Free Isolation by Mary Anna Evans Page A

picture of it in context with its surroundings. The archaeologist in her wanted to know how old it was.
    She reached for the wood, thought again, then donned the rubber gloves in her pocket. If there was arsenic in her soil, there could be poison anywhere. She picked up the wood chunk, and marked the spot with a heavy rock. The wood felt heavy, solid, substantial. Carefully cradling it in both hands, she headed for Nadia and Gerry.
    â€œNadia, can you test this thing for arsenic?”
    â€œIt would take a different extraction technique, but yeah. I could test pretty much anything for arsenic, with enough time and the right equipment.”
    Gerry looked at Faye like she had suggested looking for arsenic in a turnip. “Why would we spend the money to do that? I only run lab tests when I’ve got a good reason. That’s what they pay me for—to make an efficient testing plan. Otherwise, a robot could do this job. Taking unnecessary samples is like going fishing, just to see what you can find. And it’s a waste of time and money.”
    Faye made a mental note that Gerry got a teeny bit defensive when somebody wanted to change his work plan.
    â€œA long time ago, my grandmother showed me a wooden vat over there. I mean, she showed me what was left of it. Just pieces, really.” She pointed at the woods. “She thought maybe it had been a watering trough for horses and cattle, but she didn’t remember it ever being used.”
    Gerry started walking in that direction, but Faye held up a hand. “It’s not there anymore. I think this is all that’s left.”
    â€œA wooden trough from—what? The late 1800s? Early 1900s, maybe? A trough that never held anything but water and horse spit? Why should we test that?”
    â€œI told you that my grandmother didn’t remember seeing it used. What if it wasn’t for water? You said that cattle farmers used arsenic as a pesticide. Could they maybe have used the trough to dip small animals in flea and tick repellent? Piglets? Maybe even calves or foals?”
    Gerry stopped being defensive and nodded his head. He silently pointed at the wood. Nadia took it from Faye’s hands, asking him, “You want me to take sample of this, do an extraction, and test it for arsenic?”
    â€œWhile you’re at it, you might as well send it to Tallahassee and tell them to look for pesticides, too. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe they kept other stuff in there. Have them do a full screen for inorganics and organics, including herbicides.”
    A hot, hard knot formed in the pit of Faye’s stomach. What had she been thinking? She’d been so intent on puzzling out the reason for the arsenic, she hadn’t thought through the consequences of more testing. What if Nadia found something else noxious?
    She had gotten no further with her worrying when Gerry’s phone rang. He’d hardly said hello when he started running for the shoreline like a man who couldn’t care less about Faye’s arsenic and kerosene problem. As he ran, he used the hand that wasn’t holding the cell phone to fumble with the binoculars around his neck. Being nosy at heart, Faye grabbed her own binoculars and followed him.
    Gerry was still yelling into his cell phone when she caught up with him. “—got him? He’s still on the water? You got witnesses? Yeah. I can get between him and the marina, if I go right now. Before I do that, tell me you’ve got the evidence and that you’re sending me plenty of backup. We have to get this right.” He pointed the binoculars at a black dot on the horizon. “You’re sure?”
    Gerry must have gotten the answer he wanted, because he wheeled around and ran up the path that led to his boat. He must have sensed that Faye was coming after him, because he turned, pointed a single finger at her, and said, “No.” Then he poked the finger toward the ground at her feet and