Page 35 of Go Now
‘What was the reason?’
‘Agent Valentine, that gallery sits in one of the most deprived boroughs in North America. If you’re born there, you’ve got a lower life expectancy than someone living half a mile down the road.And along come the Leopold Brothers, filling a room with 24 million dollars’ worth of gold and gems as some sort of ironic ‘comment’ on… I don’t even know what. Do you?Does anyone?The art world disgusts me. But it’s got nothing to do with God.If God exists, I reckon He’s big and tough enough to put up with a little blasphemy.’
Marcus and Kate exchanged a glance.This wasn’t what they’d expected.
‘If you’d actually read my blog, you’d know that what disgusts me is the self-applauding joke that the art world has become. It’s detached from any sort of desire to depict the world, good or bad.It’s detached from any mission to change lives or change minds or perspectives – most of the people living near an art gallery in this city couldn’t even afford the admission fee.It’s just a club, a club where everyone sits around chuckling at how clever they are.’
‘So, just to clarify,’ Kate said.‘You have no issue with the religious content of works by people like Elena Vasquez and Brandon Ashworth?’
‘I do have an issue with it, but not because of blasphemy.Because trampling on people’s faith, or deliberately offending people’s religious sensibilities, is just one of the ways in which the contemporary art world demonstrates its scorn for the people. Read my blog, Agent Valentine.If you had, you wouldn’t be wasting your time and mine down here.’
'You've been unable to provide an alibi for the dates and times of the two murders,' Kate said, tersely.'You also attempted to evade arrest, and I'm satisfied that your systematic stalking of numerous artists and gallery owners breaks multiple state and federal laws.You'll remain in custody while we investigate further.'
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When Kate returned to the office, she found another note from Chen: a yellow Post-It this time, bearing the cryptic legendDr Ignaz, Soil, followed by a cellphone number. This meant very little to her, so she called her temporary colleague for more information.
‘It seems we owe the forensics team an apology,’ Chen said.She was somewhere in traffic.
‘Not even on my death-bed,’ Kate said, not entirely joking.‘What’s it all about?’
'They haven't been sitting on it.They've actually sent samples from the clay statues to this guy, Dr Ignaz.He's a soil scientist. He's meant to be hot stuff; last year, he solved a 20-year-old murder case from, like, two molecules of pollen.Anyway, he's got some findings.And so have I, actually.I'll be in in twenty.'
Kate thanked her and dialled the number.Dr Ignaz answered almost as if he’d been sitting in his office, willing his phone to ring.
‘I understand you might be able to tell us where the clay comes from,’ Kate said.
‘Well, let us be a hundred percent clear from the outset,’ said Dr Ignaz, irritably.‘There is no such thing as “clay”.’
‘Um… ok?’she replied, hesitantly.
'The term 'clay' denotes a size of particle, it does not pertain to a material in its own right,' Ignaz went on.'Specifically, it refers to any particle with a diameter of less than one-two-hundred-and-fifty-sixth of a millimetre.'He had a precise, cross and slightly self-satisfied voice, which Kate was already struggling to listen to.'We might also say,' the scientist went on, 'that clay is aprocess.It is a process formed by the interaction of rock, rainwater, and an assortment of minerals and acids, as well as biological events including the life-cycle of microbial organisms and plants.’
‘I was just hoping that you could tell us where, in relation to the two effigies, that particular size of particle or process, or whatever you want to call it, might be found.’
She was conscious of sounding a little rude, but she wasn’t sure how else to get her point across.
‘Well I can hardly tell you that without telling you how clay is formed, can I?’snapped Ignaz.
Er, you could try, Kate thought.But she said, ‘Please do’, as politely as she could.
What followed from the soil expert was a 15-minute lecture on the formation and composition of clay, if indeed, she was allowed to use that highly contentious word in these circumstances. The unsolicited lecture roamed freely, taking in the formation of siliciclastic rocks, the role of chlorites, illites, and muscovites, the key differences between podzols, pedalfers, and pedocals, and if the angry doodles on Kate's notepad were any sort of indicator, it went on for far too long and went into far too much detail.When it was finished, she thanked Dr Ignaz, and then sat on her own in the little office for some time, massaging her eyeballs.
Marcus came in, whistling.He stopped when he saw Kate.
‘You okay?’
She looked up.‘Not exactly.I’ve just spent the last 15 minutes talking to a soil expert. Not talking to,’ she corrected herself.‘Being talked at by.’
‘Did he tell you anything useful?’
‘To be fair, yes, but I had to pick up a PhD in geology along the way.’She sighed.‘You know what I like?I like those experts who ask you, “what do you need to know?”Do you know what I mean?What happened to them?I never get an expert like that anymore.’
Marcus grinned.‘He certainly pushed your buttons.’
‘What?Oh.Yeah.Sorry.’She took a deep breath.‘He’s meant to have solved a massive murder case last year.I’m not sure how he could have done that without getting murdered himself.Anyway… he told me that, based on the composition of the clay, in both cases, it’s been taken from the banks of a stream running along the floor of a valley, surrounded by a cool, coniferous forest with a humid continental climate and greater than average rainfall.Closest example being south-west of this fair state.Unlikely to have come from further afield due to the size of the particles and the specific minerals.He’s going to run a further battery of tests to see if he can zoom in closer.Oh, and the darker color on the second statue is due to oxidation – a slight variation in the mineral content, which suggests he got his clay from a different spot, but part of the same landscape.’
‘Well that’s all useful, isn’t it?’
