The discovery of some vials of the toxic substance ricin, discovered in a Las Vegas hotel room, is getting more mysterious by the hour. Let’s break down the first few paragraphs of the story as reported by the Associated Press:

As police tried to piece together how a rare, deadly poison ended up in a motel for transients, the 57-year-old man who could hold the key lay unconscious in a hospital.

(I don’t know why, but the first image that came to my mind when reading this paragraph from the AP story was Deputy Travis Junior from Reno 911! opening a vial, and sniffing it for odors.) Motel for transients? The image that comes to mind is the Bates Motel, a shabby flop house off the beaten track, rents rooms by the hour…certainly, the accommodations are not on par with the Excalibur on the Vegas strip.

Snark aside, Las Vegas is a pretty big city, and as an attractive target for anti-American extremists, no doubt has a well-trained terrorism response team that can analyze and do the forensics (CSI!) on the situation. Here’s where it gets interesting - or, at least the tone of the reporting gets interesting:

Adding to the mystery, police said firearms and an “anarchist type textbook” were found in the same room where the ricin was discovered two days later.

Firearms! Oh, my God. Also take note: no title of the “textbook” was provided. But, the adjective “anarchist” was invoked to describe the book, and weaponry was found in the same room two days earlier. Hmmmm. Joe and Joetta Sixpack are now thinking that it must be some fringe left wing loonies involved. After all, what better target for an armed, Obama-supporting anarchist terrorist than the nickel slot lounge at Bally’s?

Capt. Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference late Friday that the book was tabbed at a spot with information about ricin.

Ok, a book found two days earlier than the ricin vials were found, tabbed at a spot with information about the toxin. Connection? Could be, I suppose…

Police found the firearms and books on Tuesday after a manager at the Extended Stay America motel called police upon discovering weapons, he said, without elaborating.

Of course the police captain wasn’t going to elaborate, because the story is still being developed investigation is still in progress. This story will certainly dominate the weekend news cycle.

But more importantly, let’s jump back to the “impressions” thing for a moment. Remember the first paragraph, and the phrase, “motel for transients”? A) Aren’t all hotels / motels “for transients”? And B) Yes, there is a big difference between a motel and a hotel. I’m sure that the management of the Extended Stay America chain (basically, long term lodging for those on lengthy business trips and temporary corporate assignments) would take great umbrage to being described as a “motel for transients”. I’ve stayed in Extended Stay America properties, which are nice (and pricey).

There’s certainly a great deal more to this entire story that remains to be told. It’s really weird. CNN is now saying that “terrorism could be involved”. Yeah, it doesn’t take a great leap of faith to make such a statement.

But.

Wasn’t terrorism involved back in October / November 2001 when anthrax made it up and down the eastern seaboard of the U.S., from Florida to Connecticut? Yes, the deaths of several people from the anthrax toxin was blaring in the headlines for many months, right alongside the rubble of the World Trade Center. Terrorists could get you where you work anywhere in America with an invisible toxin, as well as fly a Boeing 757 into an office building in Topeka!!

Then, a strange thing happened as the bombs started falling in Kabul and Kandahar, and the drums of war started beating in earnest against Saddam. All of a sudden, in early 2002, the anthrax stories totally disappeared when the investigation trail started to lead to U.S. bioweapons facilities at Ft. Detrick, Md. And we’ve never heard another word about the anthrax attacks.

Watch the Vegas ricin story closely as it develops, and be skeptical of everything that’s being reported this weekend. There’s a reason that this story broke at this particular moment in time, unfortunately, it’s too early to make sense of the possible motivations. Stay tuned. If the story goes away as quickly as it broke, it’ll be pretty easy to draw some inferences.