Page 109 of Forever Dead
“Could it still be animal hide?” Selena asked.
“Certainly.”
“Leather?”
“Possibly.”
Connor folded his arms. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“I’m not.”
Foss changed slides.
“This is the Marsh sample.”
He peered through the microscope for several seconds, then turned toward the digital unit and placed another prepared slide beneath it. The monitor displayed a magnified image.
Selena saw layers again. Thin sheets of damaged material with tiny structures Foss indicated using the cursor.
“These are cellular remnants?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“From what?”
“That is the problem.”
Foss zoomed in.
“I compared both samples. The morphology is similar enough that I would consider a common source highly probable. Not proven, but probable.”
Connor said, “So that links the murders.”
“It links the material.”
“Close enough for me.”
Foss shook his head. “It’s a strong lead, but let’s not put more weight on it than it can carry.”
Connor locked eyes with Selena. “And I thought Blethan was picky.”
“You get used to doctors,” Selena said.
Foss ignored that. “There are structural characteristics here that I would expect in mammalian skin. The layering is particularly interesting.”
Selena leaned closer to the monitor. “What kind of mammal?”
“I’ve spent much of the morning asking myself that.”
“And?”
Foss removed his glasses, cleaned one lens with the corner of a cloth, then replaced them.
“I cannot identify a species with confidence from these fragments.”
Connor’s patience was beginning to thin. “Doc, Blethan sent us here because you had an opinion.”
“I do, a tentative one.”
