“Burned black powder is extremely corrosive,” he explains. “Especially when it’s exposed to moisture, for example condensation that forms when a gun barrel is cooling. There’s a chemical reaction that forms sulfuric acid, and if you don’t know that and don’t clean your black powder pistol right away? The barrel is fouled like you wouldn’t believe. I’m talking within hours. What we’ve got here isn’t burned powder. It’s definitely not GSR.”

In contrast unburned black powder can remain viable indefinitely if it’s protected in an abandoned armory or is sealed by rust inside an old weapon, and that’s what Jim and Ernie believe we’re talking about. Unburned powder that could be hundreds of years old, and I think of the stories I’ve heard about antique firearms loaded with ammunition that people assume is inert until the gun accidentally goes off.

“How many cannonballs have you seen used as doorstops or hanging from gates especially during your Virginia days?” Jim says.

“If I had a dollar for every one,” I reply.

“Most people have no idea a cannonball from the American Revolution or the Civil War could still explode, that they’re basically decorating their house with a bomb.”

“Could the black powder possibly be modern?” I ask the question again because it’s critically important. “Even remotely possible? How can we be sure someone isn’t using it to build an explosive device?”

“BP”—as Jim refers to black powder—“isn’t child’s play. Using it to build a bomb would be impractical and dangerous.”

“As is true of everything it all depends on who you’re talking about.”

“Listen I’m the first to say we should never underestimate any potential disaster. Better safe than sorry. And sure. The person could make BP. When I was a kid I used to make my own, was a regular Betty Crocker in the garage. It’s a damn wonder I lived long enough to vote and buy booze.”

“The person I’m most concerned about may do her own gunsmithing, may reload her own ammo,” I say to him and Ernie. “If so there would be traces of gunpowder, lead, iron and copper in her work area and possibly elsewhere. That’s why I’m asking if we’re absolutely certain the black powder is of antiquity and not from a location where someone might be building a weapon of mass destruction.”

“I personally think it’s an old remnant from the same era the other trace evidence is from.” It’s Ernie who says this, and I search my memory.

Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

I CAN’T RECALL SEEING BLACK POWDER IN ANY MACHINE shop Lucy has ever owned or worked in. I don’t remember seeing its modern substitute Pyrodex either.