It was Dr. Pulcillo who answered the question, her voice barely a whisper. “It was in the museum basement. Nick-Dr. Robinson found it back in January.”

“And how did the museum obtain it?”

Pulcillo shook her head. “We don’t know.”

“There must be records. Something in your files to indicate where she came from.”

“There are none for her,” said Robinson, at last finding his voice. “The Crispin Museum is a hundred thirty years old, and many records are missing. We have no idea how long she was stored in the basement.”

“How did you happen to find her?”

Even in that air-conditioned room, sweat had broken out on Dr. Robinson’s pale face. “After I was hired three years ago, I began an inventory of the collection. That’s how I came across her. She was in an unlabeled crate.”

“And that didn’t surprise you? To find something as rare as an Egyptian mummy in an unlabeled crate?”

“But mummies aren’t all that rare. In the 1800s, you could buy one in Egypt for only five dollars, so American tourists brought them home by the hundreds. They turn up in attics and antiques stores. A freak show in Niagara Falls even claims they had King Ramses the First in their collection. So it’s not all that surprising that we’d find a mummy in our museum.”

“Dr. Isles?” said the radiologist. “We’ve got the scout film. You might want to take a look at it.”

Maura turned to the monitor. Displayed on the screen was a conventional X-ray like the films she hung on her own viewing box in the morgue. She did not need a radiologist to interpret what she saw there.

“There’s not much doubt about it now,” said Dr. Brier.

No. There’s no doubt whatsoever. That’s a bullet in the leg.

Maura pulled out her cell phone.

“Dr. Isles?” said Robinson. “Whom are you calling?”

“I’m arranging for transport to the morgue,” she said. “Madam X is now a medical examiner’s case.”