of them had worked well together.
‘‘I have to tell you, Bryce is very angry with you,’’
said Neva. ‘‘He is always quick to temper, but I’ve
never seen him this angry.’’
‘‘How did he not know that the forensic anthropol
ogy lab belongs to the museum?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘He wouldn’t listen to any advice or information
that David or I tried to give him, so we quit trying.
But I would have thought he knew about your lab.’’
Neva shrugged. ‘‘I’m sorry about letting them in there.
I hadn’t meant to. They caught me coming out of
the lab.’’
‘‘It’s all right,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I changed the code on
the locks to make sure they don’t get back in—it
wasn’t aimed at you.’’
‘‘I thought you would,’’ said Neva. ‘‘I’d prefer not
to know how to get in the lab until Bryce understands
where his limits are.’’
After Neva and Mike left, Diane called Frank and
told him she might be delayed. Then she retrieved her
cell phone from her pocket and called David’s cell
number. She didn’t expect him to answer, but he did
and she was surprised at the amount of relief she felt. ‘‘David, are you all right?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Sure,’’ he said. ‘‘Why wouldn’t I be?’’
‘‘Neva said you resigned.’’ Diane sat back down in
Andie’s plush chair.
‘‘It seemed like the logical thing to do,’’ he said. ‘‘I
just couldn’t in good conscience work for the guy
anymore.’’
‘‘Where are you?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I’m driving home.’’
‘‘Neva has been trying to get in touch with you,’’
said Diane.
‘‘I know. I just didn’t want to talk to her yet. I’m
feeling guilty about bailing out on her without warn
ing. I’ll call her later.’’
‘‘What are you going to do?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘I thought I’d apply for a job at the museum. I have
lots of skills.’’
‘‘That sounds like a plan,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Why don’t
you come to my office tomorrow?’’
‘‘I’d like to take a little break first. You know, get
this month over with.’’
‘‘I understand. So you’re going to take a vacation?’’ ‘‘Yeah. I think so,’’ he said.
‘‘Keep in touch.’’
‘‘Sure,’’ he said. ‘‘Don’t worry.’’
When they hung up, Diane sat in the chair for sev
eral minutes thinking about David. It was one of the
more strained, noncommittal conversations she’d ever
had with him. She put her face in her hands and
rubbed her fingertips across her forehead as if she
could smooth out her thoughts. Instead she only made
