As soon as I'd finished with the skul s and jaws I'd given them to Marc Bergeron for odontological analysis. I figured his job would be easy too, since both men had obvious dental work.

The tal er victim had a wel -healed fracture of the col arbone. I was photographing the injury when Bergeron entered my lab Friday morning. The dentist was one of the oddest-looking men I'd ever met, with wild, dandelion hair and a daddy-longlegs build. It was impossible to guess his age, and no one at the lab seemed to know.

Bergeron waited until I'd snapped the shot then confirmed the identifications as positive.

"How did you get the records so quickly?"

"Two very cooperative dentists. And, fortunately for me, the deceased had a commitment to oral health. At least Gately did. Bad teeth, lots of restorations. Martineau was less fastidious, but there were some peculiarities that made him a cinch. The big bad biker was walking around with four baby teeth in his mouth. That's pretty rare for someone his age."

I turned off the lights on the copy stand.

"Have you started on the third victim?" Bergeron asked.

"Not yet, but I can finish this later. Shal we take a look?"

I'd been wanting to look at the third set of bones al morning and Bergeron provided a good excuse.

"You bet."

I returned the col arbone to the skeleton on the left side of my worktable.

"Who's who?" I asked, gesturing at the bones.

Bergeron went to his tray and checked the digits on each occipital bone, then those on the smal cards I'd set beside the skeletons, and positioned the skul s accordingly. He swept a bony arm over the victim with the broken clavicle.

"Monsieur Martineau."

Then over the gentleman on his right.

"And Mr. Gately."

"Was Gately an Anglophone?"

"I assume so since his dentist doesn't speak a word of French."

"Not too many of those among les motards."

"None that I know of," Bergeron agreed.

"Wil you give the good news to Quickwater and Claudel?"

"I've already made the cal ."

I went to the storage shelves and pul ed the box containing the third St-Basile victim. Since the remains were coated with dirt, I placed a screen in the sink, set them in it, and ran warm water over them.

The long bones cleaned easily, so I laid them on the drainboard and began brushing mud from the outside of the skul . Its weight told me that the cranial interior was packed solid. When the facial features were clear I inverted the skul and let the tap water run over the base. Then I crossed to my desk to fil out a case identification card.

When I returned to the sink Bergeron held the skul in his hands, turning it faceup, then rotating it for a lateral view He stared at the features a long time then said, "Oh my."