Bones Never Lie

by Kathy Reichs

  On Sunday I drove up to see Mama. At higher elevations, the precipitation hovered on the brink of snow. We sat by the fireplace, watching soggy flakes dissolve into puddles on the deck.

  Mama seemed tired, distracted. She asked only once about the “poor lost angels,” drifted through other topics, as though she’d forgotten or lost interest in what had energized her less than two weeks earlier.

  Mama’s stance on chemotherapy hadn’t softened. When I broached the subject, she shut me down. The only spark she showed all day.

  On my way out, I conferred with Dr. Finch. She urged acceptance. I asked how long. She refused to speculate. Inquired what hospital I preferred should the time come when Heatherhill was no longer adequate. As before, her eyes said more than her words.

  Once in the car, I phoned Harry. She refused to acknowledge the inevitable. Talked only of new therapies, miracle cures, a woman in Ecuador who had lived a decade following diagnosis. Classic baby sister.

  After disconnecting, I let the tears flow. Riding the salty gush, I focused on my headlights arrowing through the dark.

  The trip down the mountain seemed endless. The slushy snow triggered thoughts of my trip from St. Johnsbury to Burlington. I almost welcomed them. But not the horrendous collage that followed in their wake.

  A pale body floating in amber liquid. A small bloated corpse on a stainless steel table. Adolescent bones stored in a box on a shelf.

  That night the same images kept me awake. When sleep finally came, they invaded my dreams.

  Nellie Gower on the edge of a quarry. Lizzie Nance in a field at Latta Plantation. Tia Estrada beside a gazebo at a campground. Shelly Leal under a highway overpass.

  Facts. Leading to questions. Which looped into more questions. Never to answers.

  Anique Pomerleau hadn’t acted alone in Montreal. Her MO had involved an accomplice.

  Pomerleau’s second killing season had begun at a farm in Vermont. Her DNA was found on a victim there, on another in Charlotte.

  DNA from a lip print said the current doer in Charlotte was male. That fit the theory that Pomerleau had a killing partner.

  But Pomerleau was dead. Had her accomplice taken her off the board? Why? When?

  Had he brought his perverse delusions south? Why North Carolina? Was I the draw? Why?

  Was he following Pomerleau’s pattern of kidnapping on the anniversaries of previous abductions? Why continue the legacy without her?

  Would he strike again soon?

  I awoke to bright sunlight. Made coffee and went to bring in the paper.

  Blown leaves dotted the patio bricks. The sky was blue. The trees were alive with the businesslike twitter of mockingbirds and cardinals.

  I’d just filled my mug when my mobile sounded. At first I didn’t recognize the caller ID. Then I did.

  “Hope I didn’t rouse you.” Something in Hen Hull’s voice kicked my pulse up a notch.

  “Awake for hours,” I lied.

  “Took some doing, but I got it,” Hull said. “Ready?”

  I grabbed pen and paper from the counter. “Shoot.” She read off a number, and I wrote it down. “Can you trace—?”

  “Ready?”

  “Shoot.”

  “The call to Bellamy inquiring about the Estrada case came from a pay phone near the intersection of Fifth and North Caswell in your fair city. I thought mobiles had put pay phones up there with the horse and buggy. That and vandalism.”

  “The line might be long gone.”

  “Or the booth could be a toilet stall.”

  I thought a moment. “Even if the phone exists, and there’s video surveillance on that corner, there’s no chance footage would still be around.”

  “Not after two years.”

  The number was another dead end. I wanted to scream in frustration. “You think the caller was Estrada’s abductor?”

  “It wasn’t a journalist at the Post.”

  “Any word on the hair?” I asked.

  “The autopsy was done by a guy named Bullsbridge. I’m waiting for a callback.”

  “Is he competent?”

  “I’m waiting for a callback.”

  “I’ll brief Slidell,” I said.

  “Keep in touch.”

  I disconnected. Redialed. The line was busy.

  I left a message. The device was still in my hand when Slidell phoned back.

  “I got—”

  “Hull got—”

  We both stopped.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “I got the number of the call on Colleen Donovan. From Tasat’s phone.”

  I read off the digits I’d written down.

  “Where the hell’d you get that?”

  I told him about the caller claiming to be a journalist at the Salisbury Post.

  “Same phone. I’ll be goddamned.”

  “Undoubtedly the same person. A solid link between Estrada and Donovan.”

  “Still don’t tie ’em to Gower and Nance. Or those two to the others.”

  “Jesus, Slidell. What do you need?”

  “I’m advocating the devil.”

  I was too amped to point out that he was garbling the metaphor.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Now I get my nuts handed to me by the DC.”

  “You’ve asked for another meeting with Salter?”

  “No. Special Asshole Tinker has.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s got issues with my attitude.”

  “Tell Salter about the calls.”

  “Eeyuh.”

  I tried Ryan. Got voicemail. Rodas. Barrow. Voicemail. Voicemail.

  My pulse was humming. I couldn’t sit still.

  I changed my ringtone. Did a load of laundry. Ran the vacuum. Put eggs on to boil. Forgot them until the smell of burning shells made me race to the kitchen.

  At noon I pulled on gym shorts, a sweatshirt, and Nikes and pounded out two miles on the booty loop. Breathing hard, I inhaled a mixture of wet cement and rain-soaked grass and leaves. Of sun-warmed metal from the cars lining the curbs.

  When I finished, students were streaming between the buildings at Queens University. As I walked the last block back to Sharon Hall, the air felt cool on my sweat-slicked skin.

  At home, I checked my mobile and landline. No one had called. I wondered if Slidell was still in his meeting with Salter. Or if he’d left it too peeved to bother with me.

  I showered and changed into jeans and a sweater. Continuing to feel agitated, I pulled out the copy I’d made of the Nance file.

  What was the definition of insanity? Repeating the same action and expecting different results?

  Knowing it was futile but needing to do something, I began going through every entry again. Photos. CSS and ME reports. Interview summaries. As with the files in Montreal, the exercise felt like a faded letter from another time.

  But today there was an added element. Something nagging at the periphery of my thoughts. Something that refused to come into focus.

  Was my subconscious noting a detail that I was missing?

  At three I tried Slidell again. With the same result. I thought about calling Tinker. Didn’t, knowing Skinny would rip the skin off my face.

  Harry called at four. Should she send Mama flowers? Should she come for a visit? For now, I endorsed FTD.

  A cup of Earl Grey, then back to the file.

  Still my subconscious tickled. What? A photo? Something I’d read? Something Ring had said? Hull?

  At five I gave up.

  Out of ideas but unable to rest, I got online and called up a map of Charlotte. After locating the intersection of North Caswell and Fifth Street, I switched to satellite view and zoomed in.

  I spotted the pay phone. Beside it was a parking lot filled with vehicles. Below that a sprawling brick structure.

  I activated the label function. A purple bubble appeared. I clicked on it. Saw the words “CMC—Mercy.”

  Carolinas Medical Center—Mercy Hospit
al.

  Something flickered in my lower centers. Was gone.

  I stared at the screen, willing the pesky spark to burst through.

  It did. With a high-voltage jolt.

  Lizzie Nance had been researching ER nursing for a school project. They’d found the report on her laptop after she died.

  Shelly Leal had gone to an ER for dysmenorrhea.

  Colleen Donovan had been transported to an ER after falling and hitting her head.

  A caller using fake identities had dialed from a pay phone across from a hospital. To check on Estrada. To check on Donovan.

  As I thought about it, I could feel my blood pumping faster.

  I grabbed the phone. Had to key the digits twice. “Come on. Come on.”

  “Yo.” Slidell was chewing on something.

  My words came out at breakneck speed. In finishing, “You need to call Shelly Leal’s mother. Ask what hospital they took her to. Then find out where Donovan was treated.”

  “I’ll get back to you.” Gruff.

  The wait seemed endless. In fact, it was under an hour.

  “CMC—Mercy,” Slidell said.

  “Sonofabitch,” I said. “That’s where the victims were chosen.”

  “I’ll get a list of employees.”

  “Without a warrant?”

  “I’ll persuade them.”

  “How?”

  “Personal charm. If that don’t work, I’ll threaten to dime the Observer.”

  Slidell had the roster by ten. “You got any idea how many people work at a hospital?”

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “I’m running the names against those I got from the DMV on the license plate ID. Special Asshole’s gonna start sending ’em through the system.”

  “Doesn’t every hospital employee undergo a background check?”

  “Yeah. That stops the bad guys.”

  “Focus on those with an ER connection.”

  We hung up.

  While waiting to hear back from Slidell, I tried Ryan again. This time he answered.

  He was as pumped as I was. Congratulated me. “Not much dropping here,” he said.

  “Have you found Tawny McGee’s psychologist?”

  “Yeah. Pamela Lindahl. She’s actually a social services psychiatrist.”

  “Is she still affiliated with the General?”

  “Yes. But she sucks at returning calls. I’ll keep on it. But I doubt finding McGee will lead anywhere.”

  I couldn’t disagree. And wondered if opening the wound was worth the cost. “What about Rodas?” I asked.

  “He called in some chits with the press. Had Pomerleau’s face published statewide, along with a description and a plea to the public for pics or video taken between 2004 and 2009 in which she might be seen in the background. You know, photo bombing at a store, a gas station, a parking lot.”

  “If she’s with a guy, it could put a face to her playmate.”

  “Exactly. It’s unlikely, but you never know. He’s also got people canvassing door-to-door in Hardwick and St. Johnsbury.”

  I asked Ryan if he was planning to return to Charlotte. He said soon.

  There was an awkward pause. Or I imagined one. Then we disconnected.

  Knowing I wouldn’t sleep, I made tea and returned to the Nance file.

  Gran’s clock ticked softly from its place on the mantel.

  As expected, I found nothing further.

  At midnight I switched to the reports awaiting my attention. My mind kept drifting. I speculated. Pomerleau’s accomplice was an EMT. A nurse. A security guard.

  The hours dragged by at glacial speed.

  Slidell finally called at two A.M.

  He had learned three things.

  CHAPTER 29

  “LEAL WENT TO Mercy.”

  “When?”

  “Sometime last summer. The mother thinks late July.”

  “Does she know who treated her daughter?”

  “No.”

  “The ER will have a record of the visit.”

  “Really?”

  “They’ll probably insist on a subpoena.”

  “You want to hear this?”

  Easy. You’re both tired.

  “The good news is the place has security cameras up the wazoo. The bad news, they got storage issues. Only keep tapes ninety days.”

  “You need to requisition the most recent set.”

  “Hadn’t thought of that.”

  There was a censorious pause. Then I heard pages flip, knew the spiral was being thumbed.

  “Got a possible hit from my DMV list.”

  Slidell delivered it so flatly I thought I’d misunderstood. I waited for him to clarify.

  “Hamet Ajax. Drives a 2009 Hyundai Sonata. Dark blue. First two digits match the tag spotted by the genius on Morningside.”

  “The witness who saw Leal outside the convenience store?”

  “Maybe saw her.”

  “How did you narrow in on Ajax?”

  “Jesus, I already told you. I cross-checked the names from the DMV against the hospital employee list.”

  Easy, Brennan.

  “So Ajax works at Mercy?”

  “Since 2009.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Part-time ER doc.”

  “Why didn’t you just say that?”

  “I did.”

  “And now?”

  “I do some digging.”

  “On Ajax.”

  “No. On the guy served my steak too rare last night.”

  Deep breath. “Let me know what you learn.”

  It took me a long time to drift off after that, and I slept fitfully, floating in and out of dreams starring Mama. On waking, I retained nothing but a sense of her presence and a potpourri of disjointed images.

  Hands braiding long blond hair. A delicate brass bell on a bedside table. A glossy white vase with shamrocks curling its rim. Tears. The word “Belleek” coming from trembling lips.

  I got out of bed feeling anxious. Useless.

  I was pouring my second coffee when the phone rang.

  Reflex. Time check: 7:40.

  Slidell sounded drained, I guessed from working all night. He wasted no time on sarcasm or his version of wit. “Ajax is a pedophile.”

  The word drove an icicle straight into my heart.

  “Did a nickel in Oklahoma for molesting a kid.”

  “Now what?”

  “Now I invite the slimeball in for a chat.”

  “I want to observe.”

  “ ’Course you do.”

  The interview was supposed to take place at three that afternoon. Turned out Slidell hadn’t been able to wait. When I got to the LEC, he and Ajax were already in an interview room. I walked past it to the adjacent one.

  Barrow and a handful of CMPD detectives stood watching a monitor to which Ajax’s image was being transmitted. They looked up when I entered, expressions empty, expecting little, or unimpressed with what they were seeing. Barrow nodded and stepped to his left. The others shifted right. I moved into the space created for me.

  Ajax took up most of the screen. He was a tall bony man in a suit made for a tall muscular man. His hair was black, his skin surprisingly pale. Tortoiseshell glasses magnified eyes already too large in a face overcommitted to nose. I thought he might be Middle Eastern, perhaps Indian or Pakistani.

  He sat at a metal table, hands motionless on the simulated wood top. Behind him, the wall was mauve above waist level, white cinder block below. The floor-bolted cuffs had not been clamped on his ankles.

  Slidell was opposite, one shoulder and a bit of greasy scalp visible on-screen. An unopened folder lay on his side of the table.

  “Anything so far?” I asked.

  Barrow shook his head.

  “I worked last night as well as today.” Ajax’s tone was serene, his English subtly accented. “I’m quite weary now.”

  “That what you used to tell the missus so you could bang that kid?”
<
br />   No reaction from Ajax.

  “Good scam. Claim to be at the hospital, go cruising instead.”

  “I’ve told you. It wasn’t like that.”

  “Right. The kid was your family’s babysitter. That made it okay.”

  “I’m not saying my conduct was appropriate. I’m saying I never sought children out.”

  “Easier to hit on the ones who already trusted you.” Slidell’s tone dripped with disgust.

  “There were no others.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I made a mistake. The circumstances were … unusual.”

  “How’s that?”

  “The girl in question was mature for her age. Her behavior was provocative.”

  I felt my whole body cringe with repugnance.

  “You perverted piece of scum.” On-screen.

  “Gives scum a bad name.” The detective behind me.

  “I served my time,” Ajax said, unruffled. “I underwent therapy.”

  “Last I checked, the sex registry ain’t optional for mutants like you.”

  “I submitted my name in Oklahoma.”

  “This ain’t Oklahoma.”

  “My offense was fifteen years ago. I was required to register for ten.”

  “You do that back when you landed here?”

  Ajax pulled a wry grin. “I am a changed man.”

  “A real humanitarian.”

  “I cure the sick.”

  “Let’s go back over that. You stitched up a sixteen-year-old name of Colleen Donovan. Street kid brought in by the cops. Head wound.”

  “I repeat. I treat hundreds of patients each year.”

  “How about Shelly Leal. Came in last summer complaining of cramps.”

  “Without access to charts, I can’t possibly know.”

  “Yeah? Well, we know.” Slidell’s hand came into view. Flipped open the folder and removed a printout.

  I looked at Barrow. He shook his head, indicating it was a ruse.

  “Perhaps I treated this patient.” Unruffled. “What of it?”

  Slidell’s hand took a second paper from the folder and winged it across the table. “That your car?”

  Ajax rotated the page and glanced down. “I drive a Hyundai.”

  “Check the plate.”

  He did. “The vehicle is mine. And legally registered.”

  “We got a witness saw you shove Shelly Leal into that car.”