One Grave Too Many dffi-1

by Beverly Connor

  “I don’t know. But if someone could always be with him for a few days until I can get someone to guard his room. .” She let the sentence hang.

  Linc took a breath and stepped back. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “I’m serious. I just don’t know if I’m right. This may be nothing, and I may just be paranoid.”

  “You’ve both been seriously attacked. It gives your paranoia credibility. I need to know more about what’s going on. Let me take you to dinner.”

  Diane thought for a moment, trying to organize her day in her mind. “Meet me at the museum this evening-around six thirty or so. We’ll have something delivered.” She scribbled her cell phone number on the back of one of her museum cards before she handed it to him. “Tell the guard on duty to give me a call when you get there.”

  He thanked her and opened the car door. Frank had a nice family. She envied him.

  “Diane,” said Andie. “How is Frank? We just heard. My God, first you, and now him. What’s happening?” Andie’s perpetual happy smile was turned down in a frown. She stood behind her desk, holding a folder to her chest like a shield.

  “Frank’s doing well,” said Diane. “He’s still in intensive care. How are things here?”

  Andie’s face switched from concern to horror. “One of the snakes is missing.”

  “Damn. How did that happen?”

  “They don’t know. He just wasn’t in his terrarium or whatever that thing wrapping around the room is. They’re looking for him, but the snake guy said he could be holed up between the walls and we may not be able to find him for months.”

  “What kind of snake?”

  “He said a black snake. That’s a good kind isn’t it?”

  “Yes, at least there’s that. Damn. Tell him to find that snake. I don’t want it showing up and scaring visitors.”

  “Jonas called. I told him about Frank. He said they had some trouble at the site last night.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “He didn’t say. He wants you to call.”

  “What else?”

  “That’s it for now.”

  Diane started for her office. “Oh, Andie. Frank’s two brothers and sister are in town. I told them they could come see the museum if they had time. I think they may come and bring Kevin. If I’m not here, give them the grand tour.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Have you seen Melissa or Alix?”

  “Not today. You want me to find them for you?”

  “No. I just wondered if they came by.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll be in my office. I need some privacy, so if you’ll screen the calls?”

  “Sure. Why don’t you work from home for a couple of days? Have you had any rest at all?”

  “I had a good night’s sleep. I’m fine.”

  Diane went to her office and looked up the phone number of Serena Ellison, Star’s lawyer. Before she could dial the phone, there was a knock on her door.

  “Yes?”

  Korey came in and dropped in the chair by her desk. “Can I talk to you?”

  Diane had an idea what it was about. “Sure.”

  “You doing OK? Andie just told me about you getting mugged.”

  “I’m fine.” Diane felt like making up cards about what happened so she could pass them around and not have to answer questions. People are simply concerned, she chided herself.

  “I’m sorry about that guy you’re dating. I hope he’s going to be all right.”

  “I think he will be.” She fingered the pages of the phone book on the desk.

  “The police came to see me here. They think I shot him.”

  “No, they don’t. They’re just floundering around. You’re black and have dreadlocks. That’s it. I’m so sorry, Korey. I know this is unfair. I’ve already talked to them once when they asked me about you, and I didn’t think they would come talk to you.”

  “The museum security came to talk to me about it.”

  “The museum security? Why? They don’t have any jurisdiction. . You mean Jake?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He was doing his day job with the police department. Apparently, the chief of detectives put him on the case. I would have thought Jake would know better.”

  “This really pisses me off.”

  “I know. I’ll write a letter complaining to the chief of detectives. They had no reason at all to question you. I don’t believe the perp was even black.”

  “They said he was.”

  “Some of the witnesses said he was, but there’s another witness-that they are discounting-who says he wasn’t. She said the dreads weren’t real, they were braids, and he didn’t move like a black man.”

  “Didn’t move like a black man? What’s that supposed to mean? He didn’t have rhythm, he couldn’t jump?”

  “I don’t know what it means.”

  “Why are they discounting her?”

  “She’s nine years old and black. Not only do they think she’s too young, they think she’s being protective. But she’s very credible and I believe her. I think it was a white man in disguise.”

  “Some racist.” Korey sounded bitter.

  “No, I don’t think it was that. He just wanted to appear opposite of what he was.”

  Korey eyed her a moment. “There’s something else going on here, isn’t there?”

  “I think so. But I have no proof.”

  “I don’t like being accused.”

  “I don’t blame you. I don’t like it either, and if they try spreading anything around, I’ll put a stop to it.”

  “Fortunately, I was here with three of my staff at the time of the shooting.”

  “You don’t have to give me an alibi, Korey. In my wildest imagination I can’t see you holding up automatic teller machines.”

  Korey almost smiled as he rose from the chair. “Thanks.”

  He left calmer than when he came in. Izzy certainly wasn’t making any points with Diane, and she was really disappointed in Jake.

  She dialed Serena Ellison, who agreed to look in on Star at the jail and make arrangements for Diane to visit. Diane emphasized the need to hurry. With Frank in critical condition, Star’s fragile emotional state could collapse again.

  With that taken care of, Diane changed into jeans, a tee shirt and sneakers.

  “You’re not going out to the site, are you?” said Andie, looking at Diane going out the door.

  “Yes. Call me on my cell if anything comes up. And tell the herpetologist to find that snake!”

  “Should you be out here?” Jonas stared at Diane when she emerged from the woods. He was at the tent, taking a break with a few of the crew.

  Diane was getting a little tired of people telling her to rest. Yes, she needed to rest, but there wasn’t time.

  “No,” she said, trying hard not to sound snappy and ungrateful. “What kind of trouble did you have here last night?”

  “We had some visitors. I guess they must have thought no one was here. They started digging around the pit. One of the deputies yelled at them and they took off.”

  “Did they do much damage?”

  “No. They’d just gotten started.”

  “They?”

  “There were two of them that we saw.”

  “We?”

  “I stayed with some of the guys last night. Thought it might be fun.”

  “Could anyone get a description?”

  “No. It was too dark and their flashlights didn’t illuminate them at all.”

  “I’m glad no one was hurt.”

  “Andie told me about Frank Duncan. We’re all sorry to hear about that. How’s he doing?”

  “Good. The doctors think he’ll pull through.”

  “That’s a relief. What happened? Andie said something about a robbery?”

  Diane told them what happened, and like everyone else, they marveled at both of them getting attacked not one day apart.

  “We’ve got so
mething to show you.”

  “You found something?” she asked, but got no answer.

  She followed Jonas and the crew to the site, where a couple of the women were working. They had gotten an extraordinary amount of work done. One entire layer was excavated and they had started down into another.

  “We’ve already taken up the first layer of animal bones. Sylvia came out to help us late yesterday and identified the animals. It was pretty straightforward. No surprises. Deer, fox, racoon, duck. We got a complete list of the ones she identified here. She said that may change when she gets back to look at them more thoroughly.”

  “Find anything in the screens?” asked Diane.

  “A quarter, bone fragments. Mostly just rocks. But this is what we wanted to show you.” Jonas led her to the other side of the pit where the two women, Miriam and Ellen, were working.

  Diane stooped down and examined the excavation. “Well, finally, there it is.”

  Chapter 33

  Standing out in bold relief, covering two grid units, was a member of the Canidae family. Diane guessed a wolf, judging from the size and low slope of the forehead. And there, peeking through a thin layer of soil underlying the thorax of the wolf, were the ribs and vertebrae of a human. What was so clear about the juxtaposition was the difference between the large arc of the quadrupedal wolf ribs and tightly arced bipedal human ribs-the difference of carrying organs in a horizontal as opposed to a vertical position. But the extraordinary thing was the roots of the sapling that wove down through the wolf and human ribs, supplying at least one end of a time frame.

  Someone had dumped the body and covered it with a thin layer of dirt. The Abercrombies tossed the wolf carcass on top of that soon afterward. Sometime later, the seedling began to grow up through the human and wolf bones. Age the tree and they would know the minimum amount of time the bones had been there. Maybe the information would be corroborated by Abercrombie’s records.

  “Aren’t we lucky?” said Diane. “We know the skeletons have been here at least as long as the sapling. Let’s put some more excavators here, and I’ll want a cross-section of the tree trunk.”

  She looked for any signs of the skull but saw none. Sometimes skulls are a problem. Being essentially round, they have a tendency to roll away from the torso when the last vestige of flesh lets go. If the body had been buried haphazardly or had been laid over a pile of other carcasses, the skull could have rolled to another location or even dropped to a deeper layer down through cavities made as the carcasses decomposed.

  “Very well done,” she told them.

  “We thought you’d be pleased,” said Jonas.

  “Have you seen any signs of buttons, zippers, shoe grommets, leather, rubber, textiles-anything?”

  “No,” answered Ellen. “As far as I can see, he or she was dumped without his or her clothes.”

  “Too bad. I was hoping for a driver’s license.”

  “Aren’t wolves protected or something?” said Miriam, dusting away a layer of dirt from the shoulder girdle.

  “Some places,” said Diane.

  “First the bear, and now this wolf,” said Miriam. “I really like the Abercrombies, but. .”

  “We don’t know the circumstances of his presence here. For now, let’s just be forgiving of what we find. It’s my understanding that since Whit started helping in his father’s business, he’s gotten more strict with his clients. The wolf could be roadkill, after all.”

  “No,” said Ellen. “This isn’t roadkill.” She pointed to a bullet hole in the scapula.

  “I was hoping,” said Diane, taking her trowel and starting to work on the human skeleton. “I know this may be going a little fast for your comfort, but I need to get this guy identified.”

  He’s the key, she thought as she started at the first lumbar vertebra and began excavating gingerly around the wolf skeleton. She wanted the juxtaposition to remain as long as possible. Sometimes bones in proximity can reveal surprising information. It looked like there was only a slight covering of soil placed over the human remains, which may mean the wolf was put there fairly soon after the person, before wild animals uncovered the remains, making them noticeable to Luther when he was dumping the wolf.

  “We can do this,” said Jonas. “Have you rested at all since you were released from the hospital?”

  “I’ll rest when this is over.”

  “I don’t think it works like that,” said Jonas.

  “Give it up,” said Diane. “By the way, I moved my bishop to queen three.”

  “I thought you would. Can you remember a king-side castle when you get back to the museum?”

  “Sure. Maybe we should just play this game with each other in our heads.”

  “I couldn’t do that when I was young,” said Jonas. “I’m keeping track of the moves in my notebook.” He pointed to his back pocket.

  Diane tried out her chess analogy on Jonas as the other excavators listened in. “I think getting Star convicted is the game. Frank was attacked because he was protecting her.”

  “Like a king’s pawn.” Jonas nodded.

  “With him gone, her position is very vulnerable.”

  “I thought it was a robbery?” said Ellen.

  Diane told them about little Tamika Stillwood, the fake dreadlocks and whatever suspicious thing she saw in his movement.

  “I don’t know exactly what she meant, but she’s a very observant little girl.”

  “Little kids are like that,” said Miriam. “They’re like dogs that way. Any change in their environment, they notice. I miss a line from my daughter’s favorite story and she gets indignant.”

  “And they hear everything,” said Ellen.

  “That certainly puts a different light on things,” said Jonas. “What do the police say?”

  “They interviewed Korey because he has dreadlocks.”

  Jonas dropped his trowel. “They didn’t?”

  “As you can imagine, he was upset about it.”

  “They aren’t going to hassle him, are they?”

  “No. Fortunately, he was at the museum with half his staff, working, at the time. But the whole idea. .” Diane stopped and scrutinized the wolf skeleton, running her fingers along a rib.

  “He was found shot by a forest ranger,” she said.

  Miriam, Ellen and Jonas looked back and forth from the bones to Diane to each other.

  “Just how do you know that?” said Jonas.

  “This is the wolf whose skin is stuffed and mounted in one of our faunal exhibits. A ranger friend of Milo’s found it and kept it frozen while he was looking for the poacher. At some point he gave it to Milo for the museum. We have the bullet with the display and a video about dangers to wild animals.”

  “Whew,” exclaimed Ellen. “I was going to ask if you teach classes. I’d sure like to be able to read bones like that.”

  Diane smiled at her. “It just occurred to me.”

  “I think this guy ought to be reassembled and exhibited beside his stuffed self,” said Jonas. “Bullet hole and all.”

  “I agree,” said Diane.

  They lapsed into silence, and there was no sound but the clinking of tools against soil. Digging graves. Dreadful business. The Odells were right. She was a grave digger. A pain in Diane’s lower back reminded her that she needed to drink more water. She took a long sip and continued working, for just a foot away from the ribs of the wolf she had uncovered the human pelvis-besides the skull, one of the most important sets of bones to find.

  She swept away the dirt from the large flat bones that had collapsed into the dirt. She ran her fingers along the bone looking at the details; no ventral arc, narrow sciatic notch, narrow subpubic angle-classic male. She took a brush and cleaned the pubic symphysis, studying the remodeling of the bone, looking for a sign of the age-when she caught sight of what looked like a healed lesion. She’d seen similar bone formations resulting from inflammation, but mostly in women who had just borne a child.

  �
��Let’s photograph and take up the wolf,” she said. “I’d like to take the human skeleton with me.”

  “I have a scapula over here,” said one of the male crew members. Diane tried to remember his name-something long or not easy on the tongue. Raedwald, that was it. The scapula was three grids away from the main part of the skeleton.

  “This is in bad condition.”

  “The scapula body’s broken, the coracoid process is missing, so is the acromion, the glenoid cavity is badly crushed,” she muttered almost to herself. “Have you found all the pieces?”

  “No. This is pretty much it.”

  “Have it photographed and take it up.” Her head was starting to ache. She rubbed her eyes.

  “I’ve already sketched it. You want to see the arm you discovered yesterday?”

  Diane nodded. She stood, almost too fast, and felt weak on her feet. Fortunately, Raedwald didn’t ask her if she was all right. As well-meaning as everyone was, and as right as they were, she wished they wouldn’t express it.

  She stood for a moment, gathering her wits about her before walking over with him to have a look at the humerus. It was completely excavated and included the forearm bones-the radius and ulna-and the bones of the hand. All neatly sitting on top of the ground as if they had been laid there, but out of place. The radius and ulna were flipped around in their relationship to the humerus. The bones of the hand were off to the side.

  “Good job.”

  “It’s really like a work of art,” he said. “I mean the bones, not the excavation.”

  “I’ve always thought bones are quite lovely. It produces some cognitive dissonance, though, to look at a pit of remains from a mass murder and also see the beauty of the bones.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  Diane sat down cross-legged to examine the bones as they lay there on the ground. The head of the humerus was crushed. This was the part that would have fit into the crushed glenoid cavity.

  “Will you be able to tell the difference between animal activity and, say, an injury?” the excavator asked.

  “Probably.” She touched the bone lightly with her fingers. “Interesting bones.”

  The sound of her telephone ringing came from the pocket of her shirt. She snatched it and pushed the answer button.