Chapter 9 — The Paper

Pellman Press had used their standard eighty-pound cream stock for the Vane Hartwell anniversary programs.This was not the paper that had been in Conrad Vane's pocket.This took Priya and Webb two days to establish, and establishing it required finding the programs.Webb had been right that the recycling had been processed. But not all of it: the Meridian's event manager, a meticulous woman named Carla Trent, kept one copy of every printed material from every event she managed, filed by date, in a storage room on the thirty-seventh floor. "For client records," she said. "And because I've had disputes about print quantities before. Paper trail is everything in event management."She produced the anniversary program.Priya put on gloves and held it by the edge. Cream stock, the correct weight. Printed on both sides, well-designed, the gallery's forty artworks documented with brief notes on each.She turned it over carefully.She opened it.Inside, on the centerfold — the surface that, when the program was folded in thirds, would face outward against the fabric of an interior pocket — there was no visible difference. Same cream stock. Same printing.She put the program in an evidence bag and sent it to the forensic chemistry lab that afternoon.She sent a second request with it: Compare this to the Pellman Press production specifications. Identify any differences in paper composition, surface treatment, or applied compounds.— ◆ —The lab called back on a Thursday."The program from the event archive matches the Pellman Press specification," the chemist said. "Standard eighty-pound coated stock, no anomalies."Priya's stomach dropped."However," he continued, "there is something interesting. The interior centerfold surface — the inner face when the program is folded — shows trace evidence of a secondary treatment. Very faint. We almost missed it." A pause. "The treatment is consistent with a glycol-based carrier medium. Very thin application. Dry to the touch, would be invisible, no odor.""The kind of carrier medium used in transdermal pharmaceutical delivery," she said."That's exactly what it's consistent with, yes. As for what compound was carried—" Another pause. "We found traces. The program was sitting in a storage room for three weeks, and degradation is significant, but we found alkaloid residue consistent with the veratrum family."She closed her eyes briefly."This program was not produced by Pellman Press this way," she said. "Pellman used standard stock. This program was treated after printing.""That would be consistent with what we're seeing. The treatment is on the surface, not incorporated into the paper during manufacture." He paused. "Someone took the finished program and applied the compound to the interior surface after it was printed."After it was printed. Between Pellman Press and the gala.Elise Hartwell had handled all event logistics. She had approved the proofs. She had collected the finished programs.And she had given one specific program to Conrad Vane at seven-eleven PM.