Page 92 of Evil Bones
I was. Childish, but having to deal with both Acorn and Slidell and a maggoty corpse put my nerves on edge.
I described what I’d spotted within the folds of the red bandanna.
“I’ll be goddammed,” Slidell said.
“Nguyen and I will do a full analysis to verify.”
“Sonofabitch,” Slidell said.
“Well put,” I agreed.
Acorn said nothing.
Slidell dropped me at the Annex. Before leaving the kitchen, I stripped off my smelly clothes, secured them in a plastic garbage bag, and set them out on the porch.
After showering and shampooing for a very long time, I dressed in clean jeans and a tee. A quick tuna sandwich, then I headed to the MCME.
Birdie wasn’t pleased with my lightning strike dine and dash. But in our brief phone conversation, Nguyen had said she’d begin the postmortem as soon as the body arrived at the morgue.
The McDowell case wouldn’t be assigned to me. The remains were sufficiently intact to allow a normal autopsy. So why my interest in this man?
Similarities between the McDowell scene and the earlier animal displays were undeniable. The ball cap. The blue paint. The glitter. The two-letter incision.
Driving uptown, I kept hearing Adina’s words in my head. Kept seeing the recent series of corpses.
Small forest creatures.
Larger species.
A beloved pet.
A cemetery cadaver.
A man and dog hanging from a tree.
A recently deceased human with a bullet hole in his skull.
It was clear that Adina’s prediction was coming true.
The doer had shifted from animals to people. Then from the long-dead to the recently deceased.
As I’d first realized at Cordelia Park, the bastard was escalating.
Had he or she shot the man in the bandanna found at the McDowell preserve?
Who was bandanna man?
What was the meaning of the cryptic message:PE?
Why the stolen hands?
And the big enchilada: How soon would the sick sonofabitch strike again?
CHAPTER 21
It was Friday afternoon, so I offered to assist Nguyen on the autopsy. Hawkins flashed me a look that said he was relieved. At least, Ithinkthat was what he was telegraphing. It’s hard to tell given the perpetual frown. He was quickly out the door.
The McDowell remains were logged in as MCME-753-25. Nguyen did a full postmortem.
