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took quite a bit of time. What's your estimate?'

'At least an hour. The human femur's a sturdy thing. Can you imagine sitting there working at sawing it free?' He shook his head. 'Repulsive.'

'Why'd you suggest to Laurent that he not publicize the details?'

'Both as a means of concealing facts only the killer would know and in order to maintain public safety. Tempers were already running high, rumors spreading. Can you imagine what the notion of a cannibal sailor would have done?'

'So the villagers still don't know.'

'No one knows, other than you, Dennis, and myself.'

'And the murderer.'

He winced. 'I know I can trust you to keep it to yourself. I showed you the file because I value your opinion.'

'Cannibalism's not exactly my area of expertise.'

'But you have some understanding of human motivation- after all these years, I find people more and more perplexing. What could have led to this, Alex?'

'God only knows,' I said. 'You said the villagers aren't violent. What about the sailors? Any previous incidents of serious violence?'

'Brawls, fistfights, nothing worse.'

'So Creedman's story about locals storming the southern road was true?'

'Another exaggeration. No one stormed. A few of the younger men, fortified with beer, tried to reach the base to protest. The sentries turned them back and there was some shouting and shoving. But anyone who thinks the Navy would go to the expense of building that blockade two days later to keep out a handful of kids is naive. I spent enough time in the service to know that nothing moves that quickly in the military. The blockade must have been planned for months.'

'Why?'

He frowned. 'I'm afraid it may very well be the first stage in closing down the base.'

'Because it has no strategic value?'

'That's not the point. Aruk was created by colonial powers and the Navy's the current colonizer. To simply pull out is cruel.'

'How do the villagers make a living, now?'

'Small jobs and barter. And federal welfare checks.' He said it sadly, almost apologetic.

'The checks come on the supply boats?'

He nodded. 'I think we both know where that kind of thing leads. I've tried to get the people to develop some independence, but there's very little interest in farming and not enough natural resources for anything commercial. Even before the blockade, basic skills were already dropping, and most of the bright students left the island for high school and never returned. That's why I'm so glad people like Ben and Dennis choose to stay.'

'And now the blockade has sped up the decline.'

'Yes, but things don't need to be hopeless, son. One good trade project- a factory of some kind- would sustain Aruk. I've been trying to get various businesses to invest here, but when they learn of our transport problems they balk.'

'Pam said you've corresponded with Senator Hoffman.'

'Yes, I have.' He placed the murder file on the couch.

'Is there any history of tribal cannibalism on Aruk?' I said.

'No, because there's no pre-Christian culture of any kind. The first islanders were brought over by the Spanish in the fifteen-hundreds already converted to Catholicism.'

'A pre-Christian culture is necessary for cannibalism?'

'From my reading it's a virtual constant. Even the most recent documented cases seem to incorporate Christian and pre-Christian ideas. Are you familiar with the term 'cargo cult'?'

'Vaguely. A sect that equates material goods with spiritual salvation.'

'A spontaneous sect spurred by a self-styled prophet. Cargo cults develop when native people have been converted to a Western religion but have held on to some of their old beliefs. The link between acquiring goods and receiving salvation occurs because basic missionary technique combines gifts with doctrine. The islander believes the missionary holds the key to eternal afterlife and that everything associated with him is sacred: white skin, Caucasian features, Western dress. The wonderful kahgo. The cults are rarer and rarer, but as late as the sixties there was a cult that worshiped Lyndon Johnson because someone got the notion he was the source of the cargo.'

'Correlation confused with causation,' I said. 'The same way all superstitions are learned. A tribe goes fishing the night of the full moon and brings in a record catch: the moon acquires magical properties. An actor wears a red shirt the night he gets rave reviews: the shirt becomes sacred.'

'Exactly. Groundless rituals provide comfort, but if the belief system is shaken up- the missionary leaves and the cargo stops- the islander may view it as the beginning of the apocalypse. Stick a charismatic prophet into the picture and- years ago I was sent to Pangia, in Southern Highlands Province, to survey infectious diseases. Fifty- five, right after the war. In the course of my research, I learned of a minor government clerk who suddenly quit his job and started reading the Bible aloud twenty hours a day in the village square. Handsome, intelligent young fellow. His association with the ruling class had lent additional status. A small group formed around him, and his delusions grew more florid. And bloody. He ended up slaughtering and eating his own infant son, sharing the meal with his followers in an attempt to bring in plane loads of goods. The morning of the murder he'd been preaching from Genesis. The story of Abraham binding Isaac for sacrifice.'

'Abraham never went through with it.'

'In his view that was because Abraham didn't merit true fulfillment. He, of course, was quite another story.'

Telling the story had turned him pale.

'I can still see his face. Smiling, tranquil.'

'Any similarities to this murder?'

'Several.'

'And some of the factors you've just mentioned are present here, too. Dependence upon the white man, then abandonment.'

'But still,' he said, bending forward, 'it doesn't make sense. Because other factors are absent.'

'No pre-Christian culture.'

'And absolutely no history of cults on Aruk!'

He rapped his knuckle against the file. 'I continue to insist that this hideousness was the work of a single, sick person.'

'Someone who'd read up on cannibalism and was trying to simulate a cult murder?'

'Perhaps. And most important, someone who's moved on.'

'Why do you say that?'

'Because it hasn't happened again.'

He was ashen. I lacked the heart for debate.

'For a while, son, I couldn't stop thinking that he'd simply gone off to do it somewhere else. But Dennis has been checking international reports for similar crimes in the region and none have come up. Now, what say we put aside this ghastly stuff and move on?'

12

For the next hour and a half, we were dispassionate scientists, discussing cases, suggesting different ways to organize the data.

Moreland looked at his watch. 'Feeding time for Emma and her friends. Thank you for a stimulating afternoon. It's not often I get to engage in collegial discussions.'