Page 64 of A Rose of Steel
“You can’t grow ricin, it’s a protein from the castor bean.”
“That’s what we grew,” she said.
“Oh my,” I said. I sat down. “So potentially, there’s ricin all over Roble?”
“Shelby and Angelina counties, too,” she said.
“How did it get there?”
“Delphine Griffith and Avoyelles Kalty.”
“That’s where they live?”
“Yep.”
“Why did so many people grow it?”
“The castor bean isn’t native to here, we weren’t sure how it would fare. Texas soil and weather conditions are different, so we tried growing it in several different environments.”
Okay,” I said. “That’s good. It means we only need to see who could have gotten it from where it was able to grow.”
She scrunched up her nose. “We are very good at what we do.”
“So, everyone was successful?”
“Yes.”
I let out a huff. I put my elbow on the table and cradled my chin in my hand. “Who knew about it?” I said after a few moments of quiet contemplation.
“I thought no one other than the five of us. I didn’t even tell the other herbalists why they were growing it, just that I needed help with cultivating it.” She looked at me. “Guess I was wrong about that, huh? ’Cause someone sure found out and killed Bumper with it.” She looked at me. “Better question though, is who, other than us, would know what it is and how to use it?”
“Are we going to have to expand our list of suspects to include those four ladies?” I looked at her. “And you?”
“And I’m guessing all the people any of them told about it.”
“I thought you didn’t tell anyone about it?”
“I didn’t.”
“Who did you tell?” I figured I’d ask again in a different way. I knew she didn’t know the first thing about keeping a secret, she had all but told me that. She hadn’t waited a full day to share Piper’s announcement about who paid for the caterer with Josephine Gail.
She zipped her mouth shut and held up her right hand. “No one.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe that.”
“Well, I’m telling you I didn’t. I don’t know who the other herbalists told. Or Doc Westin. He might have mentioned it to some people. And if he did, those people are the ones you need to look into.”
“Why?”
“Everyone else would have said they were growing castor beans, because that’s all they knew about it. That’s the only thing I asked them to do. Doc Westin’s the only one who would have mentioned something about ricin because that’s what he wanted it for.”
“What happened with Doc Westin?”
“He died.”
“No, I mean with the ricin experiment.”
“It didn’t work.”
