KATHY REICHS - 206 BONES

“Yeah, that’s it.” Surprised. “After getting dumped, Briel went to France to pick up the shattered pieces. Her therapy? A cram course in bones for nonanthropologists.”

“Where in France?” I could feel my nerves humming.

“Montpellier.”

I grabbed paper and pen. “Do you know the name of the institution-”

“Down, girl. I can dial a phone, too. The program was offered jointly through the University of Montpellier and the Department of Forensic Sciences at the Hôpital Lapeyronie.

“While in Montpellier, Miranda Leaver, now back to her maiden name, Miranda Briel, became more French than the French. Bought très chic shoes, a beret, started saying je m’appelle Marie-Andréa. Eventually, she met a garçon with similar leanings. Or maybe he was the cause of her Gallic reawakening. Who knows?”

Normally, I’d have smiled at Chris’s French pronunciation. I was too torqued by his news.

“An archaeologist.”

“ Voilà. ”

“His name?” I knew the answer. Just wanted to hear it.

“Sebastien Raines.”

“Did you learn anything about him?”

“While a student, Raines was nailed for pilfering artifacts. Apparently, he beat the snot out of the prof who fingered him. He was kicked from the program and, for a while, moved around working archaeological digs for pay. Eventually he split la République for La Belle Province . He’s reputed to have a temper, and to carry a chip on his shoulder the size of Marseille.”

“Against?”

“PhDs in general, academics in particular.”

My laptop trilled as an e-mail landed. I crossed to it.

BTrainer@buffalo.edu.

“Thanks, Chris. This is really great.”

“Was it this Briel who jammed you up with Edward Allen Jurmain?”

“I think so. Or Raines. He’s her husband now. The two have a scheme to get rich off forensics.”

“Which hop?”

“What?”

“Over which did you reign? There were a lot in the old hood.”

“All of them.”

I clicked open Trainer’s e-mail.

The message was succinct.

Its last line screamed from the page.

Molar B. The cavity was restored with Heliomolar, a resin whose elemental composition and atomic percentages, to my knowledge, are unique. Al 2.85. Si 87.4. Yb 9.75.

Molar A. The debris in the wear facet produced a spectrum identical in elemental composition and atomic percentages to that obtained from molar B. Al 2.85. Si 87.4. Yb 9.75. It is my opinion this facet also contains residue from Heliomolar resin.

Trainer had included a few comments.

Heliomolar HB Resin Composite is an esthetic, high-viscosity, packable, light-cured restorative material designed for use in posterior teeth (Classes I and II).

Heliomolar is more radiopaque than enamel and dentin, and shows up brighter on X-rays.

Heliomolar is produced by Ivoclar Vivadent Inc., in Amherst, New York.

I reread the last line, fingers tight on the mouse. Heliomolar was introduced on the market in 1984 .

The Lac Saint-Jean child’s tetracycline-stained molar was filled with a resin called Heliomolar. In life, that molar had butted cusps with the molar I’d found in Bergeron’s tub. It had Heliomar residue in its wear facet. Both molars had Carabelli’s cusps.

Heliomolar was introduced in 1984.

The Sainte-Monique picknickers drowned in 1958.

The Gouvrards crashed in 1967.

Again, I was faced with two scenarios.

One, both teeth belonged to the Lac Saint-Jean child. Ergo, the vics were neither the Gouvrards nor the Sainte-Monique drowning victims, or;

Two, neither tooth belonged to the Lac Saint-Jean child. Ergo, both had been taken from the tub to replace that child’s real second molars.

By Briel.

A maelstrom of emotions surged through my mind.

I hadn’t missed the staining. Or the restoration. They hadn’t been there because I’d viewed the child’s real teeth.

Before Briel swapped them out.

Briel found the phalanges.

My ass, she did. She palmed them from the lab and planted them at Oka.

Briel found the bullet track.

Had she created it during one of her midnight sorties to the morgue? I pictured Briel shooting a bullet into Marilyn Keiser’s corpse. The image was appalling.

For the next half hour I considered and reconsidered my shocking epiphany.

Could this really be?

Nothing else fit.

The phone rang as the full scope of Briel’s treachery was sinking in.

“How’s it hanging, buttercup?”

I was too upset to nitpick Ryan’s endearment. Without asking about his day, I relayed everything I’d learned. Chris Corcoran’s bullet track case in Chicago. Miranda Leaver, alias Marie-Andréa Briel. Sebastien Raines’s violent and unsavory past. Heliomolar. 1984. The tooth swap. The phalanges theft.

“The call to Edward Allen was the kickoff for Briel’s plan to torpedo me.”

“What’s the motive?”

“To enhance her reputation. To lend dazzle to Body Find so it can generate contracts with the government, private companies, and lawyers.”

“I can see gunning for Ayers, if you’ll pardon the expression, but why go for you?”

“In France, pathologists do everything, anthropology, odontology, whatever. It’s an archaic approach to forensic medicine, but there you have it. While taking her short course, Briel probably developed delusions of grandeur.”

“She thinks she can do bones and you are competition.”

“That’s my theory.”

“If you’re right about all this, Briel is looking at a hard slap. Tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, improper handling of human remains.”

“Good for starters.”

“What’s your plan?”

“First I’ll take it to Hubert. If he’s nonreceptive, I’ll go to LaManche. This is serious. Briel’s actions could cause serious blowback on Keiser and Villejoin. On every case she’s worked.”

So far the conversation had been all about me.

“What’s happening with the investigation?”

“Florian Grellier picked Adamski out of a lineup. Says he’s definitely the bar buddy who talked about a grave at Oka. We’ve got a Canadian Tire clerk says he sold a garden spade to Adamski the day Anne-Isabelle Villejoin was murdered. We’ve got a gas station attendant says he sold kerosene to Adamski the week Keiser went missing. There’s a waitress puts him in Memphrémagog about that time. The net’s closing.”

“How about Poppy?”

“A judge cut paper. A team’s tossing her place in Saint-Eustache as we speak.”

“Claudel is still working Adamski?”

“It’s harder now that the hairbag’s lawyered up. But the crown prosecutor feels the confessions on Keiser and Villejoin are solid. Adamski’s still not budging on Jurmain. Also insists he never shot anyone.”

“So my Briel theory fits.”

“Like a pair of commandos. How’s Birdcat?”

I told Ryan about my latest encounter with Sparky.

“You want Sparky to have an encounter with the long arm of the law?”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll handle it.”

There followed one of those awkward pauses. Then, “Want company tonight?”

The offer dropped my stomach. I wanted nothing more than Ryan snoring at my side.

But no. It didn’t yet feel right.

I deflected the hit with humor.

“Whose?” I asked.

“Why do I put up with you, Brennan?”

“My scintillating wit and awesome good looks. Neither of which will win a high star count tonight.”

“I’ll award you my unwavering five.”

“Thanks. But I’m staying cloistered with Birdie. When I shared Sparky’s comments on his vocal carrying power, the little guy decided to get the band back together with new amps. I need to talk him down.”