Read Online Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell by Vickie McKeehan - Free Book Online
Authors: Vickie McKeehan
Tags: Romance
Ads: Link
then I know an excellent one we could use. Only problem is she’s in Hawaii.”
“ What about the hand?” Skye persisted. “It seems to me that it’s been kept in a different kind of environment entirely than the other bones.”
Hennings eyebrows darted up. “Why do you say that?”
“Because t here’s no dirt on the hand like there is the rest.” Skye reached in her pocket for ballpoint pen, used it as a pointer. “You can see the dirt around the eye socket and the femur. Plus, I think the hand indicates our killer must’ve parted with a treasured trophy to make his point. It was never buried.”
Clearly impressed, Hennings said, “Very observant.” He moved over to a forensic compound microscope, an ultraviolent light where he could inspect the skull even further. He adjusted the lens, punched in several strings on a keyboard so that the image appeared on a digital monitor for everyone to see.
“Why use th e ultraviolet light?” Josh asked.
“ So we pick up any other type matter clinging to the bone. As Skye’s already pointed out there is no flesh left on the skull, just dirt, no skin or tissue. Proof that at one time there was a major difference in where the bones from the first box were kept versus where the hand was stored. See the dirt particles embedded in the teeth. Your sender didn’t bother to clean the skull up too well before he packed it inside the box. It definitely shows that at one time the bones he mailed spent time underground. We might be able to do a study of the soil found on them, but we’ll save that for later.”
He nnings picked up the mummified hand, slid it under the light. “As you can see there are no particles like that on the hand. In that regard, it’s fairly pristine for a macerated specimen. Using this, we can also detect skin or hair or other matter more readily under ultraviolet light and get DNA from it. And see, right here is a piece of skin tissue. This’ll make an excellent source to find usable DNA. Let me show you what I mean.”
Hennings picked up another bone, this time the femur. “I’ve already measured the thigh bone. The length is forty-one centimeters or a little over sixteen inches. Because of the size, I’d say this person was no more than five feet, four inches in height. Now in the event the femur and the hand are from two different victims, I can take a small sample of bone from the femur, grind it to a powder, extract DNA and try to piece together as much as I can from this person’s genetic profile.”
He nnings scanned the femur under the light. “See how thin the bone is. I’m going out on a limb here and say female. Males tend to have thicker thigh bones than this.” Just as he was about to remove it from under the microscope and pick up the tibia, something on the bone caught his eye. “This is highly irregular.”
“What ’s that?” Skye asked. Focusing on the area in question, she stared up at the magnified image on the screen overhead. “Wait. It looks like there’s something crudely etched into the bone. Any chance of making that area in the middle any larger?”
Hennings nodded and then complied by magnifying the small area until the numbers and words jumped off the monitor.
5/8/93 #1 Catch me or let me continue to walk free.
Skye exchanged looks with Josh. “This is what he wanted me to see,” Skye reasoned.
“ Gotta be the date of the first victim,” Josh said half aloud. “I don’t see it as anything else.”
“ That’s my guess, too. Busy boy. If his first victim was 1993 then we’re looking at over two decades worth of victims. How many do you suppose, Harry?”
“I’m getting too old for this,” Harry groaned in frustration. “Come on, Hennings. Let’s see if this bastard left us anything else?”
A s instructed, Hennings began to inspect the rest of the bones under the ultraviolet light. After several minutes, he uttered, “There’s nothing here.”
“Sure there is,” Skye
“ What about the hand?” Skye persisted. “It seems to me that it’s been kept in a different kind of environment entirely than the other bones.”
Hennings eyebrows darted up. “Why do you say that?”
“Because t here’s no dirt on the hand like there is the rest.” Skye reached in her pocket for ballpoint pen, used it as a pointer. “You can see the dirt around the eye socket and the femur. Plus, I think the hand indicates our killer must’ve parted with a treasured trophy to make his point. It was never buried.”
Clearly impressed, Hennings said, “Very observant.” He moved over to a forensic compound microscope, an ultraviolent light where he could inspect the skull even further. He adjusted the lens, punched in several strings on a keyboard so that the image appeared on a digital monitor for everyone to see.
“Why use th e ultraviolet light?” Josh asked.
“ So we pick up any other type matter clinging to the bone. As Skye’s already pointed out there is no flesh left on the skull, just dirt, no skin or tissue. Proof that at one time there was a major difference in where the bones from the first box were kept versus where the hand was stored. See the dirt particles embedded in the teeth. Your sender didn’t bother to clean the skull up too well before he packed it inside the box. It definitely shows that at one time the bones he mailed spent time underground. We might be able to do a study of the soil found on them, but we’ll save that for later.”
He nnings picked up the mummified hand, slid it under the light. “As you can see there are no particles like that on the hand. In that regard, it’s fairly pristine for a macerated specimen. Using this, we can also detect skin or hair or other matter more readily under ultraviolet light and get DNA from it. And see, right here is a piece of skin tissue. This’ll make an excellent source to find usable DNA. Let me show you what I mean.”
Hennings picked up another bone, this time the femur. “I’ve already measured the thigh bone. The length is forty-one centimeters or a little over sixteen inches. Because of the size, I’d say this person was no more than five feet, four inches in height. Now in the event the femur and the hand are from two different victims, I can take a small sample of bone from the femur, grind it to a powder, extract DNA and try to piece together as much as I can from this person’s genetic profile.”
He nnings scanned the femur under the light. “See how thin the bone is. I’m going out on a limb here and say female. Males tend to have thicker thigh bones than this.” Just as he was about to remove it from under the microscope and pick up the tibia, something on the bone caught his eye. “This is highly irregular.”
“What ’s that?” Skye asked. Focusing on the area in question, she stared up at the magnified image on the screen overhead. “Wait. It looks like there’s something crudely etched into the bone. Any chance of making that area in the middle any larger?”
Hennings nodded and then complied by magnifying the small area until the numbers and words jumped off the monitor.
5/8/93 #1 Catch me or let me continue to walk free.
Skye exchanged looks with Josh. “This is what he wanted me to see,” Skye reasoned.
“ Gotta be the date of the first victim,” Josh said half aloud. “I don’t see it as anything else.”
“ That’s my guess, too. Busy boy. If his first victim was 1993 then we’re looking at over two decades worth of victims. How many do you suppose, Harry?”
“I’m getting too old for this,” Harry groaned in frustration. “Come on, Hennings. Let’s see if this bastard left us anything else?”
A s instructed, Hennings began to inspect the rest of the bones under the ultraviolet light. After several minutes, he uttered, “There’s nothing here.”
“Sure there is,” Skye
Similar Books
