Page 123 of The Sister's Curse

“Exactly. And that, honestly, is the best-case scenario.”

I hoped to hell that they’d slept through their murders, because if not…I shuddered, imagining how terrible it would be to drown in the dark, with no one to hear.

I exhaled. “Anything on the skeleton from the river? I heard you were able to ID the body.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. And yes.”

She turned away to approach a cart in the room’s center, then pulled a plastic sheet away. Where the Lister cousin had looked fresh, this collection of bones looked very much like an archaeological display. Blackened bones were arranged in the fetal position. The skull was perched on top of a wobbly curve of vertebrae, with a tooth gleaming in the jaw. Dana’s necklace was folded in a plastic evidence bag.

“Through dental records, we were able to positively identify these as the remains of Dana Carson,” Dr.Navarro said.

I sighed. I knew this. But it was different to be told there was no hope that Dana was alive.

“How did she die?”

“This is weird. Very weird.” Dr.Navarro pointed at the bonesof the hands and feet. “I found evidence of trauma to the hands and feet, almost as if she was pinned down with something sharp. Some bones are missing, but I’m seeing shattered metacarpals and metatarsals, which is unlikely to be the result of predation; the marks that shattered them are too sharp and look like the result of a tool—”

“Like a railroad spike,” I said quietly.

“Yes.” She lifted her eyebrows. “Exactly like a railroad spike. It suggests to me some element of ritual murder, especially with the burning.”

“So…she was burned alive?”

“I don’t think so. I think the burning came after. I was able to recover part of a crushed hyoid bone, so I’m thinking it was the railroad spikes first, then strangulation. She died, or was rendered unconscious, and then the fire. I’m sure some sort of accelerant was used, though accelerants tend to burn off, and become hard to detect after this much time has passed,” she said.

“Right. Human bodies really don’t burn easily.”

I stared down at the black bones. Such a horrible way to die.

“But here’s the thing…We found extra bones.”

My head jerked up. “Extra bones?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any information on them yet, but there was another body burned here. She wasn’t the first.”

I exhaled.

This cemented the idea that the Kings of Warsaw Creek were involved in some very dark occult secrets. I made a mental note to text Monica to get a warrant for the railroad spikes in the Sumner home and the church, to check for blood residue, and also to check for other missing young women to compare DNA against.

I told the coroner about Jasper’s suspicions, and aboutVapozene, the proprietary compound the plant was using. I told her I suspected it as an accelerant in the burning of his van.

“I can’t back this up right now,” I said, “but I have a hunch. Vapozene is supposed to persist at room temperature and not evaporate. Maybe, just maybe, there are traces still around.”

“That’s a long shot, but I’m willing to try to find them.”

“May I touch the remains?” I asked, turning back to the bones. “And do you happen to have your UV light handy?”

“Yes and yes. Let’s take a look.”

She flipped the light switch, plunging us in darkness. The only light came from the frosted window in the door and a stripe of light underneath it.

The coroner clicked on a blue-tinged light and handed it to me. I swept it over the remains, and no telltale glow was revealed. “I guess we can confirm that Dana’s remains weren’t contaminated by the Vapozene in the river.”

With gloved fingers, I approached her skull. The jaw was slack, and we peered inside the mouth. A very faint fluorescence glowed from a back tooth surrounded by a broken piece of orthodontic equipment.

“Her braces,” Navarro breathed. “And she’s got a cracked composite filling back there.”

The coroner immediately grabbed a plastic bag and a pair of forceps. She reached into the mouth for the tooth. It released with a soft crunch, and the coroner hastily dropped the tooth into the plastic bag and sealed it away for analysis.