Damn. I was seriously jazzed.
Back to gluing fragments.
By the time Danny broke free I practically manhandled him into his office.
When I’d explained my misgivings, he checked Spider’s file as I had done.
“Mongoloid features. Alvarez was undoubtedly Latino. Lowery had Native American blood. So probably we’re back to square one. Your boy could be Lowery or Alvarez.”
“Fingerprints say Lowery died in Quebec.”
“Maybe the screwup belongs to the FBI, not to Tan Son Nhut.”
“Maybe.”
I thought for a moment.
“What if 2010-37 is neither?”
“Neither?”
“Alvarez or Lowery.”
Danny’s brows shot up.
“Was anyone else BNR from the region where the Huey went down?”
“I could do a REFNO search using geographic coordinates. What do you think?”
“I think you dazzle,” I said.
“As do you.”
“Me?”
“Don’t forget.” Danny winked. “I’ve seen you naked.”
Heat flared across my face.
“How about I go back a month from the date 2010-37 was recovered?” Danny was once again all business.
“I should think that would do it, given the mortuary officer’s description of decomp.”
“Could take a while.”
“I’ll soldier on with the Elmer’s.”
Danny wasn’t kidding. It was 4:45 when he finally reappeared. One look told me that something was up.
“You got a hit?” I asked.
“No. But I found this.”
Danny waved a paper. I grabbed, but he held it beyond my reach.
“A decomposed body was recovered on August seventeenth, nineteen sixty-eight, less than a quarter mile from the site of the January Huey crash. The remains were processed through Tan Son Nhut. White male, midtwenties to midthirties. The deceased came stateside as case number 1968-979.”
“And?”
“There is no and.”
“Was he identified?”
“No.”
“Where are the bones?”
“Here.”
Danny strode toward Red Sweater, who was sitting at his desk. I watched as he requested the case. Red Sweater disappeared into the movable shelving.
Time passed. A lot.
Red Sweater reappeared carrying what looked like a very old box. The color was different and the cardboard corners looked scraped and worn.
Danny accepted the box, swiped his badge, and rejoined me. Together we moved to the designated table.
Questions winged in my brain.
Was Luis Alvarez Latino, as his name implied?
Was 2010-37 Luis Alvarez?
Was 1968-979 Luis Alvarez? If so, why weren’t Alvarez’s remains ID’ed back in August of ’68?
If 1968-979 turned out to be Alvarez, then who was 2010-37? And how did this man end up designated as Spider Lowery and shipped to Lumberton, North Carolina?
The Lowerys had Native American blood. Could 2010-37 be Spider after all?
Clearly the body shipped from Long Binh and the body in the pond in Hemmingford could not both be Spider Lowery.
