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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When Daisy stepped out of the narrow alley, she had two messages on her phone. The first one was from Arlo, asking where the heck she was. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who’d had trouble finding the secret casino she’d told him to meet her at.
The second was an email from the coroner in Venice.
Thankfully, he’d taken the time to write it in English. She scanned it, reading several things at once:
. . .minute traces of poison Batrachotoxin found in patient’s bloodstream . . .
. . . slight burns on fingertips . . .
. . . BAC of .20
. . . further traces of Batrachotoxin residue both inside mouth and on lips/chin . . .
. . . unexplained laceration on right side of neck . . .
Following the great Edward Fortune, she’d read many a medical report. This one wasn’t the most thorough, but it did have something that made it stand out:
Batrachotoxin
The coroner had called it a poison, but was it one that Franklin Tate had accidentally stumbled across on his own during the night? She’d never seen the word before.
She did a quick internet search on her phone and scanned the page, getting more information. It was a nasty substance.
. . . an extremely potent cardio- and neurotoxic steroidal alkaloid . . .
. . . binds to and irreversibly opens the sodium channels of nerve cells and prevents them from closing, resulting in paralysis and death . . .
. . . No antidote is known . . .
Where would Franklin Tate have come across something like that?
She scanned an article and found the answer.
Batrachotoxin is found in certain species of frogs, beetles, and birds in Central and South America.
So . . . basically, nowhere.
Some person had to have introduced it to him. Apparently, it was a clear to milky white, tasteless substance, so he probably wouldn’t have noticed a thing. That is, until the poison started to take effect, which, according to the article, could happen anywhere from minutes to an hour after the poison was ingested.
Murder. Now she was sure. Franklin Tate had been murdered.
That new information lit a fire under her. She grabbed the business card Arséne had given her.Club Rossignol.As she lifted her head to scan the strip, a voice called, “Hey, Daisy.”
Not expecting to hear her name, it took her a moment to recognize the person striding toward her. It was Arlo. “There you are! I have been up and down this street a thousand times,” he said. “No CasinoLe Blanc.”
Of, course, Arlo. She’d forgotten.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry,” she said to him. “I didn’t realize the casino was so hidden. I’m glad you found me.”
“No problem. Nice night, anyway.” He studied the card in her hand. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
She shook her head. “I have one more stop to make. And then tomorrow, I think we should go on to the next stop, Lyon, if that’s all right?”
He nodded. “My pleasure.”
She dug around in her purse and pulled out the black card. It didn’t have her name on it, so she figured anyone could use it. “Here. Get a hotel room for yourself. Just text me where you are and I’ll come by for it when I’m done.”
