Castle

Whitney Williams, 22. She went into convulsions

on the "E" train... in and out of consciousness ever since.

I want a CBC and an EKG. Any sign of drugs on her?

Nothing. But at one point, she said someone did this to her.

Whitney, can you tell me what happened?

Diamondback.

She's seizing. Push 4 milligrams Ativan.

Friends, thank you for coming on such short notice.

Well, it's times like these I'm reminded of Shakespeare,

who wrote, "it's not in the stars".

Ah, ah, ah, he also said, "brevity is the soul of wit."

So get to it, darling.

Uh, okay.

We just returned from the Hamptons, and...

- We got married! - We got married!

Yes!

- W-why did you do that? - You guys suck.

- Hold... hold up. - You cou...

No, no, no, no, no...

You guys jumped the broom and didn't invite us?

- It was spur-of-the-moment. - Spur.

Oh, and it was perfection.

I mean, you should have been there.

It was fire and love.

And at one point, there were all these doves

- that just soared into the... - Gram, gram...

Maybe we don't rub it in. Into the...

- Let's go get you another drink. - Oh. Drink. Okay.

Come on.

Hold this.

I am your maid of honor.

I haven't had a carb in months,

just in case I had to put that damn dress back on.

- And you look great. - Save the flattery.

Kate, you owe me dinner.

I'm picking the restaurant,

and we're ordering all the desserts.

Okay.

Oh, girl, you're married!

Come here!

Aah! Ow.

Guys.

Guys, come on.

No. We were really looking forward to this

for a long time, too, Castle.

We had a speech prepared and everything.

Ohh, plus, we wrote that song.

- Yeah. - Seriously, you wrote a song?

We're... we're planning a little reception.

You guys could do the song at the reception.

- No song for you. - You had your chance.

Guys... We're gonna have to cut the celebration short.

There's been a murder.

Really? We didn't get that call.

Once again, not invited. Cheers.

Fine.

We'll meet you at the precinct.

Well, it could have been worse.

It still might be.

I mean, who knows what they're doing to our place right now?

You hear what you just said?

"Our place." Our. We're married.

We're married. We did it, Mrs. Castle!

We certainly did, Mr. Beckett.

Although this arguably isn't

the most romantic post-wedding activity.

Or perhaps it's fitting, considering how we met.

But you bring up an excellent point... the honeymoon.

Yes. About the exotic island getaway...

I-it's gonna have to wait.

- Why? - Because when you went missing,

I used up all of my vacation days looking for you.

So no honeymoon.

Mm, not for a while, I'm afraid.

So instead of Mai Tais... we get murder.

Great.

Nah, it'll be great.

Whitney Williams.

She went into convulsions, then cardiac arrest.

We couldn't bring her back.

And her last words were "Diamondback"?

- What does that mean? - I have no idea.

And she believed that she was a victim of foul play.

Yes, and so do I.

We ran a full blood work-up,

and it came back with high traces of digoxin.

Oh, that's a heart medication.

Derived from the foxglove plant.

According to our pathologist,

this was un-purified digoxin, taken directly from the plant.

- It's lethal. - So she was poisoned.

A-any way to tell how long ago she ingested the foxglove?

We're estimating 10 to 14 hours.

Have you contacted the next of kin?

I thought you would want to handle that.

This is her in-case-of-emergency card.

Thanks for coming in, Mr. and Mrs. Dagmar.

Well, since her mom passed, I suppose

we're the closest thing to family that Whitney has.

She was our first Dagmar scholar.

Dagmar scholar?

We sponsor disadvantaged children,

send them to the finest schools.

The poisoning occurred between 10 and 14 hours ago.

Do you happen to know where Whitney was

or who she was with at the time?

No.

The last time we saw her was a week ago

when she came over for supper.

Did she mention if she was having problems with anyone,

perhaps at work?

She did say she was going to

- take some time off from her internship. - Do you know why?

Her mother's death was recent.

Whitney said she needed some time to get over the loss.

Does the word "Diamondback" mean anything to either of you?

No, I'm afraid not.

Okay. "Diamondback."

I've whittled it down to three possibilities as to what that means

and why Whitney would utter it with her dying breath.

And I'm sure that none of them will be a waste of my time.

Possibility number one... it's the password

for a murderous underground snake-handling fight club.

Granted, that's probably not what it means,

but it might be the basis for my next Nikki Heat novel.

Possibility number two... she was killed

by the marvel character Diamondback, whose special skill

was throwing diamond-shaped spikes filled with poison.

Third possibility... it's a dude ranch in Arizona.

We struck out with the Dagmars, but we found an e-mail

to Whitney from a Diamondback Old West Ranch

confirming a two-week stay in bunkhouse number 14.

Old west dude ranch. That's my number three.

That's exactly what I was gonna say. Good work, boys.

You still suck.

And you owe us for those tuxedo rentals.

Right.

So, she was on vacation in Arizona for two weeks?

- Yep. - She go with anyone?

No, but it looks like the whole "city slickers" cowboy thing

didn't really agree with her.

Whitney cut her trip short. After only three days there,

she paid for a last-minute ticket change

for an 8:00 a.m. flight out of Phoenix this morning.

This morning? So she was poisoned in Arizona

somewhere between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m. local time.

And all indications are that she left in a big hurry.

She even forgot to turn in her bunkhouse key.

Okay, I need every detail we can get on that place.

Well, according to this,

"Diamondback Old West Ranch is a living history resort

"where both staff and guests dress in old west attire

and engage in cowboy activities."

This sounds pretty cool!

Or not, considering Whitney might have been poisoned there.

Wait a minute... if Whitney flew back today,

then she was coming in on the train from JFK

when she had that seizure.

But the only personal effect that we found at the hospital

was her purse, so where is her luggage?

Maybe it was left in the subway when the medics took her.

Well, if something happened at that ranch,

there might be evidence of it in her suitcases.

- I'll look into it. - And I'll keep digging in her financials.

Maybe there's somewhere else she went in Arizona.

And I'll touch base with the local sheriff

and coordinate with him on the investigation. Thanks, big boy.

Look, detective the way I see it,

this is not an Arizona matter.

Sheriff, we have evidence

that Whitney was poisoned in your jurisdiction.

No, what you have is speculation.

She could have been poisoned on the plane or at the airport.

Hell, I wouldn't know where to begin.

Well, I-I'm telling you where to begin...

Diamondback Old West Ranch.

Detective, you got to understand. That resort...

that's the lifeblood of our little tourist town.

- So this is political. - No, it's personal.

Look, I've got people here... folks I grew up with...

and I can't just go in and disrupt business

until there's some concrete proof.

I'm sorry. Without the sheriff's cooperation,

there's only so much we can do.

So we're just gonna let him get away with this?

Kind of like how we let you get away with not inviting us to the wedding?

Well, at least you were invited to the champagne toast.

- Uh... - Sorry, sir.

Oh, no, no, no. I'm sure it was Mr. Castle's fault.

Now, regarding the case, I'll call the feds

and see if they can intercede on our behalf.

Sir, that could take weeks.

By then, any evidence or witnesses could be long gone.

Uh, excuse me, sir, I checked Whitney's financials.

She used a car service

to get to the airport in Arizona this morning.

And I spoke with the driver.

He said she seemed upset when she left the ranch.

Something happened there. Yeah, but we have no way to investigate it.

Wait.