Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

“How do you know all this stuff?”

Diane looked up from the rib she was examining and paused a long moment, grinning. “I’ve got this really big museum connected to the crime lab and it knows all kinds of stuff.”

Neva hit her forehead with the heel of her hand.

“Speaking of the museum, how’s Mike doing?” asked Diane.

“Antsy and a little obnoxious about having to rest, if you can imagine Mike being obnoxious.”

Diane couldn’t. “He’s only been out of the hospital, what-two, three days?”

“That’s what I keep telling him. He wanted to come in to the museum today. I think I talked him out of it. But he’s really excited about his new job.”

“So is Shelly, the collection manager for Geology. She’s so glad Dr. Lymon is gone that I’m expecting her to be doing cartwheels down the halls. She and Lymon have gotten into it a few times.”

“I wanted to thank you for. . well, you know, keeping me out of the harassment business. I know I shouldn’t have been such a coward.”

“Don’t worry about it. Sylvia Mercer’s witnessing the incident was all the evidence that mattered. David checked out Dr. Lymon, by the way, and she had an alibi for the day of the stabbing at the funeral.”

“That’s a relief.”

Diane was about to hand Plymouth Doe’s skull over to Neva when David called on the intercom.

“Diane, Jin and Korey want us in the conservation lab ASAP. Jin sounds excited.”

“Jin just loves this job.” Neva grinned. “You know, he’s decided he likes caves too. He said he’d like to go with us sometime. I invited him to come to the caver club meeting at the museum.”

“You did tell him we don’t always discover bodies?” Diane covered the bones with a special absorbent material that she had saturated with water, hung her white lab coat on a wall peg and washed her hands.

Neva laughed. “I did. He and Korey came over for dinner last night and Mike showed him his album of caving photos. Have you seen it?”

Diane shook her head. “No, although I’d like to. I understand he’s been to some interesting caves. I just hope Jin doesn’t get the idea of cave diving,” said Diane.

“I think Mike was worried about that too. Jin mentioned that it’d be neat to combine his scuba diving with exploring underwater caves. Mike told him that when cave divers die, it’s usually from cave diving. That was a real conversation stopper.” Neva pushed the door open and held it for Diane. “I think it kind of hurt Jin’s feelings. He thinks Mike doesn’t like him because of the Luminol incident in the cave.”

“Is it true?” Diane secured the door behind her.

“No. I don’t think so. Mike tends to like everybody. He’s like that little kid who just knows there has to be a pony in a pile of manure that large. . He’s always such an optimist. In the past few months he’s been shot, stabbed, harassed, lost his assistantship, and he still thinks he’s the luckiest guy in the world.”

“That does sound like Mike. I’m sure he was only trying to make a point with Jin about just how dangerous cave diving is.” She and Neva headed for the conservation lab.

“What about ice caves? I understand they’re dangerous too,” Neva said.

“You thinking about this extremophile collecting job Mike is taking?”

“Yes. I know Mike is good, but. .”

“It’s a very reputable company, and he’ll be working with a team. Like stuntmen in movies, they do a lot of work in advance and set everything up so they’ll be safe.”

“Still. .”

“I know, but Mike is very safety conscious. He’s one of the best caving partners I’ve ever had-and that’s mainly because he has good sense when it comes to danger.”

They took the stairs down to the second floor and walked across to the conservation lab, where they met David at the door. He shrugged his shoulders as they all entered. He clearly didn’t know what this was about either.

The conservation lab was similar to the osteology lab-a room filled with tables and all manner of equipment, with a large environmentally controlled storage vault for special items. It was outfitted with equipment that allowed them to keep at bay the natural tendency for things to disintegrate. The lab mostly worked with bones, fossils, botanical specimens, objects from nature used in exhibits, and documents, but the staff recently had had the opportunity to work with a mummy and Egyptian artifacts. Now they were working with textiles.

Jin was standing, grinning over a table laid out with clothing from Plymouth Doe. Another table contained rows of evidence bags, presumably trace evidence from the clothing. There was a bra-more substantial than what most women wore now-cotton panties, a slip. All the underclothes had been white, but were now badly stained. The yellow gingham dress was laid out with the apron beside it. Plymouth Doe had been a slim woman. Diane already knew from the length of her long bones that she was five-foot-five.

They walked around the table and stood near Jin and Korey. Diane noticed that the apron was scalloped and had RAY’S DINER written in blue embroidery-she had been a waitress.

As interesting as the apron was, however, it was the sweater that Jin and Korey were focused on. Jin looked from David to Diane to Neva, still grinning. Clearly there was something he expected them to notice right away.

It was a woman’s sweater, a gray hand-knitted piece, stained from being in water near a decaying body all those years. It had a row of silver buttons down the front. Diane’s eyes widened in surprise. David saw it too. He grabbed his hand lens out of his pocket and bent over the sweater.

“I don’t believe it,” he muttered.

“Aren’t those buttons the same as the one you found in the cave?” asked Neva.

“Yes,” said David. “Definitely the same.” He straightened up. “These buttons are rare because they never came into general use. Which means we have a connection between Caver Doe and Plymouth Doe.”

Even though they didn’t know that the cave button was actually associated with Caver Doe, the coincidence was too much to ignore.

“Wow,” said Neva, “If Plymouth Doe was his girlfriend, I apologize for the things I thought about her.” Both David and Jin looked sideways at her. “We were discussing the photograph found with Caver Doe and I made some suggestions about her possible involvement in his death. But if she’s dead too. .”

“Not all the buttons are attached,” said Diane.

“No, only two,” Jin replied. “The others were found nearby on the seat and there’s the one from the cave.”

“Let me have a look at them first,” said Korey. “I can stabilize the decomposition. I’ve noticed the shanks are rusty. Some are eaten away.”

Diane nodded. “How are you coming with the clothes?”

“Jin’s been doing his thing,” said Korey. He jerked his head toward the table of evidence bags. “When he finishes, I’ll work on the fabric. Do you want it cleaned?”

“No,” said Diane. “Just keep it from falling apart.”

“Sure thing, Dr. F.”

“I haven’t found any blood so far,” said Jin. “I’m not sure I would after all that time in the water. But I thought you’d like to see the buttons. Especially David. Your button database is paying off. Who knew?”

“And all of you scoffed,” said David.

Diane shook her head. “This is just amazing-and unexpected.”

“It surprised the heck out of me,” said Jin.

“Yeah,” said Korey, “we thought he’d gone nuts.”

“Good work, guys.” She looked at her watch. “I need to get back to Plymouth Doe. Neva, why don’t you get to work on Plymouth Doe’s face. See if it’s a match with the snapshot found with Caver Doe.”