Dead Secret dffi-3

by Beverly Connor

  She also had three-D facial-reconstruction equipment-a laser scanner that mapped skulls, and a dedicated computer with software for building a face from the data. When she discovered that Neva was an artist, she had taught her how to use the equipment, and they had been able to get identification of several victims from Neva’s artistic reconstructions. Neva had also given a face to the mummy that the museum inherited-all with the help of the equipment. It was a pretty high-tech room.

  The vault also had a plain, ordinary office computer. As she entered the room she saw Caver Doe on a table in the corner, waiting for his examination to be finished. She looked at her watch. Not today, maybe tomorrow.

  Diane booted up the computer, put in the memory stick and looked at the pictures she had taken of the object from Jane Doe’s eye socket. She sat back in the chair and stared at the image-a tube attached to something round, with a number, and found in the eye socket. Something medical? What medical thing would be in the eye?

  She logged on to the Internet and ran a Google search on medical devices and eyes. As she browsed through the hits, several words and phrases kept appearing dealing with glaucoma, eye pressure and drainage devices. She searched on those terms, and the first hit contained a diagram of a device that looked remarkably like what she had found-a tube shunt. She searched again using the terms eye shunts and glaucoma and came up with over eight hundred hits. She clicked the Images button in Google, and pictures of eye shunts scrolled across the screen. She didn’t even have to enlarge the pictures to see that she was right. What she was looking at were many variations on the device she had found-an eye shunt, a treatment for glaucoma. If the number on the shunt was a serial number, could it be traced? Diane smiled to herself with satisfaction. She loved unexpected discoveries.

  Diane turned off the computer. As she locked the vault behind her, the thought of the thieves crossed her mind, and she shivered with a combination of fear and relief that they hadn’t broken into the vault containing all that expensive equipment-and data.

  She secured the shunt in an evidence bag and took it to the lab, along with the gold ring and pieces of clothing. David was there looking for fingerprints on the photograph.

  “I found something interesting,” she said as she put the memory stick in the lab computer and called up the pictures.

  “What is that?” said David. “Looks sort of like a robotic sperm, or perhaps an android tadpole.”

  “It’s an eye shunt. It’s used in glaucoma patients to drain the eye fluid and relieve pressure.”

  “Where did you find it?”

  “In Jane Doe’s eye socket. The best part is, this little deal has a serial number.” Diane looked at him and grinned broadly.

  “Well, damn, I wonder if we can track her from the number?”

  “We can try.”

  “I’ll get on it when I finish here. I took a swab of the photograph before I dusted it for prints. Besides dirt, there was some other stuff on it.”

  “Work’s piling up, isn’t it?”

  “Have you thought about hiring an extra person?” said David.

  “I’ve thought about it. What I haven’t thought about is how to approach Chief Garnett. Let’s get through this. We’ll do a time audit on ourselves and I’ll make a proposal to him. When he finds out we all have to work overtime just to get the normal work done, perhaps he’ll let me hire additional criminalists.”

  “It would be good. You’re only supposed to be part-time. If I’m not mistaken, you work full-time in both your jobs. Not much time for a life away from the office.”

  “Frank has to work long hours too, so we’re well suited in that respect.”

  “Why don’t you two get married?”

  “Why don’t you mind your own business?” she said without rancor. “Things are good the way they are.” Diane wondered why everyone wanted her to marry. Things were just fine.

  David opened his mouth and shut it again. “You and Frank seem like a good match to me,” he said finally. “You are always happy together. At least move away from those neighbors.” He looked at the photograph. “No prints, just smears.”

  “I have been thinking about a house,” said Diane.

  “It’s good to have goals outside of work,” said David. “Dead bodies can start weighing on your psyche. . as you know.”

  “How about you? What would you like to do?”

  “I’ve been considering teaching some photography courses at the tech school.”

  “We have workshops at the museum. Why don’t you work up a plan and submit it to me-like bird photography?” suggested Diane. “You can make an exhibit of your bird photographs.”

  David looked up from his work, surprised. “That’s a good idea. I’d like that. I would. There are a lot of nice places on the nature trail to get pictures. Thanks. I’ll do that.” He nodded his head up and down. “Yeah. Good idea.”

  “Unless you have any more suggestions about my private life, I need to finish Mrs. Doe.”

  “Mrs.?”

  “A guess. There’s a wedding band among the detritus. No engraving.” Diane put the evidence in one of the drawers and labeled it JANE DOE.

  Diane went back to the lab and worked on Jane Doe. A sad-sounding name, she thought. Jane Doe lying dead in the woods, and no one knowing where you are or who you are.

  She examined the pelvis and discovered that Jane had probably given birth. She had arthritis in the knees, hands, shoulders and back. Her pelvis was thin, and so were several of her vertebrae. Her left radius was broken, and there was no sign of healing. Deputy Singer hadn’t done it with his shovel. It had happened around the time she died. The deputy had broken two of her ribs, however.

  Jane Doe was Caucasoid, in her eighties, and was about five feet, two inches tall and stooped when she walked. She was left-handed. She was a small, elderly woman, and someone broke her arm, strangled her, cut her with a knife from head to toe and dumped her body in the woods for Deputy Singer to come along and violate with his shovel.

  Diane hoped it wasn’t a serial killer. She didn’t want to think about more anonymous people lying alone in the woods waiting to be found. She took Jane Doe’s bones in the other room, where she had a colony of dermestid beetles. Nothing could clean bones like they could. Their mouth parts were enormously strong for their small size, and they loved dried flesh. The dermestarium was kept separate from the room where the bodies were examined to reduce the chance the colony would be contaminated by mites that lived on beetles from the wild. A mite infestation could wipe them out. The museum’s colony came from a supply house and were free of pests.

  In just a few days Jane Doe’s bones would be rendered almost white, clean and unaltered-the beetles didn’t damage even the smallest bones. Then Diane would check again for stray marks she might have missed from things like knives or bullets.

  Diane changed out of her lab clothes. Her museum clothes felt good, and it was a relief to get away from the smell. After she was dressed she walked down to the lab, where she found David hard at work on the quarry crime scene.

  “How is it going?”

  “Sure but slow. Right now I’m collecting all the trace from the evidence. When I’m finished I’ll start analyzing. How about you? You must be finished if you changed clothes.”

  “I put Mrs. Doe with the dermestids.”

  David laughed. “Every time I see a beetle now I’m going to think of Deputy Singer.”

  “That must have been frightening for him.”

  “I’m sure it was. Sheriff Burns told me Singer loves those horror movies about insects and spiders out of control. Talks about them all the time. Says his favorite is one called They Crawl. Can you believe it? There’s got to be thousands of those B-grade movies, and apparently he’s seen every one. Then suddenly he’s in one. God, I almost feel sorry for him.”

  “Did anyone else get hurt?”

  “No, and he wasn’t hurt badly. He ran into a fire hydrant. They’re keeping him overnight
for observation. He’ll be going home tomorrow.”

  “From the insects you found on her, can you give me a time line for Jane Doe?” asked Diane.

  “I need to know more about the place where she was found. From the look of the forest litter it was damp. I’ll talk to Jin when he returns. I may have to go out there myself.”

  “Keep me informed. I’m going to grab something to eat.” Diane left David working in the lab and took the elevator down to the first floor. She intended to go to the restaurant, but she decided to go to her office and check in with Andie first.

  “Dr. Fallon. Just in time. You’ve got a phone call. He’s called a couple of times. I didn’t want to disturb you in the lab. He won’t say who he is.”

  Probably someone wanting access to their Egyptian mummy. There was a steady stream of scientists who wanted tissue samples, X-rays, body parts or MRIs for their research ever since the museum had inherited him, and they would usually speak only with Diane herself.

  Diane sighed. “I’ll take it in my office. Andie, could I get you to run down to the restaurant and get me a sandwich?”

  “Sure. What kind?”

  “Oh, how about a BLT and a glass of iced tea.”

  “You got it.”

  Andie went off to the restaurant. Diane sat down at her desk and picked up the phone.

  “Diane Fallon.”

  “Diane, what the hell are you trying to do to me? Just what the hell are you playing at?”

  Diane didn’t say anything. For a second she didn’t recognize his voice. “Alan, is that you?” Great, she thought. I’d rather speak to the mummy researchers.

  Chapter 30

  “Yes, it’s me. Who the hell do you think it is?”

  Well, I didn’t know, thought Diane. There could be any number of people this pissed off at me.

  “Alan, what’s the matter?”

  “What’s the matter! How can you ask that? Dammit, are you trying to ruin me?”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked, even though she knew. He didn’t like being investigated.

  “This guy from the Rosewood police called me and wanted to know my whereabouts when you were stabbed. God, how could you think I would do such a thing?”

  “When you creep into my room at night and sniff my clothes, you make yourself a suspect.”

  There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. It stretched out so long, Diane was about to say something when he finally spoke.

  “How did you. . ” He didn’t finish.

  “It doesn’t matter. What in God’s name were you doing?” she asked.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” he said.

  What do we have to talk about? she thought. “Why didn’t you knock?”

  “I didn’t know if you were awake. I wanted to see first.”

  Diane rolled her eyes. “Alan, do you know how lame that sounds?”

  “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

  “It was not appropriate. We aren’t married. My bedroom is private.”

  “God, Diane, what’s the big deal? For that you turn me in to the police?”

  “The act made you a suspect, and I had to check you out.”

  “I told them you invited me and then got cold feet.” His voice sounded smug.

  David hadn’t told her that. She smiled grimly. Alan didn’t know that the policeman who called was actually one of her employees. David probably introduced himself as a criminalist from the Rosewood Police Department. Alan probably didn’t know what a criminalist was.

  “I doubt he believed you, Alan.”

  He gave a derisive snort. “You don’t think so? I told him you’ve always had a hard time accepting our divorce. It’s your word against mine, and I am very convincing.” His voice had regained its confidence.

  “Alan, let me clue you in. You are the one who moved to the town where my parents live and kept up a relationship with them. I’m the one who lives a state away and hardly ever visits. Who does it look like won’t let go?”

  Alan was silent again for a long moment. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I’m not doing anything. Believe it or not, I wanted to rule you out as a suspect. I asked that they be discreet.”

  “Well, when the police guy talked to my dentist he told him he thought I was witness to a car accident in Atlanta,” he admitted.

  “See? That doesn’t make you look like a deranged killer.”

  “The policeman wasn’t so nice when he talked to me.” Diane smiled and tried not to laugh. “Don’t take it personally. They talk that way to everyone.”

  “How else should I take it?”

  “Look, if Mother can get though Tombsberg, you can take a little questioning. Alan, what’s happening to you? You didn’t used to be. . well, mean.” Self-centered, maybe, but not deliberately mean.

  “Mean? What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about what you did to Gerald and Susan. They have always supported you.”

  “They told you about that, did they? Gerald was trying to make me look bad to the partners in my firm.”

  “As I understand it, he was just trying to tell the truth.”

  “What would it have hurt to go along with me? They aren’t his employers.”

  “I don’t know the details, but presumably you did something wrong with the firm’s accounts and he had to straighten them out. Gerald wouldn’t go along with your lie, so you tried to destroy his marriage. What kind of friend are you?”

  “You don’t know it was a lie.”

  “Alan, you just told me you lied to the police about me. What am I supposed to think about your veracity?”

  “You always did like to play with words, twist them around in your favor.”

  “Alan, I have to go.”

  He was silent again. He never used to have so hard a time searching for a comeback. Diane wondered if she should just hang up, but she was starting to pity him. God, where did that come from? she thought. Don’t start feeling sorry for him.

  “Alan, please fix things with Susan and Gerald. I don’t know why you are separated from your wife, but it might be good to work on that. You have two kids. They should be a joy in your life. Nothing else should matter.”

  “I was hoping we could start talking again,” he said.

  “No. That’s not a good idea. You have so many things going for you. Don’t self-destruct.”

  “It was good seeing you again. I. . I wasn’t being a pervert. I was just smelling your perfume,” he said, then abruptly hung up the phone.

  As if my life isn’t complicated enough, Diane thought as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. God, the last thing she wanted to do was to feel sorry for Alan. She heard Andie’s office door open and close.

  Andie peeked her head in. “One BLT and cold iced tea, coming up.” She walked in and set the sandwich and glass on Diane’s desk.

  Diane was hungry now. The sandwich looked good.

  “Thanks, Andie. Anything going on that I should know about?”

  “We have several more letters from researchers insisting on access to the mummy.”

  “You send them the standard reply we crafted? No access, but we’ll share the data we’ve collected?”

  “With some of them that isn’t working. They have research needs that we didn’t cover in our own research, apparently.”

  “If it becomes a problem, take their number and I’ll call them and say no.”

  “Aquatics and Insects want to change the curators’ meeting to next Friday.” Andie always referred to the curators by their subject names when she spoke to Diane about museum business. Diane didn’t know if it was to keep things organized in her mind or it tickled her sensibilities. “Avians, Mammals and Dinosaurs said they don’t care. Archaeology said it isn’t convenient, but he’ll go with the majority. As usual, Reptiles is afraid to voice an opinion, and I can’t get hold of Rocks.”

  “You know we have a new geology curator,” said Diane.
/>   “Yes,” Andie replied, nodding her head excitedly. “Is that immediate?”

  Diane was glad to see that everyone she talked to was enthusiastic about Mike’s coming on board as curator. That would certainly make it an easy transition for him.

  “For the purpose of museum business, yes. But while Mike is recovering, work around him.”

  “There are some proposals and acquisition requests for you to look at in your in box, and the velociraptors are due to arrive next week. Paleontology wants to know if he can shut down the dinosaur room while they’re being assembled.”

  Diane knew they wanted to work on the velociraptors without the constant clamor of visitors, but visitors to the museum loved seeing dinosaurs being put together. Besides that, she really couldn’t afford to close down the most popular attraction for as long as it took to put the raptors together.

  Diane thought a moment. “We’ll temporarily reroute people to the overlooks. That way they can watch them being assembled, but not be too close.”

  “That’s everything. I’m glad Mike’ll be curator. Lymon was always hard to reach and difficult to deal with.”

  “So am I. Mike has a lot of interesting ideas for special exhibits.”

  Diane had gone through a handful of papers from her in box by the time she finished her sandwich and tea. The rest she put in her briefcase to take home. She took the elevators to the third floor and walked to the exhibit-preparation room to check on the progress of the Journey to the Center of the Earth exhibit and on the text for the velociraptors. After getting an update, she walked to the west wing and the crime lab.

  David was at the computer. Diane looked over his shoulder. He had the mystery photo from the quarry on the screen.

  “Trying out different filters,” he said. “Jin’s back. He and Korey are working on the wood samples from the quarry. Neva will be back soon. She went to check on Mike.”

  Jin and Korey were in one of the rooms making slices of wood. Korey’s back was to her, his dreadlocks tied together in a low ponytail. Away from machinery, she thought. Jin turned off the saw when she entered.