by Kathy Reichs
“Showtime,” Ramsey said softly.
I unbuckled my seat belt.
“Best let me do the talking,”
“Works for me,” I agreed.
Ramsey got out and began weaving through the back-pewers now arriving at their cars. Ignoring the distrustful looks and the chorus of wheep-wheeps around me, I hurried to keep up.
The priest was of average height and scarecrow thin. Black hair greased and combed back from his face, acne-scarred cheeks, indigo eyes. On spotting us, he abandoned the conversation to watch our approach. The Teagues turned to see what had robbed them of their pastor’s attention.
Recognizing Ramsey, or his uniform, John’s face went rigid. Unconsciously or not, he rolled his shoulders and spread his feet, a kid preparing for a double dare.
Still tracking us, the priest leaned in and said something I couldn’t hear. John nodded, but remained coiled.
“Sunday blessings, Deputy.” The voice was deep and rich as honey on toast. “What can I do for you this fine day?”
“Good morning, sir. We’d like a few words with Mr. and Mrs. Teague.” Neighborly grin, just a simple country sheriff doing his job. “Won’t take but a minute, then we’re on our way.”
“Of course, of course.” The priest smiled and arced an arm at the church behind him. The flapping vestment made me think of a giant green bird. “But at the Lord’s house? On the Lord’s day?”
“And you are?” Ramsey was still grinning, but far less warmly.
“Father Granger Hoke. Father G to my followers.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Teague know the reason we’re here.”
“May I ask what that is?” Again flashing yards of priestly dentition.
Ramsey stared at John, who stared right back.
Up close, I could see that Teague was rat-faced, with an undersize jaw and florid complexion. His wife was bland and colorless, the type you’d pass on the street and later be unable to describe. Though she kept her eyes down, a twitch in one lower lid danced feathery shadows across her cheek.
Hoke’s smile swung between Ramsey and the couple at his side, holding, but losing ground.
“First that meddling old hag, now you. This is harassment.” John’s voice was deep and gravelly. The one I’d heard on the audio? I lowered my breathing, anxious to catch every nuance.
“Hag?” Ramsey asked.
“The clown-haired one. The woman needs a good—”
“Hazel Strike?” The question was out before I could stop myself. “When did you last talk with her?”
Teague looked my way, but offered no reply.
“When girls go missing we take the situation seriously.” Ramsey, getting back on point.
Hoke’s lips tightened and his brows rose slightly. Surprised? Wary? His hands dropped into an inverted V in front of his genitals.
“No one’s missing,” Teague growled.
“You’ve heard from Cora?”
A beat, then, “Proverbs thirty, seventeen.” Teague’s pitch was low and threatening. “The eye of one who mocks his father and who despises the childbearing of his mother, let the ravens of the torrent tear it out, and let the sons of the eagles consume it.”
“Now, John, we mustn’t forget.” Hoke placed a fatherly hand on John’s shoulder. “The sweet Lord Jesus also preaches forgiveness.”
“Everything all right, Father?”
Hoke and Teague turned. Ramsey and I looked past them.
A man had appeared in the open doorway. Maybe thirty, very tall, with broad shoulders sloping from a powerful neck, and the same flushed skin and rodent features as Teague.
“Owen Lee, please join us.” Again, the smile and flapping brocade.
Owen Lee stepped forward onto the stoop. Stopped. Crossed his arms and regarded us, expressionless.
“Owen Lee is John and Fatima’s eldest,” Hoke explained. “And a very valuable member of our parish. Every day, I thank God for Owen Lee’s support.”
Ramsey nodded to the younger, refocused on the elder.
“Cora?” The deputy’s tone was now pure steel.
“Hebrews thirteen, four.” Teague’s eyes, hard on Ramsey’s, burned with the fervor of a zealot. Perhaps with hatred. “Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
Fatima flinched, as though shocked with live current. Owen Lee stood stoic. The guy looked vaguely familiar. In the way a beef carcass looks vaguely familiar. Something about his build. Pete? Harry’s second husband, the guy we called the Hulk?
“Where is your daughter, sir?”
“Run off to serve the flesh. To fornicate with a man who bears the devil’s—”
“And who would that be?”
Teague slid a glance to Hoke, who nodded encouragement.
“Mason Gulley.” Spit, as though the name were a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Mason is another of our parishioners,” Hoke offered. “Or was, until recently.”
“How recently?”
The priest gave a nervous clip of a laugh. “Dear me, Deputy. I’d have to check my—”
“Estimate.”
After considering, Hoke said, “Mason helped with our renovation project. Not all of it, but toward the end. We painted, upgraded the family center, replaced the old steps. It was a parishwide effort, every hour of labor and every ounce of material donated gratis.” Nodding toward Teague. “John’s generosity made the new parking area possible. It was such an outpouring of God’s—”
“Then he stopped attending?”
“I believe so.”
“When was that?”
“2011. As I recall, the project finished up around the time school started.”
Ramsey to Teague. “What makes you think Cora left with Mason Gulley?”
Teague only glared. Behind him, his son watched and listened.
Ramsey’s eyes moved to the priest.
Hoke’s fingers tightened on the burly shoulder inside the ratty black suit. Again, he nodded reassurance.
Teague’s Adam’s apple rose and fell. When he answered, the feral edge to his voice sent ice up my spine.
“Because the Lord Jesus whispered to me that Satan himself come down from the mountain to claim their whoring souls.”
Most autopsies follow a standard routine. After an external exam, the legendary Y incision is made. The organs are removed, weighed, and inspected. Key vessels and nerves are observed.
With the gut cavity emptied, a U-shaped cut is made across the crown of the head, from ear to ear. The scalp is pulled down over the face in front and the neck in back. The scalp’s tough underside is searched for blood or bruising, the skull’s outer surface for nicks or fractures.
Then a handheld surgical saw is revved up. A removable cap is created, asymmetrical to avoid slippage when the skull is reassembled and the scalp stitched back together.
The cap is detached with a tug and a slurping suck, revealing the dura mater, a thick membrane encasing the brain. The dura mater is checked for epidural hematoma—pooled blood that may have pressed on the brain and resulted in death. And for subdural hematoma on the flip side.
Though “gray matter” gets all the press, the brain’s outer surface is actually white and laced with the gauzy arachnoid and pia maters. At this point the brain’s fine webs and fissures are observed for evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracranial bleeding triggered by the brain banging around inside the skull, shearing delicate vessels on its surface.
Next, fingers are inserted under the open brow, the frontal lobes are hooked and lifted, and the nerves and vessels leading to the face are snipped. The tentorium cerebelli, the shelf of dura mater that protects the cerebellum and brain stem, the “reptile brain,” is severed. Using a scalpel long enough to reach the base of the skull, the spinal cord is cut, and the brain is slipped free. The cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata now lie in the pathologist’s hand. Or in the skullcap, maybe a stainless-steel bowl used like a catcher’s mitt.
The brain is place
d in a formaldehyde solution, where, over the next two weeks, its consistency changes from Jell-O to cheese. After every inch of its complex surface is observed, it is cut with a long fillet knife, much like sausage. Slice by slice, its internal structure is studied.
But none of that would happen with the remains discovered off the Devil’s Tail trail.
Since refrigeration was unnecessary, the bones, bucket fragments, and concrete had spent the weekend locked in the Avery County property room. Ramsey had promised delivery early Monday morning. He’d also promised to look into Mason Gulley.
After leaving the Holiness church, Ramsey had dropped me at my car. Provisioned with unwanted sandwiches, cookies, and apples from Aunt Ruby, I’d made a surgical strike at Heatherhill Farm, then headed home.
At the annex I’d booked a flight to Montreal, then gone straight to bed, not glancing at the accusing paper muddle on the dining room table. In the morning, I’d again shot past it to the kitchen, then straight out the door.
For the hundredth time, I glanced at the clock. Ten-seventeen. Impatient, I phoned Ramsey. He said he was at the CMPD forensics lab, dropping off the bucket. Estimated he’d be at the MCME in half an hour.
In most jurisdictions, weekends mean paychecks, idle hours, and booze. Daddy gets hammered and clocks Mommy with the blender. Junior kills a six-pack and then himself, going ninety in a buddy’s Camaro. Sis leaves a bar to score crank and ends up in a dumpster. Bottom line. Mondays are often hectic for those looking after the dead.
Today was no exception. With the MCME humming around me, I went in search of Larabee, half hoping he’d already started an autopsy. No such luck. He was on the phone, but gestured me into his office.
Larabee listened, chin propped on one palm. I updated him on Ramsey, the Teagues, including Cora and Eli, Mason Gulley, the Church of Jesus Lord Holiness, Brown Mountain, the Devil’s Tail trail, the bucket, concrete, and bones. Everything but my romp with the renegade rock.
“You can’t just hit the mall on weekends?”
That merited no response.
“The priest, a guy who calls himself Father G, advised Teague to cooperate.”
“Holiness doesn’t sound Catholic to me.”
I summarized what Aunt Ruby had said, mentioned the serpent folks. Larabee knew of them, had a colleague who’d autopsied a preacher with substandard handling skills.
“I may roll a few questions past a more traditional member of the clergy.” I already had one in mind.
“Troubling that the parents never reported her missing.”
“Yes.”
“You still think she’s dead.” More statement than question. Larabee is uncanny at reading me.
“I do.”
“You want to cast the head,” he said.
“I want to try.”
“Did you obtain antemorts?”
“Ramsey said he’d get pics from the parents.”
“Long shot.”
“To the moon and back.”
“You really think Teague is capable of killing his daughter?”
I pictured the fiery eyes. Heard the venomous voice.
“I think it’s possible.”
“Well, it’s your lucky day. Nothing’s landed that needs anthropology expertise.” He swiveled his chair, typed a few keystrokes, then ran a finger across the spreadsheet that appeared on his monitor.
“Log it as case number ME135-15.”
“The concrete, too?”
He thought about that. “Sure. Who knows what’s trapped inside.”
Larabee stood. Meeting over.
The landline was ringing when I entered my office. Ramsey was in the lobby. I told the receptionist, Mrs. Flowers, to send him back. He arrived carrying a large canvas satchel.
“What did they say at the lab?” I asked.
“They’ll check for prints, trace, body fluids, the usual. Based on the background I provided, they weren’t optimistic.”
“Did you tell the Teagues they should provide DNA samples?”
“I did. Not a chance.”
I looked at the satchel. The pull on its handles and the double sag in its belly suggested considerable weight. “Do you mind carrying that to an autopsy suite?”
“Lead on.”
“You can leave your jacket here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
In the stinky room, I asked Ramsey to glove and remove the two hunks of concrete. At my direction he placed them on the counter, hollow side up.
First I shot a series of photos. Then, after gloving and masking, I ran sterile cotton balls and swabs around the interior of each hollow, repeated the process again and again.
Ramsey watched, feet spread, thumbs hooking his belt.
I was sealing the specimens into plastic evidence bags when I noticed two pale filaments wrapping the cotton topping one stick. I looked more closely at the others. A few had collected similar strands.
Could we get that lucky?
Heart beating a little faster, I took the swab to a dissecting scope, flipped the light switch, and adjusted focus.
The filaments were mere microns in diameter, like fibers of silk, only more brittle. Each was gossamer pale, almost translucent.
“Damn,” I muttered under my breath.
Or out loud. I heard Ramsey shift, but he said nothing.
“I thought it might be hair, but these look so fine.”
Ramsey’s heels clicked across the tile. Wordlessly, I held out a mask. He took it. I stepped back. He bent and squinted into the eyepiece.
Seconds passed. Then, “What about a kid?”
“The hollow is too big to have been made by the head of a child.”
“What’s the shiny stuff?”
“What do you mean?”
“The cotton’s glossy in spots.”
“Let me see.” Not so gently nudging him sideways.
Ramsey was right. Here and there the white fluff looked oily and discolored. Hair product? Lotion? Decomp? Sweat? Possibilities ping-ponged in my brain.
I took a million more swabs, labeled and sealed them. When I was certain nothing more could remain in the smallest crevice or recess, I inspected the edges along which the concrete had split.
My recall was correct. The surfaces were clean and smooth. Miraculously, there was no evidence of chipping or erosion.
Hawkins had come through in response to my request. On the counter were aerosol cans of a liquid rubber coating product and containers of silicone sealant. In the sink was an apparatus I assumed to be a vise, maybe intended for furniture repair, maybe for something entirely different. I didn’t care. It was perfect.
After spraying every inch of the hollow, I applied the sealant to the broken edges. Then, using muscles I knew would later demand an accounting, I counterbalanced Ramsey as we jammed the two halves of concrete tight to each other.
And waited a full five minutes.
Then with further Maria Sharapova grunting on my part, we maneuvered the restored mold into the apparatus, bottom side up. Ramsey held it steady while I tightened the clamps.
More sealant. More tightening.
Satisfied the glue would hold, I went in search of a power drill. Found one in the back of the last storage closet I checked.
Returning to the stinky room, I donned goggles and handed a pair to Ramsey. Then I plugged in the cord and placed the drill tip where I expected the least thickness in the concrete.
My eyes rolled up to Ramsey’s. His looked back from behind the big plastic lenses. He raised a thumb.
I fired up the drill. It screamed and spit dust and tiny shards into the air. The acrid smell of scorching metal and hot rock permeated the room. I held my breath, willing the concrete not to crack.
It seemed like an aeon. But in less than a minute the tip of the bit poked through to the hollow interior. I pulled the drill upward and, exerting circular outward pressure, enlarged the opening I’d created.
No spiderwebbing fissures. No radiating fault
lines.
On its own, my arm shot up in a high-five gesture. To my surprise, the deputy’s hand met mine. Mildly embarrassed, we both turned to removing our goggles. Then I mixed a batch of Duraplast, a fiber-reinforced plastic not unlike the material used by the Avery techs to take tool-mark impressions at the Devil’s Tail.
While Ramsey watched, I inserted the spout of a plastic funnel into the opening and began to pour. The soft glug-glug-glug seemed to go on forever.
When the hollow was full, I set the funnel on the counter. For a moment, we both studied the pasty white liquid through the little round hole.
Was I nuts? Overreaching? Saying I had misgivings would be like saying Descartes had qualms about God.
“Did you get photos?” I broke the silence.
“Yes, ma’am. In my jacket.”
“Okay. Bones first, then pics.”
While Ramsey returned to the satchel, I covered the autopsy table with a plastic-backed paper sheet. As I palmed the fold lines flat, he placed a small Tupperware tub at its center.
I pried off the lid, deposited and distributed the fragments so none overlapped. All had come from an adult human skull. All were weathered and badly chewed.
Quick inventory. Six bits of parietal. Two bits of occipital, one with a squiggly remnant of lambdoid suture. Four bits of frontal, one with a portion of supraorbital rim.
The half inch of suture had edges that were smooth and unfused. The vascular grooves on all endocranial surfaces were shallow. Age: young adult.
The curvature on the frontal suggested a brow ridge of moderate size. Which meant sex could be male or female.
There was no marker to even hint at ancestry.
“Now what?” Ramsey asked when I’d told him.
“Now you deliver the swabs to the lab.” I stripped off my mask and gloves. “And we wait.”
“How long?”
“This sucker’s big.” Gesturing at the hardening cast. “Probably overkill, but I want to give it a couple of days.”
“Sorry I’ll miss the unveiling.”
“Could be a bust.”
“Isn’t that the goal?”
