Bones to Ashes Part 8

8.

T HE BONE'S OUTER SURFACE WAS A MOONSCAPE OF CRATERS HE BONE'S OUTER SURFACE WAS A MOONSCAPE OF CRATERS.

"What is that?" Lisa asked.

"I'm not sure." My mind was already rifling through possibilities. Contact with acid or some other caustic chemical? Microorganism? Localized infection? Systemic disease process?

"Was she sick?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's postmortem. There's still too much impacted dirt to be sure." Taking the metacarpal from the scope, I moved toward the skeleton. "We'll have to clean and examine every bone."

Lisa looked at her watch. Politely.

"What a dope I am. Already I've kept you too late." It was five-twenty. Most lab workers left at four-thirty. "Go."

"Shall I lock up?"

"Thanks, but I'll stay a bit longer."

That "bit" turned into two and a half hours. I might have worked through the night had my mobile not sounded.

Setting aside a calcaneus, I lowered my mask, pulled the phone from my pocket, and checked the screen. Unknown number.

I clicked on. "Brennan."

"Where are you?"

"I'm great, thank you. And yourself?"

"I've been calling your condo since six." Was Ryan actually sounding annoyed?

"I'm not at home."

"There's a news flash."

"Guess I slipped out of my ankle monitor."

A moment of silence. Then, "You didn't mention you had plans."

"I do have a life, Ryan." Right. Teasing dirt from bones at 8 P.M P.M.

I heard the sound of a match, then a deep inhalation of breath. After quitting for two years, Ryan was back on cigarettes. A sign of stress.

"You can be a pain in the a.s.s, Brennan." No rancor.

"I work on it." My standard reply.

"You coming down with a cold?"

"My nose is irritated from breathing through a mask." I ran my dental pick through the cone of dry soil that had collected on the tabletop in front of me.

"You're in your lab?"

"Hippo Gallant's skeleton arrived from Rimouski. It's female, probably thirteen or fourteen years old. There's something odd about her bones."

Tobacco hit, then release.

"I'm downstairs."

"So who's the loser working after hours?"

"These MP and DOA cases are getting to me."

"Want to come up?"

"Be there in ten."

I was back at the scope when Ryan appeared, face tense, hair bunched into ragged clumps. My mind shot a stored image: Ryan hunched over a printout, restless fingers raking his scalp. So familiar.

I felt sick. I didn't want Ryan to be angry. Or hurt. Or whatever the h.e.l.l he was.

I started to reach out and stroke his hair.

Nor did I want Ryan controlling my life. I had to take steps when I decided steps needed taking. I kept both hands on the scope.

"You shouldn't work alone here at night."

"That's ridiculous. It's a secure building and I'm on the twelfth floor."

"This neighborhood's not safe."

"I'm a big girl."

"Suit yourself." Ryan's voice wasn't cold or unfriendly. Just neutral.

When Katy was young, certain cases at the lab caused me to rein in her personal life. Transference of caution. It wasn't her fault. Or mine, really. Working a child homicide was like taking a step into my own worst nightmare. Maybe these missing and dead girls were making Ryan overly protective. I let the paternalism go.

"Take a look." I s.h.i.+fted sideways so Ryan could see the screen. When he stepped close I could smell Acqua di Parma cologne, male sweat, and a hint of the cigarettes he'd been smoking.

"New setup?"

I nodded. "She's a pip."

"What are we seeing?"

"Metatarsal."

"Uh-huh."

"Foot bone."

"Looks funny. Pointy."

"Good eye. The distal end should be k.n.o.bby, not tapered."

"What's that hole in the middle of the shaft?"

"A foramen."

"Uh-huh."

"For the pa.s.sage of an artery supplying nutrients to the bone's interior. Its presence is normal. What may be unusual is the size. It's huge."

"The vic took a shot to the foot?"

"Enlarged nutrient foramina can result from repet.i.tive microtrauma. But I don't think that's it."

I exchanged the first metatarsal for another.

"That one looks scooped out on the end."

"Exactly."

"Any ideas?"

"Lots. But most of her foot bones are missing so it's hard to choose."

"Give me some 'for instances.'"

"Rodent scavenging, with subsequent erosion of the surrounding bone surfaces. Or maybe the feet lay in contact with something caustic. Or rapidly running water."

"Doesn't explain the big holes."

"Destruction of the toe bones accompanied by enlargement of the nutrient foramina could result from frostbite. Or rheumatoid arthritis. But that's unlikely, since the joints aren't affected."

"Maybe she just has really big holes."

"That's possible. But it's not just her feet."

I placed Lisa's oddball metacarpal under the scope. "This is a finger bone."

Ryan regarded the pockmarked surface in silence.

I switched the metacarpal for one of the two surviving hand phalanges. "So is this."

"That hole looks large enough to accommodate the Red Line metro."

"Foramina show a range of variation in size. As you say, it could be that huge was normal for her." Even to me, I didn't sound convinced.

"What about the rest of the skeleton?" Ryan asked.

"I haven't gotten past the hands and feet. And there isn't much left."

"Preliminary diagnosis?"

"Increased blood flow to the extremities. Maybe. Deformity of the toe bones. Maybe. Cortical destruction on a metacarpal." My hands floated up in frustration. "Localized infection? Systemic disease process? Postmortem destruction, either purposeful or natural? A combination of the above?" The hands dropped to my lap. "I don't have a diagnosis."

Though far from high-tech, my lab is adequate. In addition to the worktables, boiler, and sprightly new scope, it is equipped with the usual: overhead fluorescents, tile floor, sink, fume hood, emergency eye wash station, photo stand, light boxes, gla.s.s-fronted cabinets. The small window above the sink overlooks the corridor. The big one behind my desk provides a view of the city.

Ryan's eyes floated to the latter. Mine followed. Two ghost images played on the gla.s.s. A tall man and a slim woman, faces obscure, superimposed translucent over the St. Lawrence and the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

A strained silence crammed the lab, a void begging to be filled. I acquiesced.

"But this skeleton looks pretty old."

"LaManche isn't going to pull out the stops."

"No." I switched off the scope light. "Would you like to talk about these cases you're working?"

Ryan hesitated so long I thought he wouldn't answer.

"Coffee?"

"Sure." It was the last thing I needed. My fourth cup sat cold on my desk.

Habitat 67 is a modern pueblo of stacked concrete boxes. Built as a housing experiment for Expo 67, the complex has always engendered strong feelings. That's an understatement. Montrealers either love it or hate it. No one's neutral.

Habitat 67 is located across the St. Lawrence from the Vieux-Port. Since Ryan lives there and my condo is in centre-ville, we decided on a coffee shop halfway between.

Ryan and I both had cars, so we drove separately to Old Montreal. June is peak season, and, as expected, traffic was snarled, sidewalks were clogged, and curbs were b.u.mper to b.u.mper.

As instructed by Ryan, I nosed my Mazda into a driveway blocked by an orange rubber cone. A hand-painted sign said Plein Plein. Full.

A man in sandals, shorts, and a Red Green T-s.h.i.+rt came forward. I gave him my name. The man lifted the cone and waved me in. Cop privilege.