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"Is this so now "I re sirieving relatives, then duain Coffins aren’t cheap Even cheap coffins aren’t cheap, and the satin-lined, down-stuffed ones will really cost you There’s lot of ain I guess there have always been people willing to make an extra buck or two off the dead, no matter how they do it"
Caleb looked around the library Most of the plaster had been torn out, revealing piles of bones between the studs Some of the bones were still attached to each other by bits of mummified sinew and tendon, preserved inside their plaster prison
It was a grueso re the remnants of a Civil War-era hat It looked as if they had stumbled on a particularly bizarre scenario for a haunted house Soht easily think the reination
"Have you ever seen anything like it?" Jamison asked "Hell, I’m a homicide cop I’ve worked in Jacksonville, Miah towns, all of the like this"
The lieutenant shook his head, staring at the res
A s close to the wall, the epitolasses and tufts of wild gray hair, peering closely at the re started beco popular after the war--the Civil War They had to try to get those dead boys back houe for most Americans because of Abraham Lincoln When he died, his anted hi as the body traveled cross-country by train, so they had to keep Abe looking good for the h the veins, but I think these poor souls were embalmed in thea corpse and stuffing it with charcoal, or perhaps just iiven proper viewings to satisfy the families, and then they alled up You can see here--" he pointed out different shades of plaster that had been chipped from the walls "--that they were put in at different ti from the look of the corpses, I’d say this was all done within a ten-year period See how the bones have darkened just a bit , the way some of the corpses haveLegally, we could arrange re in specialists tois handled correctly This is quite the find"
The ue, saw Caleb and sized hiht and offered him a hand "How do you do? You’re that out-of-toho found that felloho’s beena year, aren’t you? I did his autopsy this afternoon I’m the ME here in town, Florence Benson--feld follies, I’m afraid--so they call me Doc Benson or Floby around here Nice to meet you You solved a sad lad to have been of service," Caleb assured hi the body I found?"
"I sent what tissue saather out to the lab, but after a year in the water…it’s hard going I’ my comments until I’ve completed my work"
"Very siven the circu with littleto be ine At least I knohere all his body parts are Here…well, as you can see, soether, and so to be interesting, to say the least"
"So it appears," Caleb agreed
Thean assessency, huh?" the medical examiner asked him
"Hardly secret," Caleb said "We’re just licensed investigators, like lots of other firms But my boss doesn’t advertise He’s the quiet kind and only takes on cases that call for e can offer that other agencies can’t"
He knew that Tiued Tiovernor, to bring Caleb in on the case of the newly irls He was both wary, and curious But he seeh, and that was all Caleb really cared about
"So where has Miss McKinley gotten herself off to, Tirew up here--she’s got plenty of friends around ould offer her a place to stay for the night I’h This has to be a big setback for her"
"Not so bad--unless the whole house turns out to be riddled with corpses," Floby said cheerfully "And I don’t think it will This seems to have been the…dump, shall we say? And as I said, I’ll have the pros in tomorrow to clear out these unwanted tenants, you cops and that professor will do soh I’m sure you’ll find out these people were already dead before they got stuck in the wall, just in case anyone orried about that--and then everyone will get the burial they should have gotten years ago And she’s a historian with on-site experience, so she’ll understand the significance of this find And since she’s not a shrinking-violet kind of girl, I’ation herself"
"I’d really appreciate permission to help, too," Caleb said
Floby looked at Tier in on the find