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The Bone Bed ks-20

Page 37

by Patricia Cornwell


  “I’m confident we’re going to have DNA,” I assure him. “Paint samples from the lobster boat match the trace of paint on the bamboo pole, the same residue on the barnacle I removed from the leatherback. And that places his boat in the area where Peggy Stanton’s body was recovered, where he ran into the turtle, plus he had her cell phone and checks. He had Emma Shubert’s cell phone, and a range extender in his warehouse so he could log on to Logan’s wireless. And then there’s the rather glaring detail of Mildred Lott’s body.”

  I mention that it might be difficult for even Jill Donoghue to explain why Mildred Lott’s body was found frozen rock-solid inside one of Al Galbraith’s freezers.

  “Donoghue will say Channing Lott had something to do with it or is to blame, and what’s maddening about it is he can’t be tried again.” Benton’s voice is glum, his chin resting on top of my head.

  “Well, that would be a good argument.” I feel his heartbeat through my jacket, and I reach up to kiss him. “And I’m glad you’re not the lawyer in this case. Let’s go eat.”

  • • •

  For a complete list of this author’s books click here or visit

  www.penguin.com/cornwellchecklist

  credits

  As always, I’m grateful to those who so generously share their expertise during a Scarpetta journey. All of you help make the magic.

  Thank you, Dr. Marcella Fierro, for all things forensic-pathological, and as always I’m grateful for Dr. Nicholas Petraco, the guru of trace evidence.

  I’m indebted to Stephen Braga for guiding me through legal dilemmas and courtroom scenes, and to Cambridge Police Detective Danny Marshall for letting me tag along with him.

  Hugs to Dan and Donna Aykroyd for daring Staci and me to join them on a dinosaur dig in northwest Canada’s bone beds, where I found a seventy-million-year-old tooth and the idea for this novel.

  What a blast that the U.S. Coast Guard (San Diego) and the Boston Fire Department’s marine unit shared their go-fast boats with me.

  I’ll always owe you, Connie Merigo, the New England Aquarium’s rescue director, for teaching me all about sea turtles, and allowing me to get close enough to touch and smell a rare leatherback.

  And words of thanks aren’t enough for my partner, Dr. Staci Gruber, my muse for technology, for everything.

  ALSO BY PATRICIA CORNWELL

  SCARPETTA SERIES

  Red Mist

  Port Mortuary

  The Scarpetta Factor

  Scarpetta

  Book of the Dead

  Predator

  Trace

  Blow Fly

  The Last Precinct

  Black Notice

  Point of Origin

  Unnatural Exposure

  Cause of Death

  From Potter’s Field

  The Body Farm

  Cruel and Unusual

  All That Remains

  Body of Evidence

  Postmortem

  NONFICTION

  Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed

  ANDY BRAZIL SERIES

  Isle of Dogs

  Southern Cross

  Hornet’s Nest

  WIN GARANO SERIES

  The Front

  At Risk

  BIOGRAPHY

  Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham

  OTHER WORKS

  Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen

  Life’s Little Fable

  Scarpetta’s Winter Table

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  Publishers Since 1838

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Copyright © 2012 by Cornwell Entertainment, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Published simultaneously in Canada

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Cornwell, Patricia Daniels.

  The bone bed / Patricia Cornwell.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-1-101-60663-6

  1. Scarpetta, Kay (Fictitious character). 2. Murder—Fiction. 3. Medical examiners (Law)—Fiction. 4. Forensic pathologists—Fiction. 5. Women physicians—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3553.O692B64 2012 2012026347

  813'.54—dc23

  Title page photographs by Patricia Cornwell © 2012 by Cornwell Entertainment, Inc.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Document authors :

  Patricia Cornwell

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