I was wrapping the pubic area in a wet rag when the sound of the phone startled me. I hadn?t realized how quiet it was. Or how tense I was. I walked to the desk, zigzagging through maggots like a child playing jacks.

?Dr. Brennan,? I answered, pushing the goggles to the top of my head and dropping into the chair. Using my pen, I flicked a maggot from the desktop.

?Claudel,? a voice said. One of the two CUM detectives assigned to the case. I looked at the wall clock-ten-forty. Later than I realized. He didn?t go on. Obviously he assumed his name was message enough.

?I?m working on her right now,? I said. I could hear a metallic grating sound. ?I shou-?

?Elle?? he interrupted. Female?

?Yes.? I watched another maggot contract into a crescent, then double back on itself and repeat the maneuver in the opposite direction. Not bad.

?White??

?Yes.?

?Age??

?I should be able to give you a range within an hour.?

I could picture him looking at his watch.

?Okay. I?ll be there after lunch.? Click. It was a statement, not a request. Apparently it didn?t matter if it was okay with me.

I hung up and returned to the lady on the table. Picking up the clipboard, I flipped to the next page on the report form. Age. This was an adult. Earlier, I?d checked her mouth. The wisdom teeth were fully erupted.

I examined the arms where they?d been detached at the shoulders. The end of each humerus was fully formed. I could see no line demarcating a separate cap on either side. The other ends were useless-they had been cleanly severed just above the wrists. I?d have to find those fragments later. I looked at the legs. The head of the femur was also completely formed on both right and left.

Something about those severed joints disturbed me. It was a feeling apart from the normal reaction to depravity, but it was vague, ill-formed. As I allowed the left leg to settle back onto the table my guts felt like ice. The cloud of dread that first touched me in the woods returned. I shook it off and forced myself to focus on the question at hand. Age. Fix the age. A correct age estimate can lead to a name. Nothing else will matter until she has a name.