looking around. It was what every museum staffer said when they came over.
‘‘This is it,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You said something is the darnedest thing?’’
‘‘Yes. This little guy who sounds for all the world like the physicist Stephen Hawking came up on my computer and asked me to play chess.’’
Chapter 47
They all stared at Jonas for several moments as he stood with his laptop under his arm, stretching his neck, looking around at the lab.
‘‘He’s in the system,’’ said Diane to no one in partic ular. ‘‘What did you say in reply?’’ she asked Jonas.
‘‘Nothing,’’ Jonas said. ‘‘I started to. He knew my name. He called me Jonas, but I thought it might be a virus so I just turned off my computer. I hope that was right.’’
‘‘That was fine, Jonas,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We’ll take it from here. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.’’ She smiled, feeling like she was hurrying him out too fast. ‘‘Can we have your computer?’’
‘‘You said he’s in the system,’’ said Jonas. ‘‘He who?’’ Jonas apparently didn’t feel hurried.
‘‘We don’t know yet. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention this to anyone,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I won’t. I’ll just mark it down as one of the many strange things that go on here.’’ He handed her the computer.
‘‘You’ll get it back soon,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Okay. I’ll be interested to hear the story when you can tell it,’’ he said. ‘‘If the little fellow turns out to be okay, I’ll be glad to play a game of chess with him.’’
He left and Diane watched him walk across the overlook, shaking his head. She handed the computer to David.
‘‘Is this a virus?’’ she said, frowning. A virus in the museum network didn’t bear thinking about.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ said David. ‘‘I’ll have a look.’’
‘‘Can it get into the crime lab system?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘No,’’ said David. ‘‘I think I have that well pro tected. It would surprise me if it could get through my firewall.’’
‘‘I don’t want you to be surprised,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Would you feel better if we went to your office to turn this on?’’ said David.
‘‘I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t want to take the chance it’ll jump into this system—if that’s what it does.’’ She was surprised at how ignorant she was of computers. She had thought she was a computer-savvy person until now.
Diane turned to Jin. ‘‘What’s that you have in your hand?’’
‘‘Evidence from the Peeks murder. Detective Warrick brought it just before you got here,’’ said Jin.
‘‘What do we do with evidence around here?’’ said Diane.
‘‘We process it,’’ said Jin, ‘‘but—’’
‘‘Process it, then. This is very important evidence,’’ she said. ‘‘It could clear Garnett and identify Peeks’ killer. Take fingerprints first. You’ll have to process everything down in your lab.’’
‘‘Am I going to miss the cyberghost again?’’ he said.
‘‘I’m sorry,’’ said Diane.
Jin sighed. ‘‘That’s what happens when you make yourself indispensable.’’
‘‘Yes, it is,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I am sorry, but right now your lab has to carry the load.’’
Jin nodded. ‘‘By the way. I did get DNA from the tooth and compared it with the samples from Malcolm Chen’s house. It’s a match. I told Detective Warrick. She seemed pleased.’’
‘‘Thanks, Jin. You do great work and are appreci ated,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I know. I have my own lab.’’ He grinned.
It was almost time for the museum to shut down for the evening. People were streaming out the door. In about forty minutes the night lighting would come on in the exhibit rooms and it would be quiet except for the people still working in their labs and the few classes going on in some of the departments.
On the way to her office Diane was stopped by several members of the staff about various bits of mu seum business. She waved David, Frank, and Neva on and told them to start without her.
No one who wanted to talk with her had anything urgent, only the everyday things she needed to take care of. Sometimes her staff just needed to see and speak with her, or tell her of some particular unfortu nate or even delightful
very calming compared
her life.
thing that happened. It was to the last several days of
Andie was going out her door when Diane made it to her office. She stopped to tell Diane she had put all her messages on her desk—an unnecessary statement, because Andie always put the messages on her desk when she wasn’t there.
‘‘Thanks, Andie. Anything urgent?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Nope. Kendel is coming in sometime tomorrow.
We’re all very excited to see the Neanderthal bones.’’ ‘‘That’s great, Andie. Have a good evening. I’ll see
