Forty Words for Sorrow Read Free

sockets.
    “Those three warm days in December when everything melted,” Jerry went on. “The body probably covers a drain, and when the ice melted, the place filled up with water. Temperature dropped again and froze it right there.”
    “It’s like she’s preserved in amber,” Delorme said.
    Barnhouse resumed. “No clothing on or near the remains, except for jeans of blue denim that—I already said that, didn’t I. Yes, I’m sure I did. Gross destruction of tissue in the abdominal region, all of the viscera and most major organs missing, whether due to peri-mortem trauma or post-mortem animal activity impossible to say. Portions of lung are visible, upper lobes on both sides.”
    “Katie Pine,” Cardinal said. He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. He knew it would provoke a reaction, and it came at full volume.
    “I hope you’re not telling me you recognize that poor girl from her high school yearbook. Until such time as the upper jaw may be matched with dental records, any identification is out of the question.”
    “Thank you, Doctor,” Cardinal said quietly.
    “There’s no call for sarcasm, Detective. Remission or no, I’m not putting up with sarcasm.” Barnhouse turned his baleful eye once more upon the object at their feet. “Extremities, those that remain, are nearly skeletonized, but I believe that’s a healed green-stick fracture in the radius of the left forearm.” He stepped back from the edge of the depression and folded his arms belligerently in front of his chest. “Gentlemen—and lady—I’m going to remove myself from this investigation, which will clearly require the services of the Forensic Centre. As Lake Nipissing falls under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Police, I’m officially turning the investigation over to you, Mr. Commanda.”
    Jerry said, “If this is Katie Pine here, the investigation belongs to the city.”
    “But surely Katie Pine is one of yours? From the reserve?”
    “She was abducted from the fairground by Memorial Gardens. That makes it a city case—has been since she disappeared. Cardinal’s case.”
    “Nevertheless,” Barnhouse insisted, “pending positive identification, I’m turning it over to you.”
    “Fine, Doctor,” Jerry said, “John, you can run it. I know it’s Katie.”
    “You can’t possibly know. Look at the thing.” Barnhouse pointed with his recorder. “Except for the clothes, it barely looks human.”
    Cardinal said softly, “Katie Pine fractured the radius in her left arm when she was learning to skateboard.”

    Five of them were scrunched in the ident van. Barnhouse had gone, and the two uniforms were waiting in the stake truck. Cardinal practically had to shout over the roar of the heater. “We’re going to need rope: as of now, the whole island is our perimeter. There was no blood and no sign of struggle in the shaft head, so this is probably not the murder scene, only a dump site. Even so, I don’t want any curious snowmobilers zipping through the evidence, so let’s get it good and secure.”
    Delorme handed him the cellphone. “I’ve got Forensic. Len Weisman.”
    “Len, we’ve got a body here frozen solid in a block of ice. Adolescent, probable murder. If we cut the block of ice and ship it to you entire in a refrigerated truck, can you handle something like that?”
    “No problem. We’ve got a couple of variable coolers that go well below freezing. We can thaw it out at a controlled rate and preserve any hair and fibres for you that way.” Surreal to hear a Toronto voice in this lunar landscape.
    “Great, Len. We’ll call with an ETA when we’re ready to roll.” Cardinal handed the phone back to Delorme. “Arsenault, you’re the scene expert. How do we get her out of there?”
    “We can cut her out in a cube easy enough. Problem will be separating the cube from the concrete underneath.”
    “Get a guy from the city to cut it, they cut concrete all the time. And you can clear your calendars,