‘We just this minute sent mail to each other. I’m responding to the gold foil query. I’m a dentist in Seattle and a member of the Academy of Gold Foil Operators. Are you the forensic pathologist?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Thank you so much for responding. I’m trying to identify a dead young woman with extensive gold foil restorations.’

‘Please describe them.’

I told him about Jane’s dental work and the damage to her teeth. ‘It’s possible she was a musician,’ I added. ‘She may have played the saxophone,’

There was a lady from out here who sounds a lot like that,’

‘She was in Seattle?’

‘Right. Everyone in our academy knew about her because she had such an incredible mouth. Her gold foil restorations and dental anomalies were used in slide presentations at a number of our meetings,’

‘Do you recall her name?’

‘Sorry. She wasn’t my patient. But it seems I remember hearing she was a professional musician until she was in some terrible accident. That was when her dental problems began,’

The lady I’m talking about has a lot of enamel loss,’ I said. ‘Probably from overbrushing,’

‘Oh absolutely. The lady out here did, too,’

‘It doesn’t sound to me as if the lady out there was a street person,’ I said.

‘Couldn’t be. Someone paid for that mouth,’

‘My lady was a street person when she died in New York,’ I said.

‘Geez, that makes me sad. I guess whoever she was, she really couldn’t care for herself,’

‘What is your name?’ I asked.

‘I’m Jay Bennett,’

‘Dr. Bennett? Do you remember anything else that might have been said during one of these slide presentations?’

A long silence followed. ‘Okay, yes. This is very vague,’ He hesitated again. ‘Oh, I know,’ he said. The lady out here was related to someone important. In fact, that might be who she lived with out here before she disappeared.’

I gave him further information so he could call me again. I hung up the phone and met Wesley’s stare.

‘I think Jane is Gault’s sister,’ I said.

‘What?’ He was genuinely shocked.

‘I think Temple Gault murdered his sister,’ I repeated. ‘Please tell me you didn’t already know that.’

He got upset.

‘I’ve got to verify her identity,’ I said, and I had no emotion left in me right now.

‘Won’t her dental records do that?’

‘If we find them. If she still has X rays left. If the army stays out of my way.’

‘The army doesn’t know about her.’ He paused, and for an instant his eyes were bright with tears. He looked away from me. ‘He just told us what he did when he sent the message from CAIN today.’