Page 165 of Cold, Cold Bones

“You on something, Doc?”

“I’m trying to get this straight.”

“Kramden couldn’t have done Hunt or Soto.” Slidell spoke very slowly, as though explaining the basics to a dull recruit. “He was in Nags Head, a shit ton of miles from Charlotte.”

“He never left the Outer Banks?”

“Not according to fourteen of his survivalist pals.”

“But Henry found Soto’s earrings near Kramden’s buses.”

“Yeah.” Slidell had no theory on that.

“Maybe someone planted them there?” I suggested, not really believing it.

“Who?”

Ihad no theory onthat.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Now they hold Kramden for kidnapping the Lakin kid and we keep slinging a net for this copycat prick.”

I got up, fed Birdie, and set off for work. Halfway there, a text pinged in on my phone. At the first red light, I glanced at it.

Your new creature is an abomination. Finlay is distraught. I am done with forbearance. AC.

Happy day. My lunatic neighbor, Alasdair Campbell.

At the MCME, I filled my coffee mug and helped myself to a cinnamon frosted from an open Krispy Kreme box in the kitchen. Then I went to my office and spread plastic across my work counter.

The septic tank mandible was interesting. Retaining four upper and two lower molars, all with gold crowns, the jaw was definitely human. I asked Hawkins to shoot X-rays.

While awaiting the radiographs, I mulled over the two most recent developments in the copycat murders: Soto’s earrings and Kramden’s alibi.

If not Bobby Karl, who was mimicking my old cases? What was his motive? His plan going forward? How did Andrea-Louisa’s earrings end up hidden near Bobby Karl’s buses?

Booting my laptop, I opened the file I’d created on Saturday. Timeline.docx. Slowly, I reviewed facts I’d reviewed a zillion times.

Veronica Kwalwasser passed in August 2020. Her head was stolen, eventually tossed into a privy, sans one eye. The missing eye was frozen, then left on my porch last month. Had her head also been frozen for a while? Had both been taken as part of some hellish plan? Or was the snatch opportunistic? Did the desecration ofKwalwasser’s eyes mimic my stabbing a perp in Montreal? The info was public knowledge, the incident having been reported inAllo Policeand other rags.

Frank Boldonado disappeared and presumably died in August 2019. His death by garroting and hanging mimicked that of a PI named Noble Cruikshank. The story had received little coverage. But three years back, someone accessed the coroner’s file on Cruikshank.

Miguel Sanchez was murdered in December 2019. His death mimicked that of a young man found mutilated, decapitated, and eviscerated at Lake Wylie. The local media had reported on the case.

Charlie Hunt was incapacitated, then placed in his car with the engine running to stage his death as a suicide. That situation mimicked the killing of an ER doctor in 2008. His death had received some press coverage.

Andrea-Louisa Soto was mowed down in a hit-and-run, her body then transferred to a different location. Her murder mimicked that of Ara, an Afghan girl recently arrived in the US. I was unsure if Ara’s murder had made the news. Made a note to run a search.

I went for more java and pastry. Back in my office, I reached for the phone. My call was answered right away.

“Charleston County Coroner’s Office.”

“Ebony Herrin, please.”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“Temperance Brennan.”