Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

lights, the reddish brown splatters looked like mud stains, not blood at all. Dangling from the willow tree and twisting in the wind, they’d seemed unholy. Now they had lost their power, reduced to nothing more than what they were: bundles of twigs.
    “Here we have exhibits A, B, and C,” said Bruno. “Human figurines that appear to represent two males and one female. They’re made up of various twigs and bark, tied together with twine. It’s the twine I looked at. I determined that it’s made of jute. I also found samples of the same kind of twine in the barn, where it’s used to tie up bales of hay for the horses.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a sample of string. “See? Identical. From our own barn!” He sat back down.
    “Arthur, you want to go next?” said Julian.
    “I identified the twigs,” said Arthur, rising to his feet. “The bark skirt was easy. It’s
Betula papyrifera
, the American white birch. The twigs weren’t as easy to figure out, and there are two different kinds.Based on the smooth green bark and the pointed buds, I think some of them are
Fraxinus nigra
, the black ash. The other twigs I was able to identify because of their star-shaped pith. I think they’re balsam poplar. You can find all these trees down by the stream.”
    “Good work,” said Julian.
    Maura stared at Arthur as he sat down and she thought: That fifteen-year-old knows more about trees than I ever will.
CSI High School
was turning out to be far more impressive than she’d imagined.
    Lester rose from his chair, but he didn’t move to the front of the classroom. He stayed right by the exit, where he felt safe. “I looked at the rope that was used to hang the victim from that high branch. I had to go back and climb the tree to get the sample, since we couldn’t find Herman—the victim—in the woods.”
    “And what did you find out about the rope?” said Julian.
    “It’s quarter-inch white nylon, diamond braid. All-purpose, good tensile strength. Resists rot and mildew.” Lester paused. “I searched all over the place, to see if I could find the source. And I found a whole roll of it in the toolshed.” He sat down.
    “We’ve established that all the materials needed to make these dolls can be found right here, on the school grounds. The twigs. The twine. The rope.” Julian looked around the room. “So now comes the hard part, answering the question that Bruno asked earlier: Why? Why would someone kill a rooster, slice him open, and gut him? Why hang him up along a trail that we walk almost every day? A place where we’d be sure to come across it?” He waited for an answer.
    Arthur said, “Someone wants attention.”
    “Or hates roosters,” said Bruno, looking pointedly at Claire.
    “A religious rite,” suggested Will. “Like Santería. They kill chickens, don’t they?”
    “A psychopath kills animals for fun,” said Lester. “Maybe he enjoyed it. Maybe he got a thrill, which means he’ll do it again.” Lester paused. “Next time, it might not be a chicken.”
    That made the room fall silent.
    It was Teddy who broke the hush. “I think it’s a message,” he said.
    “What kind of message?” asked Julian.
    “He’s trying to tell us something. Trying to warn us.” Teddy’s voice faded to a whisper. “Does anyone else wonder why there are three dolls?”
    Maura looked at the twig dolls. Then she looked at Claire, sitting in the front row, flanked by Will and Teddy.
    Two males. One female
.

EIGHTEEN
 
    I ’M A LITTLE HAZY ON MY GEOGRAPHY, RIZZOLI, SO HELP ME OUT HERE,” said Detective Crowe. “The last time I checked, New Hampshire was not in our jurisdiction.”
    Jane looked around the table at the detectives who’d gathered for the team conference. Frost and Moore sat facing her, but neither one seemed eager to butt heads with Crowe this morning. The whole team, in fact, looked weary of conflict. Crowe had beaten them all down, and she was the only one prepared to challenge him. The only one who actually relished a knock-down, drag-out battle.
    “I just listed all the parallels to the Ackerman case,” she said. “Two years ago, the Yablonskis die when a bomb takes down their private plane.”
    “Which crashed in Maryland,” pointed out Crowe.
    “Also two years ago, Claire Ward’s parents are shot to death—”
    “In London.” Crowe laughed. “A different
country
, for Chrissakes.”
    “—and both events take place the
very same week
that Teddy