Scattered Graves dffi-6

by Beverly Connor

  lanta PD into responding so quickly?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Rosewood has to fill out forms in triplicate to get

  anything from them. That’s amazing.’’

  ‘‘One of the detectives is my son-in-law. The

  boy knows to do what I tell him pronto,’’ said

  Canfield.

  Diane laughed.

  ‘‘Have you heard from the GBI about the bullet?’’

  asked Diane.

  ‘‘That was my second bit of news. The GBI got a hit, and I don’t like it one bit. No, sirree, I don’t like

  this one bit.’’

  ‘‘What is it?’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘The bullet we found in the field is from the same

  gun that killed Mayor Spence Jefferies. How’s that for

  a bad day? Now I have to deal with Rosewood. Janice

  Warrick is the lead detective on this. She’s not too

  bad,’’ he commented. ‘‘I’m still shaking my head about

  Delamore trying to kill you. That’s why I hate to deal

  with Rosewood. You never know when one of them

  isn’t right in the head.’’

  Talk of Delamore made Diane uneasy. The whole

  event was just starting to sink in. The shock of it had

  worn off, and what was left was the fear of what

  might have happened, and the guilt over what did

  happen.

  ‘‘Hopefully, he was unique,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m sure Ja

  nice will be glad to hear about the bullet. And I know

  she won’t try to kill you.’’

  The sheriff chuckled. ‘‘Don’t count on it. My wife

  says I make people mad on purpose.’’

  ‘‘Sounds like one shooter for the two murders,’’ said

  Diane. ‘‘Chen and Jefferies. How odd.’’

  Diane fiddled with the loose rock in the fountain

  and dropped it on the floor. It rolled under her desk.

  She bent and picked it up and put it back in its hole

  in the fountain.

  ‘‘The bullet doesn’t match the one that killed yourall’s chief of detectives, Edgar Peeks,’’ said Canfield.

  ‘‘I understand that was from Garnett’s gun, and I have

  to tell you, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Garnett

  and I have never seen quite eye to eye, but I never

  figured him for a cold-blooded killer. I told my depu

  ties, there has to be some mistake,’’ he said. ‘‘You

  think this new ME of yours gave them the wrong bul

  let? Could he be a part of this?’’

  ‘‘Janice Warrick and Izzy Wallace witnessed the au

  topsy. They saw him take the bullet out of Peeks’

  brain and give it to them. Janice said it was from the

  gun they took off Garnett at the scene.’’

  ‘‘I hate hearing that,’’ said Canfield.

  ‘‘So do I,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He has been very support

  ive of me since we put the crime unit in, and very

  protective of the museum.’’

  ‘‘Before I talk to Janice, I’d like to speak with you

  more about what’s going on. You can explain to me

  about this cybergang stuff you were talking about.

  They don’t like to share information in Rosewood.

  They expect me to do all the sharing. That’s why I

  don’t like dealing with them. They act like Rose

  wood’s a big city and we’re just rubes out here. I don’t

  live but a mile from the city limits, so I don’t know

  who they think they are fooling.’’

  ‘‘I know what you mean about the sharing going

  only one way,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Oh, one more thing,’’ he said. ‘‘My wife wants to

  know what you wear to a white-tie function. We’ve

  never been to one.’’

  Diane smiled. ‘‘Andie, my assistant, is putting to

  gether a newsletter that gives all the details. I’ll make

  sure you get a copy,’’ she said.

  ‘‘I would appreciate that. I told my wife I wouldn’t

  understand fashion advice even if I wrote it down. Just

  tell me this, do I have to wear one of them top hats?

  I told the wife that there are just some things where

  I draw the line, and that’s one of them.’’

  ‘‘No. No top hat,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Good.’’ He laughed. ‘‘Can’t you just see me in one

  of those?’’

  Diane seriously couldn’t.

  She hung up the phone and went back into her

  sitting room. Neva was dusting the inside of the com

  puter case for prints. David and Frank were at the

  computer discussing the decryption procedures. Jin

  was sitting on the sofa with Izzy, giving him a course

  in DNA. Someone had cleaned up all the refuse from

  the pizza dinner and disposed of it.

  Diane pulled up a chair and sat down beside Frank. ‘‘How are we doing?’’ she asked.

  ‘‘We’re just starting,’’ said Frank. ‘‘If it’s encrypted using a very long key, then we may not be able to

  break it before the end of this century.’’

  ‘‘Well, how do hackers get in?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘How

  do they break the encryption?’’

  ‘‘The best way is to not,’’ said David.

  ‘‘Is this Yoda talking?’’ said Diane.

  David smiled. ‘‘No, it’s me. One of the drawbacks

  with encryption is that it doesn’t work before the in

  formation is encrypted.’’

  ‘‘No,’’ agreed Diane. ‘‘I can see how it wouldn’t.’’ ‘‘That’s the power of recruiting computer-savvy

  people to work in businesses the way Jefferies did,’’

  said Frank. ‘‘They have access to the information be

  fore it is encrypted. They can install their own soft

  the information to a ware that steals and reroutes

  place of their choosing.’’

  David nodded. ‘‘According

  Jefferies placed people in banking, insurance, and gov

  ernment agencies. It boggles the mind the amount of

  information he had access to. At this point I don’t

  know which would be more useful, a list of bank ac

  count numbers or a list of people he had in place.’’ ‘‘One of the things the heads of these gangs do,’’

  said Frank, ‘‘is recruit someone from a technical field

  that is not computer science, like, say, engineering.

  Give him advanced computer training and get him a

  job, for example, in the aerospace industry. Install him

  as a sleeper in a company, doing work not directly

  connected with sensitive information. Put him some

  place where he would never be suspected. Give him

  time to work his way up to a spot where he can use

  those advanced computer skills you gave him to steal

  company secrets, financial data, personal data—a whole

  range of possibilities. A high-placed sleeper can rob

  the company’s databases and cover his tracks so no

  one knows he’s the thief. I use him as an example. It

  could just as easily be a Mata Hari.’’

  ‘‘It sounds very cold war,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘It’s like that exactly,’’ said Frank. ‘‘They’ve adopted

  old KGB tactics, and it works quite well.’’

  to Sutton’s research, Diane was letting everything David and Frank were

  telling her sink in. Suddenly, a red light on the wall

 
; began flashing and issuing a low but penetrating

  sound. They all looked at Diane.

  ‘‘Someone’s trying to break into the crime lab,’’

  she said.

  Chapter 36

  Diane looked at the computer. Neva was frozen over the case with a fingerprint card in her hand. Frank and David made eye contact with her, their faces creased in frowns. Izzy stood up behind her, ready to go.

  ‘‘The computer. I’ll bet someone’s after the com puter,’’ said Diane. ‘‘They don’t know it’s here. In case they figure it out, all of you stay here.’’

  She started for the door.

  ‘‘Don’t you need backup?’’ said Izzy.

  ‘‘I have backup. My entire security department

  should be on their way. I need all of you to stay here and protect the computer.’’

  Diane dashed out the doors, locking each one in turn behind her—her sitting room door, her office, Andie’s office. When she got to the hallway she could see her security personnel hurrying out of the secu rity office.

  ‘‘What’s going on?’’ she asked when she met up with Chanell, her chief of security.

  ‘‘The guards on the museum side of the crime lab don’t know anything. I haven’t been able to get Mickey, the outside guard, to answer,’’ she said.

  There were two ways to get to the crime lab—from the museum side on the third floor, and from an eleva tor on the outside of the building. When she installed the crime lab, Diane had an elevator built on the out side of the museum that went directly to the third floor and opened into the crime lab. At ground level was a small room with an outside door that provided access to the elevator. That room always had a recep tionist and a guard on duty in the daytime and a guard at night. It was that room that apparently was compro mised.

  Chanell sent two guards up to the third floor to reinforce the ones that were already there. Diane, Chanell, and two guards left the museum by the main front door and walked around the outside of the build ing toward the west wing.

  It was already dark. The parking lot lights were on and the entire front lot was illuminated. Diane could see that some of the lights were out just ahead toward the west wing. Not good.

  They had to thread through a stream of people en tering and leaving through the door to the museum restaurant. Diane and the security personnel went at a fast walk, and Diane hoped they weren’t attracting the attention of the diners.

  It was cold. Diane hadn’t thought to bring a coat. She walked faster.

  Just ahead two security guards came out of the dou ble doors of the main entrance to the west wing of the building.

  The ropes were up that blocked people from park ing on the west end after museum hours. They ducked under the ropes and proceeded to the end of the building.

  This was taking too long. It was a flaw in the ar rangement. They needed a quicker way to get to the outside entrance to the crime lab elevator. They stopped just as they got to the corner of the building.

  ‘‘Send a couple of guards back through the dino room, out the back entrance. Have them come around the building from that way,’’ said Diane.

  ‘‘Good idea,’’ said Chanell.

  ‘‘Let’s not have any shooting unless it’s life or death. I don’t want to alarm the restaurant visitors,’’ said Diane.

  Two security guards went back into the building. Another two went around the corner ahead of Diane and Chanell, who followed when they saw the guards gesture that it was clear.

  There was no one outside the entrance to the small room at the base of the elevator. They couldn’t see behind the room, but the two guards who went around the building should be there soon.

  Diane listened for the sound of the elevator. She looked at the shaft on the side of the building that housed the elevator car—not that she could see any thing. She supposed she looked because that’s where the sound would come from if the elevator was in use. But there was no noise of any kind except the background noise of people entering and leaving the restaurant.

  It was cold enough to produce puffs of fog with each breath. Diane’s fingers were starting to ache. What was she thinking, not grabbing a coat and gloves? She blew into her hands.

  She heard the noise first, for she was the first one to turn her head in the direction of the door. The door opened slowly, then stopped after a couple of inches. Her security staff trained their guns in that direction. Chanell motioned for Diane to get behind them.

  Her heart thumped in her chest and made a lump in her throat. Suddenly and violently the door burst open. A figure dressed from head to foot in black came out of the door holding a young woman in front of him. He had one arm around her throat and was holding a gun to her head with the other hand. She was lightly dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

  Who is she? thought Diane.

  There was silence for a moment: the figure holding a hostage confronting Diane’s security guards. A face-off.

  The male voice of the perp broke the silence.

  ‘‘Leave us or I’ll kill her.’’

  So common. But Diane hadn’t expected creativity. ‘‘That’s Mickey’s wife,’’ Chanell whispered to Diane.

  Mickey was the security guard for this end of the building. That must be how the perp got Mickey to open the door—he used Mickey’s wife. The problem for the perp, though, was that Mickey didn’t know the key code to the crime lab door once the elevator got up there. Bad planning.

  Mickey’s wife coughed. The perp pushed the muzzle of the gun against her temple and told her to shut up.

  ‘‘Let her go,’’ said Diane in a calmer voice than she felt.

  ‘‘I’ll kill her,’’ he said again.

  He wasn’t large. That was good. Not much body mass.

  ‘‘You do that,’’ said Diane, ‘‘and you lose your shield. These people are friends of Mickey. You kill his wife; they kill you.’’ She hoped she sounded cold and menacing enough.

  The woman’s body trembled as she coughed again, and he squeezed her tighter and told her again to shut up.

  ‘‘You’re making her cough. You’re holding her throat too tight. Ease up a little,’’ said Diane.

  He backed with his hostage in the direction of the woods bordering the museum. The access road that ran through the woods wasn’t far away. Diane guessed that was where his getaway vehicle was parked.

  ‘‘I have an offer,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Exchange me for your hostage.’’

  ‘‘No,’’ whispered Chanell. ‘‘Not a good idea.’’

  Diane ignored her. ‘‘In a show of good faith, I’ll get the guards to back away,’’ said Diane.

  She told Chanell to back her people up. It was obvi ous Chanell didn’t want to do it.

  ‘‘Reduce the tension,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Give him fifty feet of space so he will calm down.’’

  ‘‘No tricks,’’ he said. ‘‘No tricks, damn you.’’

  ‘‘No tricks,’’ said Diane.

  Chanell and her guards backed off, leaving Diane facing the perp holding Mickey’s wife.

  ‘‘Listen to me,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I think you are after the computer, aren’t you?’’

  He said nothing.

  ‘‘It’s not in the crime lab. Even if you could get in there, you wouldn’t find what you want. I have it somewhere else. The advantage to exchanging the young woman for me is that I know where the com puter is. She doesn’t.’’

  He was quiet for several moments.

  Where are the other two guards we sent through the building? Didn’t they get the instructions right?

  ‘‘Come over here slowly,’’ he said. ‘‘Don’t try any thing, or I’ll take out you and the woman before I go down.’’

  ‘‘No one has to die,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We all want to get out of this alive.’’

  Diane stepped forward slowly. When she was di rectly in front of him, he told her to turn around, facing away from him. She did what he said. He shoved
the girl to the ground and grabbed Diane from behind.