Kleenex with Blood
Limestone Dust
Nitrates
Phosphate
Ammonia
Detergent
Camphene

FOUND AT SECONDARY CRIME SCENE— GARRETT’S ROOM

Skunk Musk
Cut Pine Needles
Drawings of Insects
Pictures of Mary Beth and Family
Insect Books
Fishing Line
Money
Unknown Key
Kerosene
Ammonia
Nitrates
Camphene

Davett scanned the list up and down, taking his time, eyes narrowing several times. A faint frown. “Nitrates and ammonia? You know what that could be?”

Rhyme nodded. “I think he left some explosive devices to stop the search party. I’ve told them about it.”

Grimacing, Davett returned to the chart. “The camphene … I think that was used in old lanterns. Like coal-oil lamps.”

“That’s right. So we think the place he’s got Mary Beth is old. Nineteenth century.”

“There must be thousands of old houses and barns and shacks around here…. What else? Limestone dust…. That’s not going to narrow things down much. There’s a huge ridge of limestone that runs all the way through Paquenoke County. It used to be a big moneymaker here.” He rose and moved his finger diagonally along the map from the southern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp to the southwest, from Location L-4 to C-14. “You could find limestone anywhere along that line. That won’t do you much good. But”—he stepped back, crossed his arms—“the phosphate’s helpful. North Carolina’s a major producer of phosphate but it’s not mined around here. That’s farther south. So, combined with the detergent, I’d say he’s been near polluted water.”

“Hell,” Jim Bell said, “that just means he’s been in the Paquenoke.”

“No,” Davett said, “the Paquo’s clean as well water. It’s dark but it’s fed by the Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond.”

“Oh, it’s magic water,” the sheriff said.

“What’s that?” Rhyme asked.

Davett explained. “Some of us old-timers call the water from the Great Dismal magic water. It’s full of tannic acid from decaying cypress and juniper trees. The acid kills bacteria so it stays fresh for a long time—before refrigeration they’d use it for drinking water on sailing ships. People used to think it had magic properties.”

“So,” Rhyme said, never much interested in local myths if they couldn’t help him forensically, “if it’s not the Paquenoke, where would the phosphates place him?”

Davett looked at Bell. “Where’d he kidnap the girl most recently?”

“Same place as Mary Beth. Blackwater Landing.” Bell touched the map and then moved his finger north to Location H-9. “Crossed the river, went to a hunting blind about here then headed north a half mile. Then the search party lost the trail. They’re waiting for us to give them directions.”