Page 64 of Cold, Cold Bones
“Qui appelle?” Who’s calling?
I told her.
“Un instant, s’il vous plaît.” One moment, please.
The line went hollow. Waiting for the connection, I pictured theT-shaped Édifice Wilfrid-Derome, the LSJML, my twelfth-floor lab with its view of the city and St. Lawrence River, my empty desk.
Ryan.
Why had Ryan gone silent?
Before I could launch a self-pity party, Quintal picked up.
“Tempe. How lovely.” Thickly accented English. “Have you returned to Québec?”
“Soon,” I said.
“Bon. To what do I owe this long-distance pleasure?”
“I have a knotty problem,” I began, knowing Célia had heard that one ad nauseam.
“Amusing,” she said in a tone that suggested it wasn’t. “How can I help?”
“Aren’t you researching the differences between knots in suicide and homicide deaths?”
“Mais, oui. My colleagues and I are developing a checklist of characteristics to aid in distinguishing between the two.”
“I’m interested in learning about neck ligatures,” I said. “Do you have something in print?”
“Sadly, our publication is still in the works.”
Damn.
“Can you quickly run me through the major points?”
“But of course.”
I grabbed a tablet and pen.
“We should start with some basic terminology.”
I had a feeling I was about to learn much more than I needed to know about knots.
“Most people who tie knots produce ordinary configurations like the overhand and its variants, the half-hitch and half-knot, which haveSandZmirror images. These are called chiral knots. That just means mirror-image knots.”
Why not just call them that? I didn’t say it.
“TheSvariety is more common and is weakly associated with right-handedness.”
I jotted that down.
“Some knots, like the overhand and half-hitch, are tied with one working end. That’s called a wend. The knots typically seen on parcels usually incorporate two or more components called half-knots. Half-knots require the person making them to work two wends simultaneously. Are you with me?”
“Yes.”
“Tying two half-knots produces one of the four cardinal knots.S/SandZ/Zgranny knots,S/ZandZ/Sreef knots. Would you like me to explain chirality consistency among tiers?”
“I’m really interested in homicides versus suicides in hanging deaths.”
