Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell (12 page)

“What on earth for?”

“She wanted to know if she could get college credit if she volunteered her time at the Foundation three times a week.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her sure, if I had anything for her to do. That’s when we were just getting up and going. By the way, at some point we need to talk about that. I mean, so far it’s pretty much a one-woman outfit. But there’s a chance in the near future this gets bigger than I can handle by myself.”

“Skye, if Vanessa came to see you, that’s one more connection to you.
Like Willa. You can bet it isn’t a coincidence.”

“
I agree. You did mention that he’s probably been staking the building out for some time. He sees a pretty girl go inside, waits until she comes out, follows her back down to Olympia, grabs her there when the opportunity presents itself.”

“
You sure Vanessa came in last fall? You sure about the timeframe?”

“Positive.
That means he’s planned this out for quite a while.”

“
Planning to involve you all along.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s disturbing. Have you thought about letting people man the office while you spend more time in the field, so to speak.”

“Sure. The problem is I don’t want a bunch of people sitting around with nothing to do, waiting for the phone to ring while I’m out c
ircling Seattle. The point is I…I mean we,” she corrected. “Need to be more organized. I had three people call the office while we were in St. Kitts wanting to volunteer their time after seeing a news story about the Foundation. But what would they do, Josh? I don’t even have available flyers printed up yet with all the missing. The list is rather long. Plus, I’d need people I could trust.”

“
Don’t be so hard on yourself, Skye. The Foundation is still in its infancy. It seems you already know exactly what to do. Have someone come in and organize your files, get flyers printed, get them in the mail, circulate as many as you can around Washington starting with the immediate five counties.”

She arched a brow
, considering. “Jumpstart the searches, put new life in all the cold cases. That’s a plan. I like it.”

About that time her email dinged
signaling a message from Dawson Hennings. She scanned the brief five-line missive. “He’s agreed to see us tomorrow morning.”

Josh shook his head. “
He’s agreed to see
you
. I’m afraid I have a meeting with my programmers. I can’t miss it, Skye.”

“Let me guess. Working on that new game featuring the red-headed female fighter?
When is it set for release?”

“This coming Christmas
which means we have less than a year to bust our asses from now till then to get this product on the market without major bugs.”

“So when it comes to this case…”

“I’m in this with you a hundred percent. Just not tomorrow. How about if I text you with any questions I come up with though? We can always keep in touch to make sure we’re on the same page as a team.”

The next morning
, half the Ander-Cree team stood inside the office belonging to Dawson Hennings.

To Skye t
he man, dressed in a white lab coat, came across as the perfect stereotype—a snapshot of the medical scientific nerd mesmerized by whatever ended up under his microscope.

His
lab might have been meticulous but his office was cluttered with files and textbooks scattered around. Despite all the obvious work piled up, the bespectacled guy seemed rather organized in his chaos.

Reluctantly she followed
Dawson into his lab and watched as the man busied himself with drying an upper arm bone that had been soaking in some type of clear solution. Much like at Bayliss’s lab, she felt like an intruder. But unlike the coroner, Dawson seemed to relish having a visitor. He’d already given her a brief dissertation on the two types of DNA used most often in solving crimes: mitochondrial and nuclear.

“Mitochondrial
DNA is found in the subunit of active cells known as the mitochondrion and deals with energy production. Bones, teeth, and hair are ideal for obtaining that type to use in missing persons cases. While nuclear DNA is found in the cell nucleus and pertains to growth and maintenance where blood, semen, and sweat are left behind.”

“Mitochondrial
DNA is inherited from the mother, right?”

“It can be used to determine maternal heritage, yes.
A father’s mitochondrial DNA is usually destroyed at fertilization. Although a few scientific case studies have shown people can inherit mitochondrial DNA from both father and mother.”

“Really?”

“Those results showed subjects had parents who had used in vitro fertilization to help with their pregnancies.”

“
Ah. So nuclear DNA is the stuff found from evidence on things like blankets, clothing, weapons, stuff found at crime scenes?”

“
That’s right. Sorry. I know I sound like I’m lecturing you but the point is mutations and disorders routinely occur in science, in diseases, in molecular structure. And understanding the types of DNA might give you a better handle on what your expectations are in obtaining usable DNA for ID purposes in this case.”

“Hey, an
y time I get to see things firsthand and learn more than I get from the Internet, I’m a willing subject.” When the doctor turned his full attention from his work to her, she wanted to know, “Is that one of the bones you got from Bayliss?”

Dawson grinned and
showed off his immaculate teeth. “No. This is another case I’m working on, another unidentified set of remains. This one had flesh and tissue still attached, which I’ve already removed.”

Skye
made a face. “On second thought, I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“Think of it this way. Going through this process hopefully IDs this
poor victim and gives a family somewhere some much-needed answers.”

“
Good point. I think I’m going to like you, Dr. Hennings. You didn’t use that word ‘closure’ so many tend to use which has a tendency to piss me off.”

“I like you, too.
Call me Dawson. Want to see how it’s done?”

“Sure. Although I doubt it ever comes up again.”

“You never know,” he said, moving on to his task. “I soak the bone in a ten percent solution of bleach, rinse it in sterile water before making sure it’s thoroughly dried. Like this.” Dawson took her through the steps before picking up a grinder. “Now, I remove the outer coating with either sandpaper or in this case, I’m using my Dremel to drill down as much as I can to collect the bone powder. As I’ve already stated the best chance of getting usable DNA is in the middle of the bone, the nucleus.”

“Looks like you’re a
voiding the ends for a reason. Is it because they’re more dried out than the rest?”

Dawson looked
back up from his specimen, stared at his guest over his glasses. “You are observant. I don’t use that part of the bone because it’s usually too contaminated. Exposure to the elements takes its toll. Since this sample has pretty much degraded to what you see here, I’ve elected to avoid the marrow, for now at least. I might get desperate down the road though.”

“Why’s that?
Wait. What you’re really saying or trying not to say is that you don’t have the skull of this victim to extract any DNA from the teeth? It’s down to that bone you have curing in the solution.”

Dawson cleared his throat. “It’s unfortunate
, but that’s true.”

“So, why not use the marrow?”

“In this case it’s just too degraded. When that happens it produces a much lower molecular weight substance. Using a descending concentration of ethyl alcohol, I hope to extract what I need for the size sample I want. The goal is to get fifteen grams. That’s ideal. In this instance, it’s soaked overnight in the extraction solution. But the process itself may take several tries.” He picked up a conical tube, filled it with the liquid, set it in the centrifuge to spin while they talked.

“What does that do?”

“It dissolves the bone and collagen and releases the DNA into the mixture. We spin fifteen minutes and the spinning produces PCR to amplify that single piece of DNA we want.”

“
PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction. I read up this morning in preparation for coming here.”

“
That makes up the first attempt.”

“
The first?”

“We repeat this process up to five times. And it may take as many as
that to get anything at all. When we’re done we hope to have a pellet-sized concentrate we use to extract the DNA.”

“I’m pretty sure you just simplified that for me.
You’re a smart guy, Dr. Hennings. I appreciate what you do here.”

Dawson adjusted his glasses, shifted his feet. He went on as if he didn’t know how to handle the praise. “When this bone gives up what I need, I’ll move on to the silica extraction where the DNA molecules bind to the silica. I run it through a microchannel where I can remove the DNA.”

Now Skye was positive her assessment embarrassed him so she diverted to her own pending case. “But when do you get to the bones Bayliss gave you? Right now, those are the ones I need analyzed. Seattle has a killer out there who likes to dismember.”

As they stood there, Dawson
fidgeted with his test tube, as if more ill at ease than before. “There’s something I want you to know. Before we get to your case, you should know I’ve read about you. Extensively. You’re an amazing woman, Miss Cree.” He stared at her. “I can see by that statement I’ve made you self-conscious. I don’t mean to. I just felt like I needed to tell you. We’ll be working together.”

“
The thing is I don’t feel amazing or extraordinary.”

“I know. But that’s what makes you all the more exceptional. You
have terrific instincts. You really should be in law enforcement.”

“
Thank you. I think what we have here is mutual respect for one another. But I’m afraid I’m not cut out for the restrictions placed on cops.”

“Ah. Well.
A pity. I suppose I put my foot in my mouth. But then, I often say too much.”

“
Not at all. I think we can be friends though, don’t you?”

“I’d like that.”

“Your email did indicate you ran an initial test you wanted me to know about. Why don’t you just tell me what you found?”

“
Sure. The test I ran on the mummified hand indicates your second victim has been dead less than five years.”

“Really?
Okay. So we have one that’s been in the ground for a long time versus another more recent.”

“I
n addition to that, I found bruising under the soft tissue which makes me think this victim was tortured.”

Skye pondered that development for about five seconds.
“Hmm, he’s all about getting off on the physical violence, the suffering of the victim rather than about the sex. You know, Bundy started out bashing their heads in once he got them into his vehicle. Then he’d take them to an undisclosed location where he had plenty of time to do despicable things to the body so that he could have sex with the corpse again and again. I wonder if that’s what’s going on with this guy.”

Dawson swallowed hard.
“You think he somehow gets them into his car, whisks them away from the area, and then goes to a place where he brutalizes them without detection.”

“That’s exactly what I think.
Right now I have a missing waitress named Willa Dover. She worked at the same restaurant where I worked as a kid. I’m thinking this guy has done his research.”

“
Willa Dover,” Dawson repeated. “I heard that name on the news this morning driving to work. You think he abducted her to make a point with you?”

“Yes. And it might be a giant leap on my part, but I’m thinking he took her so I’d know he could.
Wherever Willa is, she’s still alive, probably in bad shape but alive. If we move on this fast enough maybe we could find her before it ends up too late.”