Page 82 of Identity Unknown
“No leads on that,” he says as Benton texts me back.
With D1,he says.
My husband is meeting with Director Bella Steele and will be leaving Secret Service headquarters in a few minutes. He’llbe home when I get there, and I can’t wait to see him, to feel clean and civilized again. I text him that it would be helpful if he takes a container of marinara sauce out of the freezer. Also, the focaccia bread dough I put in there the other night.
“I wonder if Ryder Briley is involved in a business that uses fake moon dust,” I’m saying to Lee while I type on my phone.
What about wine?Benton writes back to me.
Uncork a couple of reds, please,I type.
“Don’t know,” Lee is saying. “But there was a lot of microscopic debris on Sal Giordano’s body besides the lunar simulant. Did he have a cat?”
Include Marino and Dorothy?I write to Benton while talking over the loud engine thrumming.
They should stay the night, and maybe Shannon would like to join us?She shouldn’t be alone in the storm with all that’s transpired. She’s been skittish enough, and I know she’s lonely.
“Sal used to have cats but hadn’t for years,” I’m saying over speakerphone while continuing to text. “Why do you ask?”
“Because he had cat dander on him. Also cat hair, but not normal cat hair that I’ve seen,” Lee explains in his laconic voice as I think of the cheetah on the Yellow Brick Road.
Will invite all,Benton is writing back.
“And detritus such as bug pieces and parts, insulation, cobwebs and such,” Lee explains as I hold up the phone for Tron and Lucy to hear. “What you’d expect if he was kept in a place that isn’t cleaned very often.”
“And all of this microscopic debris was all over the body, or only parts of it?” I look out at light reflecting on tidal creeks branching through salt marshes, reminding me of blood vessels.
“Yes,” Lee says. “From all the swabs you took. He had this stuff all over him, head to toe.”
“Suggesting he was unclothed while held somewhere,” I reply.
“I guess that’s one way to control someone.”
“And humiliate.” I feel a flare of anger that smolders in my core.
“Last but not least, something curious showed up in the fingernail clippings,” Lee continues. “Nanograins of perovskite. And in case you don’t know what that is…?”
“I don’t.”
“A calcium titanium oxide mineral used to make photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity. Solar cells, in other words,” he replies. “But we’re talking about asyntheticversion of perovskite that’s used in manufacturing. And not the naturally occurring mineral Sal Giordano had under his fingernails.”
“Any theories about why someone would be accessing the real mineral? For what purpose?” I ask.
“Possibly for research. If you’re making the synthetic version, for example, you’d probably want access to the real thing as a model. And it allows for additive engineering possibilities such as doping the synthetic with some of the real stuff. To cook up whatever your special sauce might be. I’m wondering if Sal Giordano was involved in projects involving solar-generated power? Perhaps something space-related such as the solar arrays used on satellites and telescopes like the Hubble and James Webb?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” I reply.
“Possibly the grains of perovskite were transferred to him by someone else. Unless he had it under his fingernails before he was abducted and murdered. And if so, where did it come from?” Lee says as I’m thinking about the missing three hours.
CHAPTER 30
On Monday afternoon, Sal called me from Weyers Cave before turning off his phone as he ventured deeper into the Quiet Zone. This was around 1:30P.M., and it should have taken approximately two hours to drive the rest of the way to Green Bank, West Virginia. But he didn’t arrive at the restaurant until 7:00P.M.What was he doing? Where did he go?
“Did you find perovskite on Luna Briley’s pajamas or anywhere else?” I ask Lee over speakerphone.
“No.”
Tron is driving the grumbling Dodge Charger through Phoebus, the shops and diners straight out of the 1950s.