"Reichs, Kathy - Temperance Brennan 01 - Deja Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichs Kathy)

I selected a form from those on the clipboard. I'd alter my normal
routine and leave the full skeletal inventory for later. For now the
detectives wanted only the ID profile: sex, age, and race. Race was
pretty straightforward. The hair was red, what skin remained appeared
fair. Decomposition, however, could do strange things. I'd check the
skeletal details after cleaning. For now Caucasoid seemed a safe bet.

I already suspected the victim was female. The facial features were
delicate, the overall body build slight. The long hair meant nothing.

I looked at the pelvis. Turning it to the side I noted that the notch
below the hip blade was broad and shallow. I repositioned it so that I
could see the pubic bones, the region in front where the right and left
halves of the pelvis meet. The curve formed by their lower borders was a
wide arch. Delicate raised ridges cut across the front of each pubic
bone, creating distinct triangles in the lower corners. Typical female
features. Later I'd take measurements and run discriminant function
analyses on the computer, but I had no doubt these were the remains of a
woman.

I was wrapping the pubic area in a wet rag when the sound of the phone
startled me. I hadn't realized how quiet it was. Or how tense I was. I
walked to the desk, zigzagging through maggots like a child playing
jacks.

"Dr. Brennan," I answered, pushing the goggles to the top of my head and
dropping into the chair. Using my pen, I flicked a maggot from the
desktop.

"Claudel," a voice said. One of the two CUM detectives assigned to the
case. I looked at the wall clock-ten-forty. Later than I realized. He
didn't go on. Obviously he assumed his name was message enough.

"I'm working on her right now," I said. I could hear a metallic grating
sound. "I shou-"

"Elle?" he interrupted. Female?

"Yes." I watched another maggot contract into a crescent, then double
back on itself and repeat the maneuver in the opposite direction. Not
bad.

"White?"

"Yes. "Age?"

"I should be able to give you a range within an hour." I could picture
him looking at his watch.