Page 438 of Chaos has a Name
“Never. I promise,” he stated.
The man took a deep breath and nodded. Old habits formed long ago stayed with a person.
But their reassurance, like always, chilled Tony out—so much so, that he was able to focus on the bones.
“The third skull is a definite match,” he stated. “All three of them have the same teeth scrapings. In my opinion, they were all cannibalized by the same two people.”
Elizabeth was curious.
“Who eats a skull? There can’t be that much meat on the bone, right?”
Chris handled that.
“Cheeks are the meatiest part. The scrapings are consistent with someone eating some cheek muscles.”
Good God.
She was learning too much about the crazies.
“So that’s the order of killings?” she asked. “Those are the latest three?”
Tony shook his head.
MATE nodded.
And they were not on the same page.
“Okay, which is it?” she asked.
Tony wasn’t losing to AI. It took him years to get to this level, and to think that a computer could be programmed to do his job…
It was insulting.
“No. I can tell by the discoloration that this skull,” he said, pointing at the one, “that it has been in the ground longer. The mineral content of the soil stained it.”
MATE moved closer like she was scanning it and learning.
“Thank you for that knowledge. I will not err with that again. You are a good teacher.”
Tony sighed.
“I want to not like her, but she’s kinda like a kid sister. MATE grows on you.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek—or tried to.
Elizabeth thought about what he said.
“So what you’re saying is that these two,” Elizabeth said, pointing at the‘newest’ones, “are the last two victims, and this one is how long ago?”
He considered it.
“Over five years, easily.”
Well, that didn’t make sense.
“Ethan? How?” she asked, turning around to get more insight.
Oh, and he knew why she was asking.
