Schechter’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“A callus is an unorganized network of woven bone that forms quickly at a fracture site. It functions like putty to hold the broken ends in place. As repair progresses, the callus is gradually replaced by true bone.

“Histologic means under the microscope. Here healing is first evidenced by spicules of woven bone within the callus. These spicules can be seen as early as five to seven days post-injury.”

“Will we be getting to Rose sometime today?”

I opened a new PowerPoint file. Rose’s skeleton was now in my lab, clean of soil and tissue. Each bone was aligned with anatomical precision, right down to the distal phalanges of the hands and feet.

“As Detective Ryan mentioned earlier, the remains suffered considerable postmortem damage due to animal scavenging.”

I chose a shot of Rose’s right thigh bone. Instead of a rounded knob on one end and condyles on the other, the femoral shaft terminated in long jagged spikes. I clicked to the tibia, then the fibula, demonstrating similar damage in the lower leg.

“Notice the cracking and longitudinal splintering. Those features, along with dispersal of elements away from the body, suggest large carnivore feeding.”

Moving to a femoral close-up, I pointed the laser at one circular defect, then another.

“Those are canine tooth punctures. Based on size, I’d say the diners were Ursus americanus.”

“Black bears,” Corcoran said.

“Bears eat carrion?” Schechter made no attempt to hide his revulsion.

“With relish,” I said.

I proceeded to a tight shot of the lower jaw.

“But they weren’t alone. Notice the lower edge.” I ran the beam along the mandibular border. “See the parallel grooving?”

“Rodent gnawing,” Corcoran said.

“Exactly. Once skeletonization was complete, the rats and mice moved in.”