Page 108 of Forever Dead

“This way,” he said, leading them down the hall to a room at the back of the house.

His home laboratory was far more sophisticated than Selena expected.

A long workbench ran beneath two windows. Microscopes occupied one end, while the other held a compact centrifuge, slide boxes, specimen containers and instruments arranged in labeled trays. Shelves carried old pathology texts alongside recent journals. A newer digital microscope was connected to a large monitor on the wall.

Connor stepped inside. “Blethan wasn’t exaggerating.”

“He still thinks I’ve got too much equipment,” Foss said.

He crossed to the main microscope. Several slides had been arranged on a black tray beside it.

“These are the samples?” Selena asked.

“Yes. Eleanor Marsh here. Patricia Vanes here.”

Selena remained near the edge of the bench. “How much did Blethan tell you?”

“Only what was necessary. Two homicide victims. Material recovered beneath the fingernails of both. He suspected animal hide or leather and wanted an independent opinion.”

“And?”

Foss adjusted his glasses. “My first assumption was that his suspicion was reasonable.”

“Was?”

He gestured toward the microscope. “Have a look.”

Selena hesitated. “I’m not a pathologist.”

“You don’t need to be. You only need to see why the sample is unusual.”

She set the cane against the bench and lowered herself onto the stool.

Foss adjusted the focus first, then moved aside.

Selena leaned toward the eyepiece.

At first she saw only dark irregular forms. She turned the fine-focus knob carefully. The image sharpened into overlapping layers, some translucent, others dense and blackened at the edges.

“What am I seeing?”

“Material from beneath Patricia Vanes’s fingernails.”

“I gathered that.”

“Describe it.”

Selena studied the field. “Layers. Irregular. Some of it looks fibrous.”

“Good.”

“Is that tissue?” Selena asked.

“Possibly. The material has changed considerably. It could have dried out, degraded or been treated. I can’t yet separate those possibilities.”

Connor said, “What does that mean for identifying it?”

“It means we need more than a quick glance.”