designer and I are trying figure out the best way to display all of this. One option is to have it on video as they descend the exhibit. But we also had the idea of building a mechanical device that will move a vis cous substance around in a tank to illustrate the man tel, its convection currents and how the crust floats on top. We plan to reference everything with the current exhibits in the geology hall.’’
‘‘Cool,’’ said Andie.
‘‘I’m thinking something like the tunnel in an aquar ium,’’ said Mike. ‘‘A place where the visitor can de scend into the exhibit and have the earth all around him.’’
‘‘You need to make it wheelchair accessible,’’ said Diane.
‘‘We know. We’ve discussed a winding ramp, an ele vator sort of thing. We have a lot to work out.’’
Diane looked at the depiction of the soil layers, fossils, the molten mantel, the dense core. Mike had made notes on the display indicating what would hap pen to you if you were able to actually journey to the center of the earth—becoming very hot and finally turning into something the size of a marble under the enormous pressure of the core.
‘‘This is coming along nicely. I don’t suppose you have a cost?’’
Mike winced. ‘‘No. Not yet.’’
‘‘Okay. Tell the designer that I like the plans. Just remember the budget as you work.’’
‘‘Sure.’’
The phone rang, and Andie ran to her office to answer it.
‘‘I’m looking forward to seeing the model when it’s built. By the way, did you leave anything in my car?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Your car? Like what?’’ Mike was a head taller than Diane and stood just at the edge of her comfort zone. He smelled of aftershave.
Diane backed up a step. ‘‘Like anything.’’
‘‘No. Was I supposed to?’’ He raised his eyebrows and smiled. He actually had dimples. She didn’t re member noticing them before.
‘‘No. I was just asking.’’
‘‘Was something left in your car?’’
‘‘Have you talked with the guy about the cave?’’ she asked.
‘‘I’m meeting him tomorrow for lunch. I think it’s a go. Would you like to come to lunch with us?’’
‘‘I’ll probably still be analyzing skeletal remains.’’ ‘‘How are two full-time careers working for you?’’ ‘‘Keeping me busy.’’
‘‘Too busy for a social life?’’
‘‘I have a social life.’’
‘‘Can’t be much of one.’’ He gave her that look that Frank might have described as challenging.
‘‘Kendel and Jonas are going to meet us in the con servation lab,’’ Andie called from her office, saving Diane from answering the challenge.
Chapter 16
They all met in the conservation lab on the third floor. Jonas Briggs, his blue eyes twinkling, entered carrying a folder. Kendel came in soon after. She was, as usual, impeccably dressed, today in a pearl gray suit with pearls at her throat and clipped onto her ears. Whereas Andie had several body piercings, Kendel didn’t even have her ears pierced. She was carrying a package, an amused expression apparent on her face.
Korey emerged from his office. ‘‘You’re going to like this, Dr. F.’’ He led the four of them into his newly refitted X-ray lab. Highlighted by the view boxes that lined one wall, four X-rays of a skull stood out, as in relief.
‘‘I have some good pictures here.’’ He dimmed the lights.
Diane looked at the first X-ray of the front view of the face of a man who was possibly four thousand years old. He had distinct cheekbones, square jaw, rounded forehead. She examined each X-ray in turn before she said anything.
‘‘Is that what I think it is?’’ said Jonas, pointing at a dark area surrounding tooth roots in the maxilla.
‘‘If you think it’s evidence of an acute periapical abscess, it is,’’ said Diane.
‘‘That doesn’t sound good,’’ said Andie.
‘‘It wasn’t,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’m sure it caused him a tremendous amount of pain. Look here at the fistulas above the left first and second premolars and first molar.’’
‘‘Fistula?’’ asked Andie.
‘‘It’s a pathway the body creates to drain bacteria from an infected area, in this case, the roots of at least three teeth.’’
‘‘Oh, gross.’’
‘‘Do you think it was bad enough to have caused his death?’’ asked Jonas.
‘‘Yes, this could very well have been what killed him.’’
‘‘Well, we made quick work of that,’’ said Andie. ‘‘Now, can you tell how old he was?’’
Diane traced the tooth line with her fingernail. ‘‘He has his third molars—his wisdom teeth—so that’s at least past twenty-one. His other teeth are worn pretty badly, which pushes his age upward. The sutures on his skull’’—
