Page 85 of A Rose of Steel
“No thank you,” I said. “I like it black.”
“I guess it just went right past me that you came here to ask me something. I have a lot of people knocking on my door. You know, coming for herbs and remedies, or to take a class.”
“I’m sure,” I said. I took a sip of coffee. “Mmmm. This is very good.”
“I ground the beans myself,” she said. “So, now what was your question?”
“I was wondering if you helped Doc Westin.”
She stopped what she was doing and looked at me. “Helped him do what?”
“Well, I know that you grew castor beans, I wondered if he came by to get some from you.”
“No. Not the castor beans,” she said. “But how did you know about that?”
“My auntie told me that she had asked you to grow them.” I took another sip of coffee.
“Oh,” she said. “Because she didn’t know about the ricin.”
“The ricin?” I said. “You gave ricin to Doc Westin?”
“I did.”
“Do you know what he did with it?” Of course I knew, I just wondered if she did because his wife had said not many people knew.
“I have no idea. He told me Babet was out of town so he couldn’t get any from her, and he’d first tried the only other herbalists he knew.”
“Who?”
“The Wilson Twins,” she said. “And they told him about me.”
“Did he drive out here to get it?”
“Yes, he did.”
“I see,” I said. My mind was swirling. What did he do with it? Why wasn’t any in that container? Had Doc Westin taken it? All of it?
“But I called him and told him that I didn’t think the first batch I gave him was good,” Delphine Griffith said, spilling more information without any prodding from me. “You know there is a process to extracting it.”
“Yes, that’s what I understand,” I said.
“And I hadn’t perfected it the first time.”
“You did it twice?”
“Oh, more than that,” she said. “I have some in my cabinet now. Would you like to see it?”
“See it?” I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I don’t want to see it. You know it’s very deadly, right?”
“Don’t insult me, young lady. Of course I know. But I have it hidden. Right in the back of there,” she said and pointed to one of the upper cabinets. “And it’s not the only deadly herb I have. I’m sure Babet keeps plenty of them as well.”
“Yes, she does,” I said. “And I apologize if I upset you.”
“You didn’t upset me,” she said, and smiled. “Why are you looking for ricin?”
“I’m not,” I said. “I found a notebook with in Doc Westin’s personal things that mentioned it. I just wondered where he might have gotten it from.”
“Well now you have your answer,” she said and patted my cheek. “He got it from me.”
