thought it’d be good to take my son Kevin and Star on vacation sometime.”
“You can take me too,” said David. “I don’t suppose it came with food?”
“I’m sure Frank brought enough for a week,” said Diane.
“We can start with Chinese and go from there,” said Frank.
Diane didn’t realize she was so hungry until she smelled the hot food. After they ate, she claimed the bedroom, spread butcher paper on the bed and laid the bones out. Neva sat at the table and worked on the drawings. David sat in the cab, watching the museum and listening to music. Frank watched Diane work with the bones. She showed him the sword wound.
“Poor girl,” said Frank.
“Girl is right. She was young. No wisdom teeth; her epiphyses have just started to unite. Some have been glued on by the people who’ve had the bones. The pattern pubis symphysis is very rough, sternal end of the ribs barely scalloped-everything points to between fourteen and eighteen.”
“How old are the bones?” Frank asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to sample a piece of bone and have it dated.”
“Her teeth look pretty good,” he said.
“They are. I see only one cavity and it’s very small. Not like our poor mummy, who probably died of bad teeth. Our girl was healthy too. I don’t see any sign in her bones that she was undernourished or suffered from any disease, at least none that affects the bones.”
Diane began the measurements of the skull. She liked this part, particularly feeding the data into the computer. She set her laptop up on a tiny table in the corner of the bedroom.
When the measuring started, Frank lost interest and went in to watch Neva draw.
Diane finished all her measurements, and repacked the skeleton before putting the data into the computer. “Okay, let’s see what the database says about where she’s from,” she said aloud to no one in particular.
Frank and Neva came to watch. Neva perched on the bed; Frank stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders.
“What you doing now?” he asked.
“I’ve got a couple of databases that I can plug information into, and it will give me a probability of her ancestry, among other things.”
“Really, it’ll tell you where she’s from in the world?”
“To a point. It’s only as good as the sample contained in the database, but yes, it’s pretty good. I back it up with other kinds of tests-oxygen and strontium isotope analysis, for example. Different regions of the world have various oxygen isotope ratios in the water. That same ratio will be in the teeth and bones of a person who grew up there.”
Frank looked at Neva and grinned.
“I know,” said Neva. “Mike talks like that too-only about rocks. You know you can use the same damn test to find out where rocks come from? Who knew?”
Diane gave them a look that was halfway between a grimace and a smile. “Let’s see what it says.” She looked at the data that showed up on the screen. “Female. That’s good. Five feet tall, that’s what I estimated. Caucasoid, that’s good. Okay, now this is interesting-good thing I’m backing this up with other tests.”
“What does it say?” asked Neva.
“Mediterranean. I was expecting England.” Diane thought a moment, picturing a map of the Mediterranean countries in her head. “I bet she’s Roman.”
“Roman?” said Neva.
“I’ll have to look at the other tests, including dating the bones, but she could be. Romans were in England for a time. I don’t think Mr. Rose was expecting this.” Diane liked the unexpected-at least in bones. Unexpectedness in the museum was another matter.
“Interesting,” said Frank. “A young Roman girl stabbed through with a sword. I wonder what her story is.”
“Do you have a drawing?” Diane asked Neva.
“I just finished building the computer face when we left the building. I’ve been working on the drawing.” She went back to the dinette table and grabbed the picture and handed it to Diane. “I didn’t know what to do with her hair, so I made it dark and long. If it turns out she was Roman, I could look up how they wore their hair back then.”
Diane looked into the heart-shaped face of a young girl with wide-spaced eyes and a small, straight nose. She looked so young.
“Did I hear you say she was killed with a sword?” asked Neva.
“A rather large sword.”
Neva grimaced. “Well, didn’t the story say that her husband killed her with a sword after luring her to the cave? I guess that part of the story is true.”
“According to Charlotte Hawkins. John Rose’s version has her being killed by the boyfriend of the maiden whom she turned to salt.”
“So she was either the good witch of the north or the wicked witch of the east,” said Neva.
Diane shook her head. “She was such a small thing, I can’t see her being a threat. Her bones don’t show that she was particularly muscular. And the thrust came from the back.”
“So you’re thinking they called her a witch to cover up a murder?” said Neva.
“I’m not saying anything now. I don’t even know yet that she is from the same cave.”
“So you won’t be able to tell if she’s a witch?” asked Neva.
“There are no osteological characteristics that I am aware of that indicate witchiness in an individual-so no, I won’t be able to do that,” Diane said with a smile.
“But then,” said Neva, “her body wasn’t found for hundreds of years, right? So they didn’t need a story. Besides, it wouldn’t have worked anyway, since the Romans were in charge. Witch or not, the Romans would have arrested them. . or worse.”
“We’ll probably never know what really happened,” said Diane. “But we’ll know something about her. And at least the general height of her killer.” She handed the drawing back to Neva. “You did a good job. I’m anxious for Gregory and Mr. Rose to see your drawing.”
Just as Diane spoke she heard someone knocking on the door. As Frank was about to answer, David entered the RV with Garnett.
“Do you know if they have found anything?” asked Diane.
Garnett shook his head. “Nothing yet. I really don’t think there’s anything there. I know you’re on the wrong track about Emery. I’m betting he won’t show up tomorrow night to steal the evidence, and I don’t believe he is in league with those guys who kidnapped you.”
Diane didn’t address her hunch about Emery. There was a good chance she
In the wee hours of morning just before dawn, Diane heard a telephone ringing. She reached for her cell, then realized that it wasn’t hers that was ringing. She and Neva were on the bed. Frank was on the sofa, and David was in the bunk. The phone sounded like it came from the bunk.
Diane raised herself up and slipped out of bed, trying not to wake Neva. She heard David answer it in a sleepy voice. She went over to his bunk.
“Jin’s ready to upload the DNA profiles,” said David. “Can we do that here?”
Frank roused to wakefulness and stretched. He was much more of a morning person and was wide-awake by the second stretch. Diane was still trying to focus her eyes. Sometimes she envied Frank.
“You can plug it in here,” he said. He and David set up the laptop on the dining table and connected via wireless network to the museum server. Diane was glad Frank was here to lend his expertise. She resolved to learn more about her own computer-not only the software.
David sent an instant message to Jin to start the download. It took several minutes. When it finished, he sat down at the computer and logged on to his system in the lab. He started the search on the DNA sample taken from
