One Grave Too Many

“That’s right. Real sweet guy.”

“Look, we aren’t adding many cultural items yet. We only have exhibits of the Paleo-Indian because of his interaction with megafauna. We’ll have to ask them to appoint someone else.”

“He really is a nice guy. He knows a lot about Paleo-Indians too. And he’s been telling me some really cool stuff about ape archaeology.”

“Ape archaeology?”

“Yeah, it’s interesting. These archaeologists are excavating sites where apes have lived for centuries.”

“Finding anything?”

“Tools.”

“Tools? Is this a joke?”

“No, really, he showed me the article in Scientific American. It would make a great exhibit.”

Diane shook her head. “I’ll talk with him. In the meantime, I don’t want to see any requisition forms for mummies.”

“Got it.”

“Next.”

“The exobiologist wants to know if he can put a sunroof in the attic for his telescope.”

Diane stared at Andie openmouthed. “You mean that the biologist they sent us is-”

Andie held up her hands. “Just kidding. A little bit of X-Files humor.”

“After the Egyptologist, I thought you were serious. Is that everything?”

“So far.”

“Good. If those are all our problems, we’re very lucky. I think we can have this place ready for the general public in a couple of weeks. Let me know when the workmen arrive to move the rest of the paleo exhibits. And if you see Donald, tell him I want to see him-immediately.”

“Oh, this arrived for you a minute ago.” Andie read the label. “It’s from Frank Duncan.”

“This must be the bone.”

“Bone? I thought you weren’t. .”

“So did I.”

“You know, we have room to set you up a lab.”

“No,” Diane snapped. “This is the last one.”

Chapter 8

Diane sat in her office and rolled the bone in her hand, feeling its rough surface with her sensitive fingers. Only four inches of broken bone, yet it was a body. If the bone had any distinguishing mark and she had an identical X ray, it could provide an identity. She took the photographs from the envelope and went over the measurements again.

Nothing had changed. The bone appeared to be male, but it certainly didn’t have to be. Some females are quite large and very strong. Whoever it was was also young. The young shouldn’t die.

Diane closed her eyes for a moment. The image of dirt-covered, tangled bones standing out in relief flickered before her. Dirty little ragged dresses, tiny shoes, broken bones and skulls with bullet holes, all shoved together in one mass grave. Wickedness still caught her by surprise, even though she had looked upon its work so many times.

She opened her eyes and reached for the telephone. She had to call information to get the number, and spell the name several times, but she finally reached Ranjan Patel.

“Ran, this is Diane Fallon.”

“Diane Fallon, yes. Good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”

“I have a favor that I hope you can do.”

“I will try.”

“I have a bone I’d like to have a stable-isotope analysis performed on.”

“I see. Tell me about this bone.”

Diane explained to him about the bone Frank had brought to her. “I know this is a long shot. . ”

“But interesting. I’d like to see if it helps you in your investigation. Perhaps there is a paper in it. Do send it along. I only need two grams for the test.”

“Is there any chance you can do some oxygen and hydrogen ratios?”

“I was about to ask if you would like those too.”

“Do you think they would be useful?”

“I think it would be useful to try. Send another gram.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks, Ran.”

“If you find the rest of him, send along some teeth. Not much work has been done in this area with teeth. Incredible, since they are a protected environment in the skeleton, so to speak. You will do this?”

“I will. I hope we do find the rest of him. Thanks.”

She hung up the phone and focused on the bone again. She sniffed it. It wasn’t ancient, but she knew that; too much of the internal structure was still intact. She grabbed her hand lens and looked into the opening in the shaft, down into the marrow cavity. Something odd about the shape inside caught her eye, something that didn’t look like the lattice structure of cancellous bone-the internal part of bone where the red marrow is housed. Using a set of long tweezers, she pulled gently at the object. A wire-thin curved wisp of bone came out easily. It was almost invisible lying on the white sheet of paper on her desk.

Diane rummaged through her drawers until she found a glass vial for the tiny bone, dropped the bone inside and snapped on the cap. She gathered her bone specimens and her notebook and headed across to the faunal lab, located off the zoological exhibits, where there was a dissecting microscope and a respectable reference collection of numerous species of animal skeletons.

The animal room, as they called it, was a large room that once had rows of iron beds along each side from when it was a hospital. The beds were now replaced by glass enclosed dioramas of animals native to the South- east. A display of two mounted coyotes in their wooded habitat guarded the door leading to the faunal lab.

A slim, athletic woman in her thirties sporting cutoffs and a tee shirt, with her brown hair haphazardly piled and clipped on her head, stood just inside the lab, blocking the entrance. “Excuse me, but do you know who’s in charge here? I need to speak to someone about my office.”

Diane remembered Andie telling her about the various complaints of the new arrivals. “Are you our geologist?”

The woman glanced around the room at the animal skeletons lining the room, waiting to be placed with their stuffed counterparts. “No.”

Not the geologist. Another who was dissatisfied with her office space. Diane paused a moment, eyeing the woman from head to toe. “How do you do? I’m Diane Fallon, the director. You must be Dr. Mercer, the zoologist.”

“Yes. Dr. Sylvia Mercer. What gives? How am I supposed to use an office the size of a shoe box and open to public view?” She pointed to a large window on the left side of the lab that framed one side of her office-ample office space, Diane thought. But then, she was accustomed to having an office in a tent for weeks on end. “Whose office is that?” She pointed to an office across the lab. Also with a picture window, but obviously larger.

“That’s the collection manager’s office. She’s here all day.”

“I really need an office larger than this one.”

“The arrangement I made with your university was to provide office and lab space to supplement what your department provides you. Your office is off this lab and near the zoology exhibits. The lab isn’t open to the public, so you have complete privacy. You’re free to put bookcases or storage here in the lab if you have any spillover from your office. I think you’ll find the convenience outweighs any problem of size. I also understand you will be spending a few hours a week here, and that the bulk of your time will be spent at the university.” Diane kept her voice calm and even. She hoped the smile on her face didn’t look fake.