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“Such as?”

“If the ars are tied, for instance I worked a case once where a burned body was found in a bedrooured he fell asleep s in bed But the arms were extended, and they were behind the back I knew that wasn’t right, so I used a h the ashes of the mattress Found a few burned fibers the TBI identified as rope Turns out he was murdered by his business partner, who had a million-dollar insurance policy on him”

“Aure it out from the position of the arms”

“Just awhen soht,” I said

As I said it, I started to notice that so here Miranda’s swift efforts had now exposed virtually the entire arm, and I’d worked my way down the neck to the clavicles and the top of the rib cage The bones we’d exposed so far were burned to a uniforrayish white color, which meant they were calcined: reduced to their bare, brittle ood squeeze with my hands could probably crush the skull to pieces Both the calcined bone and the ested that this fire had burned hotter than a crereen bone to warp and splinter But I didn’t see signs of warping and splintering

“Da at a pelvis I’d just found The pelvis was draped with the metal teeth of a steel zipper-and was neatly crosshatched with fractures “This isn’t a burned body This is a burned skeleton” The search crew froze, and I felt everyone’s eyes riveted on me “This was dry bone before the fire”

I looked around at the search crew and the firefighters Miranda and Art were nodding in understanding, but the rest looked confused O’Conner voiced the question for everyone “How is that possible?”

“It’s possible if Garland Hamilton put it here”

I could see O’Conner struggling to process the infor to accept its implications

“Sheriff,” I said, “this isn’t Garland Hamilton”

There was a long silence while that sank in Then I heard a quick gasp I looked around just in time to see Miranda lift a blackened object from the floor “Well, if that’s not Hamilton,” she said, “maybe this is”

In her outstretched hand, she cradled the shattered cranial vault of a second skull

CHAPTER 27

IN THE LAST RAYS OF DAYLIGHT, WE STOOD IN A circle-Miranda, Art, Jis spread on the ground beside ed in anatomical order, were the skeletons of thite males

So about the first skeleton-the one I was sure had been clean, dry bone even before the fire-seemed oddly familiar to ain And then e “Son of a bitch,” I said softly “Miranda, take a good look at the right ribs”

She looked, and her eyes widened “Son of a bitch,” she echoed “I never thought I’d see Billy Ray Ledbetter again”

“Who is Billy Ray Ledbetter,” said the sheriff, “and what makes you think this is him?”

“Billy Ray was a guy whose autopsy Garland Haot

stoht, then died a couple weeks later fro His busted ribs were partially healed when he died”