LITMIR.BIZ

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tell me a bear wouldn’t return and ransack that? There were no droppings, no claw marks on any of the trees. We would have seen something. But there’s more. I did some research in the library. Larvae on a dead body can tell people a lot of things. Have you ever heard of forensic entomology?”

      Ryan raised his eyes heavenward. “Oh lord, Cordi, I can guess.”

      “I spent the afternoon in the library reading all I could about it. Did you know that forensic entomology is the study of insects and crime? You can sometimes pinpoint time of death, where the person died, and if they died inside or outside by the larvae and insects found on the body.”

      “That’s gross, Cordi.”

      “It’s kind of neat, really. If some guy accused of murder claims he found the victim outside and the bugs show he died inside, bingo!”

      Ryan said nothing.

      “Okay, okay. So it’s gross, but once a person dies, especially if there is a lot of blood, flies are attracted to the scene and lay their eggs in the body. Every insect species has a different incubation period and you can tell by how long it takes them to develop into full-grown larvae just when the person died. Not only that, but only insects endemic to the area where the body is found should ever be found on the body unless it’s been moved.”

      “So?” Ryan wrinkled up his nose in disgust. “I hope there’s a point to this, Cordi.”

      “One of the larvae that I collected from Diamond’s body pupated today. I haven’t identified it yet and it may not tell me anything, but the cedar twig it was on when I collected it tells me a whole lot.”

      Ryan interrupted me.

      “Whoa, wait a minute Cordi. I thought all the larvae were destroyed?”

      I told him about the larvae in my colleague’s lab.

      “Okay, so how does any of this tell us his body was moved?”

      “Because there were no cedars anywhere near that body, Ryan. We were in a white pine forest.”

      Ryan let out a long, low whistle. “No cedar. God, you’re right.”

      “I checked the vegetation maps for the area, went over them meticulously, and the closest cedar forest of any consequence starts upriver about a mile or so from where he was found.”

      Ryan still wouldn’t give up.

      “Okay, so he got cedar twigs stuck in his clothes. I mean, he was in the bush for weeks before he died.”

      “Not deeply embedded like that. They were deep inside, as if he’d been rolling around in the stuff and the bear’s claws or teeth had driven them in.”

      Ryan had stopped working on the fence and was deep in thought.

      “Ryan, isn’t it possible that my lab was fumigated and my data destroyed to get rid of any evidence that Diamond’s body had been moved?”

      “Whoa, Cordi. That won’t work. No one knew you had larvae in the first place, except me and Martha.”

      “That’s not true. Remember? It was in the papers that I was a zoologist and had collected some grubs from the body before I knew it was human. The reporter thought it was a good gross slant and that he could get some mileage out of it.”

      “Yeah, Cordi, but why would anyone want to hide the fact that the body had been moved in the first place?”

      Good question. We wrestled in silence with our thoughts as I helped him wrestle the split rail into position.

      “I don’t think it was the first time they tried to get the larvae, either,” I said quietly.

      “What do you mean, Cordi?”

      “When that boulder sent us down the river. I’m sure it was no wild animal that sent that flying.”

      “What?” Ryan wiped his brow and looked at me. “I saw a flash of purple just before the boulder fell. What wild animal that you know wears purple?”

      Ryan continued to stare at me and finally found his tongue. “You saw it too? It looked like somebody’s shirt or sleeve,” he said quietly. “But I thought it was my imagination. I mean, why would anybody do that?”

      “I couldn’t believe it myself,” I said. “There was no reason for someone to push a boulder at us — until now. I think whoever was hiding on that cliff thought I was carrying all the larvae with me. They must have watched us taking specimens and understood the significance of that. I still had my collecting pack with me, remember, but I’d emptied it at the far end to make it lighter. They wouldn’t have known that.”

      “Jesus, Cordi. That means someone tried to kill us.” He said it as a statement, and there was no mistaking the emotion in his voice.

      “Whoever it was must have thought they’d destroyed the larvae until they read the newspaper article, and shortly after they struck again.”

      “So you’re saying that whoever it was who sent us into those rapids did it because of some bugs? What are you getting at, Cordi?” Ryan’s voice made me feel as though I ought to admit myself to the nearest psychiatric hospital.

      “Sounds crazy, but not because of the insects. Because of what the insects might tell us. Remember what I told you about forensic entomology? What if the insects said Diamond died three weeks sooner than the coroner’s report? Or that he died inside a concrete bunker and not outside in the woods?”

      “Isn’t that pretty extreme? How would you get a bear inside a concrete bunker for God’s sake? Remember, he was killed by a bear, so what does it matter if he was moved or not? The cops are interested in who did the deed and they already know that.”

      “Do they?”

      Ryan laid down the cedar rail he was preparing to put into place and stared at me.

      “So what you’re saying is that Diamond died in a cedar forest and somebody went to a lot of trouble to move the body afterwards, back to his permanent campsite.”

      “Exactly. But why do it? What possible purpose could it serve?”

      “Maybe someone was with him when the bear attacked and panicked and couldn’t help him. Maybe someone tried to help him, carried him, and got as far as the campsite and then panicked again when they realized he was dead. Now they’re just too frightened and ashamed to come forward.”

      I thought back to Don’s behaviour and wondered if Ryan’s theory could apply.

      “But why fumigate my insects then?”

      “Suppose whoever it was didn’t want the body found in the area where Diamond actually died and they were afraid your larvae would expose them?”

      “Expose what, though? What could there be about an area that makes it important enough for someone to move a body such a distance and then nearly kill us to kill the grubs? And then come back to finish them off in my lab?”

      Ryan said nothing.

      “I don’t know, Ryan. All I do know is that I need to find out more about the circumstances surrounding Diamond’s death.”

      “Cordi, I don’t like that look on your face. What are you planning?”

      “I guess I’ll have to call the coroner and pump him for information, and then go up there for a couple days and see if I can locate this cedar forest.”

      “So you think that whoever took your disks is connected in some way to Diamond’s death?

      “I’m sure of it, Ryan, and it’s my only lead. I can’t let this go now. I’ve got too much at stake. So what about it? Will you do a search and get the coroner’s name for me?”

      We walked down to the barn to a small side door and up into what had once been a small hayloft and was now Ryan’s office and darkroom.

      Ryan

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