Scattered Graves dffi-6

by Beverly Connor

  ‘‘What did she do with the bones?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘She got some plastic tubs and started sorting them. I watched her for a while. It’s boring work. I don’t know how she was sorting them. They all looked about the same to me. Just chunks of bone. I quit watching after a while. She worked for a long time.’’

  ‘‘Who asked her to get coffee?’’ asked Diane.

  Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I don’t remember. She came out for a break and we just talked about getting coffee. We had to take the elevator and go down and around to the restaurant—it’s better coffee than the break room. I think she volunteered. I don’t remember.’’

  ‘‘Did anyone else come up while she was gone?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Any visitors to the lab?’’

  ‘‘No. I wasn’t there the whole time. I went to the bathroom and had a smoke, since the overlook was closed off,’’ she said.

  Diane saw both Neva and David wince. She could swear they were about to duck.

  ‘‘What?’’ said Diane. ‘‘You smoked on the over look? Did you notice the signs that say this is a smokefree building? The collections here are sensitive to contaminants like smoke—not to mention the equip ment and the evidence. You don’t smoke in here, in the bathroom, or anyplace inside the building.’’

  Rikki didn’t say anything, just hunched her shoul ders. Diane looked at David and Neva.

  ‘‘Did you know she was smoking?’’

  ‘‘I mentioned to her she wasn’t supposed to,’’ said Neva. ‘‘So did David. Bryce told her it was all right.’’

  ‘‘And you didn’t mention it to me?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘What is the big deal?’’ said Rikki. ‘‘A couple of cigarettes a day. This is a big building. We are on the top floor.’’

  ‘‘It is a very big deal. And it is not to happen again. However, let’s get back to the bones. What happened when you came back from the bathroom? Did you see anyone approach Jennifer’s lab?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘No. There was just me and Bryce. Curtis was here for a while. He goes back and forth from here to the police station. I can’t remember when he came or left,’’ she said.

  ‘‘How did you meet Bryce?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘This sounds like more of an interrogation,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘I haven’t done anything.’’

  ‘‘I’m just trying to verify your bona fides,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t know anything about you.’’

  ‘‘Well my re´sume is on file,’’ she said.

  ‘‘Do you want to work here? I haven’t asked you that. Perhaps you don’t,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘He was at the job fair on campus. I graduated from Emory. He and the chief of police had a booth and were taking applications. They called me a month or so ago.’’

  ‘‘What about Curtis?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Do you know how he knows Bryce?’’

  Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I have no idea.’’

  ‘‘Where is the evidence from asked Diane.

  ‘‘Evidence?’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘The evidence you and Bryce mayor’s house from both crime scenes,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Locked up in the vault, I guess,’’ she said.

  ‘‘What do you think happened to the bones?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘Jennifer’s bones?’’ Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I think she couldn’t do anything with them so she got rid of them and claimed they were stolen. Bryce thinks you took them,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘Okay, thank you for answering my questions, Rikki. First, I think we’ll take a look at the evidence from the mayor’s house,’’ said Diane.

  Rikki’s face brightened.

  Jefferies’ house?’’

  collected from the

  Chapter 27

  Diane was puzzled by Rikki’s reaction. She found it interesting—but puzzling. Rikki certainly bore watching. ‘‘Is the computer in the vault?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘It was taken to the police station,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘I think Janice delivered it here,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘We didn’t have anybody there to deal with the encryption. Bryce said he would find someone.’’

  The room containing the vault was one of the rooms that needed some serious dusting. Diane, Neva, and David cleaned the examination tables before opening the vault.

  The vault was the size of a small walk-in closet. Shelves filled with boxes of evidence lined the walls. Diane didn’t think it looked quite as neat as when she last saw it, but perhaps she was being hypercritical.

  The computer was there sitting on the shelf, its key board shoved in on its end beside it.

  ‘‘Let’s go through the evidence boxes first; then you take the computer, David, and see what you can do with it,’’ said Diane.

  There were two cardboard boxes with evidence from the mayor’s house. Diane took the boxes from the Peeks and Jefferies murders to separate tables and opened them.

  She took out the fingerprint cards first. There were four of them. One had Jefferies’ prints, one had Peeks’ prints, and two had Garnett’s prints—one from the hall chest and one from the kitchen counter. That was all.

  ‘‘Why aren’t there more prints?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘Bryce took the prints. I searched the house.’’

  Diane took out evidence envelopes with blood sam ples from the Peeks and Jefferies scenes. Again, not enough samples. She took out the crime scene photo graphs. They were pretty good.

  ‘‘I took those,’’ said Rikki proudly.

  ‘‘These are good,’’ said Diane.

  Rikki grinned broadly.

  Diane studied the stills. The mayor was slumped on the floor, half on his back, beside a bar stool at the island in the kitchen. Blood was pooled under his head. There was a plate of what looked like nachos on the counter. Apparently a favorite of the mayor. A splatter of blood covered the counter in fine droplets.

  Diane, David, and Neva laid out the victims’ clothes, using a different table for each of the victims. Peeks’ silk shirt and cashmere sweater were spattered with blood on the back. It was high-velocity spatter.

  ‘‘Did you take any blood samples from the clothes?’’ asked Diane.

  Rikki shrugged. ‘‘Bryce handled all the blood. He took some samples from the scene. He said that when what has occurred is self-evident, you can sample the evidence. Anything more is a waste of time and money. That was the big criticism they had of you— you wasted money,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘Did he take a representative sample?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘What?’’ asked Rikki.

  ‘‘Under his philosophy, he would have to take a representative sampling. Did he?’’ she asked again.

  ‘‘I don’t know,’’ Rikki said.

  ‘‘One of the things we need to do is make sure all the blood belongs to Jefferies. We may have the perp’s blood somewhere. That way we can reconstruct the crime scene.’’

  ‘‘Someone came in and shot the mayor,’’ said Rikki.

  ‘‘Where did he come from?’’ said David. ‘‘Was he in the house waiting for him? Did Jefferies let him in? Did he know him? Was it a stranger? There’s a lot of questions.’’

  ‘‘What do you think happened?’’ asked Rikki. ‘‘It looks to me like he had to let him in. I mean, the mayor’s house would have been hard to break in to.’’

  ‘‘Possibly,’’ said Diane. ‘‘But the only way you can get an accurate picture is to collect the evidence. If we are really lucky, the perp will have gotten a nose bleed.’’ She smiled at Rikki.

  Diane looked at the clothes again. Both victims had expensive tastes—Ermenegildo Zegna, Just Cavalli, Armani, Ferragamo. She poured out the effects found in their pockets and on their bodies. The two had identical signet rings embossed with an image of Alex ander the Great. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  ‘‘Look at this,’’ said David. He handed Diane a watch that belonged to M
ayor Jefferies.

  Diane cocked an eyebrow.

  ‘‘Expensive?’’ asked Izzy.

  ‘‘About fifteen thousand dollars expensive,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It’s a BRM Chrono-Automatic watch. Very limited number made.’’

  ‘‘Wow, can I hold it?’’ asked Izzy.

  Diane handed it to him.

  ‘‘What does it do? Is it some kind of computer?’’

  ‘‘It’s a hand-crafted watch made with expensive ma terials,’’ said Diane.

  Izzy looked at his watch, then at the mayor’s, and shook his head. ‘‘I could get me a good boat for fifteen thousand dollars,’’ he said.

  Diane noticed how uncomfortable Rikki was get ting. She knew why.

  ‘‘That’s a nice watch you’re wearing,’’ Diane said.

  Rikki gave a small self-conscious laugh. ‘‘My boy friend gave it to me. It’s a knockoff,’’ she said.

  ‘‘You’ll have to tell your boyfriend he made a good buy. It’s not a knockoff, it’s a real Cartier Tank Fran c¸aise. Very nice,’’ said Diane. She wondered whether that was the shiny object Officer Pendleton saw Rikki pocket at the crime scene.

  ‘‘Really?’’ Rikki laughed nervously again. ‘‘He’ll be pleased. How much is it worth, do you think?’’ she asked.

  ‘‘It’s also about fifteen thousand,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Wow,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘He’s not going to believe it.’’

  Rikki sounded unconvincing to Diane, but maybe she was just prejudiced. Diane glanced at David and saw that he didn’t believe her either. What Diane was wondering now was what it would take for Rikki to quit, to be so afraid of being found out, she would take off. Diane suspected there was a very specific reason she was sticking around.

  ‘‘Well, it wasn’t a robbery,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘that’s for sure.’’

  ‘‘No,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It doesn’t seem to be a robbery.’’

  She was wondering whether they all were that wealthy, or were they making a lot of money. The mayor alone was decked out in more than twenty thou sand dollars’ worth of clothes and accessories. The may or’s job didn’t pay that much, but perhaps his Atlanta business was doing really well. She had a lot of ques tions for Janice to look into. She wondered whether Janice had searched Peeks’ and Jefferies’ homes.

  ‘‘When are the funerals?’’ Diane asked. They all shrugged. ‘‘It looks like the mayor and his friends had a lot to leave their heirs. It would be interesting to discover who they are.’’

  The door buzzer startled all of them. David went to answer it. After a few moments, he brought Jin back with him.

  ‘‘Hi, guys,’’ Jin said, raking his fingers through his black hair. ‘‘Good to see you back, boss,’’ he said.

  ‘‘Good to be back,’’ she said. ‘‘Is this a social call?’’

  ‘‘Nope, I just found something interesting. You know that guy who wanted me to hire him? Curtis something.’’

  ‘‘Curtis Crabtree,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Well, in the scuffle he left some epithelials behind and I decided to run them,’’ said Jin.

  ‘‘What did you find?’’ asked Neva.

  ‘‘He had alleles in common with Edgar Peeks,’’ said Jin.

  ‘‘Brothers?’’ asked Diane.

  ‘‘Cousins maybe; maybe uncle and nephew,’’ said Jin.

  ‘‘Did you know they were related?’’ Diane asked Rikki.

  She shook her head. ‘‘No. It’s news to me.’’

  Chapter 28

  ‘‘No,’’ said Jin, taking a big bite of pizza. ‘‘I’m Legolas. I’m always Legolas. You’re Gandalf, David. You’re the one who disappeared for a while, then came back.’’

  ‘‘All I know is,’’ said Neva, helping herself to a slice, ‘‘that I’m Arwen, the most beautiful creature in Middle-earth.’’

  Diane listened to them happily discussing their Lord of the Rings character preferences. She had tried to get Frank on the phone to tell him they were having pizza in her office, but he didn’t answer. Mike had come to join them briefly but had to leave early to get ready for his class in gemology. Izzy had stayed. That was somewhat of a puzzlement to Diane. She didn’t know if he was asked to guard her or what.

  Rikki had gone home. That was a relief to everyone. They didn’t know which side she was on, and Diane thought that, like her, they felt uneasy being con stantly just a little dishonest with her.

  ‘‘Okay,’’ said Jin. ‘‘Who’s Rikki?’’

  ‘‘Gollum,’’ both Neva and David said together, and they all laughed.

  Diane was about to sit down and eat a piece of pizza when she heard a noise in Andie’s office. She opened the connecting door just as Andie was enter ing. She was all bundled up in slacks, a wool poncho, and gloves. She had a cap pulled over her frizzy au burn hair.

  ‘‘Oh, I’m glad you’re here,’’ said Andie. ‘‘I have your cell phone. Wait till you see this.’’

  ‘‘Would you like some pizza?’’ said Diane. ‘‘We have plenty.’’

  ‘‘Pizza? Thanks, but I just ate.’’ Andie took out a box and opened it. ‘‘This is great.’’ She slipped the phone from the box, flipped it open, and turned it on. ‘‘It’s a camera phone like the old one and has all the bells and whistles on it. But it also has this.’’

  She punched a couple of keys and the phone started talking.

  ‘‘Take a left on Rose Street,’’ it said. ‘‘Go point two miles.’’

  Diane looked at the map on the digital screen.

  ‘‘It has GPS mapping,’’ said Andie. ‘‘You just punch in the city and where you want to go and it will tell you how to get there. Cool, huh?’’

  ‘‘Yes, it is,’’ said Diane. ‘‘This is nice. It really is. How much more a month is this going to cost me?’’

  ‘‘Just ten dollars,’’ said Andie. ‘‘I put all your num bers in it. At least, the ones I know.’’

  ‘‘Thanks, Andie, I appreciate it. It’s a great phone. You off to your gemology class?’’

  ‘‘Yes, and I hope it’s uneventful this time,’’ she said. ‘‘Last time, we were just starting on opals. You know that’s my birth stone. Mike was saying they have water in them. I don’t understand that. He was about to explain when little Ethan turned up missing. And you know the rest.’’ Andie looked at her watch. ‘‘Well, gotta go. See you tomorrow.’’

  Just as Andie was leaving, Frank walked through the door. ‘‘I thought I’d catch you still at work,’’ he said.

  ‘‘Hey, Frank,’’ said Andie. ‘‘See you.’’ She was out the door.

  ‘‘Was it something I said?’’ said Frank, watching Andie leave.

  ‘‘She’s off to learn about gemstones.’’ Diane paused. ‘‘I’m director of the crime lab again.’’

  ‘‘You always have such eventful days,’’ he said. ‘‘So, was the crime lab a reward for almost getting killed?’’

  ‘‘No, it was a reward for not being Bryce,’’ she said. ‘‘Because of him the evidence is now suspect from a whole string of crime scenes processed by the lab, and the city’s dealing with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from Jennifer Jeffcote-Smith, the forensic anthropologist he hired. Did I tell you I got served on that?’’

  ‘‘No. For what?’’

  ‘‘Witness for the complainant. You want some pizza? We have plenty. Izzy’s here.’’ She lowered her voice. ‘‘He’s been here all day. I called him to go with me to the lab in case Bryce decided he wasn’t going to leave. Fortunately, Bryce wasn’t there. Anyway, Izzy just stayed. I’m wondering if Edward or the chief of police sent him as a bodyguard.’’

  ‘‘That would be good if they did,’’ said Frank. He followed her into her office.

  David and the others were discussing the evidence when Diane entered. They stopped when they saw Frank.

  ‘‘Hey, Frank buddy. How’s it going?’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Come get a piece before it’s gone. These guys in h
ale pizza.’’

  They greeted one another and Frank sat down with a slice and a cold soda from Diane’s fridge. Diane caught him up on everything they had discovered so far.

  ‘‘I called Janice and told her Curtis Crabtree is re lated to Edgar Peeks,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t know if that will mean anything. I also told her about the con versation in the supply closet.’’