The Vanishing Man (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...out the wet and muddy bones one by one from the sack, and as he laid them on the table the surgeon arranged them in their proper relative positions. "This has been a neatly executed job," he remarked; "none of your clumsy hacking with a chopper or a saw. The bones have been cleanly separated at the joints. The fellow who did this must have had some anatomical knowledge, unless he was a butcher, which, by the way, is not impossible. He has used his knife uncommonly skilfully, and you notice that each arm was taken off with the scapula attached, just as a butcher takes off a shoulder of mutton. Are there any more bones in that bag?" "No, sir," replied the labourer, wiping his hands with an air of finality on the posterior aspect of his trousers; "that's the lot." The surgeon looked thoughtfully at the bones as he gave a final touch to their arrangement, and remarked: "The inspector is right. All the bones of the neck are there. Very odd. Don't you think so?" "You mean