Fatalis

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ha

"So tell me," she said.

"What?"

"Do I look more like my photo now?"

Grand smiled. "Yes, you do."

"Well, I feel like it," Ha

"Then relax," Grand said. "I'll be right back."

Grand left to appropriate a chair for her from the office of Associate Professor Wildhorn, who was teaching.

Ha

Darker patches of wall above the desk marked spots where pictures had once hung.

Grand came back with a swivel chair. He put it down and shut the door. Ha

"I brought us late lunch or early di

"It'll probably be both," Grand said. He cleared a space on the gunmetal desk between a pile of overstuffed folders and videotapes on the right side. He placed the thick bags of take-out there. The desk was also stacked high with ungraded papers, rubberbanded diskettes, unread journals, un-catalogued photographs, and boxes filled with stone arrowheads and spearheads.

"How was your class?" Ha

"Fine. So tell me about your day and a half. What's the latest from the front?"

"From the sheriff's office? Not much," Ha

"What did he say?"

"According to the afternoon press conference the search is continuing, widening, and there's no cause for worry. But enough about the dog-and-pony show." Ha

"Okay," he said patiently.

"I told you about the truck accident in Montecito and the possibly missing driver and the fact that none of us was allowed close to the site."

"Right."

"What I didn't tell you was that Gearhart called the owner of the fishing company, who happens to be a friend of mine. He asked if the driver was traveling with a dog." She paused. "Jesus, you know what?"

"No."

"Now it sounds crazy."

"What does?"

"This whole unformed idea of about a million parts," Ha

"Tell me."

Ha

"Has that been ruled out?" Grand said.

"I don't know. No one's talking."

Grand thought for a moment. "It could have been a scavenger in the truck. I've seen raccoon footprints on deserted beaches. But there is something else that might suggest the involvement of an animal."

"What?"

"Remember the backpack we found in the creek? The lacerations?"

"That's right," Ha

"I'm sure the crime lab will give them a complete examination," Grand said. "They'll check for animal hairs, any saliva the fabric may have soaked up-"

"And we'll never find out the results," Ha

"Everything comes out in time," he said.

"Maybe, but I don't have your kind of eons to wait," Ha

"That data should be ready now," he said as he booted his computer, "along with the results of the radiocarbon and gas chromatography tests."

"Radiocarbon I know about," she said. "Gas chromatography is… ?

"A process in which a substance is broken down to molecular pieces which are hitched to a carrier gas and then sent through a liquid or solid absorbent," Grand said. "The components are then sifted so they can be identified and measured."

"Oh. That gas chromatography," Ha

Grand smiled. "It's like blowing smoke through a tissue and seeing the gunk that's left behind."

"Ah," Ha

"Every living thing metabolizes chemicals in very distinctive proportions," Grand said. "In case the first two tests aren't enough to tell us where the hair came from, the breakdowns give us a precise map to compare to other chemical maps."

"Got it. I want you to know I really appreciate this," she said as the computer's hard drive whirred. "Not just the information but being able to talk to someone. Someone who understands."

"I'm glad I can help," he said.

"I just don't want to drag you into the politics of it," she added quickly as she punched in a number. "Gearhart is my problem, the stonewalling son of a bitch. And now he's got Andrea Danza on his side-"

Ha

Maybe it's a gender thing. Grand thought. Males were territorial carnivores who found it difficult to leave anything without a struggle, even a state of mind. Females were more adaptable.

Ha

The smells brought back memories for Grand and he tried not to think about them. He concentrated on the list of data options. All the results on the hair sample tests were completed; the results of the mineral scraping would be done by early evening.

Grand booted the DNA results first.

As he looked at them, he shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Ha

Grand said without triumph, "I was right."

"About what," she said eagerly.

He pointed to the bags of food. "This is going to be di