Bones of the Lost

sorry.”
    “It’s better this way.”
    Pete dropped the upraised hand onto my good one. Our eyes locked. His thumb began stroking my skin.
    The moment became embarrassingly long.
    “Is there anything I can do to help?” Slipping free of Pete’s grasp.
    “You already have.”
    Pete left me sitting in my chair, staring at half-empty cartons of my Chinese favorites.
    As I got up to clear the table, a sudden thought struck me. Had Pete filed the divorce papers? Was he at long last officially my ex?
    When finished with the dishes, I went up to my room. Lying in bed with Birdie, I thought about loss.
    Aqsaee and Rasekh.
    Ara and Rosalie.
    Lily.
    ICE agents would care for Gross’s victims. Find out who they are, where they came from, what happened to them. They would return the girls to their homes. Or set them on the road to better lives.
    La Police Nationale would track Jean Pruet and the girls he had trafficked into France.
    Canadian authorities would probe Lily’s death. They would shut down the shooting gallery where she died. Arrest the dealers who led her to that time and place.
    All three investigations would involve grim, gut-wrenching tasks.
    Cuddling with my cat, I resolved one thing.
    The world is rife with evil and misfortune, but it is also full of good people determined to right wrongs. I would not sink into sadness. I would celebrate those who refuse to give up. Those who battle to make things better.
    But who, I wondered, would battle for Ryan in his agony?
    Ryan.
    Pete.
    I needed to be alone.
    Needed time to consider and digest all that had happened.



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    Published by William Heinemann 2013

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    Copyright © Temperance Brennan, L.P., 2013

    Kathy Reichs has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

    Published by arrangement with the original publisher, Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    First published in Great Britain in 2013 by William Heinemann
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    ISBN 9780434021154 (Hardback)
ISBN 9780434021161 (Trade paperback)