The others nodded.
‘‘I went to see former mayor Sutton today and we had a talk. This is what his daughter told me.’’ Diane explained about Loraine’s friend Buckley seeing the mayor having dinner with the young people and giving them watches. ‘‘One of the kids wanted to talk with Buckley. They set up a meeting, but the kid didn’t show and couldn’t be contacted. Buckley described him as young—late teens, early twenties—Asian, and with a body-piercing ring in his nose.’’
‘‘Oh,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Well, that’s similar to the bones you described.’’
‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘And the last time Buckley saw the young man, whose name was Malcolm Chen, cor responds roughly to the time I estimate the bones were deposited in the ground. However, keep in mind, all of this is a thin thread supported by mostly circum stantial evidence. I’m only about eighty percent sure of the sex of the bones—and a set of characteristics is not by any means an identification.’’
‘‘If you have a tooth,’’ said Jin, ‘‘there’s a good chance I can get DNA from the root.’’
‘‘I’m hoping,’’ said Diane.
‘‘So what do you think is going on?’’ said Neva.
‘‘When I was telling the sheriff to look into a person named Malcolm Chen, Frank recognized the name as one he has on a list of hackers.’’
‘‘Okay, the plot thickens,’’ said David. ‘‘So the late mayor had himself a cybergang.’’
‘‘That’s what Frank said. What is that exactly?’’ asked Izzy. ‘‘I know hardly nothing about computers.’’
Diane gestured to Frank. He finished his last bite of pizza, wiped his hands on a napkin, and took a drink.
‘‘There are several types of cybergangs, from loosely organized groups of friends who hack because they can, to well-organized networks of people who commit crimes using computers. The money they make with identity theft, stealing financial and proprietary infor mation, and laundering money is in the billions—it’s now more lucrative than illegal drugs,’’ said Frank.
Izzy whistled.
‘‘Wow,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Wow.’’ She shook her head. ‘‘Wow.’’
‘‘What’s with the watches?’’ asked Izzy.
‘‘It’s like gang tattoos, or colors,’’ said Frank. ‘‘A way to increase the tribal feeling of the members. It lets them know if they continue to work they are in for riches.’’
‘‘I’d think the kids they’re recruiting would prefer iPods,’’ said Izzy.
‘‘With electronics, you have to update them in a year. They’re a commodity, temporary. The watches are a symbol of the long term and of wealth. At least I think that’s what Jefferies had in mind,’’ Frank said.
‘‘It’s like those identical signet rings worn by Jefferies and Peeks—and Bryce,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Defines them as a group.’’ Diane explained to Frank about the identical rings bearing the image of Alexander the Great.
Frank laughed. ‘‘Tribal leaders get to wear different markings,’’ he said. ‘‘It fits the profile of a lot of gang culture.’’
‘‘So,’’ said David. ‘‘We’ve never really speculated on the content of this mysterious list. I was thinking offshore bank account numbers. But it could be the names of the cybergang members.’’
‘‘Could be more than one list,’’ said Frank.
‘‘I’ll bet Jefferies was the only person who knew what was on the list, or lists,’’ said David. ‘‘Or maybe Jefferies and his top two lieutenants. And now all the people who knew are dead.’’
‘‘The murderer could be anybody,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Leaders of a rival organization, members of his own organization, Bryce, Rikki, Curtis Crabtree.’’
‘‘I think it’s time we tell Janice Warrick to sit Rikki and Bryce down and get serious,’’ said Diane.
‘‘You might want to give Janice the information and see how she wants to handle it,’’ said Izzy, smiling.
‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘That’s what I meant.’’
Chapter 35
Diane went to her office to call Janice Warrick while the others finished off the remainder of the pizza. Ja nice took a while to come to the phone. Diane played with a rock that had come loose from her desk fountain—pushing it back into place and taking it out again. She looked at her reflection in the blade of a letter opener, hoping that somehow the bruising on her face had vanished. It had not.
When Janice answered, Diane related the entire chain of events and linking suppositions again. It was helpful to keep going over it. It showed up any weak ness in the logic and what needed to be dealt with. There were a lot of
Diane wasn’t sure how Janice felt about Frank knowing so much, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. They’d asked Diane to look into things on the sly when she was just a private person. She couldn’t undo the resources she had used before she became the director of the crime lab again.
‘‘This is a lot to take in,’’ Janice said.
‘‘And most of it may or may not be true,’’ said
Diane.
‘‘It sounds good, though. It all fits, doesn’t it?’’ Ja
nice said.
‘‘It does,’’ said Diane.
