Dead Hunt

Kendel will be thought of as innocent. If she turns out to be guilty, it will be because we discovered it from evidence, not because of rumors and accusations.’’

Laura nodded. ‘‘Okay. I’m just bringing up some issues. I didn’t see the report, but Vanessa was really upset when she saw the noon news on TV. She said it was just a rehash of the newspaper article, but it ended by saying that RiverTrail would be investigated and the reporter couldn’t find you to talk to you. You know how that sounded.’’

Diane laughed. ‘‘Like I’d skipped town with the loot? Come on. I thought everyone in the state knew I have two jobs.’’

‘‘I know, but we couldn’t reach your cell phone,’’ said Laura.

Diane reached over and punched the elevator button. ‘‘I was conducting an interview inside a prison. They don’t allow cell phones.’’

Laura hesitated a moment. ‘‘Diane, I know Thomas Barclay can sound a little gruff, but he’s all right. He really does respect you. He just likes to have his hand in things. You know, he thinks he needs to oversee everything.’’

‘‘You need to warn him about making bad analogies around me,’’ said Diane.

Laura laughed. ‘‘At least it wasn’t a sports metaphor.’’

The elevator doors opened and they entered. So this was how Vanessa was handling her concerns, thought Diane. Not in front of the whole board, but privately— friend to friend. It probably meant that Thomas Barclay had initiated his

meeting on his own.

interrogation during the board Her phone vibrated again. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was a text message from the people checking the provenance on the Egyptian artifacts. They needed to see her immediately.

Chapter 10

Diane parted ways with Laura on the ground floor after declining an invitation to have coffee and cake in the museum restaurant with her and some of the other board members.

‘‘Give them my regrets,’’ she said. ‘‘I have Jin and Neva inspecting the artifacts. I need to see if they’ve found anything.’’ She did not want to mention the cell message to Laura until she knew what it was about.

‘‘Are we okay?’’ asked Laura, laying a hand on Diane’s arm.

‘‘You mean about the board meeting?’’ said Diane, shrugging her shoulders. ‘‘Something like this is likely to come up again in the future. We all need to be calm about it.’’

‘‘You’re right. We live in such a bubble here in Rosewood,’’ said Laura.

Some of us do, thought Diane. As director of the crime lab, her bubble had been burst a while back. She took the elevator to the second floor, where her legal researchers were waiting in the conservation lab.

At first glance the conservation laboratory might look like little more than a room full of tables, each with different works in progress. Closer inspection would reveal varieties of microscopes, a fume hood, a suction table, photographic equipment, and other instruments designed to stabilize, protect, and record the many items brought to the lab.

Korey Jordan, a tall African American in his early thirties, was head conservator. He and his staff stood with Jin and Neva and with Harold and Shirley, the provenance checkers. Before them lay the suspect artifacts. A dead body on the table would not have produced a more solemn group.

Well, damn. She so wanted good news.

Everyone looked up when Diane entered. Each was wearing a Richard III T-shirt—except Harold the registrar, only because he thought Richard III was guilty. Even Jin and Neva wore the white shirts with Richard III’s picture on the front. Diane hoped that Kendel was comforted by this show of support by the staff.

‘‘What have you found?’’ she asked as she neared the table. They parted to let her see the artifacts.

They’re beautiful, she thought as her gaze rested on them. A necklace containing the image of an Egyptian deity on a pectoral of gold, lapis lazuli, and turquoise lay on a piece of linen. Next to it on the same piece of linen was a circlet made from gold beads shaped like cowrie shells. Diane recognized it as a girdle to adorn the waist. Next to it was a simple canopic jar with a lid in the shape of a jackal’s head. Three other artifacts were of stone. There was a bust of red granite about a foot and a half high with the nose broken off and a quartzite face also without its nose. On the floor still in its crate was a small granite sphinx about three feet in length and almost as tall. The staff were quiet as Diane looked over the artifacts.

Harold stepped forward and gestured to another table, where he’d placed open folders containing documents and photographs.

‘‘We were evaluating the documents and everything was looking great,’’ he said. ‘‘Everything was in order.’’

Shirley, one of his legal researchers, stepped up and nodded her head. ‘‘The documents are fine. They are authentic.’’

‘‘Then why does everyone look so grim?’’ asked Diane.

‘‘When we brought the documents down to compare the photographs with the items...’’ began Harold.

Diane saw it before he finished. The folder in front of her contained documents for the girdle. The photograph showed a circlet formed from lion heads made of gold alternating with polished amethyst beads, not the girdle on the table made of gold cowrie shell beads.

She looked at another set of documents. The photograph showed a gold and jeweled necklace containing the image of the Egyptian deity Senwosret III. The necklace on the table was similar, but it wasn’t the same.

‘‘These artifacts don’t belong to these documents,’’ finished Harold.

Diane looked at the photographs of all six items. They were all similar, very similar at first glance, to the