When Diane and the others found Mike and Liam, they were on the bank looking at an object under the water. Diane squatted for a closer look. It was a leather drawstring pouch about the size of a cantaloupe wedged between two large rocks of about the same size as the pouch. Water flowed around and over it. Diane could see from the contours of the bag that there was something in it.
Diane photographed it from several angles. Neva set about drawing it while Frank got Mike to help take measurements.
“See, we were quite helpful,” said Mike.
“Yes, you were. This is only about forty yards from the primary site. What took you so long to find it?” said Diane.
“Is she always this exacting to work for?” Liam asked Mike.
Neva grinned. Mike made a face back at her.
“I assure you, Liam, Mike is more demanding in his department than I am in the whole museum,” said Diane. “Now, what did you do, miss it the first time and find it on the return trip?”
“There was a glare on the water,” said Mike. “I missed it. And yes, we were coming back when we found it.”
“We both missed it the first time,” said Liam. “He’s right. With the glare, we couldn’t see under the flowing water.”
“Just wondering,” said Diane, stifling a smile.
When she and Neva finished recording the find, Diane rolled up her jeans and waded into the water to retrieve it. She had on latex gloves and the chill of the water came through immediately. It was colder than she expected and the phrase cold mountain stream came to mind. The drawstring of the pouch was hung up. Diane tried to push the rocks aside to release it. It proved harder than she expected, but she finally unseated one of the rocks and the pouch came free.
Diane waded out of the water to the bank. Neva had spread out a large envelope she had cut open to make it even larger.
“I thought you’d want to see what was in it right away,” said Neva.
“You did, did you?” said Diane.
The four of them-Frank, Mike, Neva, and Liam-gathered around Diane as she opened the bag. Diane sniffed it first, just to make sure it wasn’t something unpleasant, like someone’s old lunch. Not much of a smell. She looked inside. It looked like rocks. She poured the contents out on the paper Neva had provided.
A glittering array of what appeared to be gold nuggets tumbled out onto the paper. The stones were mostly solid gold but some were clearly quartz with gold flecks.
“Well, I’ll be,” said Liam. “They did find gold-I suppose this is theirs.”
“No,” said Mike, “it’s not gold. It’s pyrite. Or, as some call it, fool’s gold.”
“It’s not gold?” said Neva.
Mike looked over at her. “And here I thought you’d spent a lot of time studying my reference collection in the museum,” he said.
Neva rolled her eyes. “Every chance I get,” she said.
“It’s pyrite-iron sulfide,” he said.
He took a slender stick and divided up the rocks.
“These shiny square pieces are pyrite in its isometric crystal habit.”
“What’s that in layman’s terms?” asked Liam.
Mike smiled at him. “Crystal pyrite. This piece here that’s amorphous in shape is what’s called massive pyrite.”
“What about this?” Liam pointed to the quartz that had the gold flecks.
“Pyrite in quartz,” said Mike. “Like gold, pyrite often occurs in combination with quartz.
“No gold?” said Liam.
“Gold is also found in association with pyrite,” said Mike, “but I don’t see any here in this cache.”
“I hope they weren’t killed over this,” said Frank.
Mike stood up and walked to the creek to an accumulation of sand that had been dropped by the flowing water where it slowed down in a curve. He scooped up a handful of the sand and came back. Over the grassy bank of the creek he picked through the wet sand in his palm.
“We’ve got a lot of quartz, feldspar, magnetite-that’s these black grains. When you’re panning for gold you look for magnetite. It and gold are heavy and they settle out together in streams, and the magnetite is more plentiful and easier to spot.”
He moved his fingers over the sand, looking.
“Here we go.”
They stood around Mike so they could see what he was pointing to.
“I don’t see anything,” said Neva.
“Here, that tiny flake. That’s gold.”
“That’s it?” said Neva.
“That’s pretty good,” said Mike, “for just one handful of sand. Panning for gold is labor-intensive.” He dropped the sand on the bank of the creek and dusted off his hands.
“How sad,” said Neva. “Do you think they thought all this was gold?”
“Probably,” said Mike. “Unless they were rock hounds too.”
They looked inquiringly at Liam.
“They probably thought it was gold,” Liam said. “Life was a fantasy to Larken, and Bruce was sure he was going to find a treasure.”
They took the evidence back with them to the primary site. Somehow the couple’s deaths seemed all the sadder to think they were chasing windmills.
Diane went home with Frank to shower and change clothes. Her muscles ached from fighting with the drunkards in Conrad’s jail the day before. She dressed in an emerald green blouse and gray linen trousers with a matching jacket.
“You look beautiful,” said Frank.
“I feel clean,” she said. “I’m not much either for running around in the thickets.”
“My grandmother used to wash herself down with kerosene after going blackberry picking,” said Frank.
Diane wrinkled her nose. “Seems like that would be harmful,” she said.
“She lived to be eighty-six. I don’t know if she would have lived longer if she hadn’t doused herself with kerosene every summer.”
Diane put her arms around him. He smelled fresh and clean. “What are you going to be doing the rest of the day?” she asked.
“I’m going to check on what Gil Mathews is up to. He’s a good friend but the GBI likes to take the lead on cases they’re involved in, and I’d like to make sure my division gets its due. You got something better in mind?”
“Yeah, I do, but I have to get back to the museum. I thought maybe we could have a late date tonight here at home-maybe dinner and a movie,” she said.
Frank embraced her tighter. “I like it when you call this home. That sounds like a terrific idea. I’ll bring food back and a movie.” He held her at arm’s length and looked at her. “You all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m still angry about what Conrad did to me. Do you know how many instances of that behavior I investigated in other countries? And it happened here. I wonder what else he’s done in his little fiefdom. I’m glad the GBI is working so fast,” she said.
“They have been looking at him for quite a while, according to Gil. Intimidation is a big part of the way Conrad defines his job. Don’t take this to heart, but the GBI is kind of glad he did what he did to someone who has clout and credibility. It gives them a lot of ammunition,” he said.
“I can see their point, but. .” She let the thought trail off.
Frank pulled her back to him. “I’ll give you a call when I can get away,” he said.
“Me too,” Diane said.
Diane went to her museum office. First thing she wanted to do was call Lynn Webber. Diane had just sent her two bodies without asking her or giving her a heads-up.
Andie was in her office sporting Diane’s Vitruvian Man T-shirt. The tee was parchment color with a dark brown image of the page out of Leonardo da Vinci’s journal and highlighted with a special pale burnt-orange glitter.
“How does it look?” said Andie.
“Great,” said Diane. “I really like it.”
“I put one in your office. I think these T-shirts are going to be popular. I hope so, anyway. I like them a lot,” said Andie. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” said Diane. “I’ll be in my office. I have to make a few calls.”
Diane went to her office and sat down behind her desk and dialed Lynn Webber’s number.