over to a black lab table and focused a large magnifying light on it. The contrast of the colors made the toothâs virgin white gloss stand out even more than it had last night.
âMighty clean,â Keith said immediately.
Noelle nodded and studied Keith, trying to gain some understanding of his meaning, and then eventually said: âHow do you mean?â
âI mean that I can tell you right off that this tooth probably wasnât hanging out in the mouth of any wild animal recently.â
âYouâre sure?â Noelle asked.
He picked it up. âIt should have at least some plaque gunk up on the gum line there. Who knows? It might be fake, and if itâs not fake it might have been cleaned and bleached and had some type of sealant applied.â Keith walked with the tooth to another table. Noelle followed.
âIâm happy to crack it open to try and confirm it, but itâs unlikely a real bear tooth would be this clean into adulthood, and the size of this canineâthatâs the tooth type . . . canineâtells us that it is definitely from an adult bear if it is in fact real. Even more obviously, there is no gum flesh left on the roots of the tooth suggesting that it was torn or bumped out of place. This tooth is either a good fake or a great refurb. Either way, a quick chemical test can show you what I mean.â
âThe chemical test I can agree to, as long as the cops wonât know I messed with it.â
âYouâre gonna tell the police?â Keith smirked.
Noelle shrugged. âStill plotting my next move.â It was Keithâs turn to cluck his tongue.
Keith went to a drawer and picked out a large bone, from a bearâs hind legs, as far as Noelle could tell. Then he grabbed a clear condiment squirt bottle filled with blue liquid and a tool that reminded Noelle of the dentistâs officeâchrome, sterile clean, and with a jagged, hooked end.
He squirted a tablespoon of the liquid into two small plastic cups. âThe natural biological matter,â he intoned as he scraped off a bit of the boneâs surface, which fell into the cup in the form of a fine powder, âwill dissolve easily into the solution.â Sure enough, as he gave the mixture one quick swirl with the tool, the powder disappeared and left no trace. The liquid retained its transparent blue color.
âThe exterior on this toothâor this impostorâor whatever it is, will fail to dissolve in the solution. Instead, it will cloud the liquid and flakes or particles of the solid will remain visible. To dissolve this epoxy or sealant, weâd need acetone or some commercial formula designed for that very purpose.â
Again, the results were exactly as Keith predicted. The coating on the tooth fell in larger, thin flakes into the solution. Despite a few vigorous stirs with a wandlike chrome tool, Keith couldnât dissolve the particles.
âSo, this toothââhe held Noelleâs discovery in the air as if he were completing a magic trickââhas some epoxy, lacquer, or finish on it to preserve it and to give that shiny surface. Itâs likely not real, and if it is, it looks like a human got ahold of it after it was in the bearâs mouth.â
âWhat does that mean?â Noelle asked herself aloud.
âDonât know, Noelle. Above my pay grade. Your guess is as good as mine and mineâs not too good.â
âHumor me,â Noelle instructed.
âGoshâwho knows? Everybody whitens these days . . .â He trailed off as Noelle gave him another look. Get serious.
âKeith, can you buy bear teeth or replicas anywhere?â
âIâm sure you can buy replicas online, hell, probably authentic ones, too. Itâs hard to imagine something that you canât buy online. Thatâs where I got my Noelle Klimpton blow-up doll. Complete with uniform.â
âEw! Thatâs not
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