Elysium Tide by James R. Hannibal

Author:James R. Hannibal [Hannibal, James R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense;FIC042060;FIC030000;FIC002000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FIVE

MAUI PD CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION

LISA HAD PLANNED ON OPENING the gift bag as soon as she got to her desk, but when she arrived at the GTF section, she saw Mike drawing on her murder board. She dropped the bag in her chair and rushed over. “What are you doing?”

He glanced over his shoulder, black marker still in contact with the board. “I’m adding evidence to your evidence display.” He put the finishing touches on what appeared to be a molecular formula—a series of hexagons and pentagons joined by lines and nodes to form something like a soccer ball. “See? Evidence.”

To Lisa it looked more like the beginnings of a chemistry lecture. She held out an open palm. “Give me the marker.”

“I wasn’t actually done.”

“Mike, we’ve never worked a murder case together before, so I’m going to give you a pass. But nobody touches my board. Nobody. So, the marker”—she curled her fingers in a Give it here motion—“please.”

Mike started to comply, but pulled it away and hurriedly drew a question mark at the center of his formula. Then he capped the marker and surrendered it. “There. Now I’m done. Won’t happen again. Do you like it?”

“I won’t know if I like it unless you tell me what it is.”

He seemed surprised she didn’t recognize his drawing. “It’s a buckyball.”

“Say again?”

“A buckminsterfullerene, named after the guy who made geodesic domes popular. It’s a ball-shaped molecule made up of sixty carbon atoms.” Mike gestured at his drawing and wrinkled his brow at her. “You know. A buckyball. You’ve never heard of a buckyball?”

Lisa was also getting the sense that Mike just liked saying the word buckyball. But in the three weeks she’d known him, he’d never let her down, nor wasted her time—too much—so she took a calming breath. “Humor me. Why are buckyballs important to this case?”

“Ah.” He raised both index fingers. “I’m glad you asked. Carbon takes many forms, not just graphite and diamonds. Most are super rare or lab-created only. Compressed buckyballs are one of these.” Mike cupped his hands and made an exaggerated squeezing motion. “Squish a buckyball at crazy high pressure, and you can make a material that’s harder than diamonds. That’s what I think the scuba team pulled out of the silt where your doctor found Kelly Alana—an object made of buckyball carbon molecules.”

“You think?”

“Think? Yes. Can I confirm it?” He shrugged. “No. Not with our equipment. The object is too hard to grind out or cut a test sample, even with our diamond-coated tools. But someone did cut it, and they cut it into the shape of a buckyball molecule. That has to be intentional.”

Lisa studied the formula with new interest. “So, it’s not some tourist trinket. The object is unique.”

“Likely priceless—and maybe local too. A while back, some Swiss scientists predicted ultra-hard carbon might be found on Maui. They called it Elysium.” He glanced at Wailea on the section’s wall map. “Take the tour over at the Grand. The guide does a whole spiel on the stuff.

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