BONES AU - PART THREE "The Cannibal in Question"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

((this shit is gonna be one hell of a ride, lemme tell ya))

Scott, Mitch and Dobium stood in front of a group of Scott's graduate students down in the Modular Skeletal Storage, also known as Limbo.

Mitch clapped his hands toghether. "I'd like to welcome, all of Scott's grad students, to Limbo."

Scott looked over at him. "Uh, it's Modular Skeletal Storage. I don't like the term 'Limbo'."

"Over 10,000 lost souls remain here, Sweetie. Unidentified. Waiting. It's a good name. Let's just go with it. Anyways, each of these boxes contains the skeletal remains of one person."

"In this case: a skull, 2 femurs, 5 vertebrae, miscellaneous phalanges and 3 molars."

"What we want you to do is conduct an inventory - making sure that what's in the box corresponds, not only to the card in the box but also to the computer record."

A student, Tony Black, raised his hand. "Does this count towards our final grade?"

Dobium raised an eyebrow. "Listen, Scott's nerdy grad students. What we're trying to do here is catch a serial killer. Not get a gold star from Teach, alright?"

Mitch snorted, but got back on subject. "We think that he's hidden the remains of one or more of his victims here."

Scott nodded. "Bones, tucked into boxes, where they don't belong."

"But I think it's fair to say that if you help us catch a serial killer, that you'll pass your precious course."

Scott raised a finger in protest. "That - that's not necessarily true. If anyone else shows up down here indicating an interest in what you're doing - either tell Mr. Grassi or shout for security, okay?"

Another student, Cody Krushnic, spoke. "Why?"

Dobium raised an eyebrow. "Because serial killers get mean when you get close to catchin 'em."

Dobium and Scott supervised the project. Dobium was clearly not used to this. "This is just creepy."

Scott shrugged. "Well, it's the natural order of things. We all end up this way."

Dobium rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Thank you. Now you've made it creepy and depressing. Congratulations."

Tony called from down a corridor. "I've found an extra femur in one of the boxes and an extra fibula in another!"

Scott called down to him. "You're sure?"

"Well, the remains in the box were of a 4 year old child. The femur was from a man in his mid 40's to early 50's. Unless some weird stuff was happening to that kid...

Scott snorted. "And the fibula?"

"Also from a middle aged man. It had recently been boiled. Three other people found extra bones as well." Tony answered.

Another student, Amelia, cleared her throat to make her presence known. "I found an extra manubrium, male ulna and a humerus in a box of female remains."

Scott nodded. "Okay, lay out all of the extra bones anatomically."

Amelia nodded back. "Already done! Over here, Dr. Hoying!" She tugged him over to the table. "I'm third in my class, yknow."

Scott snorted as he looked over the bones. "Nice job, but, I'd like the names of the two students in front of you. Anyways, 45 to 50 years old. Fibula and femur show a height of approximately 180 centimeters."