Fireproof

what pieces we have. There are a lot of bone fragments missing. They probably were left at the crime scene.” She poked at the teeth. “I found these down at the base of her skull and in her neck. Some pieces of her face were smashed into her brain.”
    Maggie pulled up a stool to sit down and to get a closer look.
    “I’m trying to clean these pieces and sort them before I pull her out of the refrigerator.”
    Maggie could see the fragments Dr. Ling had already cleaned and processed. She arranged them like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
    “Will it be at all possible to guess what kind of weapon caused this damage?”
    Ling’s hands stopped. She put down the bone she had been working on and picked up the biggest fragment from the tray. She turned it, found what she wanted, then leaned over to show Maggie.
    “Can you see these crisscross fracture lines?” Her long index finger moved along what looked like scratches in the bone.
    “Yes,” Maggie answered.
    “And see how the bone is sort of warped?” She held it up to the light.
    It was subtle, but Maggie nodded.
    “Bone literally bends when you hit it really hard. It’ll bend before it breaks. If the warped area was dented and rounded, I’d guess something like a ball-peen hammer, which incidentally seems to be a favorite of skull bashers.
    “The instrument used to do this had a larger surface area, it had a wider impact area. It had to be something larger and heavier. And because it also scratched the bone, I think we might rule outany shaftlike weapon, like a tire iron or a golf club. Those usually leave a long, narrow groove.
    “Whatever he used—and I’m simply guessing that he didn’t stop and use more than one instrument—it had a considerable head or end on it to inflict tremendous trauma. It also had some sort of claw or a sharp hooked end to cause the scratches and nicks I’m seeing in some of the bones.”
    “Stan said the tissue looked like it had been ripped out.”
    “If you had the crime scene to process, I bet we’d see a lot of flyers. Without the crime scene, we’re doing a whole lot of speculating.”
    Flyers were the blood and tissue trails flung on walls and ceiling as the weapon is raised for the next blow and then the next. In this case, Maggie realized both experts were saying that the weapon not only broke and shattered bone and splattered blood and tissue, but also dug into and ripped out pieces.
    “What about a crowbar?” she asked Ling.
    “It would need a long enough handle to create this kind of force. And I’m thinking wider. Maybe like a pry bar.”
    They sat quietly for a minute. Dr. Ling’s hands were still.
    “What about the other victim, the burned skull recovered from inside the building?”
    “I spent almost five hours at the site sifting through the ashes. There were no other bones.”
    “Is it possible the rest of the body was destroyed in the fire?”
    “It’s pretty difficult to burn up a body entirely, even when accelerants are used. Cremation will even leave portions of bone that require mechanical pulverizing. This was an intensely hot fire, but not hot enough to destroy everything but the skull. I would have expected to find some long bones, or at least pieces of them.Also the teeth were smashed, but I didn’t recover any and teeth don’t burn.”
    “Sounds like you’re saying this person was murdered somewhere else as well?”
    “That would be my guess. The trauma sustained, as well as the decapitation, most likely did not happen in that building.”
    “Same weapon?”
    “I can’t make that determination at this time.”
    “Male? Female?”
    “Male. Caucasian. That’s really all I can tell you right now.”
    Silence. Maggie could hear the boiling water gurgle. Somewhere a machine clicked on and hummed.
    “This was a brutal murder,” Ling finally said, her face expressionless, her eyes trailing to the tray of bone and teeth, fragments of Gloria Dobson. “Some of the bones were congealed with blood and shoved into the brain.”
    Ling didn’t need to explain that meant Gloria Dobson was still alive—hopefully unconscious—but her heart still pumping blood when she sustained some of the most vicious blows.
    Racine chose that moment to stroll into the lab and call out, “Hey, Doc, whatcha got cookin’?”

CHAPTER 54

    Sam’s one day off and she spent the entire morning at the news station. Abe Nadira showed her to an empty editing booth. He helped her access the files she was