BONES AU - PART THREE "The Cannibal in Question"

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

In the bone room, Kirstie and Scott examined the skull. Kirstie sighed as everyone else watched her work from the doorway.

"Its difficult to concentrate when youre staring at me, guys."

They all left at Scott's shooing motion.

"They're just happy to see you." Scott smiled.

Kirstie rolled her eyes. "The depth of teeth scoring on the skull suggests that it was cooked."

"Meaning the victim was dead when his face was eaten. Which is good, I guess, given the alternative."

"I'm seeing an interesting pattern in the scoring..."

"From the windshield?"

Kirstie shook her head and magnified the image the microscope projected on the screen. ": It appears so, but if you kind of un-focus your eyes and allow patterns to arise from what looks like chaos... here... here... here...." Kirstie pointed.

Scott looked awe struck. "I didn't notice that."

"This scoring is different from both the gnawing marks and the damage caused by crashing through the windshield."

Scott magnified the image mjore on a score mark. "What is that...?"

"I dunno." Kirstie shrugged.

"Did you run it through the x-ray diffractometer?"

"And also x-ray micro-fluorescence. Neither showed trace evidence of anything left on the bone by whatever etched that grooved."

"That's our answer then."

"But, the answer was 'nothing'."

Scott decided to give Joe the news in person at his office in the F. B. I. building.

"So our, uh, cannibal has a diamond tooth?" Joe asked.

"Well, not the entire tooth: a diamond inset, left lateral incisor. It left a distinctive mark on the skull."

"So if someone in the Building Conservancy or the cleaning crew has a diamond in his tooth - that's our guy! You got him!"

"I'd like to be in on it when you interrogate him."

Joe looked astounded yet pleased at this. "Wait- really?"

"What? Why are you so surprised?"

"Wait, are you serious? I, I've been trying to get you out of the lab since Kirstie left!"

"Well, Kirstie is back, so... here I am."

"That simple?"

"Did Mitch say something?"

"Why would Mitch say something?"

Scott sighed in relief. "Nevermind. Lets just go."

They walked into the interrogation room, which sat a witness Joe had found. The Special Agent had described him to Scott as a "creepy teen".

Joe shook his head. "No, Jason, this isn't just because you have a diamond tooth."

Scott furrowed his brow. "You don't know why you are here, Jason?"