City Of Bones

swelling due to the hematoma. Now the fracture itself and the surgical scar show the beginning of bridging across the lesions. New bone. I would say this injury and subsequent surgery occurred approximately six months prior to the boy’s death.”
    “It’s not the injury causing death?” Bosch asked.
    “No. This is.”
    Golliher turned the skull one more time and showed them another fracture. This one in the lower left rear of the skull.
    “Tight spider web fracture with no bridging, no consolidation. This injury occurred at the time of death. The tightness of the fracture indicates a blow with tremendous force from a very hard object. A baseball bat, perhaps. Something like that.”
    Bosch nodded and stared down at the skull. Golliher had turned it so that its hollow eyes were focused on Bosch.
    “There are other injuries to the head, but not of a fatal nature. The nose bones and the zygomatic process show new bone formation following trauma.”
    Golliher returned to the autopsy table and gently placed the skull down.
    “I don’t think I need to summarize for you, Detectives, but in short, somebody beat the shit out of this boy on a regular basis. Eventually, they went too far. It will all be in the report to you.”
    He turned from the autopsy table and looked at them.
    “There is a glimmer of light in all of this, you know. Something that might help you.”
    “The surgery,” Bosch said.
    “Exactly. Opening a skull is a very serious operation. There will be records somewhere. There had to be follow-up. The roundel is held back in place with metal clips after surgery. There were none found with the skull. I would assume they were removed in a second procedure. Again, there will be records. The surgical scar also helps us date the bones. The trephine holes are too large by today’s standards. By the mid-eighties the tools were more advanced than this. Sleeker. The perforations were smaller. I hope this all helps you.”
    Bosch nodded and said, “What about the teeth? Anything there?”
    “We are missing the lower mandible,” Golliher said. “On the upper teeth present there is no indication of any dental work despite indication of ante-mortem decay. This in itself is a clue. I think it puts this boy in the lower levels of social classification. He didn’t go to the dentist.”
    Edgar had pulled his mask down around his neck. His expression was pained.
    “When this kid was in the hospital with the hematoma, why wouldn’t he tell the doctors what was happening to him? What about his teachers, his friends?”
    “You know the answers to that as well as me, Detective,” Golliher said. “Children are reliant on their parents. They are scared of them and they love them, don’t want to lose them. Sometimes there is no explanation for why they don’t cry out for help.”
    “What about all these fractures and such? Why didn’t the doctors see it and do something?”
    “That’s the irony of what I do. I see the history and tragedy so clearly. But with a living patient it might not be apparent. If the parents came in with a plausible explanation for the boy’s injury, what reason would a doctor have to X-ray an arm or a leg or a chest? None. And so the nightmare goes unnoticed.”
    Unsatisfied, Edgar shook his head and walked to the far corner of the room.
    “Anything else, Doctor?” Bosch asked.
    Golliher checked his notes and then folded his arms.
    “That’s it on a scientific level-you’ll get the report. On a purely personal level, I hope you find the person who did this. They will deserve whatever they get, and then some.”
    Bosch nodded.
    “We’ll get him,” Edgar said. “Don’t you worry about that.”
    They walked out of the building and got into Bosch’s car. Bosch just sat there for a moment before starting the engine. Finally, he hit the steering wheel hard with the heel of his palm, sending a shock down the injured side of his chest.
    “You know it doesn’t make me believe in God like him,” Edgar said. “Makes me believe in aliens, little green men from outer space.”
    Bosch looked over at him. Edgar was leaning his head against the side window, looking down at the floor of the car.
    “How so?”
    “Because a human couldn’t have done this to his own kid. A spaceship must’ve come down and abducted the kid and done all that stuff to him. Only explanation.”
    “Yeah, I wish that was on the checklist, Jerry. Then we could all just go home.”
    Bosch put the car