Kathy Reichs - Monday Mourning

Also by Kathy Reichs

BARE BONES

GRAVE SECRETS

FATAL VOYAGE

DEADLY DÉCISIONS

DEATH DU JOUR

DÉJÀ DEAD

SCRIBNER

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New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by Temperance Brennan, L.P.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

“Monday, Monday” by John Phillips

Copyright © 1965 Universal-MCA Music Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference USA, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.

DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING

Text set in Stempel Garamond

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reichs, Kathy.

Monday mourning/Kathy Reichs.

p. cm.

1. Brennan, Temperance (Fictitious character)—Fiction.

2. Women forensic anthropologists—Fiction.

3. Montréal (Québec)—Fiction. 4. Pizza industry—Fiction.

5. Restaurants—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3568.E476345M66 2004

813’.54—dc22

2004045263

ISBN 0-7432-7202-1

Visit us on the World Wide Web:

http://www.SimonSays.com

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Darden Hood, Director, Beta Analytic Inc., for advice on radiocarbon dating. W. Alan Gorman and James K. W. Lee, Department of Geological Sciences, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, and Brian Beard, Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin, shared their knowledge of bedrock geology and strontium isotope analysis.

Michael Finnegan, Department of Anthropology, Kansas State University, provided details on aging bone with UV light. Robert B. J. Dorion, Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale, supplied information on property research in Montreal. Sergeant Pierre Marineau, Special Constable, Securité Publique, guided me on a tour of the Montreal courthouse. Claude Pothel, Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale, answered questions pertaining to pathology and autopsies. Michael Abel shared his knowledge of all things Jewish. Jim Junot double-checked countless details.

Paul Reichs offered advice on the qualification of an expert witness. As usual, his comments on the manuscript were greatly appreciated.

My friend Michelle Phillips graciously allowed the use of the “Monday, Monday” lyrics.

Much gratitude to James Woodward, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, for his continued support. Merci to André Lauzon, Chef de service, and to all of my colleagues at the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale.

My editor, Susanne Kirk, and my agent, Jennifer Walsh, were, as always, patient, understanding, and totally supportive.

For Deborah Miner

My baby sister.

My Harry.

Thanks for always being there.

Oh Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be…

—JOHN PHILLIPS, The Mamas and the Papas

1

Monday, Monday…

Can’t trust that day…

AS THE TUNE PLAYED INSIDE MY HEAD, GUNFIRE EXPLODED IN the cramped underground space around me.

My eyes flew up as muscle, bone, and guts splattered against rock just three feet from me.

The mangled body seemed glued for a moment, then slid downward, leaving a smear of blood and hair.

I felt warm droplets on my cheek, backhanded them with a gloved hand.

Still squatting, I swiveled.

“Assez!” Enough!

Sergeant-détective Luc Claudel’s brows plunged into a V. He lowered but did not holster his nine-millimeter.

“Rats. They are the devil’s spawn.” Claudel’s French was clipped and nasal, reflecting his upriver roots.

“Throw rocks,” I snapped.

“That bastard was big enough to throw them back.”

Hours of squatting in the cold and damp on a December Monday in Montreal had taken a toll. My knees protested as I rose to a standing position.

“Where is Charbonneau?” I asked, rotating one booted foot, then the other.

“Questioning the owner. I wish him luck. Moron has the IQ of pea soup.”

“The owner discovered this?” I flapped a hand at the ground behind me.

“Non. Le plombier.”

“What was a plumber doing in the cellar?”

“Genius spotted a trapdoor beside the commode, decided to do some underground exploration to acquaint himself with the sewage pipes.”

Remembering my own descent down the rickety staircase, I wondered why anyone would take the risk.

“The bones were lying on the surface?”

“Says he tripped on something sticking out of the ground. There.” Claudel cocked his chin at a shallow pit where the south wall met the dirt floor. “Pulled it loose. Showed the owner. Together they checked out the local library’s anatomy collection to see if the bone was human. Picked a book with nice color pictures since they probably can’t read.”

I was about to ask a follow-up question when something clicked above us. Claudel and I looked up, expecting his partner.

Instead of Charbonneau, we saw a scarecrow man in a knee-length sweater, baggy jeans, and dirty blue Nikes. Pigtails wormed from the lower edge of a red bandanna wrapped his head.

The man was crouched in the doorway, pointing a throwaway Kodak in my direction.

Claudel’s V narrowed and his parrot nose went a deeper red. “Tabernac!”

Two more clicks, then bandanna man scrabbled sideways.

Holstering his weapon, Claudel grabbed the wooden railing. “Until SIJ returns, throw rocks.”

SIJ—Section d’Identité Judiciaire. The Quebec equivalent of Crime Scene Recovery.

I watched Claudel’s perfectly fitted buttocks disappear through the small rectangular opening. Though tempted, I pegged not a single rock.

Upstairs, muted voices, the clump of boots. Downstairs, just the hum of the generator for the portable lights.

Breath suspended, I listened to the shadows around me.

No squeaking. No scratching. No scurrying feet.

Quick scan.

No beady eyes. No naked, scaly tails.

The little buggers were probably regrouping for another offensive.

Though I disagreed with Claudel’s approach to the problem, I was with him on one thing: I could do without the rodents.

Satisfied that I was alone for the moment, I refocused on the moldy crate at my feet. Dr. Energy’s Power Tonic. Dead tired? Dr. Energy’s makes your bones want to get up and dance.

Not these bones, Doc.

I gazed at the crate’s grisly contents.

Though most of the skeleton remained caked, dirt had been brushed from some bones. Their outer surfaces looked chestnut under the harsh illumination of the portable lights. A clavicle. Ribs. A pelvis.

A human skull.

Damn.

Though I’d said it a half dozen times, reiteration couldn’t hurt. I’d come from Charlotte to Montreal a day early to prepare for court on Tuesday. A man had been accused of killing and dismembering his wife. I’d be testifying on the saw mark analysis I’d done on her skeleton. It was complicated material and I’d wanted to review my case file. Instead, I was freezing my ass digging up the basement of a pizza parlor.