Free Swamp Bones by Kathy Reichs Page A

most of the corticalexterior. Magnified, the surface looked like a moonscape.
    I straightened. Puzzled. The porosity wasn’t consistent with aging, or with any disease process I could recall. Too uniform. Too minute.
    The python? Call Lundberg?
    That would result in a nine-yard lecture. I opted to begin with the font of all knowledge. Google. Shifting to the computer terminal on the anteroom desk, I began working the keys.
    It took a lot of cyber-looping, but I finally hit pay dirt. An article in the
Journal of Herpetology
. God bless the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
    I cut and pasted relevant sections into a document for future reference. Basically, I’d learned that pythons have cells in their small intestines that optimize the absorption of calcium from the skeletons of their prey.
    That tracked. Absorption of calcium would cause degradation of bone.
    I returned to the cooler and pulled a formalin-filled jar labeled with the case number assigned to the second of the two Hardwood Hammock pythons. After unscrewing the lid, I tweezed out the sample of small intestine that Lundberg had snipped. Dropping it onto a glass slide, I observed the specimen under high magnification.
    Small white particles dotted the tissue walls.
    I repeated the process with the sliver of colon. Saw the same inclusions.
    Microscopic bone particles. The results of specialized cells absorbing calcium. The pitting on the human bone was a by-product of digestion in the python, not an indicator of disease in her meal. The added barrier of the vulture explained the absence of these indicators in James’s foot bones.
    Satisfied with my diagnosis, I resumed my analysis, running through the same steps that I had with James, and recording my observations. Bone quality was good. No arthritis. No recent epiphyseal fusion. Young adult. Early to mid-twenties.
    Next, I examined the ulna and radius. Immediately, I spotted antemortem trauma. Both bones had been broken in two places. Spiral fracturing indicated a twisting force of high magnitude. Nevertheless, each fracture had healed with good alignment. Though there was no pin or plate, I guessed orthopedic surgery had taken place shortly after the injury. Remodeling suggested a time frame of approximately two to three years before death.
    I thought of possible scenarios involving such violent wrenching. An industrial accident?An athletic mishap? An aggressive attack? Though I came up blank, I was certain serious pain had been involved.
    I examined the truncated proximal end of the ulna. Saw scoring and gouging. Felt that tiny electrical charge. Chain saw.
    I studied the damage left by the blade. Though it looked identical to that on Kiley James’s foot bones, chain saws are not subtle. I’d need the actual tool to determine if it had dismembered both victims.
    What were the chances of two perps and two saws?
    I knew in my heart the victims had been killed by the same doer.
    But who was the second victim? How was he linked to Kiley James? Friend? Former lover? Competitor? I was determined to find out.
    I accessed Fordisc on the morgue computer and entered the measurements I’d taken. The program gave me lots of charts and statistics. All of which agreed with a high level of probability. My unknown was male and Native American.
    Oh yeah?
    I went back over the bones. Found nothing I hadn’t already noted. Frustration was starting to make me edgy.
    I took a bone plug for DNA testing, but wasn’t hopeful. What were the chances this guy was in the system?
    Out of ideas, I returned the bones to their tray and placed it with the others on the counter. My gaze fell on the jar of organ samples. Noted what looked like scallops of plastic floating in the formalin. Using a fine mesh strainer, I collected a few and viewed them under the scope.
    The scallops were fingernails and toenails. God bless keratin. The stuff survives just about every enzyme digestion throws its way.
    I was adjusting the light