Scattered Graves dffi-6

by Beverly Connor

  Diane laid out the evidence to them that David had presented to her. They were astounded by what she had to say. Both of them were silent for a long while.

  ‘‘This is bad,’’ said Edward. ‘‘This is the worst thing that could happen to Rosewood. The credibility of law enforcement and criminal justice and public confi dence in our government are at stake. This will not do. How sure are you?’’

  ‘‘The evidence is very compelling, and it convinced me. If you are asking me if it is conclusive—not com pletely. But it’s so compelling that it renders the origi nal theory of the crime improbable,’’ she said. ‘‘If the evidence was falsified, as it appears it was, it may mean that the wrong man is being held for the judge’s murder.’’

  ‘‘We have to untangle this,’’ said Edward. ‘‘We can’t have anything like this in Rosewood.’’ He turned to the chief. ‘‘What does Bryce have to say for himself about irregularities in procedures at the mayor’s crime scene?’’ he said.

  ‘‘I asked him about dusting only for Garnett’s prints,’’ said the chief, ‘‘and about several troubling questions that other detectives have brought to my attention. And you know we are being sued for ten million dollars because of that forensic anthropolo gist fiasco.’’

  Diane wanted to tell him not to get off the subject, but she kept her mouth shut.

  ‘‘I know,’’ said Edward. ‘‘We have our lawyers working on that. What did Bryce say?’’

  ‘‘He denied that he only looked for Garnett’s prints,’’ said the chief. ‘‘He denied just about every thing we asked him. He kept saying he handled all the crime scenes to the best of his ability. He blamed this Jeffcote-Smith woman for the loss of Sheriff Canfield’s bones. I tell you, Canfield is having a fit. To tell you the truth, Lloyd Bryce can plead incompe tence and there isn’t much we can do, except fire him. That’s all we have on him—incompetence.’’

  ‘‘Which brings me to another topic,’’ said the mayor, turning to Diane. ‘‘We have relieved Bryce of his position. We want you to take back the crime lab.’’

  Diane was silent for a full minute. ‘‘The museum,’’ she began, and the mayor raised his hand to ward off what she was going to say.

  ‘‘Mother and Colin Prehoda drew up new contracts. Nothing like this will happen again. If it should, the crime lab will be moved from museum property at your discretion. No appeal, no higher authority than you,’’ he said.

  ‘‘Very well,’’ said Diane and wondered why she was agreeing. But deep down she knew. It was the same reason Buford Monroe agreed to take his old job back as chief of police. It was a vindication. No matter the reasons for what had happened, getting fired stung. And vindication soothed the sting.

  Another reason she said yes was that in her heart Diane enjoyed the crime lab. She liked to catch bad guys. It was true she had been happy with all her free time, but she was happy with the lab too. Perhaps there was a compromise—making David assistant di rector, for instance.

  ‘‘What about Rikki?’’ said Diane. ‘‘I believe she’s in the thick of things with the mayor and his buddies.’’

  ‘‘You can fire her,’’ said Edward. ‘‘Or you can keep her for a while and try to get information out of her. You know how to do these things.’’

  ‘‘When do you want me to start?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘Just as soon as you are able. I have the papers here,’’ he said.

  Edward motioned to a clerk and he brought over several papers for her to sign.

  Diane read them. So, Vanessa Van Ross and Colin Prehoda drew them up. Everyone was back on board. Diane smiled and signed the contract.

  Chapter 26

  Diane walked to her SUV in the city hall parking lot. She stopped several feet away and looked at it for a moment. A ray of sunlight peeked through the blanket of winter clouds and reflected off the bright red finish. It looked pretty. She liked her vehicle. At least it didn’t get trashed this time. She thought about the number of times her attackers had taken their anger out not only on her but also on her car.

  As she was about to get in, she saw Janice Warrick and Izzy coming toward her.

  ‘‘You need to put a steak or something on that face,’’ said Izzy, squinting as if it hurt to look at her. ‘‘It still looks pretty bad.’’

  ‘‘I know. I tried makeup, but I end up looking like a corpse,’’ said Diane. She stood and waited. From their expressions, she could tell they wanted to talk, probably about Garnett. Izzy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Janice studied the ground, mov ing a pebble with the toe of her shoe. They both be lieved Garnett killed Peeks, and they felt guilty about believing it, thought Diane. They wanted her to tell them they were wrong.

  ‘‘It doesn’t look good for Garnett,’’ said Izzy.

  ‘‘What about Shane Eastling?’’ said Diane. ‘‘He’s been acting kind of... kind of like he’s on the other side. Could he have substituted the bullet?’’

  Janice shook her head. ‘‘I was at the autopsy. So was Izzy. We wanted to get the bullet to ballistics as soon as possible.’’

  ‘‘We saw Eastling dig it out of Peeks’ brain,’’ said Izzy, wrinkling his face.

  Diane wondered whether that was the first autopsy he had ever attended. She couldn’t imagine it. He’d been a policeman for a long time.

  ‘‘Chief Monroe is getting less inclined to look for another killer,’’ said Janice. ‘‘He wants everything wrapped up real quick. I’m afraid they are going to cut Garnett loose,’’ she said.

  ‘‘We still want you to look into it,’’ said Izzy.

  ‘‘I will,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I have a hard time believing he killed Peeks. There has to be an answer.’’

  Izzy and Janice both seemed to relax.

  ‘‘Even if, by some . . . Even if he did kill Peeks,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘there must have been a reason that he doesn’t want to talk about—like protecting somebody, something like that. And the evidence against him for doing Jefferies is nothing, in my book.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘I’m afraid they’ll want to lump all the murders to gether just to get this over with.’’

  ‘‘I don’t intend to let it go,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You know I’m back in charge of the crime lab.’’

  ‘‘We heard,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘That’s great. Bryce is in this up to his eyeballs in some way.’’

  ‘‘He’s slippery,’’ said Janice. ‘‘I interviewed him about how he worked the Jefferies crime scene. He denied framing Garnett. Gave some razzle-dazzle about first finding prints with black lights before lifting them. I told him he’d still have to use special pow ders.’’ Janice smiled proudly. ‘‘He tried to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said both of the surfaces where he got the prints were shiny and he could see that only one set of prints was there. And I said, ‘Even on the kitchen counter?’ He stuck to his story. The chief thought he was just trying to look incompetent rather than guilty. I don’t know. Like I said, Bryce is slippery.’’

  ‘‘Bryce and Rikki were looking for a list at the crime scene,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Did Bryce say anything about a list?’’

  Janice raised her eyebrows and shrugged. ‘‘They were looking for something, I’d wager, but I don’t know what. Want me to get Bryce back in?’’ she asked.

  Diane shook her head. ‘‘Let’s keep it to ourselves right now. Van Ross suggested I might want to keep Rikki on for a while to see if she reveals anything.’’

  ‘‘I never realized he could be so sneaky,’’ said Ja nice, smiling. ‘‘He seems so nice.’’

  The cold was getting to Diane and she started to shiver. ‘‘I’m going to the museum. There are a few leads I’m working on. I don’t know how I’m going to prove who killed Jefferies and Peeks, but I will.’’ She stopped and looked sharply at Janice. ‘‘Who took Garnett’s gun at the crime scene?’’

  Janice Warrick frowned. ‘‘I did.’’

  Diane’s face fell. She thought she
was on to some thing.

  ‘‘I’ll figure it out,’’ she said and got in her car. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out.

  Diane drove to the museum and parked in her space. She sat there watching people come and go, thinking she should have driven around back and en tered by a rear door. She was looking so bad, worse than when Delamore first attacked her. No kind of makeup is going to hide this, she thought. And she’d planned on trying to see the former mayor today. Well, hell. She got out and walked into the museum and to her office. She got a few stares, but no one said anything. Good. Maybe it looked bad only in the sunlight.

  David was in Andie’s office waiting for her. Appar ently he hadn’t slept too late. He looked better. Obvi ously getting his fears and suspicions off his chest had been good for him.

  ‘‘David, I’m rescinding your resignation,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘What?’’ he said. He stared at her for a moment, then smiled. ‘‘You have the crime lab back.’’

  ‘‘Yes, with a very tightly written contract—by Vanessa and Colin Prehoda. I want to go over everything and see what we have to do to get everything back on track. And I want to revisit the crime scene at the mayor’s house before I see former mayor Sutton.’’

  The relief he felt was obvious. Diane could almost see all the tension drain out of him as he collapsed onto one of the stuffed chairs. He looked like a man whose world was righted again.

  ‘‘Nice to have things back to normal,’’ said David. He rubbed his hands together. ‘‘What are you going to do with Lollipop?’’ he said.

  ‘‘Keep her on and see if she leads us anywhere,’’ said Diane.

  Diane went to her office and called Colin.

  ‘‘Since I’m back as director of the crime lab, I can’t be working for you.’’

  ‘‘Already severed,’’ he said. ‘‘When Edward said he wanted to put you back in the crime lab, I took steps to change our relationship. But I hope you are still going to investigate the deaths.’’

  ‘‘Yes. We all need to untangle this mess to get Rose wood right again,’’ she said. ‘‘Can you tell me what Garnett says about the gun?’’

  ‘‘This is certainly difficult. I can tell you that he still maintains his innocence.’’

  ‘‘I intend to go over the mayor’s house again and see if I can find anything new. I’m sure the prosecutor will share with you any discoveries I make.’’

  ‘‘You’re sure of that, are you? I’ll have to stand on him to make certain he does. You’ve dealt with Riddmann,’’ said Colin.

  Diane frowned. ‘‘Let’s just see what happens.’’

  She turned to David when she hung up. ‘‘Now, do you want to go see what condition my crime lab is in?’’

  Diane decided to enter the crime lab through her osteology lab. David was with her. So was Izzy. She had called Izzy in case Bryce decided to dig his heels in, and she didn’t want to involve museum security.

  ‘‘It’s like The Return of the King,’’ said David. ‘‘I’m Legolas. Though he had more hair and great ears, but I can handle it. Izzy’s Gimli. And of course, you’re Aragorn. You guys have your swords ready?’’

  Izzy chuckled. ‘‘I forgot my axe, but I have a gun. Will that do?’’

  Diane shook her head. David was far too giddy. He was acting like Jin.

  She punched the key code that unlocked the door between the crime lab and her lab. She’d expected it to be like entering a tomb—dark, long, and vacant. It wasn’t, of course. All the lights were on and Rikki was there, sitting in her cubicle working on her com puter. Neva was getting a drink from the water foun tain near the conference table. David had given her a heads-up; Diane could tell by the look on her face. She came over and hugged Diane.

  ‘‘Welcome back,’’ she said. ‘‘I am so glad to see you. Really glad.’’

  However, Diane didn’t think David had alerted Rikki. She looked surprised to see them. But her face quickly reverted back to a sullen expression. It was quite different from the isn’t-this-fun attitude she showed when Canfield was blowing his top at Bryce. Bryce had probably told Rikki he wasn’t in charge anymore.

  What do you know about all this? thought Diane as she looked at Rikki.

  Diane shifted her gaze to the rest of the room—a series of tiny labs in glass-walled work spaces con taining equipment to examine and analyze almost any thing, whether it was a gas, liquid, or solid. The crime lab could identify alloys, crystalline structures, and so lutions. The techs could separate compounds into their components, separate large molecules from mixtures, or analyze their concentrations in a solution. They could separate and identify sounds, detect their frequency and intensity. They could analyze impressions, tool marks, and documents. The lab had an impressive array of national and international databases at its disposal—CODIS for DNA, AFIS for fingerprint. They had databases for bullet casings, tire treads, ciga rette butts, fibers, shoe prints, animal tracks, hair, fur, textiles, buttons, paint, bugs, plants, and more; and they had software that could match, categorize, corre late, and render a map of all those things. It was a good lab. Diane was proud of it. Now she had to see what Bryce had done to it.

  She inspected each room. It didn’t look too bad, but in some of the rooms she was dismayed to see a thin layer of dust.

  ‘‘Something’s happened to the air filtration,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘We tried to keep the equipment clean,’’ said Neva. ‘‘But . . .’’ She didn’t finish her sentence.

  Diane knew by we Neva meant herself and David. Rikki’s cubicle was the worst. There were food crumbs, coffee rings, and clutter all over her work space. And a jar filled with suckers—lollipops.

  ‘‘You can drink coffee at the conference table, but nowhere else. No food is allowed in the lab at all,’’ Diane said to her.

  Rikki’s frown deepened. ‘‘Bryce let me eat in my own space,’’ she said.

  ‘‘That’s irrelevant,’’ said Diane. ‘‘These are the rules now.’’

  Rikki didn’t say anything. Diane could see she wanted to glare at her but had the good sense not to. Diane wondered if she would quit. And if she didn’t, why? She had been thinking about Edward’s suggestion—let Rikki work here and see if she led her to any information about what the heck was going on. She may be just an innocent person who wasn’t trained right, or she may be involved in whatever Bryce was. Diane wanted to find out.

  ‘‘David is going to be assistant director of the crime lab,’’ Diane continued. ‘‘In my absence, he’s the boss. Miss Gillinick, since you’re new here, you will be going on calls with either Neva or David until you get used to the way we do things.’’

  ‘‘I’ve gone on lots of crime scenes by myself,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘I do good work.’’

  ‘‘That may be true, but I do things a little differently. Just consider this a refresher course,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Now, David, call TechClean and have them go over the lab. This would be a good time to get a mainte nance check on the equipment and have instruments recalibrated. Find out what is wrong with the air fil tration. Do whatever it takes.’’

  ‘‘Sure thing, boss,’’ said David. Diane thought he gave the word boss a little too heavy an emphasis.

  ‘‘Neva, I want you to catch me up on all the pending cases. We’re also going back to Jefferies’ house to go over the crime scenes again.’’ Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rikki come alert. Diane couldn’t tell whether she liked or disliked the idea. Maybe this would be a good learning experience for all of them.

  Diane motioned to the conference table. ‘‘Rikki, I would like you to sit down and tell me everything you know about Sheriff Canfield’s bones.’’

  Rikki looked startled. ‘‘What? I don’t know anything about them,’’ she said.

  ‘‘I just want you to tell me what you remember about them. Please, sit down,’’ said Diane.

  Rikki reluctantly walked over to the table and sat down, interlacing her fin
gers in front of her. The oth ers sat around the table, including Izzy. Diane was surprised he didn’t take his leave.

  ‘‘What do you remember about the bones?’’ said Diane. ‘‘We need to try to find them. It’s important.’’

  ‘‘It has nothing to do with me. That was Jennifer’s thing,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘But you’re a member of the team; we need you to help. What do you remember?’’

  Rikki looked very uncomfortable with all their eyes on her.

  ‘‘Bryce brought them up here. He said the sheriff’s deputy gave them to him in the parking lot, and I believe him.’’ Rikki lifted her chin as if daring them to disagree. ‘‘He gave them to Jennifer and she took them to the darkroom that Bryce told her to make into a lab.’’ Rikki smirked. ‘‘Jennifer was really pissed about having to go from that big lab to a dinky dark room. She hated it.’’