Scattered Graves dffi-6

by Beverly Connor

  ‘‘Most of it. I think she lightened her involvement considerably and she’s been enjoying the life of a gun moll all this time.’’

  ‘‘Could she have killed Jefferies and Peeks?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘It’s a possibility they will look into,’’ said Frank. ‘‘My gut feeling right now is, no. She is very driven by gathering things to herself. I can’t see her murder ing them unless she expected to get something big from it, and I can’t see what that would be.’’

  ‘‘How about all that money?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘I think she was after that anyway. That’s why she listened in on conversations. Whether they were alive or dead, she was planning on stealing the money. When she held a gun on us, it was unloaded. She specifically did not want to do anything that would land her hard jail time. I may be wrong,’’ he added.

  ‘‘She wasn’t afraid Jefferies would come after her if she stole his money?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘She thought she could get away. She knew Jefferies’ influence was local. He was in the process of building a gang. He didn’t have members all over the country. He may have had sleepers in businesses in several places, but his organization was still new enough that he couldn’t reach her every place she might go. I hope,’’ he added.

  ‘‘Doesn’t she have immunity now?’’ said Diane.

  Frank shook his head. ‘‘If she lies, all bets are off. At least that’s the way we do it in Atlanta.’’

  The crime lab was clean and almost ready to resume operation. The delicate machines were scheduled to be calibrated tomorrow. It looked and smelled cleaner when they walked in the door. David, Jin, and Neva were there. Diane had called and told them she was on her way.

  Jin was having a fit. Apparently he had been in a tirade, as much of a tirade as Jin got in, ever since they told him about the computer person, or whatever it was. They were all at a loss as to what to call it.

  ‘‘Why didn’t anybody call me?’’ he said. ‘‘Something that cool is going on and nobody thinks to call me and let me see? How could you do that to me?’’

  ‘‘Jin, get over it already,’’ said Neva. ‘‘It was proba bly just a guy on the other end of his instant messen ger anyway.’’

  ‘‘I’m glad you’re back,’’ said David. ‘‘Maybe you can do something with him.’’

  Diane started to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door. They all turned and looked accusingly at the door, as if it had done it. Visits from the museum side were unusual.

  Diane opened the door. Jonas Briggs, the archaeol ogist, was standing on the other side, grinning. He had his laptop under his arm.

  ‘‘It’s the darnedest thing, but I thought I’d better tell you. So, this is the dark side,’’ he said, coming in and looking around. It was what every museum staffer said when they came over.

  ‘‘This is it,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You said something is the darnedest thing?’’

  ‘‘Yes. This little guy who sounds for all the world like the physicist Stephen Hawking came up on my computer and asked me to play chess.’’

  Chapter 47

  They all stared at Jonas for several moments as he stood with his laptop under his arm, stretching his neck, looking around at the lab.

  ‘‘He’s in the system,’’ said Diane to no one in partic ular. ‘‘What did you say in reply?’’ she asked Jonas.

  ‘‘Nothing,’’ Jonas said. ‘‘I started to. He knew my name. He called me Jonas, but I thought it might be a virus so I just turned off my computer. I hope that was right.’’

  ‘‘That was fine, Jonas,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We’ll take it from here. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.’’ She smiled, feeling like she was hurrying him out too fast. ‘‘Can we have your computer?’’

  ‘‘You said he’s in the system,’’ said Jonas. ‘‘He who?’’ Jonas apparently didn’t feel hurried.

  ‘‘We don’t know yet. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention this to anyone,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘I won’t. I’ll just mark it down as one of the many strange things that go on here.’’ He handed her the computer.

  ‘‘You’ll get it back soon,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Okay. I’ll be interested to hear the story when you can tell it,’’ he said. ‘‘If the little fellow turns out to be okay, I’ll be glad to play a game of chess with him.’’

  He left and Diane watched him walk across the overlook, shaking his head. She handed the computer to David.

  ‘‘Is this a virus?’’ she said, frowning. A virus in the museum network didn’t bear thinking about.

  ‘‘I don’t know,’’ said David. ‘‘I’ll have a look.’’

  ‘‘Can it get into the crime lab system?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘No,’’ said David. ‘‘I think I have that well pro tected. It would surprise me if it could get through my firewall.’’

  ‘‘I don’t want you to be surprised,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Would you feel better if we went to your office to turn this on?’’ said David.

  ‘‘I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t want to take the chance it’ll jump into this system—if that’s what it does.’’ She was surprised at how ignorant she was of computers. She had thought she was a computer-savvy person until now.

  Diane turned to Jin. ‘‘What’s that you have in your hand?’’

  ‘‘Evidence from the Peeks murder. Detective Warrick brought it just before you got here,’’ said Jin.

  ‘‘What do we do with evidence around here?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘We process it,’’ said Jin, ‘‘but—’’

  ‘‘Process it, then. This is very important evidence,’’ she said. ‘‘It could clear Garnett and identify Peeks’ killer. Take fingerprints first. You’ll have to process everything down in your lab.’’

  ‘‘Am I going to miss the cyberghost again?’’ he said.

  ‘‘I’m sorry,’’ said Diane.

  Jin sighed. ‘‘That’s what happens when you make yourself indispensable.’’

  ‘‘Yes, it is,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I am sorry, but right now your lab has to carry the load.’’

  Jin nodded. ‘‘By the way. I did get DNA from the tooth and compared it with the samples from Malcolm Chen’s house. It’s a match. I told Detective Warrick. She seemed pleased.’’

  ‘‘Thanks, Jin. You do great work and are appreci ated,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘I know. I have my own lab.’’ He grinned.

  It was almost time for the museum to shut down for the evening. People were streaming out the door. In about forty minutes the night lighting would come on in the exhibit rooms and it would be quiet except for the people still working in their labs and the few classes going on in some of the departments.

  On the way to her office Diane was stopped by several members of the staff about various bits of mu seum business. She waved David, Frank, and Neva on and told them to start without her.

  No one who wanted to talk with her had anything urgent, only the everyday things she needed to take care of. Sometimes her staff just needed to see and speak with her, or tell her of some particular unfortu nate or even delightful

  very calming compared

  her life.

  thing that happened. It was to the last several days of

  Andie was going out her door when Diane made it to her office. She stopped to tell Diane she had put all her messages on her desk—an unnecessary statement, because Andie always put the messages on her desk when she wasn’t there.

  ‘‘Thanks, Andie. Anything urgent?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Nope. Kendel is coming in sometime tomorrow.

  We’re all very excited to see the Neanderthal bones.’’ ‘‘That’s great, Andie. Have a good evening. I’ll see

  you tomorrow,’’ said Diane.

  Frank, Neva, and David were ordering food from

  the museum restaurant when Di
ane got to her sit

  ting room.

  ‘‘Not pizza,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘No,’’ said Neva and David together.

  David was about to open the laptop when they

  heard another knock on Diane’s private back door. ‘‘Someone else find the ghost?’’ said Neva. Diane started to open it, but she stopped. ‘‘Who is

  it?’’ she asked.

  ‘‘Jin,’’ the voice said.

  She opened the door. ‘‘I thought you were working

  on the evidence,’’ said Diane, frowning at him. ‘‘I lifted the prints. I found Bryce’s. A thumb and

  partial index. I called Warrick with the information. I

  also matched the bullet. It’s in the database as belonging

  to Bryce. I know we’re not ballistics, but it was just a

  matter of photographing the striations and matching

  them to the database. I gave that info to Warrick too.

  She was giddy with excitement. The DNA analysis I

  can’t get done tonight if I plan to eat dinner and go to

  bed at some point. So unless you want me to go down

  to my lab and work myself literally to the bone, I’d

  like to come and eat with you guys. You ordered din

  ner, didn’t you? I’ll bet it wasn’t pizza.’’

  ‘‘Come in, Jin. No, I don’t want you to starve. Call

  the restaurant and add what you want to the Fallon

  order,’’ said Diane.

  While they waited for their food, Diane and Frank

  told them what Rikki had said in her statement. Jin,

  Neva, and David sat openmouthed at the revelation

  that Jefferies and company had begun implementation

  of a plan to kill Diane and Vanessa.

  David stood up, his face flushed. ‘‘Are you telling

  me that if you hadn’t kicked the crime lab out of the

  museum, you would be dead? Who in the hell do they

  think they are that they have the right to do that?

  Because they wanted something you have, they were

  going to kill you? This is what we left in South America.

  This is why Margaret died, and Damian, and Caridad,

  and Abigail, and Joe, and Martin, and, and Ariel.’’ He

  stopped. ‘‘And all the others

  that monster,’’ he whispered.

  who were massacred by Tears had settled in his eyes, not spilling down his cheeks, but damming up until his eyes were shiny black. ‘‘Are you sure we should be

  looking for their killer?’’ he said quietly.

  Neva, Jin, and Frank sat in silence, looking sympa

  thetically at David. Diane could see by the set of their

  mouths, the creases of their foreheads, they too were

  upset. On the way over in the car Frank hadn’t let go

  of her hand but held on tight.

  Diane looked up to see Izzy standing in the door

  way. He looked as forlorn as David.

  ‘‘I thought I would come see what you guys were

  doing,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Evie’s at one of her meetings. I

  heard about Rikki’s confession.’’

  ‘‘Come in and sit down,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We just or

  dered from the restaurant. It should be here in a min

  ute. Why don’t you call down for something?’’ ‘‘I had a milk shake on the way over. I might order

  me a hamburger.’’ Instead of going to the phone, he

  sat down on the sofa.

  Diane went over and hugged David. ‘‘I’m here, and

  I really think they would have had a hard time killing

  me. Many have tried and failed,’’

  ‘‘Is that supposed to be funny?’’ he said. ‘‘Yes. You mean it wasn’t?’’ she said.

  ‘‘Not in the least.’’

  The moment was interrupted by the arrival of their

  dinner. Izzy placed an order for a hamburger and

  Diane gave the waiter a tip while the others were

  setting the food out on the table.

  ‘‘I really understand you, David,’’ said Izzy as they

  were putting chairs around Diane’s table.

  David smiled grimly. ‘‘It was just my turn to tirade.

  Jin’s been doing it all day because he missed the

  cyberghost.’’

  They told Izzy about the reappearance of the ghost

  to Jonas Briggs, the archaeologist.

  ‘‘So he stayed on, did he?’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Can’t say as

  I blame him.’’

  Izzy was trying to be lighthearted, but Diane could

  see he too was feeling stinging anger at Jefferies and

  his buddies. All of them, all their eyes looked trou

  bled. She understood. To think that there was some

  one out there plotting against her, plotting to kill her,

  and she didn’t know it, wouldn’t have known it until

  it was perhaps too late. How do you guard against

  things you don’t know? How do you know to fight

  them? It was frightening and infuriating. Diane agreed

  with David. It was like the man who massacred their

  friends. Just like him.

  ‘‘So, are we going to find Jefferies’ and Peeks’ kill ers or are we going to call them misdemeanor homi

  cides and go after some really bad guys?’’ said Jin. ‘‘Of course we are going to find the killers,’’ said

  Diane. ‘‘The city needs some closure on this. We need

  to demonstrate that we are not to be messed with.

  And we need to put an end to this dirty business. Not

  for Jefferies and Peeks, but for all of us. Killing is not

  how we solve our problems. That’s the whole point.’’ ‘‘You’re not going to give a speech, are you?’’ said

  David. ‘‘Like The Grapes of Wrath,or The Fountain

  head, because you really aren’t as good as Henry

  Fonda or Gary Cooper.’’

  ‘‘That was it. That was my speech,’’ said Diane,

  smiling at him.

  ‘‘So,’’ said Neva. ‘‘How are we going to proceed?

  Do we know that Bryce didn’t kill Spence Jefferies?

  He killed Edgar Peeks.’’

  ‘‘No, we don’t know,’’ said Diane. ‘‘But I think

  there is someone who does. He as much as told me.’’ ‘‘Who?’’ said Neva.

  ‘‘The cyberghost,’’ said Diane.

  Chapter 48

  ‘‘The cyberghost told us?’’ said Neva, squeezing a slice of lemon over her salmon. ‘‘I must have missed that.’’

  Diane was glad they had a name to call him. She was about to settle on Fred.

  ‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane, ‘‘he told us.’’

  Diane took a bite of her salmon and they all settled into eating their meals of steaks, lasagna, and salmon. Diane supplied drinks from her refrigerator. It didn’t take long for the restaurant staff to bring Izzy’s ham burger, and he ate with the rest of them.

  ‘‘Remember I asked it, ‘Do you know who killed Jefferies and Peeks?’ ’’ said Diane after a moment. ‘‘It said, ‘No. But you should have asked a better question. Remember I am a computer.’ I told it I didn’t know what it meant and it said, ‘Good.’ I asked it if it was lying and it said, ‘I am exactly not lying.’ ’’

  ‘‘You remember all that?’’ said Neva.

  ‘‘It was an odd conversation,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘I know, but still . . .’’ Neva let the sentence trail off.

  ‘‘So,’’ said David, ‘‘if you had said, ‘Do you know who killed Jefferies or Peeks,’ you would have gotten a different answer.’’

  ‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane, ‘‘exactly.’’

  ‘‘You got me on
that one,’’ said Izzy.