Scattered Graves dffi-6

by Beverly Connor

  What is the other information you want to give me? typed Diane.

  ‘‘I want to give you bank account numbers,’’ it said. ‘‘I think you know whose.’’

  Give me the numbers, typed Diane.

  ‘‘Look me in the eye,’’ said the voice.

  Diane looked into the camera. On the screen a set of numbers scrolled by with the names of banks beside them. Just at a glance, they looked like offshore ac counts.

  ‘‘I’ll take those.’’

  They all looked up sharply toward the new voice. Rikki Gillinick was standing in the doorway between Diane’s office and her sitting room. She was holding a gun.

  Chapter 42

  ‘‘Rikki,’’ said Diane, ‘‘I thought you were off today.’’ ‘‘I knew you guys were up to something and if I

  followed, I’d find my treasure. Give me the list of

  bank account numbers now.’’

  Rikki carried a book bag on her arm; it looked

  empty. Diane wondered how long a list she was ex

  pecting. Rikki moved inside the room and kicked the

  door shut behind her.

  Everyone stayed where they were around the com

  puter, eyeing the gun.

  ‘‘How did you get a gun into the museum?’’ said

  Diane. She might need to have a few words with her

  security personnel.

  ‘‘Easy. A little chink in your security a while back.

  When Bryce was still running the crime lab and had

  his own guard, all he had to do was bring the gun into

  the museum from the crime lab side and find a place

  to hide it,’’ she said.

  ‘‘Why would he do that?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘You need to think about that real hard,’’ said

  Rikki. ‘‘Now, quit stalling. I want the numbers.’’ ‘‘Is this the money Jefferies made in his little cyber

  crime venture?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘Yes. And it’s not so little. I’m serious about getting

  those account numbers—about three hundred million

  dollars’ worth of serious. They’re the only reason

  Bryce and I stuck around.’’

  ‘‘That’s a lot of money,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Did Jefferies

  make all of it with his cybergangs?’’

  ‘‘Mostly. His Atlanta business does well, but not

  that well,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘How do you expect to get out of the building?’’

  said Diane. ‘‘Do you plan to take one of us hostage?’’ Rikki laughed. ‘‘I have the best hostage of all,’’

  she said looking around the room. ‘‘Bryce saw peo

  ple as mice he could poke a stick at and they would

  go scurrying. I told him he was making one mistake

  after another dealing with you, but he wouldn’t lis

  ten. Typical male. But I’m not that way. I get to

  know people. And I know that more than anything,

  you will protect the museum. You don’t want me

  even firing a gun into the air on museum property,

  and certainly not firing inside the building. You want

  no danger and no bad publicity; that’s why you’re

  going to let me just walk out of here with my bank

  numbers and my gun. You’ll be willing to take the

  chance that I’ll be apprehended when I’m well away

  from the museum. I know this about you, just like I

  know my mother will always choose the wrong men

  to shack up with and my father will always be a

  drunk.’’

  ‘‘You’re smarter than we gave you credit for,’’

  said Diane.

  Rikki smiled. ‘‘It’s the blond hair. Fools ’em every

  time.’’

  ‘‘I suppose I don’t need to tell you that you won’t

  get far off museum property,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘I have an escape plan,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘Now, give me

  the numbers.’’

  ‘‘They’re in the printer tray in my office,’’ said Diane,

  nodding toward the locked door. ‘‘That’s where this’’—

  she gestured to the computer—‘‘this thing printed the

  list.’’

  ‘‘How convenient. I knew you would crack the secu

  rity. Bryce in his stupidity wanted to get the computer

  himself. Like he could have broken the encryption. I knew David could—given time. And for the record, I know you guys were on to me. I knew you weren’t

  going to keep me on.’’

  ‘‘For the record,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We knew that you

  knew. We figured there must be a really big payoff.’’ ‘‘You see now that there was,’’ said Rikki. She opened the door behind her. ‘‘I’m going out to

  your office. If the list is not there, I’m going to be

  pissed, and you don’t want that.’’

  ‘‘Before you go,’’ said Diane, ‘‘since you’re clearing

  things up, did you kill Jefferies and Peeks?’’ ‘‘No, I didn’t. I liked Jefferies. He was an odd duck.

  He was a hard-ass for sure, but he was good to

  women. He gave me the watch,’’ she said.

  ‘‘He gave a lot of people watches,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I know. But mine was the most expensive,’’ said

  Rikki. She backed out into Diane’s office, still holding

  the gun. She glanced at the printer and back at the

  group in the sitting room. She reached for the paper

  in the printer tray, looked at it, and smiled. ‘‘Three hundred million dollars. All mine. Now,

  David, I want you to take the hard disk out of the

  machine and put it in this bag.’’ She threw the book

  bag over to them. ‘‘And please hurry. You don’t have

  to be careful.’’

  Diane nodded to David, and he began to dismantle

  the computer.

  ‘‘It wasn’t Bryce who tried to break in, I would have

  recognized him,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Was it Curtis?’’ ‘‘The two of them cooked it up. I told them they

  were being stupid, but they wouldn’t listen. Curtis was

  sure he could just waltz in and take it, after I told

  them the lab was closing down for repairs. Bryce ex

  plained to him about the guard. I told him who it was.

  And I’m sorry about that. Curtis is a loose cannon.

  He almost messed everything up.’’

  ‘‘Where is Curtis now?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Don’t know. He said he had his own plan. I

  haven’t seen him since. Personally, I don’t care where

  he is.’’

  ‘‘You may think you have a good getaway plan,’’

  said Frank, who sat leaning forward with his forearms

  on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him

  like this kind of thing happened to him all the time

  and was no big deal. ‘‘But it’s not easy to get away

  clean. Your best bet would be to simply give yourself

  up. I don’t think you were directly involved in the

  murders.’’

  ‘‘You’re a policeman, aren’t you? Let me worry

  about my plan,’’ she said. ‘‘Have you got that thing

  out yet?’’ she said to David.

  ‘‘Just a minute,’’ said David.

  When the screen to Jefferies’ computer went blank,

  the first thing Diane thought of was who she had been

  talking to. He was gone now. Oddly, it made her a

  little sad.

  ‘‘Pick up the book bag and put the hard disk in it,’’

  said Rikki.

  David put the disk in the
bag and held it out to her. ‘‘It’s heavy,’’ he said.

  ‘‘Set it down,’’ she told him.

  David complied. Rikki picked it up.

  ‘‘It’s not that heavy,’’ she said. ‘‘I appreciate your

  cooperation. Diane, remember, I will fire the gun in

  the museum. I know you have security guards and they

  have guns, but they will be very reluctant to use them

  around visitors. Just let me leave and then you can

  try to find me,’’ she said. ‘‘If I see any of you coming

  after me, I will fire the gun. Now, I really hate to run,

  but I gotta go.’’

  Diane nodded. ‘‘You’re free to go.’’

  ‘‘I’m glad we have an agreement.’’

  Rikki closed the door as she backed out. Diane

  heard her say good-bye to Andie as she left. When Rikki was gone, Diane started for her com

  puter in her office.

  ‘‘You want us to go after her?’’ said Izzy. ‘‘No,’’ said Diane. ‘‘She had me pegged right. I

  won’t take a chance on her firing a gun in the

  museum.’’

  When Diane was at her computer, she called up a

  program that allowed her to see the security camera

  feeds on her monitor. Four screens came up, each in

  its own window. Diane caught sight of Rikki as she

  was going out the door. Diane switched to the park

  ing lot cameras

  Geo and drive

  parking lot.

  and watched her get in an orange down the hill, leaving the museum

  Diane picked up the phone and called the police. ‘‘And you just let her go with the numbers?’’ said

  Janice.

  ‘‘She had a gun,’’ said Diane. ‘‘There are too many

  innocent people who could have been hurt. I’m sure

  you understand.’’

  ‘‘Yes, I suppose so. You say she’s in an orange Geo.

  Did you get the plates?’’

  ‘‘No, that will take a little finesse with the comput

  ers. I thought you would want to know right away.

  She can’t have gotten far.’’

  ‘‘Of course,’’ said Janice. ‘‘We’re on it right now.’’ ‘‘Tell them to block all the exits to the museum,’’

  said Frank.

  ‘‘Hold the phone a minute,’’ she said to Janice.

  ‘‘She’ll be gone by then.’’

  ‘‘Maybe not,’’ said Frank. He took the phone from

  Diane. ‘‘Quicker this way,’’ he said, smiling. ‘‘Warrick,’’ he said. ‘‘This is Frank Duncan. She

  may be changing cars before she gets off museum

  property. There are several access roads around the

  museum. Have your people get to those roads—

  quickly. Diane will have her security on the way too.’’ Diane called her security and told them basically

  what Frank had relayed to Janice. She put down the

  phone and looked at Frank.

  ‘‘What makes you think that’s what she’s going to

  do?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘She said she had a plan,’’ said Frank. ‘‘What’s that

  movie that always cracks you up—Tremors? And what

  is it about a plan that guy says that you just love?’’ ‘‘ ‘Running’s not a plan; running’s what you do

  when a plan fails,’ ’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Well, getting out on the highway in a car she

  knows you will have seen is not a plan. That’s

  running.’’

  Izzy laughed out loud.

  Chapter 43

  Diane, Frank, and Izzy were in Frank’s car trailing the museum security SUV. Frank and Diane were in the front seat, Izzy in the back. Frank followed at a dis tance. They didn’t want to capture Rikki themselves, but they did want to be extra eyes looking for her.

  ‘‘I think she’ll use that old roadway down by the river,’’ said Frank.

  He was speaking of the Dekanogee River—which was the river referred to in the RiverTrail Museum. He turned off onto the old dirt road, leaving the security vehicle to cover the more heavily used access roads.

  ‘‘Why do you think she would come this way?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘She wants to dispose of the hard disk so no one else can get the numbers,’’ said Frank. ‘‘And she needs to get rid of it as soon as possible. I suspect she intends to throw the disk into the river. This is a good place to do that and a secluded place to change vehicles.’’

  The woods were dense in this section of the prop erty, and the roadbed was old and rough. The bottom of Frank’s Camaro scraped the ground in the deep ruts, and the car bounced around badly enough that Diane tightened her seat belt and pressed the flat of her hand on the roof above her to hold herself in place.

  ‘‘I have to tell you guys, my first day on the job has been a real kicker,’’ said Izzy.

  ‘‘It’s not over yet,’’ said Diane. ‘‘What’s that?’’ she said, pointing toward some bushes just ahead.

  Through the tangle of undergrowth Diane thought she saw a glint from a mirror and a flash of orange. Frank slowed the car as they approached. Diane rolled down her window so she could see better and listen for sounds.

  Frank drove slowly past the place where Diane thought she saw the car. It was there in the bushes, only half concealed. He stopped the Camaro and called in their location. Izzy jumped out, pulled his gun, and ran in a crouch to the rear of the Geo. Cau tiously, gun at the ready, he took a quick look through the windows of the vehicle and scanned the area. He turned toward them and shook his head.

  ‘‘Up ahead,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I hear a car.’’

  Izzy heard it too. He ran back and jumped in the backseat.

  ‘‘I think she’s abandoned it all right,’’ he said. He reached out his window and patted the roof of Frank’s car. ‘‘Let’s go,’’ he said.

  Frank looked over at Diane and smiled. He drove the narrow road at a speed greater than Diane felt comfortable with, but she said nothing and held on. Ahead of them they saw the rear of a dark blue Saturn just going out of sight around a curve in the road. Frank drove faster and the ride got bumpier.

  As they rounded the curve, the Saturn was just ahead. The road was smoother here, mainly dirt, and the blue sedan was accelerating and kicking up dust. The Saturn drove out of sight again.

  Frank sped up.

  They popped over a low rise and suddenly they saw it again. It was backing fast toward them, running from police and museum security cars coming fast, head-on. Frank slid to a stop. Diane braced for impact. The Saturn’s brake lights were glaring red; the car skidded to a stop just inches before it hit the front end of Frank’s Camaro.

  Izzy jumped out of the car, leaving the door open, and drew his gun—as did Frank. Diane opened her door and stayed behind it. She had no gun.

  She heard Janice’s voice calling for the occupant of the car to come out, hands on head.

  Diane watched the person sitting behind the steer ing wheel in the car. She saw black hair, she thought, but it was hard to see much with the glare of the sun on the window.

  Janice repeated the command.

  The door opened and Rikki stepped out, hands in the air. She was wearing a black wig. That was a relief. The thought had crossed Diane’s mind that perhaps they had disturbed some innocent nature lovers who thought they were being chased by maniacs in a white Camaro. Janice spread Rikki against the car, patted her down, and put handcuffs on her. Only then did Diane stand up and Frank and Izzy let their guards down.