Scattered Graves

‘‘We still want you to look into it,’’ said Izzy.

‘‘I will,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I have a hard time believing he killed Peeks. There has to be an answer.’’

Izzy and Janice both seemed to relax.

‘‘Even if, by some . . . Even if he did kill Peeks,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘there must have been a reason that he doesn’t want to talk about—like protecting somebody, something like that. And the evidence against him for doing Jefferies is nothing, in my book.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘I’m afraid they’ll want to lump all the murders to gether just to get this over with.’’

‘‘I don’t intend to let it go,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You know I’m back in charge of the crime lab.’’

‘‘We heard,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘That’s great. Bryce is in this up to his eyeballs in some way.’’

‘‘He’s slippery,’’ said Janice. ‘‘I interviewed him about how he worked the Jefferies crime scene. He denied framing Garnett. Gave some razzle-dazzle about first finding prints with black lights before lifting them. I told him he’d still have to use special pow ders.’’ Janice smiled proudly. ‘‘He tried to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said both of the surfaces where he got the prints were shiny and he could see that only one set of prints was there. And I said, ‘Even on the kitchen counter?’ He stuck to his story. The chief thought he was just trying to look incompetent rather than guilty. I don’t know. Like I said, Bryce is slippery.’’

‘‘Bryce and Rikki were looking for a list at the crime scene,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Did Bryce say anything about a list?’’

Janice raised her eyebrows and shrugged. ‘‘They were looking for something, I’d wager, but I don’t know what. Want me to get Bryce back in?’’ she asked.

Diane shook her head. ‘‘Let’s keep it to ourselves right now. Van Ross suggested I might want to keep Rikki on for a while to see if she reveals anything.’’

‘‘I never realized he could be so sneaky,’’ said Ja nice, smiling. ‘‘He seems so nice.’’

The cold was getting to Diane and she started to shiver. ‘‘I’m going to the museum. There are a few leads I’m working on. I don’t know how I’m going to prove who killed Jefferies and Peeks, but I will.’’ She stopped and looked sharply at Janice. ‘‘Who took Garnett’s gun at the crime scene?’’

Janice Warrick frowned. ‘‘I did.’’

Diane’s face fell. She thought she was on to some thing.

‘‘I’ll figure it out,’’ she said and got in her car. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out.

Diane drove to the museum and parked in her space. She sat there watching people come and go, thinking she should have driven around back and en tered by a rear door. She was looking so bad, worse than when Delamore first attacked her. No kind of makeup is going to hide this, she thought. And she’d planned on trying to see the former mayor today. Well, hell. She got out and walked into the museum and to her office. She got a few stares, but no one said anything. Good. Maybe it looked bad only in the sunlight.

David was in Andie’s office waiting for her. Appar ently he hadn’t slept too late. He looked better. Obvi ously getting his fears and suspicions off his chest had been good for him.

‘‘David, I’m rescinding your resignation,’’ said Diane.

‘‘What?’’ he said. He stared at her for a moment, then smiled. ‘‘You have the crime lab back.’’

‘‘Yes, with a very tightly written contract—by Vanessa and Colin Prehoda. I want to go over everything and see what we have to do to get everything back on track. And I want to revisit the crime scene at the mayor’s house before I see former mayor Sutton.’’

The relief he felt was obvious. Diane could almost see all the tension drain out of him as he collapsed onto one of the stuffed chairs. He looked like a man whose world was righted again.

‘‘Nice to have things back to normal,’’ said David. He rubbed his hands together. ‘‘What are you going to do with Lollipop?’’ he said.

‘‘Keep her on and see if she leads us anywhere,’’ said Diane.

Diane went to her office and called Colin.

‘‘Since I’m back as director of the crime lab, I can’t be working for you.’’

‘‘Already severed,’’ he said. ‘‘When Edward said he wanted to put you back in the crime lab, I took steps to change our relationship. But I hope you are still going to investigate the deaths.’’

‘‘Yes. We all need to untangle this mess to get Rose wood right again,’’ she said. ‘‘Can you tell me what Garnett says about the gun?’’

‘‘This is certainly difficult. I can tell you that he still maintains his innocence.’’

‘‘I intend to go over the mayor’s house again and see if I can find anything new. I’m sure the prosecutor will share with you any discoveries I make.’’

‘‘You’re sure of that, are you? I’ll have to stand on him to make certain he does. You’ve dealt with Riddmann,’’ said Colin.

Diane frowned. ‘‘Let’s just see what happens.’’

She turned to David when she hung up. ‘‘Now, do you want to go see what condition my crime lab is in?’’

Diane decided to enter the crime lab through her osteology lab. David was with her. So was Izzy. She had called Izzy in case Bryce decided to dig his heels in, and she didn’t want to involve museum security.

‘‘It’s like The Return of the King,’’ said David. ‘‘I’m Legolas. Though he had more hair and great ears, but I can handle it. Izzy’s Gimli. And of course, you’re Aragorn. You guys have your swords ready?’’