“That’s weird. There aren’t any kimberlite pipes in California, at least none that have been confirmed. And they usually form in cratons—the oldest and thickest parts of continents. Geologically speaking, the Sierra Nevada is much younger, and the conditions aren’t favourable for kimberlite. But…”
“But what?”
“But more diamonds than you’d expect have been found in California, almost all of them around the Sierra Nevada or the Klamath Mountains, and they’re quite the geological mystery. The most common hypothesis is that the source is an ophiolite complex that formed during a tectonic plate collision, and the diamonds eroded from their original source and washed down into placer deposits.”
“I don’t understand most of what you just said.” Nolan had never been to college. Hell, with all the family drama, he’d been lucky to graduate high school.
“TLDR: there are a bunch of diamonds around here, and nobody knows for sure where they came from.”
Nolan screwed his eyes closed, trying to remember where he’d picked up that lumpy rock… He recalled splashing in crystal-clear water, diving to the bottom, seeing how long he could hold his breath. Spying treasure. Proudly bringing it up to show Grandpa Calder. Losing interest when he spotted a raptor hovering above the trees.
“It was in the swimming hole, I think.”
“Well, damn. It could have been transported there by the stream.”
Yeah, the way those flecks of gold had. Grandpa Calder had explained all about placer deposits as they paddled in the water, rinsing stones and grit in their pans, looking for the telltale glint of gold. But he thought…he thought there might be more of those rocks up there by the swimming hole. Juno had brought him one, just dropped it in his lap and waited expectantly. Usually, she preferred sticks. He’d laughed, tossed it back into the water, and given her a treat in exchange.
Nolan jolted as the pieces slotted into place.
The pasture.
The list of names.
Alexa’s ceaseless snooping.
A fucking diamond.
“We need to tell the others about this.”
CHAPTER 41
ALEXA
“Stop waffling and start from the beginning,” Jez ordered.
Nolan had run into the library with Rusty in tow, handed me a rock, and begun tripping over his words. Something about fossils and a pasture and a lying bitch. Who the fuck was Kimberley?
“Diamonds,” Rusty added. “There are diamonds. Possibly.”
“What are you talking about?”
He pointed at my hands. “There.”
Huh? It was just a dirty rock. When I spread my blanket out under the trees so I could watch Nolan’s striptease, I’d had to scoop a bunch of them out of the dirt so I could sit without getting lumps in my ass.
After several more garbled sentences, I finally began to get the gist of the matter. Nolan had found the rock in the swimming hole, and Rusty thought that there was a diamond stuck in it. Maybe there were more. And although the theory sounded bananas, I had to admit it did make sense, or at least, as much sense as anything else that had happened around here lately. The Cranstons had offered to buy the pasture, but not the rest of the property. The mine was a red herring. Antonella had studied geology the same as Rusty had, and Everett ran a hedge fund focused on commodities, so presumably he had a working knowledge of natural resources as well.
The ranch had been in Nolan’s family since the Gold Rush, I knew that much. And back then, everyone was probably so focused on digging shiny nuggets out of the mountain that they missed the duller treasure scattered across the pasture. The rock didn’t even look special.
Jez snatched it out of my hand and peered closer. “Remember that time I went to South Africa to, uh, speak with that arms guy?”
By “speak with,” she meant “vaporise using one of his own illegal weapons.” “Yup.”
“Priest’s always saying we should learn about other cultures, so I visited the Kimberley Mine Museum while I was there, and this does look similar to the lumps of kimberlite they had on display.”
“So how do we find out for sure?”
“Does anyone know a jeweller?”
