"Chuck. First of all, I think it’s fair to say that we are all horrified by the apparent murder of Dr. Westerman."
Chuck nodded sadly.
"The President is, of course, devastated by Dr. Westerman’s death. But he also has a responsibility to protect the University from potential liability exposures, what with the death occurring on University property and all. Hence, my involvement."
I shrugged and tilted my head to one side.
Chuck nodded.
"I’m hoping I can count on your complete cooperation in this internal investigation. There could be a good deal at stake. If this matter isn’t put to rest with the University coming out squeaky clean, who knows the ramifications?"
Chuck shrugged. He didn’t know the ramifications.
"Donors might withhold contributions. There could be funding cuts for Ag programs."
No change of expression on Chuck’s face.
"Employee positions could be in jeopardy — especially managerial and administrative jobs. And you can imagine who could end up the scapegoat for this whole fiasco."
I looked Chuck in the eye with purpose. That got Chuck’s attention.
He rolled even closer to the desk and sat up straight. "I’ll certainly do anything I can to assist in your investigation, Mr., ah, Beck."
"Thank you." I paused thoughtfully — my pen and pad poised for action. "Could you please describe your relationship with Dr. Westerman? Were the two of you close?"
"Actually," Chuck began, "although we’ve worked under the same roof here at the Lab for these past many years, he and I seldom spoke. Technically speaking, Dr. Westerman reported to me as his supervisor. But he had tenure. And he was extremely productive, self-directed, and reclusive. I saw no reason to bother him."
I raised an eyebrow.
Chuck began fidgeting. "I mean, his written progress reports were all in order. And his work was very impressive, I might add. Very impressive. He really needed no supervision, per se."
Taking advantage of Chuck’s cooperative attitude, I continued with my questions.
"What had Dr. Westerman been working on recently?"
"His last report, filed about a month ago, indicated that he was continuing to make progress toward developing improved agricultural fertilizer compounds."
My experience with fertilizer was limited to Miracle Gro, manure, and truck bombs. "Can you give me more details? I really have neither a chemistry nor agricultural background." That wasn’t completely true. I actually knew quite a lot of very specialized chemistry. But I wasn’t planning to share.
"Of course. Where should I start."
It was rhetorical. I waited.
"Many farm crops require significant amounts of the chemical, potassium, in the soil in order for them to grow. The problem is that these crops permanently remove relatively large quantities of the potassium from the land each growing season. The soil’s natural reserves of potassium deplete quite rapidly."
"So the crops wear out the soil. And then what?"
"Well. For years, farmers have added potassium compounds to their fields to supplement the depleted soil levels. Typical supplements might be potassium chloride, potassium hydroxide, potassium sulphate, and potassium magnesium sulphate. There are a few others. But those are the most common supplements, or fertilizers, if you will."
Chuck continued his speech. I had gotten him into lecture mode.
"The chemical reactions between other soil components, the sun, the rain and the plants themselves, liberate… ah… separate the potassium from its compounds to make the potassium available for the plants to use as food.
"Are you following so far?"
"I believe so." Actually, the talk of fertilizer components had taxed my concentration. I needed to refocus Chuck’s monologue.
"What does this have to do with Dr. Westerman’s work?"
"I’m just getting to that." Chuck’s voice was patient now, and less flustered.
"Until very recently, sources of potassium compounds were plentiful, making them available to agriculture at very low prices. If a farmer needed more potassium, he could afford to just order up a load of potash and spread it on his field.
"But with broad international development of more sophisticated farming techniques, notably in the Republic of China, the global demand for potassium compounds has skyrocketed. There are actually shortages in many parts of the world today."
This was turning into a longer manure dissertation than I had hoped for.
"Again… Dr. Westerman’s role in all this?" I pressed.
"Dr. Westerman was working on new ways to encourage farm soil to retain more potassium, and to ensure that crops could make the most efficient use of lower soil potassium levels, should that become necessary. His latest project involved reducing potassium fertilizer to pure potassium metal, and then constructing entirely new potassium compounds with the desired characteristics, from scratch. It’s a novel approach and has not been tried anywhere else in the world — at least that I am aware of."
I scratched my head with the end of my pen. I hadn’t actually written anything down on the yellow pad. Nothing seemed relevant enough to be noted — and I did have the digital backup.
"Again, I’m no chemist, but it seems like someone else would have considered this approach before. Don’t scientists break apart compounds and make new ones all the time? I mean, they take the salt out of seawater. And I remember doing an experiment in high school where we separated hydrogen and oxygen gases out of distilled water. What made Dr. Westerman’s work so ‘impressive,’ as you described it earlier?"
"Well, Beck," back to lecture mode, "many chemical elements are easily separated from their molecules or compounds — electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen being one example. Other elements are so volatile or unstable in their elemental form, that segregating the pure element is extremely difficult. Potassium is one such element.
"Potassium metal is a solid at room temperature, so one might think it would be easy to handle. But in reality, elemental potassium reacts so violently with water, including the water vapor present in all air, that it’s not practical to either make, or retain, pure potassium in a small lab. But Dr. Westerman found a way to do it — at least in theory.
"He designed a unique lab apparatus for the process. And then he built it himself! Most chemists would never consider such a thing. But developing innovative laboratory tools and devices was one of his specialties. As of a month ago, he had completed assembly of a reaction chamber that, in my professional opinion, was capable of producing pure elemental potassium metal.
"Once the device was proven, his experiments with new potassium isotopes and compounds could move forward very rapidly."
Finally, this was getting interesting. Westerman had invented something no one else possessed, and its value to folks with ill intentions could only be speculated upon.
"Can you think of any military or terrorist applications of the doctor’s invention?" I’d spent most of my life thinking like a terrorist. I wasn’t about to stop now.
Chuck thought for a moment. "Actually, no. Elemental potassium can only be manufactured, stored, transported, and I suppose deployed, in an air free and water free environment.
"And if you’re thinking that any potential new potassium compounds might be highly explosive or unusually dangerous, again the answer is ‘no.’ There are many more forceful explosives easily made in much safer fashion than anything anyone might want to make from potassium.
"Any chem student could cook up nitroglycerin in her basement. Dynamite is only one or two steps farther down the same road as nitro. Internet websites even boast recipes for making plastic explosives. I can think of absolutely no reason anyone would use potassium in place of any one of these other, more stable, explosives."