"I wrote a monograph on establishing time of death from the insect life in a corpse," he says, even. "Scavengers can tell you things as well. They're not narely as distasteful as some things."
A tilt of a head. Their faces are utterly, carefully blank.
"Had we known," she picks her way carefully over a river of lies using true words like stepping-stones, "that you were in the process of investigating, of course we would not have interfered."
In the process. They thought him finished, naturally.
"He was missing flesh at the neck and shoulders. Bite marks. And the heart, removed by a knife, very precisely. We did not pause to examine him further."
The tone, and the way the sentence trails off slightly, contrive to indicate that perhaps they would have found it disrespectful.
Damn.
All right. Time to be proactive.
Midmorning sees the Hannibals outside, burying Stephen Just's body.
They even lay flowers across the grave, although it is otherwise unmarked, in a gesture of whimsical solemnity.
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The circumstances Will doesn't know about. Of course.
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Or--
"The scavengers were getting to him."
Factual, if not strictly relevant.
"You don't find that... distasteful?"
Ha. Ha.
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"I wrote a monograph on establishing time of death from the insect life in a corpse," he says, even. "Scavengers can tell you things as well. They're not narely as distasteful as some things."
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"Had we known," she picks her way carefully over a river of lies using true words like stepping-stones, "that you were in the process of investigating, of course we would not have interfered."
In the process. They thought him finished, naturally.
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"You're medical students," Will finally says. "You saw the state of the corpse. Any -- opinions?"
(The hesitation is very slight, and it's not a leading pause.)
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The tone, and the way the sentence trails off slightly, contrive to indicate that perhaps they would have found it disrespectful.
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And none from this side of things.
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She's holding her hand, fingers tangled, a silent, affectionate connection.
Perhaps nervous.
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