crime scene unit. He got all huffy. I thought me and my deputies were going to have to escort him back to the city limits. Felt sorry for Neva. I like her, and I know she must have been embarrassed.’’
He shook his head. ‘‘And now Mayor Jefferies is talk ing about incorporating Rosewood and Rose County. Hell, if we wanted to have Rosewood politics, we’d move into the city. He’s not going to get anyone in the county to vote for that, I can tell you.’’
The sheriff stopped, finally, it seemed, running out of wind. He stood up straight.
‘‘Well, I guess I need to let us both get back to work,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll go directly to the Bartram Ar chaeology Department and ask about some students to do the sifting. We’ll bring any more bones we find straight to you, if that’s all right.’’
Diane nodded. ‘‘That’s fine. Take care, Sheriff. Good to see you again.’’
‘‘You too,’’ he said and took his leave, weaving his way through a crowd of schoolkids getting on the ele vators to the second-floor exhibits.
Diane’s cell rang. It was Jin calling from the DNA lab in the basement of the museum.
‘‘Boss, you got to help me. I’ve had to lock down my lab,’’ said Jin.
Chapter 3
‘‘Locked down?’’ said Diane. ‘‘What do you mean?’’ ‘‘I mean that Lloyd Bryce sent this guy, Curtis Crab
grass, from the crime lab to apply for a job—’’ ‘‘His name is Crabgrass?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Maybe it’s Crabtree,’’ Jin conceded. ‘‘Curtis Crab
tree. Anyway, I told him the DNA lab is not hiring
right now. But the guy won’t take no for an answer.
He tried to bully me into giving him a job. I finally
got him out the door, but he tried to come back. I
had to lock him out.’’
‘‘Is he violent?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Not exactly violent, yet, but he did some shoving.
Now he’s hanging out at the door talking on his
phone.’’
‘‘You say Bryce sent him?’’
‘‘Yeah, like it was an order to me from Bryce that
I should give Crabtree a job in the DNA lab.’’ ‘‘I’ll be right down.’’
Diane shoved her phone in her pocket, picked up
the box of bones, and headed for the DNA lab. ‘‘What on earth does Bryce think he’s up to?’’ she
muttered.
Visitors were gathered in front of the bank of eleva
tors, waiting to go up to the second-floor exhibits. She
worked her way past them and balanced the box of
bones on her knee as she unlocked the private eleva
tor, the one that went all the way from the subbase ment to the attic. It was quiet inside the elevator, and she tried to clear her thoughts as she rode down to the recently renovated basement that housed the
brand-new DNA lab.
The elevator door opened and Diane saw Curtis
Crabtree in front of the glass doors to the DNA lab.
She had glimpsed him in the parking lot but had not
known his name. She remembered David telling her
that Bryce had hired two new people—a young woman
whom David and Neva called Lollipop because she
always had one in her mouth, and a man who David
was sure was some kind of thug. This must be him,
she thought.
Curtis Crabtree had dark curly hair and a fair com
plexion that made his day-old beard look dark on his
thin face. He was wearing corduroy bell-bottoms, a
white shirt open at the neck, and a gold chain hanging
