Beverly Connor - Dead Past

Of course Diane had known it had to be someone on the inside, but she’d been rejecting the idea. She got up from the couch and headed for Security.

“Chanell,” she said as she knocked on her open door.

“Dr. Fallon, I was just about to come and see you. We found Mrs. Van Ross’ diamond, along with several other stones from the geology exhibit.” Chanell’s black eyes glittered with triumph.

Diane closed the door and sat down in the chair near her desk. “You found them? Where?”

“Actually, it was a fourth grader on one of the tours late yesterday. He was digging in the potted palms near the entrance and came up with a bag of jewels. His teacher saw him pocket them and brought them to the information desk. It turned out to be the missing stones. And I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue as to how they got there.”

Diane could only imagine. Had Blake gotten cold feet?

“I found out who the thief is,” said Diane. “His name was Blake Stanton. He’s the young man who was murdered.”

“That boy?” said Chanell. “I’m sorry, Dr. Fallon, I don’t know how he got access to the museum. But I’ll sure be looking into it.”

“Unfortunately, I know that, too. He’s the boyfriend of Darcy Kincaid.”

“Oh, no, not Darcy. That’s a shame. Is she in on it with him, do you know?”

“I don’t know and I’m reluctant to ask right now,” said Diane.

“I understand. Now that we know who’s behind it, we can get a line on the other stolen items. How did you find out it was him?”

Diane explained about the shells being found in her car with his prints on them.

“So, you’ve recovered the shells?”

“Just the golden cowrie shells,” said Diane. “I don’t know where the others are.”

“I’ve instituted a search of all the plants,” said Chanell. “In case that’s where the items were stashed for later pickup or something. Darcy Kincaid.” She shook her head. “I hope that child isn’t involved.”

“Me too,” said Diane.

Diane wasn’t feeling as perky as when she awakened this morning. Finding out about Darcy had depressed her. She didn’t believe there was any way Darcy couldn’t have known what Blake was doing. At least, some things were falling into place. She went back to her office and called to make an appointment with Laura Hillard.

Before going to her appointment with Laura, Diane walked upstairs to the crime lab. It was early and she didn’t expect anyone to be there, but she would leave a note. To her surprise, all three of her crew were in the lab working.

“Do you guys spend the night here?” asked Diane.

“Just about,” said Neva. “You can get only so much warmth from a webcam, so I might as well work. By the way, Mike told me to go by and have a look at the crystal skull he got for you-do you have it yet?”

“It’s in my museum office on my desk. It’s very nice. I like it a lot.”

“Crystal skull? Like the Mayan skull, the Mitchell-Hedges skull?” asked David. “Really? Are you going to display it?”

“It’s similar to the Mitchell-Hedges skull,” said Diane. “Jonas Briggs wants to put on an exhibit on archaeology and legend or false archaeology, something like that. The provenances are suspect on all the crystal skulls, but there’s a lot of myth and superstition surrounding them. Jonas said he’s been working up an exhibit. Apparently everyone but me knew I was getting one.”

Before Mike began dating Neva, it was no secret he was interested in Diane, an interest she made it plain she could not accept or reciprocate. Even now he played at flirting on occasion but never seriously. Diane sometimes felt uncomfortable with his faux flirtations because of Neva, but Neva seemed to recognize it as no more than teasing. Mike appeared always to be up front with Neva in everything he did. Diane was relieved to know that. They were all caving partners, she, Neva and Mike-and Jin, too, now. Because of his skills in rock climbing and caving, Mike was the best caving partner she’d ever had. She was loath to lose that. In any other instance she would never accept such a gift from someone she was not involved with, but this was, after all, a crystal skull.

“Enough about the skull,” said Diane. “I just found out something I need to talk with you about.”

“What’s that, Boss?” said Jin.

“I’d like to go see the skull,” said David. “You know they are all supposed to communicate with each other?”

“Who?” asked Jin.

“All the crystal skulls,” said David.

“Are you serious?” said Jin, giving David a sidelong look. “You don’t believe that?”

“Why not? Transmitters are made from quartz crystals,” said David. “And it makes more sense than that white noise you listened to trying to hear dead voices all last month-driving us all crazy. I still hear white noise in my sleep.”

“Any dead voices?” asked Jin.

“Seriously, the skulls are supposed to possess an aura,” said David.

“Jonas Briggs is going to love talking with you,” said Diane. “The skull’s in my office. You can go ask Andie to let you in. In the meantime…” Diane jerked her thumb to the round table where they debriefed and discussed matters of crime. When they were seated she told them about Darcy Kincaid and Blake Stanton.

“Well, that clears up one mystery,” said Neva. “How Blake got access to the museum.”

“I think there are a lot of things we have to rethink,” said Diane. “Darcy was at the ill-fated party. So was Blake. I think we can assume it was a date. We’ll know more when we can talk to Darcy. But it’s possible he may have known no more about the meth lab than the other victims.”

“His and McNair’s murders may not be related,” said David. “Is that what you are saying?”

“I don’t know,” said Diane. “I just brought it to you guys to think about. Blake Stanton’s murder may have had to do with his thievery and not be related to McNair at all. Maybe someone was supposed to meet him to purchase something, but killed him and took the item instead-or something along those lines.”

“Maybe McNair was involved with him in his stealing,” said Neva. “Maybe he had nothing to do with the meth lab, either. Maybe the thefts are the connection and why they were killed in a similar manner.”

“I know,” Diane said, “This raises more questions than answers.”

She told them about Vanessa Van Ross’ diamond being found in the dirt of the potted palm.

“Maybe buyers were expecting Blake to have the stones, and when he didn’t deliver, they killed him. I don’t know. Think about it.” She looked at her watch. “I have an appointment. You guys come up with something.”

Diane left them sitting at the table reworking their theories. On her way to Laura’s she stopped and bought a vanilla milk shake. Nothing like gluttony to make you feel better, she thought. The frozen drink made her shiver. She wondered how many shakes they sold in the dead of winter.

Laura’s office was a small cottage with a picket fence and a flower garden. Right now the picket fence was capped with snow and the flower beds were covered over and glistened white. But in the spring and summer it was awash with colors and butterflies. It didn’t look like you were heading to a psychiatrist’s office when you came through the gate and up the walk to the door.

Inside, the cottage was as cozy as the outside. There was even a fire in the grate. The receptionist told Diane to go on into Laura’s office. It also had a fireplace with a warm and gentle fire. The room looked more like a snug den than a doctor’s office. Diane imagined that the atmosphere must put everyone at ease.