Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

Scuba gear and an assortment of evidence bags were arranged on the metal table. The room had the aroma of death from pieces of the victims stuck to their clothes. Diane had never really gotten used to that aroma.

“I checked out the tank,” said Jin. “Nothing hinky about it. No tampering. It’s out of air, and one of the hoses was punctured. There was a small twig stuck in it. That may have been what punctured it. Part of the wood is still lodged in the hose. I haven’t examined the hole itself yet.

“I checked his goggles for prints. Found one set,” Jin added. “David ran them and they didn’t show up. The ME’s going to try to get prints from the body.”

“I have Scuba Doe’s prints.” Neva walked through the door and waved a large envelope at them. “I just came from the ME’s, where I got to wear the skin from the dead scuba guy’s fingers. I can’t tell you how much fun that was. I think this Halloween I’m going to borrow one of his cadavers and wear a cadaver suit.” She wrinkled up her face-so did Diane. Jin and David laughed. “Quarry Doe-he’s the floater by the log-had his fingertips nibbled off. No prints there.”

“Neva,” said David, “I thought you were with Mike.”

“I was. I got him into his apartment, fixed him something to eat, made him promise to rest and went to the ME’s office.” She handed the envelope to David. “Grist for your algorithm machines.” Neva looked happy and rested. Her camel-colored slacks and wine silk blouse looked new. She and Star must have gone shopping to replace some of her clothes. Diane liked seeing her in good spirits.

“I’ll go run these right now,” said David, heading out the door.

Neva pushed her hair behind her ears. “Dr. Fallon, it’s good to have you back. I had a lot of fun at Frank’s house. His daughter, Star, is a hoot. We played Monopoly, ate ice cream and looked at fashion magazines. Frank’s a really nice guy.”

“He’s pretty decent, I have to admit,” Diane said with a smile.

“That’s nice what you’re doing for Star. Makes me want to go to the university. Of course, you’re going to be broke by then. You should see the things Star is looking at.”

Diane rolled her eyes. “I always say, if you’re going to resort to bribery, make it good.” She shook her head thinking of Star, then refocused her attention on work. “I’m glad you’re here. We need you.”

Neva grinned. The last time she saw Neva she had been crying over the shambles the vandal had made of her home.

“You’re going to have to change clothes. I need you and Jin to go to the woods.”

“You know that deputy we had the pleasure of meeting when we brought Caver Doe out of the cave?” said Jin. She nodded, and he told her about the garbage bag of bones.

Neva cocked her head to one side. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I’m sure he didn’t get all the bones,” said Diane.

David stuck his head in the door.

“Found a match already?” asked Diane.

“No, not yet. It’s still running. But you’re not going to believe this.” He jerked his thumb back toward his desk. “I called Sheriff Burns to get Deputy Duck to take Jin and Neva out to the woods, and found out that he’s in the hospital.”

“What happened?” they all asked together.

“After delivering the bones, he was driving back and had an accident. He told the sheriff that a swarm of bugs crawled all over him as he drove down the road.”

Jin and Diane looked each other, then at David, with their mouths agape.

“A swarm of bugs?” Neva wrinkled her nose. “In his car?”

“That’s what Sheriff Burns told me. Said it was right out of a horror movie.”

“I believe our deputy must have been drinking,” said Neva.

“That’s not what I’m thinking,” said David.

“Ah,” said Jin. “It’s a good thing we put the bag in isolation.”

“We need to make sure none escaped,” said Diane, horrified. “Dermestids are terrible museum pests. If they get into the taxidermy displays or the insect collection. . or, God forbid, the mummy. .”

“Maryanne downstairs told me the deputy came in and handed her the garbage bag with a smirk. It smelled so bad, she tied off the top of the bag with string. It was plenty tight. As I brought it up the elevator, I checked for holes. There weren’t any, so I think we’re safe.”

“I’ll make sure Maryanne has a bonus in her next pay-check,” muttered Diane. “What else do we have here?”

Diane picked up and examined each evidence bag. One contained the clothes of Quarry Doe. Another had the scuba diver’s underclothes. Others held assorted things found at the scene-one spent shotgun shell casing. .

“Were they shot?” asked Diane.

“No,” said Jin. “At least, the medical examiner on the scene said they weren’t, but we don’t have an autopsy yet.”

There were also two cigarette boxes and thirteen cigarette butts.

“This is interesting,” said Diane. She held up a clear plastic bag containing a soiled photograph. The picture was a blur.

“I thought we might get some prints from it,” said Jin.

All Diane could see were murky shapes and shades of a nondescript gray-green color. “Can you tell what it is?” she asked.

“Bad photograph. Whoever took it probably threw it away,” said Jin.

Diane stared at the picture, squinting her eyes, looking at the shapes in the foreground.

“You see something, Boss?” asked Jin.

“I don’t know.” Diane paused, studying the print through the plastic, turning it different directions. The others looked over her shoulder. “You know, I think this is a photo taken underwater.”

“You think so?” said Jin. “Maybe.”

Diane turned to David. “Okay, Mr. I-love-a-good-algorithm, you think you can clear this up?”

David took the evidence bag and studied the photograph. “The various pieces of software I use essentially reverse the blurring process, so the formula for sharpening it depends on how the image was blurred. For example, in simple out-of-focus pictures, the blurring is equal in all directions.” He made an oval of his hands, touching the tips of his fingers together.

“On a pixel level that means one pixel expands into a circle of pixels of a different color value. But if the blur is caused by motion, like a moving car, then the blurring is in only one direction, hence pixel expansion is in one direction. And, of course, digitizing and scanning have their own formulas, which can cause a blurred image of a different pixel pattern.”

“TMI,” said Neva, swiping her hand over the top of her head.

“Can you clear it up?” repeated Diane.

“Well, it may be that underwater shots simulate out-of-focus shots in the directionality of the blurring effect. I have some new NASA software that does well with hazy-”

“David, can you do it?” said Diane.

“I’ll give it a try.”

“Good, thank you.”

David took the photograph to his workstation.

Diane spread the photos of the quarry crime scene out on the table and looked them over again, this time paying more attention to the woods that surrounded the quarry, looking for anything that her crew or the sheriff’s people might have missed.

“Did you notice that this is an old roadway?” She put her finger on a less-dense avenue through the woods, with trees shorter than their neighbors on either side.

“No, I didn’t notice that,” said Jin.

“Is it relevant?” said David. “It’s overgrown now.”

“Not through here.” She pointed to a place that, if one looked closely, might have been a deer trail.

“How are you seeing this?” said Jin.

“Something my archaeologist friend Jonas Briggs taught me,” said Diane. Archaeologists are good at finding old house sites and roadways after they are all grown over.