I suddenly didn't want to see 'it.'

The Fed touched his left ear for a moment, then turned to go. "Aren't you going to stay?" I asked nervously. I wasn't quite sure why I was asking him for reassurance, but there it was.

He paused. "I've seen 'it,'" he said, and stepped into the blackness.

The tray clattered against the table, shockingly close to my hands, and Balducci and I both leaned back a little. The evidence technician, if that's what cadaver man was, put on a pair of blue gloves before opening the envelope and withdrawing a smaller, plastic-wrapped object. "Even though it is wrapped," he said, putting it in the tray, "it would help if you do not touch 'it.'"

My skin grew cold.

'It' was a ripped piece of human skin pinned to a stained wood board.

2. GODS FINEST CANVAS

I stared in horror at the scrap of human skin, stretched across the board like so much canvas. The braided wreath curved across the flesh, marred by a few small cuts that had been blacked out on the print copy. On most sides the skin curved over the board, but at the upper left, the skin was torn away, revealing both the bloodstained wood and a set of torn holes in the skin that indicated it had been stapled underneath, like a leather seat cushion.

Without another nod to Balducci, Rand took over, channeling Joe Friday.

"Do you know what this is?"

"It's a tattoo," I said, unable to take my eyes off it.

"Do you know what it means?"