“What I mostly do—forensic facial reconstruction—is about identifying remains. You know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“This isn’t an exact science. Our hope is that our work may lead to a tip or a thought, but a lot of things can skew our results.” Alyse Mervosh made a face. “Is it hot in here?”

“A little.”

“Do you mind if I take off the jacket?”

“Of course not.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m flirting with you or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I have a serious boyfriend.”

“And I’m engaged.”

“Really?” Her face brightened. “Oh, I’m so happy for you. I mean, after what you went through.”

“Dr. Mervosh?”

“Please call me Alyse.”

“Alyse,” Myron said. “It was just a hurt knee. I appreciate your”—he wasn’t sure of the word—“concern, but I’m fine.”

“And you want to know more about Patrick Moore.”

“I do, yes.”

“I’m not great socially,” she said. “It’s why I’m best in the lab. I have a tendency to be a nervous talker. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Myron said. Then: “You were saying something about the results being skewed sometimes.”

“Yes, that’s right. We are trying to imagine, if you will, what a six-year-old boy would look like as a sixteen-year-old. Those are, as you can imagine, difficult years to deduce. If Patrick Moore went missing when he was, say, twenty-six, and we found him now when he’s thirty-six, well, you get the idea, right?”

“Right.”

“Aging is about genetics mostly, but there are other factors. Diet, lifestyle, personal habits, trauma—any of that can alter the aging process and even, in some cases, your appearance. And again: You are also talking about perhaps the most difficult years to analyze. The alteration in appearance from child to adolescent can be an extreme one. As a child ages, the bones and cartilages develop and determine the proportions and shape of your face. So then, as forensic anthropologists, we have to fill in what might be there. The hairline might have receded, for example. Bone tissue is being formed, removed, elongated, and replaced. In short, it’s all hard to predict.”

“I see,” Myron said. “Can you make a guess?”

“About if this teenager is Patrick Moore?”

“Yes.”

She frowned and looked confused by the question. “Guess?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a scientist. I don’t make guesses.”

“I just meant—”

“I can only give you the facts as they are.”

“That’s fine.”

Alyse Mervosh slowly picked up a notepad and checked her notes. “The teenager’s features, with one notable exception, are well within the norm of the six-year-old’s. His eye color has altered slightly, but that’s not noteworthy. It is also very difficult to tell the exact color from a television interview. I was able to get a solid estimation of the height of his parents and sibling and compare it to Patrick’s height at age six. From those calculations, this teenager is two inches shorter than the median, but again that’s certainly within the margin of error. In short, this teenager could indeed be Patrick Moore, but one thing does concern me and leads to my inconclusiveness.”