Slickrock Paradox by Stephen Legault Page B

just sat in it with the door open.
    â€œYou coming in, Silas?” a voice said and he looked up. Sheriff Willis was standing in front of him on the sidewalk. Silas realized that the sheriff had probably been waiting for him. He got out of the car and followed the man into the building.
    â€œYou like coffee?” asked Willis.
    â€œNo thanks,” said Silas, his mouth dry. “A glass of water maybe.”
    â€œWe can do that.” They stepped past the reception area and the sheriff used his pass to unlock a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.” Silas had been in this area on several occasions, to file the missing person’s report, and later, to be updated from time to time on the search for Penelope. It was unnerving to think that this was where the search would finally come to conclusion.
    Silas drank the water Willis handed him and tossed the paper cup in the garbage. Silently, Willis led him through another set of doors and into a conference room full of people. Taylor stepped forward, towering over the rest of the crowd. He extended his hand.
    â€œThanks for coming in so early,” he said. They shook. “You know Special Agent Nielsen and Deputy Derek Penshaw, who is representing the Medical Examiner. And this is Special Agent Janet Unger. She’s a member of our Evidence Recovery Team. You might remember her with the video camera. That’s John Huston, also with ERT , and Stan Baton, with the Park Service.”
    â€œThe gang’s all here,” Silas said dryly.
    â€œThis is Dr. Kathleen Rain,” continued Taylor, indicating a woman who rose from the conference table, notepad in hand, and came to shake Silas’s hand.
    â€œI’m with the FBI ’s Forensic Anthropology program. We’re a new subgroup of the Trace Evidence Unit.”
    â€œSilas Pearson. I own a bookstore.”
    â€œYou found these remains?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œOkay. Well, the deceased does not match the description we have on file for your wife, Mr. Pearson.”
    Silas felt his vision grow dim. He looked around and spotted a chair next to the wall, but his legs wouldn’t respond. The sheriff moved the chair under him just as he started to sag against the wall. He sat down. Dr. Rain crouched down so that she was at eye level.
    â€œI’ve only been able to do a preliminary examination here. Thanks to the morgue at Moab Regional, and with the tools I brought with me from Salt Lake City, I’ve been able to determine a few facts. When the remains are transported back to the Medical Examiner’s lab in Salt Lake, we’ll undertake a more thorough examination, but here’s what I can tell you. The remains you discovered in Arches belong to a woman, but one who is no older than twenty-five. I’d say closer to twenty-two or twenty-three. She was five-foot-four, give or take an inch, and weighed maybe one hundred and ten pounds at time of death.”
    Silas was focusing on Rain’s face. He struggled to hear what she was saying. He blinked several times as she spoke. “How do you—”
    â€œThere are some relatively straightforward means for determining these things. First, we were able to exhume nearly a complete skeleton. We’re still looking for other bones in Courthouse Wash. There were several smaller bones missing, but all of the larger bones were there. I can take measurements and determine height and approximate weight. We add a few inches to allow for soft-tissue loss. It’s not that difficult a calculation.
    â€œAs for age, the last bone in the body to stop growing is the collarbone,” said Rain, indicating her own. “That usually happens in the late twenties. In the subject you found in Courthouse Wash, there was no indication that this bone had reached maturity. No fusing, no deterioration. There are also several fusion points in the skull,” she continued, touching the back of her skull, “where