"There’s no need for you to be here," John said gently. "If you want-"

"No, I’m intrigued. Don’t pay any attention to me. If I faint, just go on without me."

Gideon leaned forward, studying the fragments intently: fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, held together by a few shreds of brown, dried ligament; third and fourth thoracic vertebrae; left scapula, whole except for some gnawing and breakage along the rim.

He shook his head. "It’s going to be hard: There’s no way I can tell the race from these, but I’m pretty sure it’s male."

John jotted something in his notebook, looking less than hopeful, but Julie was eager.

"How can you tell it’s a male?"

"The scapula. See the rough, ridged areas on the extension?" He handed the bone to her. She hesitated momentarily, then took it. "That’s where the deltoid and the trapezius muscles…Do you remember your anatomy?"

"Not much," Julie said.

"Okay, that’s where the large shoulder muscles attach," Gideon said, careful not to sound patronizing. "The ruggedness of the bone shows the muscles were heavy, powerful. A female would have smaller shoulder muscles, and you’d barely see any ridges."

"But what if it was a woman with large muscles?" Julie asked. "Women are a lot more athletic than they used to be."

"Well, if the female heavyweight weight-lifting champion of the world is missing, maybe we’ve found her, but I don’t think so. It’s much more than a question of athletics. If a man and a woman exercise the same amount, the man will still have a lot heavier, denser muscles and thicker, rougher bones. A woman would have to exercise a great deal more even to come close."

The corners of Julie’s mouth turned down.

"I’m sorry if it offends you," Gideon went on, "but there really are some differences between men and women that are genetically determined, and muscularity happens to be one of them. I’m speaking statistically, of course; there’s no way I can be completely certain on this particular bone."