'Sure.'

Minutes later we were seated at one of the folding tables.

'Squashed subs and pulverized chips,' he said.

'My usual order.'

'How's LaManche?' Larke had selected what looked like tuna on wheat.

'Back to his usual cantankerous self.'

Being the director of the medico-legal unit, Pierre LaManche was Larke Tyrel's counterpart at the lab in Montreal. My two bosses had known each other for years through membership in the National Association of Medical Examiners and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. LaManche had suffered a heart attack the previous spring but was fuly recovered and back to work.

'Mighty glad to hear that.'

As we peeled celophane and popped sodas, I remembered the ME's first appearance at the site.

'Can I ask you something?'

'Sure.' He watched me carefuly, his eyes chestnut in the sunlight angling down from an overhead window.

'Jesus, Larke, I'm fine, so quit with the stress assessment. Lieutenant-Detective Ryan just happens to be a horse's ass.'

'Noted. You sleeping O.K.?'

'Like Custer after Little Bighorn.' I avoided the impulse to rol my eyes.

'What's your question?'

'When you and the lieutenant governor arrived last week, where did the chopper land?'

I upended my chip bag and poured fragments into my hand.

'There's a house a spit west of the crash site. The pilot liked the lay of the land so that's where he put us down.'

'There's a landing strip?'

'Hel, no, just a smal clearing. I thought Davenport was gonna soil his Calvin Kleins, he was so scared.' Larke chuckled. 'It was like a scene out of M*A*S*H. Triggs kept insisting we head back out, and the pilot kept saying, "Yes, sir, yes, sir," then put that bird exactly where he wanted.'

I palmed the chips into my mouth.

'Then we just worked our way toward the site. I'd say it was maybe a quarter mile.'

'It's a house?'

'An old cabin or something. I didn't pay much attention.'

'Did you see a road?'

He shook his head. 'Why the questions?'

I told him about the foot.

'I didn't notice a cemetery, but there's no harm poking around out there. You sure these were coyotes?'

'No.'

'Be safe; take a radio and a can of Mace.'

'Do coyotes hunt during the day?'

'Coyotes hunt whenever they feel like it.'

Great.

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