Xo

while he was aware of the machine and had wanted to acquire one, the FMCSO could not, in fact, afford it.
    “Well, I’m ninety-nine percent sure. The morphology of the particles and the geometry of the dust almost guarantee it’s human. I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t.”
    What they could do with that information, though, Rhyme wasn’t positive. “Can’t quite see how it fits into the big picture,” he admitted. “Anybody among the cast of characters here have a job that might involve bone? Surgeon, dentist?”
    “No.”
    “Undertaker?” Harutyun suggested.
    “They don’t do much bone work. I could see medical examiners, pathologists. Wait, Fresno College—where he made the call—does it have a medical school?”
    “Yes,” Harutyun reported.
    “Ah, that could be it. Human skeletons in the classrooms and then procedures too, involving bone saws. Until we get more information, I think we’ll go on the assumption that he picked up the bone dust at the school and then continued his surveillance at Edwin’s.”
    O’Neil said, “At least we know that the person who was behind Edwin’s house was the perp.”
    “So, that means it isn’t him,” Harutyun said.
    “Unless,” Dance pointed out, “Edwin himself was the source of thebone dust and he left the trace when he walked back to see who’d been spying on him.”
    “Exactly, Kathryn,” Rhyme said.
    Harutyun muttered, “That’s the way this case’s been going all along—he’s guilty, he’s innocent, guilty, innocent.”
    Rhyme wheeled back to the microscope. “Hm, still a few things I want to look at. Ammonium oxalate … Scotch?”
    Crystal Stanning broke her vow of silence. “You … you found some traces of liquor?”
    “No, no, I want some scotch.”
    “Oh, well, we don’t actually have any in the sheriff’s office.”
    “Really?” Rhyme sounded surprised.
    “Lincoln,” Thom said.
    “I was simply asking.” He returned to the microscope.
    Dance and O’Neil looked over the chart, on which Sachs had highlighted Rhyme’s deductions.
    • Sunday. Robert Prescott homicide, convention center stage/orchestra pit/scaffolding
    —strip lamp
    —no matching friction ridge prints
    —no matching tool marks (unit removed by wing nuts)
    —fifty-foot power cord
    —no matching fingerprints
    —smoke detectors in pit, disabled
    —no matching fingerprints
    —smudges determined to be produced by latex gloves, brand unknown, not associated with gloves in Edwin Sharp’s possession
    —cardboard cartons moved from projected path of victim
    —no matching fingerprints
    —smudges determined to be produced by latex gloves, brand unknown, not associated with gloves in Edwin Sharp’s possession
    —unique trace from stage/orchestra pit/scaffolding
    —triglyceride fat (lard)
    —2700K color temperature (yellowish)
    —melting point: 40–55 degrees F
    —specific gravity: 0.91 at 40.0 C
    — Determined likely to be neatsfoot oil, treatment for leather sports equipment, tack and gun slings
    —no footprints/vehicle tread marks
    • Monday. Frederick Blanton homicide, gas station, near San Joaquin River
    —two 9 mm shell casings
    —weapon possibly Det. Gabriel Fuentes’s, no casings for comparison
    — Determined likely to be his weapon
    —no friction ridge prints
    —extractor marks match those found at Sheri Towne scene
    —one 9 mm slug recovered
    —lands and grooves match slugs from Sheri Towne scene
    —accelerant
    —Shell gasoline, 89 octane
    —gasoline container destroyed
    —no footprints/vehicle tread marks
    • Monday. Frederick Blanton’s residence, Fresno
    —no relevant friction ridge prints, footprints, vehicle tread marks
    • Monday. Public phone in classroom building at Fresno College
    —No relevant friction ridge prints
    —unique trace collected
    —calcium powder
    — Determined likely to be human bone dust
    —chemicals: limonite, goethite and calcite.
    — Determined likely to be gangue, ore collection and processing byproduct
    —no footprints/vehicle tread marks
    • Tuesday. Sheri Towne crime scene
    —cigarette ash
    — Determined likely to be Marlboro
    —twenty-three 9 mm shell casings
    —weapon possibly Gabriel Fuentes’s, no casings for comparison
    — Determined likely to be his weapon
    —no friction ridge prints
    —extractor marks match those at gas station scene
    —seven 9 mm slugs recovered
    —lands and grooves match those at Frederick Blanton scene
    —no friction ridge prints
    —no