“Does the vic fit their profile?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Didn’t you do a prelim on site?”
How could I explain? My tummy was upset?
“No.” Again, the burning guilt. “And I probably never will.”
“Oh?”
“The DA confiscated the bones.”
“Let me get this straight. These yokels ask you to do the leprous slog, then the DA lays paper and boogies with the goods?”
“The cops were given no choice.”
“Didn’t they have their own paper?”
“It’s a different legal system. I didn’t inquire.” My voice dripped icicles.
“It’s probably a minor glitch. The coroner will be calling you first thing tomorrow.”
“Doubtful.”
“Why?”
I searched for a tactful way to explain Diaz. “Let’s just say there’s resistance to the idea of outside help.”
“What about the Canadian connection?”
I pictured the skull.
“Dubious. But I’m not certain.”
“Jesus, Brennan—”
“Don’t say it.”
He did.
“How do you get yourself into these things?”
“They asked me to recover bones from a tank,” I spat. “I did that.”
“What moron was in charge?”
“What difference does it make?”
“I may nominate the guy for dumb-ass of the year.”
“Sergeant-detective Bartolome Galiano.”
“SICA?”
“Yes.”
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
“Face like a bulldog, eyes like a Guernsey?”
“They’re brown.”
“The Bat.” It was almost a whoop.
“What bat?”
“I haven’t thought of the Bat in years.”
“You’re making no sense, Ryan.”
“Bat Galiano.”
Galiano said he’d spent time in Canada.
“You know Galiano?”
“I went to school with him.”
“Galiano went to St-F.X.?”
St-Francis Xavier, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The small university town was the scene of many of Ryan’s more colorful performances. Then a cokehead biker opened his carotid with the shattered neck of a twelve-ounce Bud. Following serious stitching and introspection, Ryan changed sides. His allegiance shifted from booze and bars to the boys in blue, and he never looked back.
“Bat lived across the hall my senior year. I graduated, joined the SQ. He wrapped up a semester later, returned to Guatemala to become a cop. I haven’t spoken to him in ages.”
“Why ‘Bat?’”
“Never mind. But clear your calendar. You’ll be looking at bones before the week is out.”
“I should have refused to hand them over.”
