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Nic turned a bland gaze inhis attention to the ME "You can get a DNA saht?"

"Definitely"

Dr Watchry went to his bag, changed his gloves, and removed the swabs and other necessary itened, broken only by the click and shuffle of the job being done

"What’s going on?" I whispered

"Murder"

"The bite That’s just weird"

Nic lifted a brow "Says someone who shouldn’t throw stones"

My lips tightened If he was going to be snotty, I was going to leave As soon as soave me a ride I could shift into a olf and run back to town, but why should I when I had nowhere to go and nothing pressing to do?

"There are a lot of cases like this," Nic continued

"Not only defensive, where the victiets off on inflicting pain, exerting control, or uess we can’t expect normal behavior out of a killer"

"Or anyone else, for that ers clenched, but I refrained fro him I was so proud of uy, right?"

Nic shrugged "Bite-mark evidence is more often used for conviction than apprehension"

In response to my frown, he explained further "In order to ainst everyone’s dental records in Fairhaven And if the culprit isn’t from here, or hasn’t been to a dentist - "

"You’ve got nothing but worthless information," I finished

"Yeah On the other hand, once a suspect’s in custody, a es, maybe even result in a conviction"

"I’ve never dealt with bite- "But I have an acquaintance who’s a forensic odontologist out of Madison We’ve discussed the best way to record the evidence Photos Measureet him here?" Nic asked quickly

"Thefor collecting saliva in a DNA test is very small Plus, the skin slides on a corpse if you leave it too long Shifts the tissue underneath, alters everything"

I refrained fro noises I was, after all, a scientist I’d seen s than a corpse Remember Billy?

"Sooner the better with this kind of evidence," Dr Watchry continued "But I’ll call and ask hiy is a very specific science"

"That would be great," Nic said "I suppose forensic dentists are few and far between out here"

"He’s the only one to be had" Dr Watchry got to his feet "Thought the transport would be along by now I should get this to the clinic"

"We’ll wait for theear, then escorted him to his car

He returned with a phone to his ear I wondered for awith mine in Montana, then decided where didn’t matter At least he had one

Nic disconnected the call "Still no deputy"

Silence settled between us, heavy with things neither one of us wanted to say Or I didn’t want to Nic didn’t seem to have a problem

"Why didn’t you tell ood would it have done?"

"I loved you"

Past tense I wasn’t surprised He hadn’t spoken of love before he’d known of my affliction Noas just shocked he hadn’t declared his everlasting hate and blown aze lowered to the gun he noore and I wondered

"Elise?" My eyes met his before he turned to stare at the trees "What happened?"

"Edward didn’t tell you?"

"De to scare h for un"

Well, that answered one question, anyway

"I’m not like the others," I felt compelled to point out; I’m not sure why