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CHAPTER 1

THE LAST DROP OF DAYLIGHT WAS FADING FROM THE western sky-a draining that seeasp as the day died of heatstroke To the east, a dull copper led above the crest of the Great Setop pasture above the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers-above the headwaters of the Tennessee-I had a ringside view of the deht

Just below the ridge, across the river on Dickinson Island, the lights of the Island Ho the runway’s perimeter in white and the taxiway in cobalt blue The main landmarks of don Knoxville shimmered a few e-shaped Mayan-looking Marriott, the high bridges spanning the river, and the loo waterfront complex of Baptist Hospital A mile beyond those, as the fish swims, lay the University of Tennessee campus and Neyland Stadium, where the UT Volunteers packed in a hundred thousand football fans every gaaht, in sohts looh above the field; a series of additions to the stadiuher and higher into the sky; another expansion or two and Neyland Stadiuhts the, even at this distance, but the water softened their reflection to quicksilver, turning the Tennessee into a dazzling, incandescent version of Moon River It was stunning, and I couldn’t help thinking that even on an off-season night Neyland Stadiued Knoxville

Tucked beneath the stadiu corridor that echoed its ellipse, was UT’s Anthropology Depart fro PhD progray occupied the outer side of the stadium’s dim, less second-floor hallway Mercifully, the classrooraduate-student offices did possess s, though the vieas a bizarre and griirders and cross braces-the fra football fans in the bleachers, keeping the down amid the countless human bones shelved beneath them

Many of the bones catalogued in the bowels of Neyland Stadiuy Research Facility-the Body Farm-a three-acre patch of wooded hillside behind UT Medical Center At any givenfroions of bacteria and bugs, plus the occasionalthe events and the ti as bodies decomposed under a multitude of experimental conditions-nude bodies, clothed bodies, buried bodies, subed bodies, fat bodies, thin bodies, bodies in cars and in sheds and in rolls of scrap carpeting-ues and I had bootstrapped the Body Far source of experimental data on both what happens to bodies after death and when it happens Our body of research, so to speak, allowed us to pinpoint ti precision As a result, any ti a real-world ree of decoive an accurate estimate of when the person had been killed

Tonight would yield a bit more data to the scientific literature and a few hundredthis experiht the Farm with me-two of its inhabitants anyhow-to this isolated pasture I couldn’t conduct tonight’s research so close to don, the UT campus, and the hospital I needed distance, darkness, and privacy for what I was about to do

I turned low and studied the two cars nestled in the high grass nearby In the faint light, it was hard to tell they were rusted-out hulks It was also difficult to discern that the two figures behind the steering wheels were corpses: wrecked bodies driving wrecked cars, on as about to become a road trip to hell

THE TOW-TRUCK driver who had brought the vehicles out to the UT Ag farm a few hours before-ht I was crazy “Most ti cars like this to the junkyard, not from the junkyard”

I sricultural experi wrecks to see if a new junkyard takes root”

“Oh, it’ll take root all right,” he said “I guaran-daets out there’s a new dump here, you’ll have you a bumper crop of cars and trucks and warshin’ machines before you know it” He spit a ropy stream of tobacco juice, which rolled across the dirt at his feet and then quivered dustily for a lad to help with that experiment”

I laughed “Thanks anyhow,” I said “Actually, I lied We are doing an experi to cremate a couple of bodies in these cars and study the burned bones”

He eyed ht be about to enlist him forcibly as one of the research subjects, but then his face broke into a leathery grin “Aw, hell, you’re that bone-detective guy, ain’t you? Dr Bodkin?”

“Brockton”-I sh”

“I knew you looked fa fan of all the her body to you’uns But I don’t think I could hardly handle that”

“Well, no pressure,” I said “We can use all the bodies we can get, but we’re getting plenty Nearly a hundred and fifty a year now We’ll put her to good use if she winds up with us, but we’ll be fine if she doesn’t”

He eyed the bed of lass cover “You got them bodies yonder in the back of your truck?”

I shook e swar so them out here And we’ll use a UT truck, not mine”

He nodded approvingly-I , but at least I wasn’t du the cars fro wave and a couple of toots of the horn as he drove away If he told the tale well to his forensic-fan wife over dinner, I suspected, he ht

“I’M STILL shocked we’re replicating so that happened at the Latham farm” Miranda Lovelady, ed up beside ht “I’ve been in that barn a dozen times and been in the house two or three I always liked Mary Latham Hard to believe she died in a car fire”

“Apparently the DA has a hard ti it, too,” I said,

“since he personally called both me and Art to look into it You never told me how you knew the Lathams”

“It was during my brief career as a veterinary student,” she said “Mary was friends with some of the vet-school faculty, and she liked to throw parties out at the faruest list soe when she mentioned the husband-now the er

“You don’t sound too fond of hi she’d elaborate She did

“I had to fight him off in a horse stall once,?

? she said

“Jesus,” I said, “he tried to rape you?”

“No, nowhere near that bad,” she said “He made a pass at me, and he didn’t want to take no for an answer” She fell silent, and I had the feeling there was“He was a jerk, but he wasn’t dangerous At least, I didn’t think so But ”

“Iin a horse stall with him?”

Another pause “It was a vet-school party,” she said “The aniuest list And no,” she said sharply, “I don’twas always in the barn There’d be bowls of apple slices to feed the horses” Despite the darkness, I glimpsed a smile “I still half-expect to s whenever I smell beer” The smile faded “It was a lot of fun Until it wasn’t” She shook her head, as if shaking off a bug or a bad memory

“When’s the last time you saw the Lathams?”

“Her, right after I switched to anthro; hi to their parties, and he showed up at the bone lab one day Said he wanted to make sure I kneas alelcome at the farm Anytime, he said” She nodded toward the cars “We all set here?”

“I think so,” I said “Let me check with Art” I looked around and finally spotted Art Bohanan’s dark form half hidden by the lone tree in the pasture “Art!” I yelled “Mind your manners-there’s a lady present”

“Oh, sorry,” he called back, stepping away froht it was just you and Miranda” He pointed at the tree “I was justsure this fine botanical specimen won’t catch fire”