Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

She rolled the table with Caver Doe’s bones from the vault out into the osteology lab. She read over her notes from her preliminary examination. His right tibia was broken. His right heel bone and ankle bone, the bones in his right wrist and two lumbar vertebrae were also fractured.

Diane examined the bones one by one under the microscope, looking for any minute breaks or marks that she had missed. She found nothing else. Up until the time he died, Caver Doe appeared to have been in good health and well muscled. He was probably right-handed. When he died he was in substantial pain from his broken bones. She packed up Caver Doe’s bones and stored him in the vault.

Diane checked in on Jane Doe’s bones from the woods site that were being worked on by the dermestid colony. The beetles had made substantial progress. She lifted the skull out of the tank, cleared it of beetles, checking all the orifices, and took it into the vault. Neva was there working on aging the snapshot picture.

“I’m going to do a laser scan of Jane Doe’s skull so we can have a picture of her when the sheriffs and Chief Garnett get here,” said Diane.

“If I have time, I’ll do a sketch of her,” said Neva.

“If you have time. But don’t rush.”

Diane scanned Jane Doe’s skull, and Neva downloaded the scan data into the imaging software.

“You say Mike’s restless?” asked Diane.

Neva nodded. “He’s a pain in the butt right now.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t like being weak.”

“No, he doesn’t,” said Neva. “I think he must have been a hyperactive kid. He absolutely hates sitting still.”

“You’re doing a good job taking care of him.”

“I ought to just not say anything and let him do what he wants to do and suffer the consequences. I did talk him into calling his doctor and asking him what kind of activity he can do.”

Diane left her alone with her work. Neva seemed to enjoy the solitude of the vault and the work she did there. Jane Doe’s skull went back to the insects. The sheriff and Garnett couldn’t come until after lunch, so Diane decided to go to the museum to do some work.

The paleontologists working on the velociraptors wanted to do an exhibit of Jurassic plants in the plant room, but the botanists were balking at having another curator design exhibits in their territory, and furthermore, they had plans of their own. Diane hadn’t yet read either proposal, and she was rather looking forward to something that didn’t require her to look at the dead-at least, she hoped it didn’t come to that.

As Diane left the osteology lab, she saw Lane Emery, head of the crime lab security, at the reception desk talking to the day guard. She waved and crossed the overlook to the dinosaur room. She looked down for a moment, watching the tourists look at the exhibits of the giant animals. She smiled and walked on to the bank of elevators.

The elevator doors opened to a darkened interior. Two young men in museum T-shirts were inside. Docents, she thought. Diane started to back up to let them out when they grabbed her and pulled her in. She tried to scream, but they put a cloth over her mouth. She tried to claw at their faces, but felt suddenly weak. For a brief moment she smelled the chloroform before passing out.

Diane awoke, but didn’t move. She listened. She heard audible breathing. It sounded like a broken nose that hadn’t healed properly-or a deviated septum. She still smelled the chloroform, but other odors were starting to filter in-paint, glue, pesticide, orange cleaner. They were very familiar smells. She knew where she was-in the basement of the museum. It was being renovated, but the crew was off this week. At least she was in the museum. The knowledge gave her comfort. She was sitting in a chair, her arms bound with what felt like tape. She had a blindfold over her eyes.

“She’s got to be awake by now.”

“Dr. Fallon, you awake? Just nod.”

Diane concentrated on keeping her breathing even.

“She’s awake; she’s just playing possum.”

There were two men, probably the two who were in the elevator. Neither wore aftershave or cologne, no aroma to identify. She tried to remember their faces, but they had been turned toward each other, as if one was looking at something the other had.

“Lady, we aren’t supposed to hurt you. This is kind of like a board meeting. We just want you to listen. We are going ahead and talking, and you just listen.”

Diane didn’t move.

“I’ll say this for you: You’re good at playing possum. That’s okay. We don’t need your cooperation, or an answer. We’re just delivering a message.”

He was the one with the deviated septum. Probably got it from a fight, she thought. Their voices came from different levels. Deviated Septum was sitting, the other standing. As if verifying it, the first man slid his chair across the tile floor so that he was closer to Diane.

“You control the evidence in the crime lab. All you have to do is get rid of the stuff you took from the cave and the bottom of the lake. That’s all. Just get rid of it. It’s a sixty-three-year-old crime. It’s the past. History. It’s not like you can put anybody on trial.”

“If you don’t,” said the man standing, “well, we sort of own you in a way. We own the museum. We can come and go as we please. We can reach your family.” A chill went through Diane. “We can burn down the museum.”

“So,” said Deviated Septum, “it sounds like a bargain to me. Some old bones for an entire museum full of all kinds of fascinating things.”

“You don’t have to answer. Just know that we can get to anyone. We got to your mother without having to leave our house,” said the other man.

Diane was frightened at first; now she flushed with anger. These were the hackers who had caused her mother to be arrested and put in Tombsberg. “I can’t hear,” whispered Diane through her teeth.

They were silent for a second, as if confused, as if contemplating that the entire speech went unheard.

“My ears. I’m dizzy. What do you want?”

“Well, shit. Do you know how long I’ve been rehearsing that little speech? Okay, let’s do it again.” He got close to her ear and yelled, “With stereo! You are going to lose the bones found in the cave and in the lake and all the stuff found with them or we are going to burn down the museum. Did you hear that?”

“Yes, I hear you. Why do you want me to do that?”

“Why isn’t important. It’s just the way things are. Have I made myself clear?”

Diane’s left ear reverberated with the sound.

“To a point.”

“Just as long as you know what to do. Do you know what to do?”

“Yes.”

He stood up. “Now. .”

“I can’t hear you. The chloroform. My head’s spinning.” He got near her ear again. “We’re leaving a knife twenty feet in front of you. You can get yourself loose. Do you understand?”

Diane nodded. Then she got an extra bonus. The other man, not Deviated Septum, bent to where he could yell in her other ear.

“We got to your mother without breaking a sweat. How is she doing, by the way?”

“My mother? That was you? Why?”

“Oh, I think you can figure it out. You seem to be fair at figuring things out. Just know that we did it.”

“Did you stab me? Why?”

“No, we didn’t do that. But we could have.”

He rose, and she heard the two of them leave the room. She listened to their footfalls echoing in the empty basement. She heard the key put in the lock to call the elevator to the basement. She heard them as they got on and as the elevator rose.

She stayed there after they left and didn’t move until there were no more sounds of movement. Were they gone? Probably. They wanted her cooperation, not to kill her. She tried to rise from the chair, but was tied too tightly to it. She stood as much as she could and half walked and half scooted, feeling with her feet for the knife. She ended up kicking it and heard it bounce off the wall. Damn .