Chapter 17
“Zoom in on the bottom right corner, lass,” Shayne said, moving closer to the screen even as he told himself that it couldn’t be this fucking easy.
“What’s up?” Tristan asked, joining him.
“Not sure yet,” Shayne said, watching as Marty adjusted the screen and zoomed in on the bottom right corner.
“Zoom in again, lass,” Shayne said, keeping his eyes on the right-hand corner as he watched her zoom in on it again.
“Again,” he said absently as he watched her zoom in on the alleyway floor again.
“What does that look like ta ye?” Shayne asked as he pointed to the screen.
“Rocks,” Tristan said, frowning as he took in the black rocks scattered amongst the trash lining the wall.
“Go back ta Megan’s pictures, lass,” Shayne said as he felt Ashlyn join them.
“What am I looking for?” Marty asked as Shayne stepped back so that Ashlyn could step in front of him and nearly fucking groaned when he caught the scent of lemongrass.
“The pictures the police took of the area at the back of her tent after she went missing and the ones Ashlyn took. I need them side by side if ye can manage that, lass,” Shayne said, watching as Marty made quick work of pulling up the images and placed them side by side.
“There,” Shayne said, gesturing to the worn area behind her tent. “Zoom in on that.”
“More rocks,” Tristan murmured as they took in the smooth black rocks scattered over the dirt.
“Right here, lass,” Shayne said, pointing to the image that Ashlyn took months later and watched as Marty zoomed in on the rocks that were now sticking out of the ground.
“They’re rocks. What am I missing?” Ashlyn asked, frowning as she glanced between the two images.
“They’re not just rocks, lass,” Shayne said, placing a hand on her hip as he moved closer so that he could reach past her and point at the rocks. “They’re smooth.”
“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 Faire went 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.”
“Smart,” Tristan said, throwing Ashlyn an approving look before shifting his attention back to the television mirroring Marty’s laptop.
“No rocks,” Shayne said as Marty scrolled through Megan’s old work.
“Looks like she used birthstones for most of her work,” Ashlyn said, slowly exhaling as she rubbed her hands down her face.
“Pull up the images from the murder near Winter Falls Tavern,” Tristan said as Marty clicked on the last image on Megan’s website.
A few seconds later, official images of the murder scene popped up on the screen. They watched as Marty rotated the picture, zoomed in and-
“No rocks,” Shayne said as he quickly scanned the grass for the familiar rock.
“Pull up another case,” Tristan said, folding his arms over his chest as he scanned the image one last time.
“Which one?” Marty asked after a slight hesitation.
“Doesn’t matter,” Tristan said as Marty pulled up another file of a missing girl, zoomed in and-
“There,” Shayne said, pointing to the scattered rocks among the debris. They watched as Marty zoomed in and hit scan. Seconds later, “Black Basalt Stone” appeared across the screen while Shayne tried to figure out what the rocks meant. They were going to have to-
“Eight,” Ashlyn suddenly announced only to add, “There are eight rocks in each of the pictures,” when Tristan sent her a questioning look.
“Are you sure?” Tristan asked as he shifted his gaze back to the television.
“Positive,” Ashlyn said as Shayne counted the rocks and-
Eight.
“Pull up another case,” Tristan said, watching as Marty quickly clicked out of the file and opened another random file. She quickly clicked on the police images, found the picture of the spot where Mary Jenkins was last seen alive, zoomed in and-
“Eight rocks,” Tristan murmured absently, looking lost in thought. “Pull up one of the cases we dismissed because the body was found.”
Marty opened a file for one of the dead girls, opened the image of the crime scene and-
No rocks.
“We need to go through all eighty-nine cases again,” Tristan said, ramming his fingers through his hair as Ashlyn moved to step away, and after a slight hesitation, Shayne let her go.
Without a word, she made her way back to the couch, pausing by the coffee table to help herself to a legal pad and a pen before dropping back down on the couch.
“I’m ready when you are,” she said, making a quick note on the legal pad.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Marty said, closing the file and scrolled down to the bottom of the list and opened the first file while Shayne stood there, going over everything and-
They were missing something.
As they started going through the files, Shayne made his way to the office across the foyer without a word and closed the doors behind him. Before the doors had a chance to click shut behind him, Aidan and Liam were there.
“What’s going on?” Liam asked as Shayne made his way to the desk.
“I can’t explain it, but I’ve got a feeling that we’re missing something,” Shayne said as Aidan disappeared only to reappear in the desk chair.
“Just tell me what we’re looking for,” Aidan said, quickly turning on the computer.