One Grave Too Many

“The scapula body’s broken, the coracoid process is missing, so is the acromion, the glenoid cavity is badly crushed,” she muttered almost to herself. “Have you found all the pieces?”

“No. This is pretty much it.”

“Have it photographed and take it up.” Her head was starting to ache. She rubbed her eyes.

“I’ve already sketched it. You want to see the arm you discovered yesterday?”

Diane nodded. She stood, almost too fast, and felt weak on her feet. Fortunately, Raedwald didn’t ask her if she was all right. As well-meaning as everyone was, and as right as they were, she wished they wouldn’t express it.

She stood for a moment, gathering her wits about her before walking over with him to have a look at the humerus. It was completely excavated and included the forearm bones-the radius and ulna-and the bones of the hand. All neatly sitting on top of the ground as if they had been laid there, but out of place. The radius and ulna were flipped around in their relationship to the humerus. The bones of the hand were off to the side.

“Good job.”

“It’s really like a work of art,” he said. “I mean the bones, not the excavation.”

“I’ve always thought bones are quite lovely. It produces some cognitive dissonance, though, to look at a pit of remains from a mass murder and also see the beauty of the bones.”

“I’ll bet.”

Diane sat down cross-legged to examine the bones as they lay there on the ground. The head of the humerus was crushed. This was the part that would have fit into the crushed glenoid cavity.

“Will you be able to tell the difference between animal activity and, say, an injury?” the excavator asked.

“Probably.” She touched the bone lightly with her fingers. “Interesting bones.”

The sound of her telephone ringing came from the pocket of her shirt. She snatched it and pushed the answer button.

“Dr. Fallon, this is Serena Ellison, Star Boone’s attorney.”

Diane was disappointed. She wanted to hear news about Frank-good news.

“Yes?”

“I’ve made arrangements for us to see her in an hour. I know this is short notice, but. .”

“Shall I meet you at the jail?”

“That would be fine. I’ll see you there.”

Yes, it would be fine, she thought. Then when she saw Frank she could tell him how Star was doing.

Diane stood up. “Can I have your attention?” Everyone stopped and looked over at her. “First, I want to thank you, both for the quality and the speed of work you are doing. I can see you’ve been putting in overtime to get this done, and I appreciate it. I have to go back into town, but I’d like you to get the human remains drawn, mapped and out today, if you can. Jonas, would you bring them to my office at the museum? And please don’t tell anyone what they are.”

The excavators looked at each other as if they were all members of a conspiracy.

“Sure thing,” said Jonas.

Jonas walked her back to the creek crossing. Diane eyed him as he wiped his neck with a bandana.

“You doing OK?” she asked.

“Me? I think I’m doing better than you are.”

“That’s not saying much.”

“I’m doing just fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Good. You guys are doing a terrific job.”

“We’re glad to do it. I’m glad to do it. Thanks for the opportunity.”

“That episode last night. Did you get any sense of danger from it?”

“No. I had the idea that whoever it was, was more frightened than we were. For us, it was no more than pot hunters. You think it was the murderer?”

Jonas said the word murderer as if he were incredulous over the possibility. She doubted archaeologists ever dealt with murderers.

“I don’t know, Jonas,” she said.

Chapter 34

Diane crossed the creek and hiked back to her car. Inside she stopped and rested a moment before she put the key in the ignition. What she would have liked to do is go home and sleep. Instead, she drove to the Rosewood jail.

Rosewood’s jail was new. The interview room they were allowing the lawyer and Diane to use smelled of paint and disinfectant.

“It seems like it’s taking a long time,” said Diane, looking at her watch.

“Yes, it does,” said Serena Ellison. “I hate it when they have me cooling my heels.”

As if someone had been waiting outside listening for the time when Diane and the lawyer were the most impatient, the door suddenly swung open. Star, escorted by the guard, slouched into the room wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. She was pale and looked thin in the baggy, ill-fitting clothes.

“How’s Uncle Frank?” she said as she came through the door.

“He’s doing well,” said Diane. “I saw him this morning and he was much improved from yesterday.”

Star came to the table and sat down. The guard looked for a moment like she was going to stay until Star’s lawyer shot her a stern glare.

“How are you doing?” asked Diane.

She shrugged. “It’s boring and the guards are mean.”

“How are they mean?” asked Serena.

“They say stuff to me, like I’m going to hell.”

“Are they doing anything else mean? Hitting you, withholding your food?”

“Withholding the food would be a kindness around here. No, they don’t hit me or anything. They shove a little, that’s all.” She looked at her lawyer. “Can’t you get me out of here?”

“I’m going to try again today. But you have to have a place to go.”

Star looked like she would cry.

“She can stay with me,” said Diane. Probably too rashly, but the grateful look on Star’s face was worth it.

“That’ll be good. Now Star, don’t get your hopes up about getting out today or tomorrow. Most likely they won’t grant bail, but they might, and I’ll keep trying,” said Serena.

“The important thing,” said Diane, “is that you take care of yourself. I’ll come see you as often as I can, but I don’t know how often that’ll be. I’m making progress with the case, and Frank’s getting better. Hold on to that.”

Star nodded.

“And be polite,” said Serena. “It won’t kill you. If you act hard, they’ll think you’re hard and treat you that way.”

“When I get out of here, can we sue them?”

“We’ll see,” said Serena. “Let’s take care of one case at a time.”

It was hard to watch Star being led back to jail, and Diane was glad to be rid of the place when she left. She could only imagine what it must be like to not be able to leave. She thanked Serena Ellison and headed to the museum.

When Diane saw her office upon her first arrival at the museum, she thought her private bathroom was nice, but a little extravagant. Lately, she’d been using it as much as her apartment bathroom and was glad to have it. She showered, changed clothes and put on enough makeup to look presentable.

She told Andie to screen her calls, and she settled in to work on her backlog of paperwork. If she didn’t get