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Flash and Bones: A Novel
Flash and Bones: A Novel
Flash and Bones: A Novel
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Flash and Bones: A Novel

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Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with a riveting new novel set in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring America’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan’s office at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner to share a devastating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gamble’s sister, Cindi, then a high school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Lovette kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Could the body be Cindi’s? Or Cale’s?

At the time of their disappearance, the FBI joined the investigation, only to terminate it weeks later. Was there a cover-up? As Tempe juggles multiple theories, the discovery of a strange, deadly substance in the barrel alongside the body throws everything into question. Then an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes missing during Race Week. Tempe can’t overlook the coincidence. Was this man using his lab chemicals for murder? Or is the explanation even more sinister? What other secrets lurk behind the festive veneer of Race Week?

A turbocharged story of secrets and murder unfolds in this, the fourteenth thrilling novel in Reichs’s “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” (The New York Times Book Review). With the smash hit Bones about to enter its seventh season and in full syndication—and her most recent novel, Spider Bones, an instant New York Times bestseller—Kathy Reichs is at the top of her game.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribner
Release dateAug 23, 2011
ISBN9781439112809
Author

Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks. 

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Rating: 3.628361748166259 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I haven't read one of these for a while. At first I found the clean, concise style a little too simplistic, but it works well once you get used to it. Initially, the plot also seemed too cut and dried to base a whole novel on, but then the twists started coming in. In the end I rather enjoyed it, although it's painfully obvious the author didn't know much about NASCAR before writing the book, meaning their pieces of research are way too obvious and sometimes don't fit the narrative neatly.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another example of what Kathy Reichs does best -- a mystery wrapped in forensic anthropology, narrated in annoyingly incomplete sentences, but nonetheless thoroughly engrossing. This was set against a NASCAR backdrop, which is really not my thing, and I didn't find the Big Reveal quite satisfying, but at the same time I could hardly put it down.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The series is holding up pretty well, characters at least grow & change. I just don't like NASCAR. at all.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A standard mystery story, but with more colorful characters than most mystery novels.The strong use of the first person point of view, taking full advantage of am excellent lead character, raises Reichs above most other writers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love the TV series `Bones' which is based on her books, yet hardly anything like the characters in the books. This is a series for everyone to read and enjoy. I missed Ryan a bit in this book, he was there but not for much time. In Spider Bones he played a much larger part. If you like police procedural and mysteries you will love this author. Great writing, good flow and a mystery to keep you guessing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Like the last couple of books, I wasn't very into the plot. I guess the series is really going downhill, though some would probably say that happened way before this. Since I'm reading most of these back to back, it becomes pretty apparent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    wonderful novel about the raceway, and drivers, poisons, and a darn good read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a bodies found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan's office at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner to share a devastating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gamble's sister Cindi, then a high school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Love kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Could the body be Cindi's? Or Cale's? At the time of their disappearance, the FBI joined the investigation, only to terminate it weeks later. Was there a cover-up? As Tempe juggles multiple theories, the discovery of a strange, deadly substance in the barrel alongside the body throws everything into question. Then an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes missing during Race Week. Tempe can't overlook the coincidence.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not one of my favorites of Reichs' novels; however, it was better than I anticipated. Set in the world of NASCAR, I anticipated hating it as I'm not a fan. However, the mystery itself did pique my interest and found myself liking the story in spite of myself. Temperance Brennan has always been a good read and this story was no exception.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A Temperance Brennan mystery about NASCAR racing. Decent fun, low calorie read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Tempe is just as usual in this novel, but not in her best form -- or even her tenth best. In her Temperance Brennan series, Kathy Reichs has been providing good, reliable forensic thrillers for a long time now. That's what her readers want, and it is certainly reassuring to move into Tempe's world for a while: we know the characters, we know the likely dangers, and we know that it will all be resolved in the end. But sometimes the formula doesn't work all that well, and this, for me, was one of those times. Maybe it was the setting in the world of NASCAR racing, maybe it's the fact that I like her Montreal novels better, or maybe it's the somewhat nervous-making love (or lust) interest, or maybe it's the fact that Reich's writerly mannerisms seem to be getting more marked. I certainly won't stop reading this series, but I do hope the next one is more engrossing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    TO be honest not the strongest of the Temperance series. Again, LOVE Bones but I think that writing the TV show has taken away the magic of this character for me. Bones is SO much MORE on TV then here. I like her in the books better, as a person, but it went from dated (her early novels) to a rushed presentation.

    She talks about having three elements in her comments in the back but the love aspect was wishy washy at best. I kept thinking, what are you doing? Petting the cat again huh? It was another book, nothing to scream about or give a 5 star review. Glad she has her other project with the YA books because Temperance has gotten boring!

    Still a fun read but just eh...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Tempe Brennan is confronted with a strange find -- a dead man encased in asphalt inside a barrel. The mystery deepens when the FBI becomes involved, apparently trying to warn her off a decade old missing person case. Is there a connection? She thinks so.Kathy Reichs is back to writing her Temperance Brennan like she used -- characters are interesting and focused but with enough 'other' material to make them real, the plot moves along without dragging, the technical material is explained when needed without lecturing, and most importantly, Birdie, the cat, is in the story! (Okay, not that important to most people, but I think it shows a realistic character.) I still miss Det. Ryan, Tempe's ex-boyfriend, but the new characters were a great addition and filled the void in the story if not her love life.Overall, this was better than the previous book, Spider Bones.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'd complained back in my review of Devil Bones that Reichs left the readers out of a really important conversation between Tempe Brennan and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Andrew Ryan. Rather than letting the scene play out in real time, she'd related what happened after the fact. She's annoyingly using that same tactic in the newest Bones installment - and there's really no excuse, since the narrative clocks in at just 271 pages in the hardcover edition. She mentions Ryan a few times and lets us in on one small-talk conversation, but relegates the rest to a couple paragraphs of past-tense exposition. I can't figure out what editor is letting her get away with this malarkey. Additionally, there are multiple scenes with Tempe's ex-husband and his fiancee which seem to be serving as comedic relief, but the book ends without any examination or resolution of Pete's unhappiness that Tempe notices. Full conversations between Tempe and Pete about this would have been a welcomed way to beef up the page count. There's also a few paragraphs dedicated to telling the reader about some family drama with Tempe's sister and nephew, but I was at a loss for whether this has been brought up in earlier books or if it was just a random infodump of an undeveloped side plot. It seemed like meaty stuff that was deserving of a lot more narrative attention than it received.On the plus side, I felt like Flash and Bones kept the repetitive explain-y bits to a bare minimum, which should be the case when you're at book #14 in a series. But maybe this is why its page count is so anemic. While the mystery was good as always, I read this series because I like Tempe, and I really hope that Reichs decides to spend more time and attention on Tempe's personal life in the next book rather than just giving us some crumbs in between the mystery scenes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't think this audiobook was abridged, though it never said "unabridged". It seems that Kathy Reichs has been listening to her fan base, though: this book moved a long better than some of the others of late, and there was almost no ridiculous soap opera relationship issues with Det Andrew. Still a lot of rhetorical questions, but more of the science and mystery that makes the books interesting. Too bad Brennan was a bit daft at figuring this one out, because the reader gets it long before she does.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kathy Reichs gives Tempe such a great sense of humor in such creepy circumstances--this read was short and sweet!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Typical Kathy Reichs--fast paced thriller. I've always enjoyed her books!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a good book overall. Like the others in the series, it was well-written and interesting. The author creates new and interesting scenarios rather than recycling the old ones. Unfortunately she has fallen into a bit of a pattern of having heroine get kidnapped and/or attacked by the villain at the end of the book. So in that sense it was a bit predictable.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reason for Reading: I read all the author's books. I've got myself slightly behind but will get caught up shortly.First I'll start by saying I enjoyed the book very much. It was actually quite refreshing. Reichs seems to have removed herself from the cookie cutter mold she had let herself slip into lately, not that I don't always enjoy her books to a 3 or more but they do follow a pattern. Here we have Tempe entering a new world, one she isn't familiar with, that of Nascar Racing and she has to deal with some bones found in fairly obscure condition. As often happens a past and present corpse bring ideas of a relationship to their deaths and the investigation gets underway both into the current deaths and into the John Doe case. I kind of kicked myself when the perpetrator was found as it should have been easy to solve but it didn't come to me this time. I enjoyed Reichs usual details and it ended up being a surprising and sad case.On the other side, Tempe's continual personal life is always an ongoing theme of this series and I was pleased with its direction. It was not what I had expected as Andrew Ryan does not appear in the book at all. We do hear of him, through email letters and Tempe does still care about him, Charlie Hunt(?) her other suitor has been busy on an all important case and may perhaps be finding interest somewhere else. Meanwhile Tempe meets an ex-cop whom she works with on this case who makes her heart go pitter-patter in a completely different, new and exciting way. On top of that her ex and his fiance, 24 -year-old Summer, are driving her insane.A good all around mystery with a new fascinating setting, but for some reason I felt this a very slow read. It was not hard to put down and it would take time for me to pick up again. Personally I think this was me,not the book's fault. It was just a slow reading week for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Temperance Brennan continues to be among the few of these long-running series that maintains a level of good writing and interest.An entertaining read, though a bit too much explanation of the NASCAR background and the scientific attributes of ricin and abrin, that could surely have emerged through the narrative without the didactic passages.Nevertheless I'm looking forward to the next volume.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the 2nd Reichs book that I've read. They are very well-written. Factual. Good dialog. Not one of those mysteries where everything is explained as the killer is just about to kill the detective who is rescued at the last moment. In this book, the police figure out the killer in the nick of time and save Brennan. I would read another one in the series if I came across it but the book wasn't so wonderful that I'm rushing out to look for the rest in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I admit it...I'm a forensic science fan, and Kathy Reichs' books are always a favorite of mine. This book, Flash and Bones, does not disappoint. Set in Temperance's (Ms. Reichs') town of Charlotte, the story begins with the discovery of a body in a steel drum filled with asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Is the body in the drum tied to the case of two teenagers that went missing years ago? Is it a man that was just recently reported missing? OR, is it someone else?With some unusual causes of death discovered and connections with a right-wing extremist group uncovered, this is one enjoyable and quick read.Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've been reading the Temperance Brennan books since Deja Dead was published. I've noticed that I always prefer the books where Temperance is in Canada at least part of the book. In this book Tempe stays put in Charlotte which is inundated with car racing fans for the NASCAR race. A drum filled with asphalt and a body turns up just outside the race track and Tempe has to identify the body. A crew member wants to know if it could be his sister who disappeared years ago and has never been heard from since.Dr. Brennan ends up spending a lot of time at the race track and we are treated to lots of information about car racing. Maybe if I was more interested in NASCAR I would have found this riveting but it seemed like it was just added in for filler.Hopefully Tempe will be back in Montreal soon and get back in the groove with Detective Ryan.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was not my favorite book by Reichs. Temperance Brennan investigates the death of a man who is found near a NASCAR race track. Does the body belong to a high school girl who disappeared with her boyfriend 12 years ago? Was a right wing hate group involved in the murder? Is the FBI involved in some kind of cover-up of the case? What is the mysterious substance found with the body? Will Tempe's ex-husband find happiness with his fiancee, Summer? Is she ever going to have a stable relationship? There is a lot of action and details, but somehow it just didn't gel for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have been reading every Kathy Reichs. For the past few years, I feel a bit disappointed as her style is always the same. Give all the "clues" and the let eveything fall into place in the last 10 pages. The story is entertaining, in this book we are completely immerse in the world of NASCAR when a body is found in a Oil drum close to the speed way. The setting of this book is completely in Charlotte and Tempe's life is again in jeopardy when she gets too close to the truth.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kathy makes me glad that I live in Charlotte, NC and the heart of NASCAR country. One of her best novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have been reading Temperance Brennan books since the first one came out, and I have truly enjoyed them. I did notice that the last two or so, although good, were not up to what I had come to expect from this series. This book is more like the Tempe Brennan that I have to come to love. The book is fast-paced and there are lots of twists and turns in the story. The book is set entirely in North Carolina this time, and all around NASAR racing which is huge in that state. There are lots of bodies turning up in various locations, and lots of threats and terrors for Tempe to deal with as she tries to unravel the mysteries. I love the character of Tempe Brennan and I love the forensic expertise that comes out so often in these books. Ms. Reichs is a wonderful author. True escapism for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Temperance Brennan is back in full effect. When a body is found in a barrel, filled with concrete at a dump near the Charlotte Motor Speedway, our favorite forensic anthropologist is brought in to consult. Soon after the media gets wind of the story, Wayne Gamble, an employee of one of the NASCAR racing teams, visits Tempe to ask if the body found might be that of his sister, who vanished along with her white supremacist boyfriend twelve years earlier. Just as Tempe and her boss start to find answers, things start to get weird. The FBI shows up and the body disappears. Flash and Bones features the return of Officer "Skinny" Slydell and Tempe's soon-to-be-ex-husband Pete, and we finally get to meet Pete's intellectually-challenged fiancée, Summer. We're also introduced to the story behind Kathy Reichs's YA series, Virals. (I have reviewed the first book of the Virals series on my LibraryThing page as well as on my blog.)This installment of the Bones series has not been given stellar reviews. While not the best book she's ever written, I felt that it was a worthy addition to the series, and I was just as engulfed in it as I have been all of her other books. I truly enjoyed it.While the narrator did a great job, her gravelly voice, while lovely, made Tempe sound much older than I imagine her to be. I wish they would have stuck with Linda Emond, whose voice has much more of a chronological range.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another good Kathy Reichs book. Love Temperance. Keep them coming Kathy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An OK addition to the series and, for me a fast read, but one that ultimately feels as if she's marking time, especially as there is a small reference to Tempe's great niece who is the focus of her new young adult series. The investigation was OK and it was interesting to learn how you remove a body from a barrel full of asphalt. But as I really don't have any interest in NASCAR, I found some of the sections at the track quite tedious. On the personal side, I miss Tempe's relationship with Ryan, who hardly appears in the book, and found the interludes with her husband and his fiancé frankly ridiculous. I do hope she continues to write the series but am hoping that the next one brings a return to Canada and a resumption of the sparring with Ryan.

Book preview

Flash and Bones - Kathy Reichs

Cover: Flash and Bones, by Kathy Reichs

Read these bestsellers from Kathy Reichs, a true master of cliffhangers (Jeffery Deaver)—forensic suspense guaranteed to chill to the bone (Entertainment Weekly)!

FLASH AND BONES

#1 New York Times bestseller!

A novel likely to appeal to NASCAR lovers as well as thriller aficionados.

—Charlotte Observer (NC)

Reichs imbues this fusion of past and present with her signature blend of forensic know-how and deeply felt characters.

Publishers Weekly

Compelling. . . . Reichs knows what her readers like.

Associated Press

Writing novels seems to be embedded in her family’s DNA.

USA Today

A fine entry in a consistently solid series.

Booklist

I am a big fan of Kathy’s books. I love the character of Temperance Brennan, her strong spirit and intelligence, and the humor in the book series.

—Emily Deschanel, star of Fox TV’s Bones (as Dr. Temperance Brennan)

Flash and Bones is also available from Simon & Schuster Audio

The forensic procedures take center stage in this cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series, raves The New York Times —more praise for the Temperance Brennan novels from Kathy Reichs

SPIDER BONES

A fine novel. . . . A whopper of a final twist.

Publishers Weekly

Reading a new Tempe Brennan novel is like hooking up with old friends: you know you’ll have a good time.

Booklist

206 BONES

Outstanding.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

DEVIL BONES

#1 New York Times bestseller!

The suspense is intense . . . and the forensic education is graduate level.

St. Petersburg Times (FL)

"Devil Bones is her best yet."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

BONES TO ASHES

We can’t get enough.

More magazine

Acclaim for the forensic suspense of Kathy Reichs, whose expertise is snappily and entertainingly delivered (Booklist) in these unforgettable Temperance Brennan thrillers

BREAK NO BONES   CROSS BONES   MONDAY MOURNING   BARE BONES   GRAVE SECRETS   FATAL VOYAGE   DEADLY DÉCISIONS   DEATH DU JOUR   DÉJÀ DEAD

A rare treat. . . . Mesmerizing.

—Ann Rule, #1 New York Times bestselling author

The science is downright snazzy, the mystery plenty devious. . . .

Houston Chronicle

Tempe’s dedication, intelligence, dry wit, and femininity really shine through.

Booklist

Powerful. . . . A page-turner.

The Hartford Courant (CT)

The plot moves with electric force. . . . Morbid yet captivating.

—Publishers Weekly

Ripe with intricate settings and memorable characters.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A high-octane forensic thriller.

—People

Another scary ride through evil past and present. Read it and creep.

—Mademoiselle

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Flash and Bones, by Kathy Reichs, Scribner

For

Declan Rex Reichs

Born July 1, 2010

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

From the Forensic Files of Dr. Kathy Reichs

'Spider Bones' Excerpt

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Flash and Bones would not have been possible without the help of Barry Byrd. Muchas gracias, Byrdman! I owe you.

Scott and Tiffany Smith invited me into their home and included me with the Race Week gang. Thanks. You created a new fan. Marcus Smith and Bryan Hammond welcomed me to the Charlotte Motor Speedway and answered endless questions about NASCAR and the track. Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson’s awesome crew chief, provided information on cars and race teams. Marty Smith of ESPN offered the perspective of a media insider. Bruton Smith’s hospitality in the owner’s suite was greatly appreciated.

Drs. Jane Brock, Patty McFeeley, and Mike Graham responded to my queries about ricin. Dr. William C. Rodriguez and Mike Warns answered a million questions each. Sergeant Harold (Chuck) Henson, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, helped with details on policing and law enforcement.

D. G. Martin shared an article on the history of stock car racing, and David Perry graciously donated Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France, by Daniel S. Pierce, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.

I appreciate the continued support of Chancellor Philip L. Dubois of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

I am grateful to my family for their patience and understanding. Amazing how they still put up with my grumpy phases.

Deepest gratitude to my agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, and to my genius editors, Nan Graham and Susan Sandon. I also want to thank all those who work so very hard on my behalf, including: Katherine Monaghan, Paul Whitlatch, Rex Bonomelli, Kara Watson, Simon Littlewood, Gillian Holmes, Rob Waddington, Glenn O’Neill, Kathleen Nishimoto, Lauren Levine, Tracy Fisher, Michelle Feehan, Cathryn Summerhayes, and Raffaella De Angelis. I am also indebted to the Canadian crew, especially to Kevin Hanson, Amy Cormier, and David Millar.

And, of course, I am grateful to my readers. Without you, what’s the point?

If I have forgotten to thank anyone I am truly sorry. Though I tried to be careful, if the book has errors they are my fault.

LOOKING BACK, I THINK OF IT AS RACE WEEK IN THE RAIN. THUN-derboomers almost every day. Sure, it was spring. But these storms were over the top.

In the end, Summer saved my life.

I know. Sounds bizarre.

This is what happened.

*    *    *

Bloated, dark clouds hung low to the ground, but so far no rain.

Lucky break. I’d spent the morning digging up a corpse.

Sound macabre? Just part of the job. I’m a forensic anthropologist. I recover and analyze the dead that present in less than pristine condition—the burned, mummified, mutilated, dismembered, decomposed, and skeletal.

OK. Today’s target wasn’t actually a corpse. I’d been searching for overlooked body parts.

Short version. Last fall a housewife vanished from her Cabarrus County home in rural North Carolina. A week ago, while I was away on a working vacation in Hawaii, a trucker admitted to strangling the woman and burying her body in a sandpit. Impatient, the local cops had sallied forth with shovels and buckets. They delivered the bones in a Mott’s applesauce carton to my employer, the Medical Examiner’s Office, in neighboring Mecklenburg County.

Yesterday, my aloha tan still glowing, I’d begun my analysis. A skeletal inventory revealed that the hyoid, the mandible, and all of the upper incisors and canines were missing.

No teeth, no dental ID. No hyoid, no evidence of strangulation. Dr. Tim Larabee, the Mecklenburg County medical examiner, asked me to have a second go at the sandpit.

Correcting screwups usually makes me cranky. Today I was feeling upbeat.

I’d quickly found the missing bits and dispatched them to the MCME facility in Charlotte. I was en route to a shower, a late lunch, and time with my cat.

It was 1:50 p.m. My sweat-soaked tee was pasted to my back. My hair was yanked into a ratty knot. Sand lined my scalp and undies. Nevertheless, I was humming. Al Yankovic, White & Nerdy. What can I say? I’d watched a YouTube video and the tune lodged in my head.

Wind buffeted my Mazda as I merged onto southbound I-85. Slightly uneasy, I glanced at the sky, then thumbed on NPR.

Terry Gross was finishing an interview with W. S. Merwin, the U.S. poet laureate. Both were indifferent to the conditions outside my car.

Fair enough. The show was produced in Philadelphia, five hundred miles north of Dixie.

Terry launched into a teaser about an upcoming guest. I never caught the name.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The National Weather Service has issued a severe-weather warning for parts of the North Carolina piedmont, including Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Anson, Stanly, and Union counties. Severe thunderstorms are expected to move through the area within the next hour. Rainfall of one to three inches is anticipated, creating the potential for flash flooding. Atmospheric conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes. Stay tuned to this station for further updates.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I tightened my grip on the wheel and goosed my speed to seventy-five. Risky in a sixty-five-mile-an-hour zone, but I wanted to reach home before the deluge.

Moments later Terry was interrupted again, this time by a muted whoop-whoop.

My eyes flicked to the radio.

Whoop!

Feeling stupid, I checked the rearview mirror.

A police cruiser was riding my bumper.

Annoyed, I pulled to the shoulder and lowered my window. When the cop approached, I held out my license.

Dr. Temperance Brennan?

Looking somewhat worse for wear. I beamed what I hoped was a winning smile.

Johnny Law did not beam back. That won’t be necessary, indicating my license.

Puzzled, I looked up at the guy. He was mid-twenties, slim, with an infant mustache that appeared to be going nowhere. A badge on his chest said R. Warner.

The Concord Police Department received a request from the Mecklenburg County medical examiner to intercept and divert you.

Larabee sent the cops to find me?

Yes, ma’am. When I arrived at the recovery site, you’d left.

Why didn’t he call me directly?

Apparently he couldn’t get through.

Of course not. While digging, I’d locked my iPhone in the car to protect it from sand.

My phone is in the glove compartment. No need to alarm Officer Warner. I’m going to take it out.

Yes, ma’am.

The numbers on the little screen indicated three missed calls from Larabee. Three messages. I listened to the first: Long story, which I’ll share when you’re back. The Concord PD received a report of a body at the Morehead Road landfill. Chapel Hill wants us to handle it. I’m elbow-deep in an autopsy. Since you’re in the area, I hoped you could swing by to check it out. Joe Hawkins is diverting that way with the van, just in case they’ve actually got something for us.

The second message was the same as the first. Ditto the third, but more terse. It ended with the inducement: You’re a champ, Tempe.

A landfill in a storm? The champ was suddenly not so chipper.

Ma’am, we should hurry. The rain won’t hold off much longer.

Lead on. I could not have said this with less enthusiasm.

Warner returned to his cruiser, whoop-whooped, then pulled into traffic. Inwardly cursing Larabee, Warner, and the landfill, I palm-slapped the gearshift and followed.

Traffic on I-85 was unusually heavy for Thursday, midafternoon. As we approached Concord, I could see that the Bruton Smith Boulevard exit ramp was a parking lot.

And realized what a nightmare this little detour of Larabee’s would be.

The Morehead Road landfill is back-fence neighbor to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a major stop on the NASCAR circuit. Races would be held there this weekend and next. Local print and broadcast coverage was extensive. Even I knew that tomorrow’s qualifying would determine which lucky drivers made the cut for Saturday’s All-Star Race.

Two hundred thousand avid fans would pour into Charlotte for Race Week. Looking at the sea of SUVs, campers, pickups, and sedans, I guessed that many had already hit town.

Warner rode the shoulder. I followed, ignoring the hostile glares of those cemented in the logjam.

Lights flashing, we snaked through the bedlam on Bruton Smith Boulevard, past the dragway, the dirt track, and a zillion fast-food joints. On the sidelines, the tattooed and tank-topped carried babies, six-packs, coolers, and radios. Vendors sold souvenirs from folding tables beneath improvised tents.

Warner looped the surrealistic geometry of the Speedway itself, made several turns, then rolled to a stop outside a small structure whose siding might once have been blue. Beyond the building loomed a series of mounds resembling a Martian mountain range.

A man emerged and issued Warner a yellow hard hat and a neon orange vest. As they talked, the man pointed at a gravel road rising sharply uphill.

Warner waited while I received my safety gear, then we proceeded up the slope. Trucks rumbled in both directions, engines churning hard going in, humming going out.

When the road leveled, I could see three men standing by an enormous Dumpster. Two wore coveralls. The third wore black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt over a white tee. Joe Hawkins, longtime death investigator for the MCME. All three featured gear identical to that lying on my passenger seat.

Warner nosed up to the Dumpster and parked. I pulled in beside him.

The men watched as I got out and donned my hard hat and vest. Fetching. A perfect complement to my current state of hygiene.

We gotta quit meeting like this. Joe and I had parted at the sandpit barely an hour earlier.

The older man stuck out a hand. Weaver Molene. He was flushed and sweating and filled his coveralls way beyond their intended capacity.

Temperance Brennan. I’d have skipped the handshake, given the black moons under Molene’s nails, but didn’t want to be rude.

You the coroner? he asked.

I work for the medical examiner, I said.

Molene introduced the younger man as Barcelona Jackson. Jackson was very thin and very black. And very, very nervous.

Jackson and I work for the company that manages the landfill.

Impressive pile of trash, I said.

Site’s got a capacity of over two and a half million cubic meters. Molene ran a dingy hankie across his face. Friggin’ weird Jackson stumbled onto the one square foot holding a stiff. Or maybe not. Probably dozens out there.

Jackson had mostly kept his eyes down. At Molene’s words, he raised and then quickly dropped them back to his boots.

Tell me what you found, sir.

Though I spoke to Jackson, Molene answered.

Probably best we show you. And quick. He pocket-jammed the hankie. This storm’s coming fast.

Molene set off at a pace I would have thought impossible for a man of his bulk. Jackson scampered after. I fell into line, paying attention as best I could to the uneven footing. Warner and Hawkins brought up the rear.

I’ve excavated in landfills, am familiar with the aroma of eau de dump, a delicate blend of methane and carbon dioxide with traces of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, hydrogen chloride, and carbon monoxide added for spice. I braced for the stench. Didn’t happen.

Good odor management, guys. Or maybe it was Mother Nature. Wind swirled dirt into little cyclones and tumbled cellophane wrappers, plastic bags, and torn paper across the landscape.

Our course took us the length of the active landfill, down a slope, then around a series of what appeared to be closed areas. Instead of raw earth, the tops of the older mounds were covered with grass.

As we walked, the rumble of trucks receded, and the whine of fine-tuned engines grew louder. Based on the changing acoustics, I figured the Speedway lay over a rise to our right.

After ten minutes, Molene stopped at the base of a truncated hillock. Though tentative grass greened the top, the side facing us was scarred and pitted, like a desert butte gouged by eons of wind.

Molene said something I didn’t catch. I was focused on the exposed stratigraphy.

Unlike the slate or gneiss that make up metamorphic rock, the mound’s layers were composed of flattened Pontiacs and Posturepedics, of squashed Pepsis, Pop-Tarts, Pringles, and Pampers.

Molene pointed to a crater in a brown-green layer eight feet above our heads, then to an object lying about two yards off the base of the mound. His explanation was lost to a clap of thunder.

Didn’t matter. It was obvious Jackson’s stiff had dropped from the mound, probably dislodged by the previous day’s storm.

I crossed to the thing and squatted. Molene, Warner, and Hawkins clustered around me but remained standing. Jackson kept his distance.

The object was a drum, approximately twenty inches in diameter and thirty inches high. Its cover lay off to one side.

Looks like a metal container of some kind, I said without looking up. It’s too rusted to make out a logo or label.

Flip it, Molene shouted. Jackson and I turned the thing bottom up to protect the stuff inside.

I tried. It weighed a ton.

Hawkins squatted, and together, we muscled the drum upright. Its interior was filled with a solid black mass.

I leaned close. Something pale was suspended in the dark fill, but the pre-storm gloom obscured all detail.

I was reaching for my Maglite when lightning sparked.

A human hand flashed white in the electric brilliance.

Dissolved to black.

I RAN MY BEAM OVER THE INKY MATRIX.

The white inclusion was unquestionably a human hand.

The fill was rock-hard but crumbling at the exposed edges. I suspected asphalt. The size of the drum suggested a thirty-five-gallon capacity.

Thirty seconds of discussion, and we had a plan.

Warner and Jackson would stand guard while the rest of us returned to the management office. Though Jackson’s look said he’d rather be elsewhere, he offered no protest.

The clouds burst as Hawkins, Molene, and I picked our way back. We arrived mud-coated and thoroughly soaked.

To my dismay, two vehicles waited a short distance down the dirt road, motors idling, wipers slapping. I recognized the driver of the Ford Focus.

Sonofabitch, I said.

What? Behind me, Molene was breathing hard.

Reporters. I waved a hand in the direction of the cars.

I didn’t talk to no one. I swear.

Their scanners probably picked up the radio transmission from the cops to the ME.

You’re kidding.

It’s Race Week. I made no attempt to hide my irritation. A murder at the Speedway would make splashy headlines.

Seeing us, the reporters emerged from their cars and slip-slid to the checkpoint. One was a mushroom-shaped man holding an umbrella. The other was a woman in a slicker and pink vinyl boots.

The guard looked a question in our direction. Molene gestured no with both hands.

Denied access, the pair shouted through the downpour.

How long has the body been out there?

Is it the kid who went missing from Bar Carolina?

Any tie-in to the Speedway?

Dr. Brennan—

Is the ME planning to—

Hawkins, Molene, and I hurried into the office. The door slammed, cutting off the barrage of questions.

"Any chance it could be the Leonitus kid?" Hawkins referred to a young woman who’d vanished two years earlier after a night of barhopping with friends.

How old is that sector? I asked Molene.

I’ll have to check the records.

Ballpark. I removed my hard hat and vest and held them at arm’s length. Not that it mattered. I was dripping as much as they were.

We stopped dumping in that area in 2005. That layer, I’d say late nineties to maybe 2002.

Then the vic ain’t Leonitus, Hawkins said.

Or parts of her, I thought.

While Hawkins and Molene drove a motorized cart back out to retrieve the drum, I phoned Larabee. He said what I expected: See you tomorrow.

So much for lounging with my cat.

Thirty minutes later Jackson’s prize sat on plastic sheeting in the ME van, oozing muddy water and flecks of rust. Five minutes after that, it was making its way to Charlotte along with the Cabarrus County sandpit teeth and bones.

Officer Warner escorted me back to the interstate. After that I was on my own.

Between the downpour, rush hour, and the Race Week frenzy, vehicles were backed up to Minneapolis. Fortunately, that was opposite to my direction of travel, though westbound traffic was also heavy. While lurching and braking my way toward home, I wondered about the person we’d just recovered.

A whole body? A tight fit for a thirty-five-gallon container, but not impossible. Dismembered parts? I hoped not. A partial corpse would mean a return to the landfill for a systematic search.

That prospect was decidedly unappealing.

*    *    *

Friday promised a repeat of Thursday. Hot and sticky with more afternoon storms.

Wouldn’t affect me. I’d be stuck in the lab all day.

After a quick breakfast of granola and yogurt, I drove downtown. Or uptown, as Charlotteans prefer.

The Mecklenburg County medical examiner occupies one end of a featureless brick box that spent

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