Page 41 of The Bone Code
In Quebec, coroners are either physicians or attorneys. Odd system, butça marche. It works. Hélène Lauzon was a lawyer, thus the titlemaître.
I nodded.
“Saturday, while driving home from his weekly bowling game,maîtreLauzon’s father, Alfonse Vachon, rear-ended a moving van,pinning one of two workers who were loading a sofa. The force of the impact stood M. Vachon up behind the wheel. His right lower leg and several ribs were fractured, and his face was severely lacerated.”
“Was he wearing a seat belt?” Clueless where this was going. A common occurrence of late.
“No. And he had been drinking.”
“Ouch.”
LaManche seemed to consider the condition of the cactus. I waited for him to continue.
“M. Vachon went into surgery early this morning for repair of the broken leg. Upon dissecting and cleaning the surrounding tissue, the surgeon discovered that a portion of his patient’s tibia was missing.”
“Gone?” Unsure if I was translatingmanquantcorrectly.
“It wasn’t there.”
“Where was it?”
“Precisely his question.”
I said nothing.
“The surgeon calledmaîtreLauzon. She phoned me to explain the situation and to request a thorough search of her father’s vehicle. I mentioned that you were currently in Montreal, and she asked that you be present.”
“Why me?”
“You know bones.”
“This sounds very bizarre.”
LaManche levered a shoulder, executing one of the limitless repertoire of shrugs so perfected by the French.Who knows? Does it matter? I need a smoke.
“Where is the car?” I asked.
“Pierrefonds.”
“When do they want me there?”
“As quickly as possible. When you phone downstairs, an SQ officer will transport you.” When. Not if. Great.
“How is the worker who was pinned to the truck?”
“That gentleman is in our cooler.”
“I’m on it.” Resigned. It was not how I’d envisioned my first day back.
LaManche placed both palms on his knees, preparing to rise.
“If you have a moment, there’s something I’d like to discuss before I head out.”
“Bien sûr.” Of course. Settling back.
I’d prepared my pitch and was concise.
I briefed LaManche on the unidentified container corpses found in 2006. Showed him photos and my old reports. He said he vaguely remembered the case.
