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“We think thevictim was poisoned using an aerosolized version of a toxin called botulinum,”he said.
“Isn’t that what’sused in Botox treatments?” Ryan asked.
“Yes,” Rooneconfirmed. “But that’s usually administered via injection and in much smallerdoses. When exposed to this quantity of the poison, and in aerosolized form, itcan be incredibly harmful. Remember, it’s a neurotoxin. And in massivequantities like this, it can cause anything from blurred vision to muscleweakness. Without treatment, it can lead to full muscle paralysis, includingthe muscles that cause breathing and make the heart pump. Inevitably, thatresults in respiratory failure.”
“Dear god,” Ryanmuttered. “How common is this?”
“Not very,” heexplained. “It most commonly occurs via foodborne transmission, and sometimesthrough infected wounds. Those are usually accidental. Aerosolized intoxicationis much rarer and is almost always intentional. In this form, it’s essentiallya bioweapon. The fact that the device that expelled the poison had a timer anda motion-activated sensor would seem to leave little doubt—this was a murdercommitted by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and the danger ofthe poison they were using.”
They were allquiet for a moment before Jessie asked the foremost question in her mind.
“How fast-actingis this?” she wondered. “It appears that Tabitha Reynolds barely had time toget out of the shower and certainly not enough to call for help.”
"Typically,it might take hours or even days for symptoms to become life-threatening,"Roone replied. "In this instance, I'm guessing that—and I can't stressthis enough—the poison was massively concentrated."
“So how exactlywould this work?” Jessie pressed.
Roone scrunched uphis face in concentration.
“My theory is thatthe killer would have placed the cylinder in the bathroom and set the timer,”he explained. “When time was up, the motion sensor was activated. Then, whenReynolds walked passed the sensor on the cylinder, the poison was expelled,exposing her. But since botulinum is colorless and odorless, she probably hadno idea it was happening. She was in an enclosed bathroom. Assuming she gotundressed and showered, that would have left her exposed for a while. Even afew minutes might be enough to cause her muscles to shut down. By the time sherealized the extent of her situation, it was too late to act.”
Jessie picturedTabitha Reynolds, in those final desperate moments, processing that her bodywas failing her and trying desperately to do something about it. Her clenchedfist, grabbing at her bathmat only inches from her phone, was evidence of that.
“Sergeant Kentonsaid this wasn’t the first time you encountered this,” Ryan noted dourly.
Roone nodded.
“That’s right,” heconfirmed. “Last night, I was called to a scene for a woman named ClarissaLangley. The circumstances were very similar. She was found in her Marina delRey home, not ten minutes from here. Same basic situation. She was lying on thefloor in her bedroom. Initial indications suggested a heart attack even thoughthis was a thirty-nine-year-old woman in good shape. It wasn’t until thediscovery of a cylinder just like the one we found in Tabitha Reynolds’bathroom that we began to suspect something more ominous.”
“Weren’t you andyour people exposed to the toxin?” Jessie asked.
"Wewere," he answered, "and we all underwent extensive testing after thefact. Luckily, while exposure to a concentrated dose of the poison is deadly,the toxin diffuses in the air pretty quickly. We arrived on the scene severalhours after Langley's estimated time of death, so our risk was greatlyminimized."
“But not here,”Ryan noted. “Tabitha Reynolds might have died as late as right before 6 p.m.”
"That's true,which is why we're having Ms. Krebs taken to the hospital. She's at the mostrisk of exposure. Our people didn't arrive on the scene until about thirty-fiveminutes later. That obviously put us at some risk, which is why we're all wearingmasks and will get tested again later. But my working theory is that unless oneis exposed within the first few minutes after the release of the toxin, therisk is severely minimized. We caught a lucky break in that no one else was inthe loft at the time, or we could be looking at multiple victims here."
“Well,” Jessiesaid, “I hate to be the one to say it, but with two victims killed using thesame method, it looks like we’ve got a serial killer on our hands.”
“Agreed,” Ryansaid before turning to the coroner, “Dr. Roone, we’d love it if you could sendus your report on Clarissa Langley’s death right away.”
“As soon as I getback to the office,” he promised.
“And I’ll call thedetectives who’ve been handling the Langley case,” Sergeant Kenton said. “I canlet them know you’re taking over and have them send you the police reportimmediately. Plus, we’re pulling any available security footage from bothhomes. I’ll let you know what we find.”
“That would bevery helpful,” Jessie said, “Because right now we have two victims and no goodleads to follow.”
Ryan sighed, andJessie knew what he was thinking before he said it.
“I have a feelingthat this is going to be a very long night.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Hannah Dorseytried not to make it obvious.
It wasn’t easy.After all Kat Gentry was a professional private detective who was usuallypretty good at picking up on subtle behavioral changes in other people.
So as Hannah spentmuch of the last four days in Kat’s apartment, watching her sister’s bestfriend out of the corner of her eye without trying to let on that she wasessentially babysitting an adult woman, she did her best to seem like her usualself.
