Beverly Connor - One Grave Too Many

“Most of what I’m doing now is measuring,” she said. “It’s like watching grass grow.”

“I was about to get that idea,” Korey said. “I’ll go out to the lab and work a while. Let me know if I can bring you anything.”

Diane continued, losing track of time in the minutiae of the detailed measurements on different parts of the bones. She recorded each of them in her computer program, recollecting Kevin asking her at the party why he would have to learn math. If he could see her now, it would seem that was all she did, but math often gives the best information. Measuring is tedious, but she taught herself to like it for its precision. The math would give her the best guess on the race of the individual, and she needed the race for a good estimation of the height.

The ring of her cell phone made her jump. Perhaps she needed to change it to a melody.

“Dr. Fallon, this is the front desk. There is a Dr. Duncan here to see you.”

Dr. Duncan, she thought. Who’s that? Then she remembered. Frank’s brother, Linc. “Would you ask him to come to the second-floor staff lounge? You’ll have to give him directions.”

Diane left the storage room and locked the door behind her. Korey was still working on the documents.

“I have a guest coming up,” she said. “Frank’s brother. I’m going to be gone for a while. If you leave, go ahead and lock up. I have a key.”

She went into the small bathroom near Korey’s office, washed her hands and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible. She ran wet fingers through her hair. It didn’t do much good. “Well, he’s not here for a date,” she told her reflection.

As she left the conservation lab and crossed the lobby to the staff lounge, Linc had just come up the elevator and was walking through the doors to the east wing. He held two large pizza boxes and a bag, presumably of drinks.

“I hope you like pizza,” he said.

“I do, but how many people were you planning on feeding?”

He smiled. “You never know.”

He reminded her of Frank. Bringing too much food was apparently a family trait. Her eyes started to tear up. She turned her head away and led him into the lounge to a table in the corner.

Linc set the boxes down and pulled out the drinks. He gave her a large bottle of water. “You look dehydrated.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a bruised kidney.”

“No such thing as just a bruised kidney. You sound like some of the athletes I’ve treated. I’ll tell you what I tell them. You’re not invincible.”

“How’s Frank?” Linc was silent for a long moment. “What? What’s happened?” A sickening panic rose in the pit of her stomach.

“He’s developed an infection.”

“Oh, God. How serious?”

“Serious enough. They’re keeping him in ICU.”

Diane stood. “I need to go see him.”

Linc took her hand. “He’s sleeping. Eat something. You aren’t a vegetarian, are you? I ordered pepperoni on the pizzas.”

“No. I’m not a vegetarian.” Diane got some paper plates from a cabinet in the staff lounge and they settled in to eating the pizza. She was having a hard time keeping tears from forming.

“Frank is always bringing more food than we can possibly eat too. Must be genetic.”

“Comes from having three growing boys in the family, I guess. We always needed lots of food on hand.”

Diane selected a slice of pizza and took a bite. It was still warm and tasted good. She never realized she was hungry until she ate something.

“Tell me what this is about,” said Linc after several bites.

Diane told him the entire story, from Frank first showing her the bone to her possession of the rest of the skeleton, sans skull, in the storage room.

“So you think that what happened to you and to Frank is related to the murder of his friends?”

“Yes.”

“What do they have to gain by shooting Frank?”

“Frank and I are the only ones working on an alternate theory of the crime. The police aren’t interested. Frank is the only one protecting Star. Without him, she would stand a good chance of getting convicted. There are flaws in my theory, but I have a gut feeling that what’s happened to us is directly related to the murder of the Boones.”

“It does seem that way. If you’re correct, then you’re also correct in assuming Frank’s still in danger. What were you going to do before we arrived?”

“He’s hired security to watch the Boone house-to keep relatives from carrying off Star’s possessions. I was going to ask them to put someone outside Frank’s room. Frank also has friends on the police force here. I’m sure they would be glad to help.”

“Why don’t you go home and get a good night’s sleep? Have you had one since you were attacked?”

“I want to get the analysis done as soon as possible.”

“You and Frank are a good pair. He thinks he’s indispensable too. I hope nothing happens to either of you, or the rest of us are doomed.”

Diane smiled at him. “I’m not indispensable, but there’s no one here this minute to analyze the skeleton but me.”

“Yeah, Frank would say the same thing.”

“How did he get into learning the accordion?” asked Diane.

Linc grinned at Diane. “Because everyone made fun of it, I think. Frank was a kid totally immune to peer pressure and completely stubborn. He wouldn’t let anyone back him down, and he didn’t care what people thought.”

“That must have made school rough. His peers must have been on to him all the time.”

“At first, but Dad taught us to box from the time we could put gloves on and not fall over frontward.”

“Boxing? Not some martial art?”

“No, boxing’s the best.” He went into a boxing posture and punched the air. “Once you get your feet off the ground, you’re off balance. We’d love it when the other kids thought they were so cool with their fancy kicks. They were pretty easy to knock down.”

“He didn’t tell me about the boxing. But I just found out he’s pretty mean on a karaoke machine.”

“You should see the three of us.”

Diane laughed. “How about Ava? Is she into karaoke and boxing?”

“She plays the piano. Quite well. Not into anything physical. She’s the older sister and takes her job seriously. Frank’s really going to get an earful when he’s better.”

“You have a nice family.”

“We like it.” He took a long drink of Coke. “Can I have a look at the skeleton?” he asked.

Diane had finished eating all she could eat, which was two slices from an extra-large pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper pizza. She took a swallow of her water and eyed him closely.

“Frank asked me to keep an eye on you,” he said in answer to her silent stare. “He apparently knows you quite well.”

“Sure, you can have a look. I’ll record a few more observations and go home.”

Korey was still there, but was on his way out. Diane introduced him to Linc.

“We’re all sorry to hear about your brother,” said Korey, shaking his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Fallon. Been finding some interesting stuff in that small stack of papers.”

“We have some pizza left,” said Linc. “Why don’t you take the extra one home with you?”

Korey looked surprised. “Sure. Thanks.”

As Korey left, Diane fished the key from her pocket and opened the door to the storage room.

“This is the mysterious guy,” she said.

“You don’t have a skull?” asked Linc.

“Unfortunately, no. I really wish I had it. We could find out what he looks like. The excavators are still looking for it.”

“You think it was removed?”

“The vertebrae don’t show it.”