Danny looked at Nick in astonishment. “Now you’re suspecting the senator of something?”

“Of course I am—and you should too. Are we supposed to consider Braden above suspicion just because he’s a politician? There’s an irony for you.”

Danny glared at Nick. “Have you got any more bright ideas like that?”

“Not yet, but I’ll let you know.”

“Well, you’d better. From now on I want these things cleared through me first, understand?”

“I didn’t want to bother you with details.”

“I told you yesterday: I like details.”

“And I told you that’s micromanaging, and you’ll drive us all crazy that way—me, anyway.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Is there anything else you two haven’t told me? Are there any other developments I should know about?”

Kegan held up the manila envelope. “We got the first anthropological evaluation from Quantico.”

“When did that happen?”

“Just a few minutes ago,” Nick said. “Let’s not get paranoid here.”

“What do the reports say?”

“We were just about to go over them.”

“Good—fill me in.”

There were four separate reports, each one labeled with a designator indicating the victim’s location in the graveyard and the date of discovery.

“Victim 2-6-18-08,” Kegan read. “This was the first body discovered. Not many surprises here; the victim was male, roughly six feet in height, right-handed.”

“How can you tell that?” Danny asked.

“You tend to favor your strong hand, so the muscles become stronger; that thickens the muscle attachments on the wrist and arm.”

“What about the cause of death?”

“Still undetermined. There were no cut marks on the bones and no sign of ballistic injury. There’s a note here that suggests blunt-force trauma to the skull might be indicated, but I’m not sure how they could tell—the skull was smashed flat, remember?” She scanned the rest of the page. “Apparently the assumption is based on the analysis of the second set of bones.” She picked up the second report and began to study it.

“4-6-18-08—also a male, a little shorter in stature and heavier in build. Approximate age at time of death forty to forty-five. Here we go: The cause of death is listed as ‘blunt-force trauma to the head.’ The skull was intact on this one; the victim was struck from behind, and the diameter and shape of the fracture suggest a large, smooth weapon was used—maybe an ax handle or a club.”

“Could it have been accidental?”

“It’s possible—a tree limb maybe—but it takes a lot of force to crush a skull.” She looked at the next report. “No—it was no accident.”

“Why not?”

“Because the third victim died the same way—a blow to the back of the head. The same cause of death, the same method of disposal. That’s no accident—they were definitely murdered.”