case—found with less than two feet of earth over them?’
She was becoming agitated and decided to be silent. Sarath could sense them focusing on him, turning in their seats.
He walked down to the front of the auditorium and they let him approach her. He faced Anil now across the table, leaned forward and with a set of tongs pulled out the piece of stone imprisoned within the rib cage.
‘This stone was found in the ribs of the skeleton.’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell us what happens in ancient customs. . . . Think carefully, Miss Tissera, don’t just theorize.’
There was a pause.
‘Please don’t speak like that. Patronizing me.’
‘Tell us what happens.’
‘They bury bodies and they place a stone on the earth above it, usually. It acts like a marker and then it drops when the flesh gives way.’
‘Gives way? How?’
‘One minute!’
‘How many years does that take?’
Silence.
‘Yes?’
Silence.
He spoke very slowly now.
‘A minimum of nine years usually, isn’t it? Before the stone falls through, into the rib cage. Right?’
‘Yes, but—’
‘Right?’
‘Yes. Except for fire corpses. Burned ones.’
‘But we’re not even sure of this, because most of them were burned in the last century, these ones in the historical gravesites. As you know, there was a plague there in 1856. Another in 1890. Many were burned. The skeleton you have here is likely to be a hundred years old—in spite of your fine social work about its career and habits and diet. . . .’
‘The skeleton I could have proved something with has been confiscated.’
‘We seem to have too many bodies around. Is this one less important than the confiscated one?’
‘Of course not. But the confiscated one died less than five years ago.’
‘Confiscated. Confiscated . . . Who confiscated it?’ Sarath said.
‘It was taken while I met with Dr. Perera in Kynsey Road Hospital. It was lost there.’
‘So you lost it, then. It was not confiscated.’
‘I did not lose it. It was taken from the lab when I was speaking with him in the cafeteria.’
‘So you misplaced it. Do you think it’s possible Dr. Perera had something to do with that?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps. I have not seen him since.’
‘And you wished to prove that skeleton was a recent death. Even if we now do not have the evidence.’
‘Mr. Diyasena, I’d like to remind you that I came here as part of a human rights group. As a forensic specialist. I do not work for you, I’m not hired by you. I work for an international authority.’
He turned and directed his words to the audience.
‘This “international authority” has been invited here by the government, has it not? Is that not right?’
‘We are an independent organization. We make independent reports.’
‘To us. To the government here. That means you do work for the government here.’
‘What I wish to report is that some government forces have possibly murdered innocent people. This is what you are hearing from me. You as an archaeologist should believe in the truth of history.’
‘I believe in a society that has peace, Miss Tissera. What you are proposing could result in chaos. Why do you not investi-gate the killing of government officers? Can we get the air-conditioning on, please?’
There was a scattering of applause.
‘The skeleton I had was evidence of a certain kind of crime. That is what is important here. “One village can speak for many villages. One victim can speak for many victims.” Remember? I thought you represented more than you do.’
‘Miss Tissera—’
‘Doctor.’
‘All right, “Doctor.” I have brought here another skeleton from another burial site, an earlier century. To establish the difference, I would like you to do a forensic study of it for me.’
‘This is ridiculous.’
‘This is not ridiculous. I would like to have evidence of the difference between two corpses. Somasena!’
He gestured to someone in the back of the hall. The skeleton, wrapped in plastic, was wheeled in.
‘A two-hundred-year-old corpse,’ he said out loud. ‘That’s what we assume, anyway, the boys in archaeology. Perhaps you can manage to prove us wrong.’
He was tapping his pencil against her table, like a taunt.
‘I need time.’
‘We give you forty-eight hours. Leave the skeleton you were talking about and go with Mr. Somasena to the lobby, he will escort you. You will have to sign back all your research before you leave. I must warn you of that. This skeleton will be waiting for you in the front entrance in twenty minutes.’
She turned from him and collected her papers.
‘Leave the papers and the tape recorder, please.’
She was still for a moment, then removed the tape recorder from the