The image of the troubled mummified skull loomed large on the sixty-five-inch television screen to the left of the physical anthropology lab room. On the screen to the right was the face of an unknown man, the owner of the skull, which had been reconstructed by a 2D modeling program. The lab manager sat, alternating between looking up and down, in front of the autopsy table, preparing to separate the bones of the plane crash victims.
There were seven other victims who had yet to be identified and analyzed. While some of the victims could not have all of their remains taken home, there was uncertainty about the completeness of the remaining pieces. When assessing the situation, the number of bones available seemed insufficient, due to the damage caused by the explosion and the fall, which resulted in many of them being severely compromised.
However, when it came to her role as an identification expert, Dr. Busaya could say that she had done the best she could. Bua stared at the pile of bones on the table, alternating her gaze between them and the image on the television. She had barely been able to concentrate on her work these past few days. The story of the mysterious skull had been spinning in her mind incessantly, making her feel the need to display it on the screen, in the hope that something might be revealed.
Phinya didn't seem bothered, but Bua knew that she was probably thinking of ways to get more information, besides waiting for the help of the police.
She didn't want to think about the worst-case scenario:
What if someone had intentionally done this, and the origin of the body was unknown? Since there was only one piece, there was no answer to that. But what if... the body of this unknown man had been stolen from somewhere? Or, in the worst case scenario, if it had been brought in an unnatural way, considering the state of the lower jaw, which had a significant deformity?
Normally, fracture or deformation of the jaw does not occur easily. Without an impact or blow of considerable force, a fracture or dislocation would be unlikely to occur, as it is quite resistant. When she used the facial modeling program to calculate and create the image of the face, she noticed that there was a deviation towards the right, originating from the fracture on the left side, with about a centimeter of deviation in the lower jaw. This could indeed have occurred during transportation, but it was also possible that the person had been assaulted before death. Busaya let out a deep sigh at the thought...
Whatever the purpose for which this mummified skull had been created, it seemed clear that it had been obtained illegally in some way. This could be a reflection of her teacher's words, who used to say:
"Even the peace of those who depart is stolen. What kind of species are we? Have we evolved more than others to do this to each other?"
It was truly regrettable...
The head of the laboratory tried to concentrate again, preparing to work on identifying the victims of the plane crash. She reached out and picked up a pelvic bone, which she had not yet been able to find.
Before starting to measure, Bua positioned the bone. By carefully observing the subpubic angle on both the left and right sides, which were greater than ninety degrees, she was able to conclude that it was a female body. On the fateful flight, there were three passengers identified as women. One of them had already been recognized at the scene.
The accident, as her body was not badly damaged, and her face was still usable for identity confirmation.
There were only two left, and they remained unidentified. The problem was that the pelvic bone found appeared to be that of a woman, but there was only one piece recovered from the crash site. This meant that there would be a young woman who would return home without all her fragments, a reality that Bua did not like at all.
