Lisa Gardner - The killing hour

“A volcano?” Mac asked with surprise. “In Virginia?”

“More or less. A large rift opened up in the valley and basaltic magma from the earth’s mantle seeped to the surface, flooding the valley and forming the Catoctin Formation, which you can view in the northern section of the park.”

“The Catoctin Formation still exists?” Mac asked. “And its geology is similar to Hawaii’s?”

“Yes, the Catoctin Formation still exists,” Jennifer said, flashing him a warm smile. “The geology, however, isn’t exact. The basalts in Hawaii are black, while the rocks in the Shenandoah National Park are dark green. Basically, a process called metamorphism caused the basalts in Shenandoah to recrystallize with new minerals, such as chlorite, epidote, and albite, which help give the rocks their greenish hue. In fact, we no longer call the rocks in Shenandoah basalts, but metabasalts, due to this alteration.”

Mac turned toward Kimberly. She could read the question in his eyes. The victim had been found holding a rock. Had it been greenish in color? She couldn’t remember. They hadn’t gotten a good look at it and it had been one of the first things NCIS investigators had taken away.

“Are metabasalts rare in the park?” Mac asked York.

“Not at all. You can view them as road outcroppings as you drive from the northern entrance of the park all the way to Thornton Gap, then there’s another good twenty-mile stretch from Stony Man to Swift Run Gap, then there’s more all the way to the southern point of the park.”

“Are there any kinds of rocks that are rare in the park?” Kimberly spoke up.

York had to think about it. “Well, the Shenandoah National Park actually involves three major types of bedrock. The metabasalts are found in the north and south, which we’ve discussed. But there are also siliciclasts, which are found in the southern section of the park or around Thornton Gap. Then we have the granites, which are in the central part of the park. The siliciclasts, which are sedimentary rocks containing abundant amounts of silica, probably have the smallest area of distribution. The granites probably have the most definable area, however, being bunched in the middle to north section of the park. Now, within each bedrock type, there are variances. For example, certain kinds of granites will have more of one mineral or another, depending on where they are found in the park. Same with the metabasalts and same with the siliciclasts.”

“Not all rocks are created equal?” Mac asked.

“Exactly.” She gave him another warm smile, a teacher bestowing praise on her favorite student. “Geologists analyze rocks all the time. Basically, you take a cross section of the rock sample and view it under a polarizing microscope. By breaking the rock down to its mineral components, you could pinpoint more precisely from where in the park it probably came. In some cases, in fact, the distribution range might be very small. Of course, we don’t have that kind of equipment here, but if you had a rock, I’d be happy to make a few phone calls…”

“We don’t exactly have a rock…”

She arched a brow. “No rock?”

“No.” He added helpfully, “But we do have a travel brochure for Hawaii.”

York blinked her eyes, obviously trying to follow that thought, then finally gave up. “Well, without an actual rock sample, I’m not sure what to tell you. Yes, there are lots of rocks in the Shenandoah National Park. And yes, some of them are similar to those found in Hawaii. But I don’t know how to break things down for you any more than that. The wilderness area of the Shenandoah National Park encompasses nearly eighty thousand acres, you know. That’s a lot of rock types and areas of geologic interest.”

“Do you have a book or a rock guide we could take with us?” Kimberly asked. “You know, that way once we did have a sample, we could look up more information.”

“It wouldn’t be specific enough. With your naked eye, the best you would be able to determine was if the stone in question were basalt versus granite versus siliciclast. That would only cut your search area in half, leaving you with forty thousand acres. No, to truly analyze a rock, you need to be able to look at its mineral components through a microscope.”

“Do you have a microscope we could borrow?” Kimberly attempted weakly.

“They cost a couple pennies. I think the U.S. government might notice.”

“Darn government.”

“Get the rock,” York said. “Give me a call. I’d be very happy to help.” Her gaze was once more locked on Mac.

“We’ll try,” Mac said diligently, but Kimberly knew he was just being polite. They would never have access to the rock found in the victim’s hand; they were outsiders no longer privy to such helpful little tidbits as real evidence.

“One last question,” Kimberly said. “Are there rattlesnakes in the Shenandoah National Park?”

York appeared surprised. “More than a few. Why do you ask?”

“Just checking. Guess I better put on a thicker pair of boots.”

“Watch out for rocks,” York advised. “Rattlers like to curl up in the nooks and crannies between boulders. Or even sleep out on the sun-warmed surface once it’s dusk.”

“Got it.”

Mac shook the woman’s hand. York gave him a dazzling smile, while managing to once more arch her back. Kimberly engaged in a significantly stiffer handshake, which is apparently what happened when you didn’t have a Southern drawl-or Mac’s muscled chest.

They made their way back to the front door, where the blue sky already stretched bright and hot beyond the glass. “That wasn’t so good,” Mac said, pausing before the entranceway. He seemed to be bracing himself for leaving the cool comfort of air-conditioning behind and bursting once more into the heat.

“We have a start,” Kimberly said firmly. “All signs point to the Shenandoah National Park.”

“Yes, all eighty thousand acres. You’re right, we should find this girl in no time at all.” He shook his head in disgust. “We need choppers. Hell, we need search-and-rescue, the National Guard, and about half a dozen dogs. This poor woman…”

“I know,” Kimberly said quietly.

“It doesn’t seem fair, does it? A kidnap victim deserves all the help in the world. And instead…”

“She’s only going to get us.”

He nodded and the lines of frustration etched into his dark face almost made her reach out her hand. She wondered who that sort of unsolicited contact would shock more-her or him?

“We need supplies,” Mac said. “Then we’d better hit the road. It’s a long drive to Shenandoah, particularly when we don’t know where we’re going yet.”

“We’re going to find her,” Kimberly said.

“We need more information. Damn, why didn’t I just take that rock?”

“Because that would’ve been crossing the line. The leaf had already been mishandled by the ME. The rock, on the other hand…”

“Has been properly bagged and tagged and even now is wasting away in some crime lab,” Mac finished bitterly.

“We’re going to find her,” Kimberly said again.

He finally stilled in front of the glass door. His blue eyes were still dark, fired by frustration. For just a moment, however, the look on his face softened. “Earnest Kimberly,” he whispered.

“Yes.”

“I hope you’re right.” He glanced at his watch. “Ten A.M.,” he said softly, then abruptly pushed through the heavy door. “And boy, is it getting hot.”

Tina woke up slowly, becoming aware of two things at once: a deep, wracking thirst that had left her tongue swollen and cottony in her mouth and the incessant sound of buzzing around her head.

She opened her eyes, but couldn’t see a thing through the thick tangle of blond hair, now glued uncomfortably to her sweat-slicked face. She roughly pushed back the long strands, only to encounter a fuzzy black haze. And then, abruptly, she knew what that buzzing was.