KATHY REICHS - 206 BONES

“Long spider legs?”

“Never mind.”

Ryan let it go. “Both with Oka and Lac Saint-Jean, Briel felt she could make herself dazzle while doing no harm.”

“Except to me.”

“Another plus.”

“Did Briel call Edward Allen Jurmain?”

“She had Raines do that. Wanted it to be a male voice in case anyone asked Edward Allen. He used a pay phone at the gare Centrale to avoid blowback on either of them.”

“Did she shoot the bullet into Marilyn Keiser’s corpse?”

“Briel insists that was all Joe. Says she’d never do anything to compromise a police investigation. Claims she was horrified by Joe’s action. I suspect it was a joint effort. Joe wouldn’t have known anything about that kind of bullet track. Briel remembers Richie Cunningham’s case in Chicago-”

“His name is Chris Corcoran.”

“-sees another chance to shine. Three-month-old homicide, probably never be solved. If it is, so what if cause of death’s a little off. I’m thinking she held the body while Joe fired the shot. She dissects out the bullet, announces the track, voilà , she’s a hero.”

A nurse entered the room, rubber sole squeaked to the bed. She took my pulse, then stuck a thermometer into my mouth, strapped my arm with a blood pressure collar, and pumped the little black ball.

“Those flowers must go into a vase.” Without looking at either Ryan or me.

“Of course.” Ryan offered his most engaging grin. “Would you possibly happen to have an old one lying around?”

We all waited out my thermal performance.

The nurse entered vitals into my chart, hurried off.

“Don’t cross that woman,” Ryan said.

“Not a chance,” I said.

“Did Briel write the Go home damn American note?”

“That was Joe’s little touch.”

“Nice. I suppose she leaked the Keiser ID to the press.”

“How better to score tube time.”

“What happened Tuesday night? Where was I?”

Ryan’s brows definitely rose. “You explained it to me , sweet pea. Don’t you remember?”

Sweet pea? That was a new one. Or was that a medical reference? I did have a catheter and tinkle bag.

I shook my head.

“I found you in a sewer below Alexandre-de-Sève. You’d crawled along a semi-abandoned collector to its junction with a main line. You’d broken out of an old tomb below Veterans Park. Searchers learned about that today.”

“Part of the Old Military Burying Ground,” I said. “But that cemetery was relocated long ago.”

“Right you are.” Ryan assumed a professorial tone. “At one time, acreage around what is now Veterans Park served as a final resting place for both the British military garrison, and for a fairly large number of civilians.” Ryan broke character. “Average joes and janes got planted there, too.” Back to Herr Professor. “From 1797 until the mid-nineteenth century, more than one thousand soldiers and their families were interred in what became known as the Old Military Burying Ground. Over the years, neglect and vandalism took their toll, and the cemetery became an eyesore. In 1944, the British soldiers were disinterred and moved to the Field of Honour in Pointe-Claire.”

“But here’s the catch.” Simple Ryan-speak. “There was never any systematic attempt to unearth Jane and Joe. The gravestones went away, but many ordinary citizens were left behind.”

So were some soldiers, I thought, remembering my fellow tomb occupants.

“Every now and then a stiff surfaces, much to the dismay of public utility and construction crews.”

Ryan smiled, exceedingly pleased with himself.

“How do you know all this?” I asked.

“We contacted an archaeologist at U of M and an historian at the McCord. The former agreed to go down with the SIJ team. The latter declined. The archaeologist thinks burials were probably unearthed when the sewer was constructed, sometime around the turn of the century. He hypothesizes that, unnerved, workers slapped up a quickie tomb, sealed the displaced corpses inside, and moved along. Being geographically apart, the makeshift crypt was missed when the cemetery was moved in the forties.”

“At first I thought Raines was my attacker,” I said. “He’d know about historic tombs and burial grounds. Then I zoned in on Joe. He stumbled on the tomb while drainsploring, right?”

“Right.”

“Joe planned to have me simply disappear. No body. No explanation. Just gone.”

“Yes.” Ryan’s grip tightened and his thumb moved more rapidly across my knuckles. Stopped. We both waited out an arterial ice crystal assault. Nothing.

“Was Joe acting for Briel?”

“Again, she says it was all Joe all the way. Denies knowledge of any plan to harm you.”

“Where is he, anyway?”

“Enjoying a cage and a bright orange jumpsuit. While I searched for you, my backup team fished him out of the sewer.”

“Did Joe give a reason for wanting to kill me?”

“He says Briel danced around the subject, but that her meaning was clear. Says she constantly mentioned things would go smoother without you. Hinted it would be nice if you went away and never came back.”

“How did you find me?”

“Around eleven, I called your condo and your cell, got no answer. I found that odd, since you’d just told me you planned to stay home with the cat. After phoning repeatedly, I began to worry that you were sick again, so I decided to swing by your place. The emergency exit was jammed with a shoe. Your front door was unlocked. Your watch lay smashed on the floor. Your jacket was there but you were gone.”

Watch on the floor? I guess I had Birdie to thank for that.

“You’d just told me your suspicions concerning Briel, and described Raines’s temper and sketchy past. You’d also just had a nasty encounter with your neighbor.”

I’d forgotten all about Sparky.

“I called Claudel and told him to net Briel and her hubby. I found your neighbor asleep in his recliner. Sparky’s boss vouched that he’d been filling potholes on the Décarie Expressway until eleven. By the way, Sparky admitted to smashing your window.”

“How?”

“Metal baseball bat. He’ll pay damages. But that’s a story for another day.”

“That sonovabitch.”

“Briel and Raines stonewalled at first, but Claudel came down hard and they cracked under threats of multicount indictments. Briel agreed to phone Joe.

“Needless to say, we were listening. Joe said he’d seen you rifling drawers in Briel’s office, overheard you talking about the Lac Saint-Jean teeth and the SEM and EDS tests you intended to run. To protect Briel and his future at Body Find, he told her he’d taken you out.”

Ryan’s jaw muscles bunched and the pressure on my hand increased.

“Joe bragged that he’d buried you alive in a place you’d never be found. Briel asked where you were. Joe refused to disclose the location. She begged. He held firm. As per our prearranged plan, she demanded he meet her at the lab.

“When Joe arrived, Briel told him you had something she desperately needed. Otherwise her deceit would be uncovered, her reputation ruined, and Body Find destroyed. She asked again where you were. Joe still refused to tell her.

“Acting distraught-very convincingly, I might add-Briel begged that he retrieve a bag of teeth she knew you were carrying on your person. Threatened to have nothing further to do with him if he refused.”

“The dolt really thought I was toting evidence around?” I couldn’t believe anyone could be that stupid.

“Briel said you’d called and accused her of professional misconduct, said you’d claimed to have proof in your jeans pocket. She told Joe she’d checked her filing cabinet and found teeth missing. Incriminating teeth. It rang true. Joe had seen you take something from Briel’s office.”