Monday Mourning

Had they died together? Over a span of months? Years?

And always, the central question: When? A decade ago? A century?

By the time I reached home, a headache was cranking into high gear, and I was hungry enough to eat Lithuania. Except for granola bars and diet sodas, I’d consumed nothing all day.

After showering, I nuked a frozen Mexican dinner. As I dined with Letterman, I thought about Anne. Anne would understand. Let me vent. Say comforting things. I’d just collected the handset, when it rang in my hand.

“How’s Birdie?” Anne.

“You’re calling about my cat?”

“I don’t think the little guy gets enough attention.”

The little guy was beside me on the couch, staring at the sour cream oozing from my burrito remains.

“I’m sure Bird would agree.”

Setting my dinner on the coffee table, I scooped a dollop of cream and offered a finger. Birdie licked it clean and refocused on the plate.

“How about you?”

I was lost. “How about me what?”

“Are you getting enough attention?”

Though Anne has the instincts of a NAVSAT, she couldn’t have known of my anxiety over Ryan.

“I was just about to call you,” I said.

“I’m not,” she continued, not really listening to my answer.

“What are you talking about?”

“Tom-Ted.”

Anne is married to an attorney named Tom Turnip. When Tom was a second-year associate with his firm, a senior partner had addressed him as Ted for an entire month. He’d been Tom-Ted ever since.

“What about TT?”

“Guess?”

Though I wanted to be sympathetic, I was far too exhausted for puzzles.

“Please just tell me.”

“Good idea. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

7

EIGHT HOURS LATER MY STATE OF MIND WAS MUCH IMPROVED. The headache was gone. The sun was shining. My best friend was coming.

Maybe. Anne has a way of changing her mind.

Speaking of changing minds, Ryan was right. Evidence as to postmortem interval, or PMI, was at the heart of the debate with Claudel.

Crunching cornflakes, I considered the problem.

At this point I knew 38426 and 38427 had come from shallow graves in a dry basement.

Mental checklist. What other data are useful for pinpointing PMI with dry bones?

Deterioration of associated materials. I had none.

Analysis of insect inclusions. I had none.

Bird nosed toward my cereal, hoping to score milk. I displaced him to a chair.

Should I move on to 38428, or should I focus on establishing PMI?

Birdie oozed back onto the table.