Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

An amazing number of the bones were present. More than Diane expected from a set of bones handed down with only an oral provenance that could be mythical. There were a couple of vials of dirt packed with them. Diane smiled as she thought of Gregory and his wife surreptitiously collecting the dirt from the cave. She took the dirt samples and set them aside. She’d ask Mike to analyze them when the museum opened again.

She surveyed the bones laid out on the table. They were fragile but in good condition. She’d ask John Rose if he wanted her to have Korey stabilize them. They were an amber color-a sort of mottled gold-red-brown-and had a patina that, though it wasn’t shiny exactly, did have a vague sheen. Around the skull and some of the bones was a crust of minerals-probably salt.

The first thing Diane did was to take samples. She scraped the mineral deposit into a separate vial and labeled it. She looked inside the skull and other orifices and found samples of dirt, which she put in another labeled vial.

Rose had given her permission to take samples of the bone and teeth for testing. She would take a piece out of a long bone and a couple of teeth. Isotope analysis of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, strontium and lead from her teeth could give interesting results about where she was actually from. These elements were taken into the body through the food that was eaten, the air that was breathed, and the water that was drunk as a person was growing, and became a fixed part of their chemical makeup. The proportions of the chemicals deposited in the teeth were different in different locales throughout the world. The chemical analyses would tell where she grew up.

Diane could see the appeal of archaeology. There was something satisfying and calming about looking at the bones of the ancient dead, trying to figure out not just how they had died, but what their lives were like.

I really should have Jonas Briggs here with me while I’m doing this, she thought. When the museum is cleared, I’ll bring him in on the analysis.

Time was short, so Diane decided to look over the bones quickly and go back for a more thorough examination later. She focused on the ribs-on something she had spotted when she laid out the bones.

The right eighth rib was in two pieces that had been glued back together. She would ask Korey the best way to dissolve the glue. The seventh and ninth ribs on the right side were a quarter and a half cut through, respectively. The cut on the seventh was on the bottom of the rib. On the ninth the cut was on the top. She did a quick calculation on her notepad. That would encompass a width of about two inches.

A glance at the sternum-the breastbone-revealed about a half-inch chunk missing on the left side. Diane looked again at the cuts in the seventh and ninth ribs. The cuts were V-shaped, and the bone displacement went from back to front.

It looked like she had been stabbed in the back with a double-edged sword. The blade had cut through the eighth rib, slicing the edges of the two adjacent ribs, passed though and nicked a chunk out of the breastbone. The sword would have gotten the heart and liver, and possibly several other organs. It was a blow that killed instantly.

Diane didn’t know much about swords, but a two-inch-wide blade struck her as a rather sizable weapon. She would measure the width of the cuts and other variables that the bones showed and come up with a rough facsimile of the blade. Maybe John Rose could discover what kind of sword it was.

“Finding anything interesting?” Neva came in from the crime lab smiling. “I just talked to Mike. He says you really owe him.”

“MacGregor wearing thin already?”

“Sort of. He says David has a great home theater system, though.”

“I think Mike’s feeling like he should be here protecting you, rather than hiding out in David’s condo,” said Diane.

“I know. It doesn’t help that I can’t tell him what’s going on.”

“I feel bad about that too, but hopefully it’ll all be over soon.” Diane looked at her watch. “Garnett should be arriving any minute now. I’m going down to meet him. Why don’t you stay here and work on our witch’s face?”

David ushered Garnett from the loading dock into the Pleistocene room. Behind them followed men from the bomb squad with their dogs. Each officer had a map of the museum from subbasement to attic.

The dogs, German shepherds and Labrador retrievers, stood quietly and looked around the room expectantly, wagging their tails. If they were surprised at the sight of the huge Pleistocene animals, they didn’t show it.

“I appreciate this, Chief Garnett,” she said.

“It’s important that we get this settled. We can’t have this kind of threat to the crime lab-or the museum. However, I think you’re dead wrong about Emery. He’s a decorated marine. I know him.”

“I hope I am wrong,” said Diane. “I don’t want it to be anyone connected to the crime lab or the museum.”

Garnett nodded curtly. “Okay,” he said, “let’s get started.”

“Don’t you worry, Miss Fallon; if there’s something here, the dogs will find it.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. .”

“Remington, ma’am.”

“Good name for a police officer.”

“I think so, ma’am.”

“Everyone should be gone except for my crime lab staff.”

“And they will be going shortly?”

“We thought we would stay.”

“No, ma’am. No one can be here except us. That’s the rules. If we have to get out in a hurry, we can’t be hunting for civilians.”

“I understand. But we-”

He was shaking his head. “No, ma’am.”

“There’s an experiment that has to be attended to every four hours.”

“I’m real sorry about that. I hope it wasn’t one that was going to cure cancer.”

“No.”

“Good.”

Sergeant Remington was good-natured throughout, but Diane could see he was going to win this argument. And he was absolutely right.

“I have to get a few things. It should take about twenty minutes. Is that okay?”

“That’ll be fine. After that, I want everyone out.”

One of the security guards came in, escorting Frank Duncan. Diane smiled when she saw him.

“Detective Duncan,” said Garnett, holding out his hand. “Good to see you. Come to offer assistance?”

“It looks like your men have everything under control. I borrowed my neighbor’s RV. I thought we could watch the grounds a safe distance away.” Diane looked at him, amazed. He smiled at her. “You thought they were going to let you stay and work, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Now see, this guy has the right idea,” said Remington.

“I’m working on a set of bones. I need to get them from my lab,” said Diane. “I also need to get my computer and a few tools. It won’t take long.”

She left Garnett and the others to do their work and walked with Frank up to her lab.

“How are things going here?”

“I’m hoping the dominoes are falling.”

“Closing in, are you?”

“Maybe. I also may be completely wrong and we have nothing. Jin is in Atlanta. They did get some usable DNA. If I’m lucky, the two thugs will be in a database. I’ve been toying with the idea of asking the prosecutor to get a John Doe indictment based on the DNA. Striking at a crime lab. . ” She shook her head. “It’s too lawless. It has to be stopped.”

“I agree completely.” Frank put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. It felt good. “You said you’re working on some bones?” he said.

“Yes. The witch-I think you were there when Gregory called.”

“Ah, yes, the witch that was supposed to be stolen, but was really a roe.”