“Kerf?” Cash interrupted. “English, please.”
“Kerf—the width of the cut. There are breakaway spurs where the bone was sawed through almost completely and then forcefully brokenthe rest of the way by whoever was performing the work. An individual or individuals of some strength performed this dismemberment. There were a couple of false starts—you can see incomplete saw marks on several of the bones where the saw was initially placed before a full cutting motion was made. Once we have a chance to look at these false starts under a microscope, it should provide information as to the tooth pattern and size of the saw. Cut marks on the cartilage will be difficult to analyze, since it’s bloated and warped from sitting in the lake. And…” He hesitated. “Take a look at that mangled foot.” He pointed to the open suitcase.
“I see it,” Colcord said.
“Looks like what they did to Willy’s foot. Put a Spanish boot on this guy.”
“Christ. Cause of death?”
“Not sure yet,” Romanski responded. “Need to lay out all the body parts to do that, and that’s Huizinga’s job.”
Colcord could hear the chanting of the crowd getting louder.
“If that crowd breaks through the perimeter,” said Romanski, “we’re gonna have a lot more than social media posts to deal with.”
“I don’t suppose you have an ID on the body yet?” Colcord asked.
Cash sighed heavily, looking tired. “Yep,” she said, “unless it’s a crazy coincidence.”
“What do you mean?”
Cash gestured to Aisling. “Open that one again for us, please.”
Aisling crouched over one of the suitcases and carefully raised the lid. Inside was what looked like half a rib cage and a pile of intestines. Nestled up against the slimy coils, Colcord could see the gleam of a prosthetic leg.
