.”

“I know who you mean.”

“Dr. Brennan and I can’t locate him.”

“’Course you can’t. He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Larabee was twisting and untwisting the receiver cord with his free hand.

“A funeral home came and got him.”

“I didn’t sign for release of the body,” Larabee snapped.

Joe answered with silence.

“Sorry. I just want to understand.”

“The FBI agent. I forget his name—”

“Williams.”

“Yeah. Williams. You said give him what he needs. That’s what I did.”

“Meaning?”

“He took your tox samples on Saturday. Called Sunday, said a van was coming, that I should prepare the John Doe for transport. Took all the X-rays, too.”

“The body left the morgue yesterday?”

“The paperwork’s there, Doc.”

Larabee’s eyes met mine. “Thanks, Joe.”

Larabee cradled the receiver.

Together we hurried to Mrs. Flowers’s station.

“Did Joe leave a transfer form yesterday?”

Mrs. Flowers flipped through her in-box, pulled a paper, and handed it to Larabee.

“What the hell’s SD Conveyance?” Larabee spoke as he read.

“Never heard of it,” I said.

“Special Agent Williams signed for the body.”

“Not a funeral home?”

“No.” Larabee thrust the paper my way.

Behind us, Mrs. Flowers had gone very quiet. I knew she was listening.

“This is outrageous. The medical examiner must operate independently. I can’t have government agents waltzing into my morgue and confiscating remains.”

Sudden synapse.

“You said the government is interested in ricin as a potential bioweapon.”

“So?”

“Ted Raines works for the CDC.”

“The guy who went missing last week?”

I nodded.

Catching my implication, Larabee began pacing.

Mrs. Flowers watched, eyes shifting like a spectator’s at a tennis match.

“Sonofabitch.” Larabee’s face had gone crimson.

“Don’t have a heart attack,” I said.

“How do I ID a body without the body? Or the X-rays?”

“Maybe the feds don’t want this body identified.”

We were gnawing on that when my brain cells fired up another offering.

“I cut bone plugs from the John Doe in case we decided to do DNA testing.”

Larabee and I raced to the stinky room.

I checked the counter. The cabinets. The small refrigerator used for storage of specimens.

The large autopsy suite.

My office.

The shelves in the cooler.

The microscopy lab.

The bone plugs were gone.

I’D JUST RETURNED TO MY OFFICE WHEN THE PHONE RANG.

“I asked him to wait, but he wouldn’t listen.” Mrs. Flowers was peeved. “He never does.”

Heavy footsteps alerted me to the source of her irritation.

“It’s all right,” I said.

I was replacing the receiver when Slidell appeared in my doorway. Today’s jacket was tan polyester. The tie was black, the shirt orange.

Without invitation, Slidell entered and dropped into a chair.