Ippolit felt a flash of sympathy steal up on him, entirely unexpected. He wanted to put a hand on Nika's arm and tell him that everything was all right. That there was someone, somewhere, who wept for everyone who couldn't afford to.
Resignedly, Ippolit wondered whether his mind had broken or merely bent.
No call to advertise it, in any case. Not, he thought vaguely, to someone who seemed to constantly be sizing up your weaknesses, judging whether or not it would be worth his time to leap for your throat.
"Yes," he said instead, softly and with sorrow. "It is."
Rakitin pushed his thoughts to business, like a Viking shoving a funeral barge away from the shore.
"The sedative was a kind most often administered through injection. No needle marks were apparent on the parts of the flesh that were intact. But most of it...wasn't."
Ippolit's lips pressed into a thin line.
"If we had the missing limbs, I might be able to tell for certain."
Something that had been nagging at the back of Ippolit's mind chose that moment to rise to the surface.
"Has any attempt been made to find them? They can't have been easily disposed of. Burning is a possibility, but it takes extreme heat to destroy bone. A foray out into the jungle to bury them would surely have been noticed."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-04-05 02:53 am (UTC)Resignedly, Ippolit wondered whether his mind had broken or merely bent.
No call to advertise it, in any case. Not, he thought vaguely, to someone who seemed to constantly be sizing up your weaknesses, judging whether or not it would be worth his time to leap for your throat.
"Yes," he said instead, softly and with sorrow. "It is."
Rakitin pushed his thoughts to business, like a Viking shoving a funeral barge away from the shore.
"The sedative was a kind most often administered through injection. No needle marks were apparent on the parts of the flesh that were intact. But most of it...wasn't."
Ippolit's lips pressed into a thin line.
"If we had the missing limbs, I might be able to tell for certain."
Something that had been nagging at the back of Ippolit's mind chose that moment to rise to the surface.
"Has any attempt been made to find them? They can't have been easily disposed of. Burning is a possibility, but it takes extreme heat to destroy bone. A foray out into the jungle to bury them would surely have been noticed."