A Merciful Silence (Mercy Kilpatrick #4)(9)

“She was hit in the mouth and the side of the head,” said Mercy as she blinked rapidly, staring at the damage to the temple. The killer had abused the child the same way as the adults.

“The blow to the side of the head was perimortem—right before she died or else immediately after. I can tell by the edge of the broken bone.”

“Bastards,” breathed Mercy.

“Quite,” agreed Lacey.

The three women were silent for a long moment as Victoria gently set the small skull back down.

“What did you want to tell me about ancestry?” Mercy asked, needing to fill the lull.

“Three of the adults are Caucasian. One is Asian.”

“Interesting. Let me try to figure it out.” Mercy studied each skull and finally had to admit defeat. “Again . . . I have no idea what I’m looking for. They all look alike to me.”

“Start with the shape of the eye orbits,” suggested Lacey.

Mercy pointed at the first. “This one’s orbits are very round. The other four are sort of angled.” Now it was very obvious to her.

Lacey picked up the first male skull and turned it upside down to show Mercy the top teeth. “The maxillary incisors are a good indicator too . . . even though three have been broken off, the fourth shows a shovel shape with defined ridges when viewed from the lingual.”

“Tongue?” Mercy asked in confusion.

“Viewed from the tongue side of the teeth,” Lacey clarified. She showed Mercy the smooth shape of the back of a front tooth on another skull for comparison.

“When they’re side by side, I can see the differences. If I had a single skull, I’d be lost,” admitted Mercy.

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” said Victoria, and Lacey gave a snort of laughter. “Well, sort of big bucks.”

“The Asian skull is darker,” Mercy observed. “Does that mean anything?”

Both Victoria and Lacey frowned. “We were just talking about that,” said Victoria. “It could be from a few things. Possibly it was buried longer than the others, or the dirt right around it was a different composition, staining it darker.”

“Buried longer?” Mercy’s ears pricked up. “We’re considering that this might be a family. But if one has been buried longer and is Asian, maybe he doesn’t belong.” She couldn’t help but smile a little as she referenced Victoria’s earlier words about the Sesame Street game.

“Maybe he married into the family,” suggested Lacey. “Your theory is still viable.”

“It is,” agreed Mercy. “None of the others have the slightest Asian characteristics?”

“Not really,” said Victoria. “I have to take dozens of measurements to see where the skulls fall in the ancestry guidelines, but the two prominent features—the orbits and the incisors—aren’t apparent in the others.”

“Do you mind if I take some photos?” Mercy asked.

“Go right ahead,” answered Victoria.

As Mercy snapped pictures with her work phone, Lacey asked, “I heard this might be similar to some past murder cases?”

Mercy didn’t take her gaze away from her work. “Yes. A little over twenty years ago. The main similarities are the blows to the teeth and the possibility that this is a family. But they caught the killer back then. He’s in prison.”

“Uh-huh. Sometimes that doesn’t matter,” stated Lacey.

Mercy looked up from her shooting. “What does that mean?”

The woman shrugged and lightly traced the faint line across her neck, not meeting Mercy’s gaze. “Sometimes someone else takes up the cloak and continues the deadly work.”

An odd prickling started on Mercy’s scalp. What happened to her?

“Lacey.” Victoria touched the woman’s arm, concern in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

Lacey looked up and forced a smile. “Yes. It’s been years now.” She finally met Mercy’s gaze. “I’ll tell you about it over a beer sometime.”

Mercy nodded. After I Google you.





SIX

It was nearly ten o’clock when Mercy returned to her office. After seeing the skulls, she wanted more information about the old family murders. Her brain was spinning in a dozen directions with a million questions. She couldn’t fall asleep if she tried. Truman had called as she left the medical examiner’s office, and she’d told him she was headed back to the office. He wasn’t surprised and offered to meet up and bring food.

She’d suddenly realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and every starving nerve in her stomach roared with hunger. Pleased with his thoughtfulness, she told him to bring whatever sounded good to him. Quickly.

Thirty minutes later she was eating pork massaman curry straight out of the container, occasionally trading off with Truman and his carton of pad thai as they looked over the old murders together. Boxes and boxes of records had arrived from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. She’d briefly scanned some summary reports before her meeting with Jeff, Eddie, and Darby earlier, but now that she had the physical evidence and written records, she wanted to take her time.

“Shouldn’t you be focused on finding the identities of the current victims instead of wading through solved cases?” Truman asked.