I took the other set to the DNA section, While there I asked about the eyeball. As I waited I felt a band of tension move slowly up the back of my head, and I began to rub my neck.
"Headache?" asked the technician when she returned.
"A little."
The results were not yet in.
Next I reported to LaManche. He didn't interrupt as I told him of my meeting with Kate, and showed him photos and copies of hospital records.
When I'd finished he removed his glasses and kneaded two red ovals on the bridge of his nose. Then he leaned back, his face devoid of the emotions normally created by death.
"I will call the coroner's office."
"Thank you."
"Have you discussed this with the people at Carcajou?"
"I mentioned it to Quickwater, but right now everyone is focused on the Cherokee Desjardins murder."
That was an understatement. When I'd told him in the car, Quickwater had hardly listened.
"I'll talk to Roy tomorrow," I added.
"The agent in North Carolina believes this child was killed by gang members?"
"Kate Brophy. She believes it's a good possibility."
"Does she know of any ties between Quebec and Myrtle Beach gangs?"
"No."
LaManche inhaled deeply, exhaled.
"Nineteen eighty-four is a long time ago.
Sitting across from my boss, listening to his precise French and seeing him backlit by the St. Lawrence River, I had to admit the Carolina theory sounded bizarre even to me. What had seemed so right in Raleigh now felt like a remembered dream in which I couldn't sort reality from fantasy.
"We had to cut it short when I got the call about Cherokee's body in the fire, but Agent Brophy lent me a great deal of material from the SBI files, including old photos. Tomorrow I'll take everything over to Carcajou and we'll see what falls out."
LaManche replaced his glasses.
"This Carolina skeleton may be unrelated."
"I know."
"How soon will they have the DNA results?"
I avoided the impulse to roll my eyes, but I'm sure the frustration showed in my voice.
"They're backed up because of the bomber twin case, and wouldn't give me an estimate." I remembered the look I'd gotten when the technician spotted Savannah's DOD. "And, as you said, it's not exactly a recent death."
LaManche nodded.
"But it is an unexplained death, and the remains were found in Quebec, so we will treat it as a homicide. Hopefully the SQ will do the same," he said.
At that moment his phone rang. I gathered papers as he spoke. When he'd hung up I said, "The Cherokee case doesn't fit the recent pattern here, but who knows why people kill."
He answered as he scribbled something on a small yellow pad, his mind still on the phone conversation. Or perhaps he thought I was talking about something else.
"Occasionally Monsieur Claude] can be abrupt, but in the end he will get it right."
What the hell did that mean?
Before I could ask, the phone rang again. LaManche reached for the receiver, listened, then held it to his chest.
"Was there anything else?"
A polite dismissal.
I was so preoccupied by LaManche's comment about Claudel that I almost collided with Jocelyn the temp as I left his office and headed toward my own. She wore large beaded loops in her ears, and the hair streaks were now the color of purple African violets.
As we circled each other, readjusting our armloads of papers, I again was struck by the whiteness of her skin. Under the harsh fluorescent light, her lower lids looked plum, her skin as pale as the underbelly of a lemon peel. It crossed my mind Jocelyn might be albino.
For some reason, I felt compelled to speak to her.
"How are you getting along, Jocelyn?"
She stared at me with a look I couldn't interpret.
"I hope you're not finding the lab too overwhelming."
"I can do the job."
"Yes, of course you can. I just meant it's hard to be the new kid on the block."
As she opened her mouth to say something, a secretary emerged from an adjacent office. Jocelyn hurried off down the hall.
Jesus, I thought. This one could use a bit of charm school. Maybe she could get a two-for-the-price-of-one deal for her and Q uickwater.
I spent the rest of the afternoon clearing my desk of message slips. Calls from the media I threw away, those from law enforcement I returned.
I scanned a request from Pelletier, the oldest of the lab pathologists. Bones had been found by a homeowner in Outremont when he dug a hole in his cellar floor. The remains were old and brittle, but Pelletier was unsure if they were human.
Nothing urgent.
My desk reasonably clear, I drove home and spent another glamorous evening in the oldest French city in North America.
Pizza. Bath. Baseball.
Birdie stayed through the eighth inning, then curled into a ball on the guest room bed. When I turned in at eleven-fifteen he stretched and relocated to my bedroom chair.
I fell asleep almost immediately and dreamed piecemeal scenarios that made no sense. Kit waved from a boat, Andrew Ryan by his side. Isabelle served dinner. A headless Cherokee Desjardins tweezered pieces of flesh and dropped them into a plastic sack.
When Kit came in I floated to the surface, but was too groggy to call out. He was still fumbling in the kitchen when I sank back into oblivion.
The next morning I was going through Pelletier's bones when Denis came into my lab.
"C'est Ia vedette!"
The star? Oh no.
He opened a copy of LeJournal de Montréal and showed me a picture of myself at the Vipers' clubhouse. Beside it was a short story recounting the recovery of Gately and Martineau, and identifying the mysterious third skeleton as that of sixteen-year-old Savannah Claire Osprey, according to the coroner, an American missing since 1984. The caption described me as a member of the Carcajou unit.
"C'est une promotion ou une reduction?"
I smiled, wondering if Quickwater and Claudel would see the error as a promotion or demotion, then resumed sorting. So far I was up to two lamb dinners, a pot roast, and more grilled chicken than I planned to count.
By ten I'd finished with the bones and written a detailed narrative saying that the remains were not human.
I took the report to the secretarial pool, then returned to my office and dialed Carcajou headquarters. Jacques Roy was in a meeting and wouldn't be free until late afternoon. I left my name and number I tried Claudel, left the same message. Charbonneau. Same name, same number Please call. I thought of using pagers, decided the situation was not that urgent.
Frustrated, I swiveled my chair and surveyed the river.
I couldn't examine the microstructure of the Myrtle Beach bones because the slides weren't ready. Cod knew when I'd have DNA results, or if there would be anything there to sequence.
I thought of calling Kate Brophy, but didn't want to pressure her. Besides, she was as concerned about the Osprey case as I was. More so. If she discovered anything she'd let me know
Now what?
LaManche was downstairs performing an autopsy on Cherokee. I could drop in, maybe assuage my doubts about the killing.
Pass. I was not enthused at the thought of studying another biker spread out on a table.
I decided to organize the material Kate had given me. I'd left in such a rush that I hadn't gone through it. We'd done a quick triage, packed everything into my briefcase, signed for possession, and raced to catch a flight.
I emptied the case onto my desk and stacked the photos to my left, the folders to my right. I picked a brown envelope, shook several five-by-sevens onto the blotter, and flipped one over It was labeled on the back with a date, location, event, name, and several reference numbers.