“No, you don’t, Mike. You don’t know your limits until you exceed them. And that’s what I’m concerned about.”
“It’s just that I have so many ideas. Shelly and I have talked about a lot of things, but Dr. Lymon never wanted to listen. There are so many ways we can really improve the geology exhibits.”
“And I’m looking forward to hearing those ideas. I’m also looking forward to going caving again, and I’d like you to be well so you can go too. You can’t do any of those things if you reinjure yourself.”
“Okay, I take your point,” Mike said. “I’m really sorry about Dr. Lymon. She’s not taking her husband’s leaving well, is she? Did she really think I was her husband? We don’t even look alike.”
“I believe she was mixing up the two rejections. Anyway, have you been to the osteology lab?”
Diane was anxious to get away from Dr. Lymon’s problems. She kept thinking that she should call the university, but she didn’t want to make Lymon’s problems any more public than they were.
“No, I haven’t,” said Mike.
“Neva is reconstructing a face from one of the skulls; you can watch her if you like. I also have a comfortable couch in my osteology office, and you can rest there if you need to.”
“You are so good to me, Doc.”
Diane unlocked the lab door. Plymouth Doe, covered with the wet cloth and sans head, was lying on the table.
“Yes, I am.”
She unlocked the bone vault. Neva was there. The skull was turning on the stage of the laser scanner, shafts of red lasers measuring the contours of the facial bones.
“Mike,” Neva said. “You doing okay? Was that Dr. Lymon?” She came over to him. He hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m fine. I’ll tell you about Lymon later. Show me what you’re doing. Looks high-tech and flashy.”
Diane left them and went back into the outer lab to the bones of Plymouth Doe. She uncovered them and resumed her examination of the ribs. She found no nicks on them; nor did she find anything on the long bones. She did find that the feet showed evidence of bunions. Her toes had a marked deformity where the big toe drifted toward the smaller ones. Diane guessed that Plymouth Doe during her young years had spent a lot of time on her feet in tight shoes.
Neva, followed by Mike, came out of the vault carrying the skull, put it in the alcohol tank and washed her hands. Mike held the picture generated by the software from the laser scan.
“I haven’t drawn her yet, but I thought you’d like to see the face generated by the computer.” She took it to the table where the other drawings were still laid out and put it beside the drawing of Caver Doe’s snapshot.
The computer image showed Plymouth Doe with a wide jaw and forehead, a straight nose and wide, almond-shaped eyes. Both Plymouth Doe and the woman in the unidentified snapshot were very pretty women, but they were not the same.
“Okay, not Caver Doe’s girlfriend,” said Neva. “So what is the connection? Black-market button seller?”
Diane shrugged. “Maybe the trace evidence will tell us something. Nice job, Neva.”
“When I do the drawing of her it’ll look better. Let’s do a newspaper article soon. I’d like to find out who these people were and why they have the same rare button.”
Diane smiled at her. “That’s the first thing we’ll ask the next of kin.”
When Neva and Mike left her lab, Diane went back to the bones, examining them one more time under a magnifying glass, making sure she hadn’t missed something that might help identify Plymouth Doe or indicate what happened to her. She found nothing more. Diane put the Plymouth Doe bones in the alcohol bath and walked to the crime lab.
David was on the phone and taking notes. Neva was at the light table working on her drawing. Jin came bouncing in, still elated over the buttons.
“We have a name,” said David, waving a piece of paper. “That was the eye surgeon who implanted the shunt you found in Jane Doe. I traced him from the number on the shunt. Her real name is Flora Martin. I was about to call Sheriff Burns.”
“Do we have all of her evidence processed?” said Diane.
“Yes. I have a report ready to fax him.”
“Excellent. When the dermestids are finished with her bones and I have a chance to take one more look at them, that case will be closed for us.” Diane felt a wave of relief go through her, and it surprised her.
“We’re making some progress. Look, guys, you all have been working very hard and doing a good job. It’s almost quitting time-I realize we often don’t pay any attention to that, but why don’t we knock off for the evening? I’ll stay on call, and if anything comes up, I’ll phone you,” Diane said.
“I’d kind of like that,” said Jin. “The thing about this job is that it’s hard to have a love life-of course, I could be like Neva and just bring mine to work with me.”
Neva punched him gently in the arm with her fist. David looked lost-as if the prospect of going home early were confusing to him.
“David,” said Diane. “Why don’t you go home and work on that proposal we talked about for teaching photography?”
His face brightened. “I could do that.”
“You could come over to Mike’s for dinner,” Neva said to David. “I’m sure we’re having some variation on tofu. Didn’t you say you like tofu?”
“Good idea,” said Jin. “And tomorrow we can work on lesson two of how to have a life.”
“You guys are really funny,” said David.
“I was serious about dinner,” said Neva.
“Get out of here,” said Diane. “I’ll call you if I need you.”
Diane cleared out her team just as the night receptionist came on duty. He was new. Garnett had suspended the former one while the crime lab breakin was being investigated. So far the former receptionist hadn’t admitted to anything; nor had any money shown up in his accounts. Maybe he was innocent, but Diane had a gut feeling that the breakin was at least partly an inside job. She called Garnett from her osteology office to get an update. As she expected, he was still at work.
“Just curious about the breakin here,” she said when he answered.
“Not much to tell you. We’ve questioned the ladies-the Wiccan and the Druid. They indignantly deny having anything to do with it. Their coven members alibi them, but I imagine that’s what covens are for. I just don’t understand that stuff. In my day, covens were witches, but this woman denies being a witch. I tell you, I don’t know what to make of them.”
“And my receptionist?”
“Nothing there either. The little trace evidence you’ve found hasn’t been helpful either. We just don’t have a thing. I agree that the women don’t seem like the type who could pull off something like this, but I can’t think of a reason why anyone else would want the bones that were stolen. Whoever it was is liable to be disappointed-you say they were actually deer bones?”
“That’s what the owner says was in the box. We never got a look at them.”
“Well, deer bones or human bones, it doesn’t matter. When we catch them they’re going to do jail time for breaking into a crime lab. How’s your arm doing?”
Diane stretched it out in front of her and moved it around. “It’s gradually getting well.”
“And that student? I hear he’s home from the hospital.”
“Yes. Mike’s doing fine too. Neva’s staying with him while she gets her home in order.”
“Neva?”
“Mike’s her boyfriend.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that, or did I? I tell you, I feel overwhelmed here some days.”
Diane knew how he felt. She stared at the watercolor of the wolf and wished she were out somewhere in the wild. “Do you have anything on Neva’s breakin?” she asked.
“Not a thing. I guess that’s why I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’m not able to clear any of these cases that involve the department. Makes us look pretty incompetent.”
“I know how you feel.”
