“I’m definitely missing something,” Ashlyn said, glancing between the two images even as she settled back into his touch, making him wonder if she was even aware of the move.
“They’re riverbed rocks,” Tristan said as his gaze shifted between the two images. “Keep the image the police took and pull up the picture of the alleyway where Julia went missing.”
They watched as Marty closed the picture that Ashlyn took and pulled up the image that Tristan asked for and zoomed back in on the rocks.
“They look like the same rocks,” Ashlyn said, frowning as her gaze flickered between the two images.
“That’s because they are,” Shayne said, noting that while all the rocks were smooth, they were all different sizes and shapes and were charcoal grey, almost black, and were covered with barely-there pitting and small mineral streaks.
“Can you scan them so that we can see what we’re dealing with here?” Tristan asked, glancing back at his wife.
“Already on it,” Marty mumbled absently as they watched each picture light up before a percentage bar appeared across the middle of each picture.
They watched as the image of the rocks in the alleyway reached one hundred percent before the words “Black Basalt Rock” replaced the percentage bar. A moment later, the same three words appeared on the image from King William’s Faire.
“Black basalt rock, also known as black basalt pebble, are a dark-colored, fine-grained extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium and iron-rich lava at the Earth’s surface,” Marty said, reading the description. “This article goes on to explain the difference between naturally smooth black basalt and commercially processed stone.”
“Commercially smoothed black basalt is commonly used for landscaping because it’s cheaper and easier to get. It’s also more uniform in shape, jet black and covered in a gloss, while naturally smoothed black basalt can be found in streams and riverbeds and varies in shapes and sizes.”
“So, we’re dealing with naturally smooth black basalt then,” Tristan said, looking lost in thought. “How far away is the nearest stream or river from the faire?”
“One second...” Marty said, quickly typing away as Shayne shared a look with Tristan before he shot Declean a look that had his brother nodding firmly once before he disappeared only to reappear seconds later, looking confused.
“I can’t flash ta it,” Declean said, shooting a look at Aidan that had their brother nodding as he disappeared and-
“Jesus Christ,” Aidan said, reappearing a few seconds later, looking just as confused. “A black fog appeared, keeping me from going ta the faire.”
Shit!
When Tristan sent him a questioning look, Aidan said, “We rode with them ta the faire. We didn’t flash.”
“I can go back and grab the rocks tomorrow,” Tristan said as he shot the image of the alleyway a pointed look that had Liam nodding as he disappeared and-
“What the fuck is going on?” Liam demanded, looking stunned.
-reappeared seconds later.
“I’ll go with you just in case you feel the need to buy another sword,” Marty said dryly as she pulled up a geographical map of King William’s Faire and the surrounding area.
“Like that will stop me,” Tristan said, shooting his wife a wink before he shifted his attention to the map while Shayne searched for a water source.
“The nearest stream is five miles away,” Shayne said, pointing to the stream that cut through the area to the north.
“Can you pull up images of King William’s Faire?” Tristan asked as they watched Marty quickly close out of the window for the map and go to King William’s Faire’s website.
“What am I looking for?” Marty asked as the website finished loading.
“Go ta the image gallery, lass,” Shayne said as they watched Marty click on the link for the gallery.
“What are we looking for?” Ashlyn asked as Marty began clicking through the image gallery.
“Pay attention ta the landscaping, mo bheag mhuirnín,” Shayne said as he focused on the landscaping, noting that white marble rock was used at the entrance while the landscaping inside the faire used red mulch.
“Baby, can you pull up old photos?” Tristan asked as they watched Marty type in “King William’s Faire 1990s and 2000s.”
As soon as the results were generated, Marty clicked on “Images” and began scrolling down hundreds of images that visitors took over the years, pausing to click on any image that showed landscaping in the background. King William’s Fairewent through several phases of black mulch, tan mulch, and rubber mulch throughout the years, but there was no sign of rocks used anywhere in the main part of the faire.
“What about Megan’s jewelry?” Ashlyn asked, leaning more into him as they watched Marty close out the search and pull up Megan’s website. “She made handmade jewelry and might have used rock in some of her pieces.”
