lab. You know David hated politics to start with.
Now . . .’’ Neva shrugged again. ‘‘I know he never
talked much about himself, but he talked to us about
other stuff. Now the only time I have a conversation
with him is when all of us have dinner. At work, it’s
strictly business. He keeps to himself.’’
‘‘Do you know where he is?’’ asked Diane. Neva shook her head. ‘‘I tried calling his cell but
didn’t get an answer. I went by his house while Mike was teaching his class tonight. He either wasn’t home
or didn’t answer the door.’’
‘‘What about his rooms in the basement here?’’
asked Diane.
‘‘I went down there before I left. Unless he locked
himself in and is not answering the door, he’s not
there.’’ She hesitated a moment, looked over at Mike,
then back at Diane. ‘‘I know this is a hard time...’’
She let the sentence trail off.
‘‘Sometimes David likes to be by himself, especially
now,’’ said Diane. ‘‘And you know he won’t suffer
fools—gladly or otherwise.’’
‘‘I know that,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Mike’s been telling me
what Bryce’s been doing. Bryce has this thing about
control. That’s what makes him so hard to work with.
I can’t tell you how many crime scenes we’ve arrived
at way late because he takes forever to assign one of
us to go. By the time we get there, the scene has
already been compromised. Often he’ll just send Lolli
pop by herself.’’ Neva rolled her eyes.
‘‘You had no clue that David was going to resign?’’
said Diane.
‘‘Not really. Neither of us have been happy up
there. Jin is counting his blessings that he’s in the
DNA lab. Frankly, I was thinking about applying for
a job there when he gets around to hiring. It worries
me that David would quit with no job lined up.’’ ‘‘Don’t be too worried. I’ll look for David and speak
with him,’’ said Diane.
Neva looked relieved. ‘‘Maybe you could talk him
into coming caving with us sometime,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Not a chance in hell,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He’d rather
work a crime scene with Bryce.’’
Neva laughed. ‘‘You think he is all right, then?’’ she
said.
‘‘I believe so,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’m not really worried.’’
This wasn’t exactly the truth. She had been mildly
concerned about him too. But she didn’t want to
worry Neva.
‘‘I’ll let you get home, then,’’ said Neva. ‘‘You must
feel awful, everything you’ve been through today.’’ ‘‘Not as bad as I look,’’ said Diane. But it really was. She and Mike stood up. Diane rose with them. ‘‘Good to see you, Neva. I’m glad you came by,’’
said Diane.
She missed working with them every day. The four
