Bones: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman

Author:Jonathan Kellerman [Kellerman, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Adult, Psychology
ISBN: 0345495136
Amazon: B001652HUO
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2008-10-21T05:00:00+00:00

We stashed the car in the staff lot, walked to the restaurant. The room was buzzing; two long tables filled with white-collar co-workers and a corner booth occupied by Moe Reed and Liz Wilkinson.

The two of them sat closer together than required for business. Serving bowls were untouched. Reed had his jacket on, but he’d removed his tie, spread his collar. Liz Wilkinson’s unnetted hair was a wealth of glossy ringlets. A teal-blue dress worked well with her skin tone.

He smiled, she laughed. Their elbows bumped. They both laughed.

They saw us simultaneously, startled like kids caught playing doctor.

Reed shot to his feet. “Loo. Doc. Dr. Wilkinson’s got interesting stuff to tell us about those finger bones. ’Bout time we got something, huh?”

Jabbering fast. Liz Wilkinson stared up at him.

Milo eyed a plate of lamb. “I converted you to curry, Detective Reed?”

“She—Dr. Wilkinson likes it.”

Liz Wilkinson said, “It just so happens to be one of my favorite cuisines, so when Moses suggested it, I thought great. I’m adding this place to my list.”

“Join us,” Reed said, with more volume than necessary.

The bespectacled woman emerged from the rear of the restaurant. Today’s sari was blood red. The sight of Milo made her glow. She hurried back to the kitchen.

“She sure looks happy,” said Liz Wilkinson.

“He’s a good customer,” said Reed. “The lieutenant.”

Moments later, a platter of lobster arrived with a flourish.

Liz said, “Whoa, someone’s VIP. Thanks for letting us ride your coattail, Lieutenant.”

“Milo’s fine, Doctor. So what do you have for us?”

“We assembled the phalanges from the box and ended up with three complete sets. Given the dimensions of the left hands on all three of your buried victims, it was fairly easy to match everything up. Laura Chenoweth’s digits were noticeably larger than those of the other two. And Number Three—Ms. Montouthe’s—showed clear signs of arthritis. The other finding is the bones were subjected to an acid wash. Sulfuric acid, specifically, diluted to a level where it debrided—removed soft tissue but did no serious damage to the bone. I suspected some sort of treatment right off. The surfaces are much smoother—polished, really—than you’d expect from time and water and decomp. I did a scraping and found traces of sulfuric acid in the outer layer for all three victims.”

Moe Reed said, “Shining them up fits with a personal trophy.”

“So does placing them in a fancy box,” I said. “The question is why go to all that trouble, then abandon the cache in a way that guaranteed discovery? That makes me wonder if they started as souvenirs but changed to something else: a taunt.”

“ ‘Look what I did,’ ” said Milo.

“It’s consistent with the games Hernandez found in the storage unit.”

“Playing with us.”

Liz Wilkinson said, “What kind of games?”

Reed said, “Just the boards—Monopoly, Life.”

“Money and basic existence,” she said. “That’s pretty primal.”

Reed said, “Money, existence, ending someone else’s existence.” He shifted closer to her. She didn’t mind.

I said, “Selena’s murder also supports an exhibitionist angle. Up until her, the killer chose victims he considered throwaways, buried them where they could’ve remained indefinitely.

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