It was a dagger. She wondered if it was the one used to stab her and Mike. But why would they have denied doing it and admitted to other things? Avoiding the cutting edges, she grasped the hilt of the dagger and maneuvered it into a position so that she could saw at the tape that bound her. It was a dull knife, not the one used to stab her and Mike. They wanted her to get loose, but to delay her escape, to give them a head start.
She sawed halfway though the tape. The other half yielded more easily. Her hands came free. She wiggled them around until she could maneuver out of the tape around her shoulders, and removed the blindfold from her eyes.
She estimated that it had taken her about fifteen minutes to get free. She picked up the knife and tape, then looked around the room for anything else that might have been left behind by her kidnappers. The chair was all she saw at the moment. She grabbed it too and went for the elevator. They had left the elevator key on the floor. She put it in the lock and rode to the third floor, carrying all the items with her.
She made it to the crime lab. Chief Garnett, Sheriff Burns and Sheriff Canfield were sitting around the table. David was giving them coffee.
“What you got there, Boss?” said Jin, rushing over to help her. “What is all this stuff?”
“Don’t touch it until you get some gloves on,” she said. She turned to her guests. “I have an emergency. I’ll be with you in just a minute.”
“David, Jin, Neva, you’re with me.” She led them to one of the evidence rooms, carrying the items with her, and closed the door. Garnett and the two sheriffs stared after her.
“What’s up, Boss?”
“I just escaped from being kidnaped, knocked out with chloroform and tied up in the basement.”
Neva, Jin and David stood with their mouths open.
“Just now? That’s where you were all morning?” said David.
“Yes. David, I want you to go to the basement and process Room. . Room J, I think it’s called. There’s a temporary paper sign with the letter above the door. Process the far right elevator, the key, the tape, the chair. Look around and see if they’ve been using the basement as a home base.”
She turned to Jin. “I need you to process me.”
“You?” said Jin. “What did they do?” He looked alarmed.
“For one thing, my nails. I tried to scratch them, but I don’t think I got anything. I managed to get them to yell at me close to my ear and I’m hoping a good spray of spittle got transferred. One guy was on the left side, the other on the right. The left-side guy had noisy breathing. I’m thinking he might have had a deviated septum. Anyway, Jin, I want you to take the samples to Atlanta and do whatever you have to to get them processed ASAP.”
Jin went to get his kit to collect the samples. Diane turned to David. “When he gets the DNA results, run them through CODIS and any other DNA database you can get access to. Even if we are not supposed to have access.”
“This is serious.”
“They threatened to burn down the museum unless I get rid of the Caver Doe and Plymouth Doe evidence.”
Neva sucked in her breath.
David’s mouth was agape. “My God. You have to tell Garnett.”
“I will, but I’m not sure who to trust. They didn’t say it, but they seemed to know that we’re putting things together.” Diane shook her head. “I think-or they may simply have bungled the breakin and are now trying intimidation.”
Jin returned, and Diane gave him her jacket. “If you need to cut my hair, go ahead.”
“I’ll try not to make you look too bad,” he said. “How did you get them to yell in your ear?”
“I told them I couldn’t hear because of the chloroform.”
“You convinced them the chloroform made you deaf? Way to go, Boss.” Jin took samples of her hair around her ears, then swabbed her skin and other parts of her hair. “If they left their DNA, I got it,” said Jin. “You want me to leave now for the lab in Atlanta?”
“Yes.”
“You know, Boss, if we had our own lab. .”
“You get me some usable DNA and I’ll give it serious thought.”
“You got it,” said Jin.
“Send the information directly to David’s computer when you get the results.”
“Sure thing. You okay now, Boss?”
“No, I’m not. I am very angry. They also admitted-bragged about-being the ones responsible for what happened to my mother.”
“Good God,” said David. “I see what happened now. They wanted to steal the bones before you had a chance to look at them, so they went after your mother to get you out of town. Something-or someone-important must be connected to them.”
“Yes, I’m sure you’re right. They had me blindfolded and tied up, but here’s what I gathered from their conversation. One of them said the bones are sixty-three years old-both Caver Doe and Plymouth Doe. Now we have a firm date. At least one of them is a hacker-he took the time right before they left to brag how he could get to my family. I think it is probably the one without the nose problem. He would be the one who yelled in my right ear.”
“I was trying to find you this morning,” said David, “to tell you that I’ve filled in more blanks in our chart out there. The powder from the surgeon’s gloves that we got from the keypad on your bone lab lock is the same as powder found on the photograph of the submerged car. We also found some navy wool fibers on Quarry Doe like the wool fibers we found in the basement security room. So from what you’ve told me, I’d say it was these guys who did the crime lab burglary and murdered the two guys at the quarry.”
“Jin, when you process my jacket, check for powder residue. Feel free to cut it up if you need to.”
“Don’t you worry, Boss; we’ve all but got them.”
“You guys are doing a good job.” Diane turned to Neva. “They’ve been hanging around the museum, probably wearing museum T-shirts. I want you to check the security videotapes and interview the museum personnel-especially security and the docents-for anyone seen hanging around whom they didn’t recognize. That’s not going to be an easy task, since the museum is usually full of strangers. The guys were young-in their twenties. Cocky. They have a sense of entitlement. Both were athletic in build. White.”
Diane searched her memory of the two men in the elevator before the lights went out.
“One was just under six feet. The other about six-two or — three. I didn’t see their faces, but they had tanned complexions. One had dark blond hair, short. The other had brown hair that came below his ears. He was the taller of the two.”
“Wow,” said Neva. “I wonder what they’d think if they knew how much data you got from them.”
Diane shrugged. “Neva, if anyone seems to recognize them, draw a picture. I know you haven’t had any experience doing that kind of drawing, but here’s your chance.”
“I’ll get the videotapes from security and start interviewing the docents,” said Neva. “I’ll get right on it.”
“There has to be a third person,” Diane said. “They were waiting for me in the elevator. How did they know when I was going to the elevator?” She tried to remember if there was someone in the staff lounge when she passed. She thought so, but she passed it so many times during the day. “I have no idea what this person might look like.”
“If I can get a line on the first two, maybe the third was seen hanging around with them,” said Neva.
“I hope someone remembers them, or at least that the damn security cameras worked this time. David, take a couple of the security guards with you. Do a sweep of the entire basement.”
“Isn’t there a subbasement?” said Jin. “Korey showed me some old plans of the building.”
Diane raised an eyebrow. “Yes. But it’s dank and musty. I didn’t get any sense of that aroma from them. And from my times down in the subbasement, they’d definitely come back with a scent. But we’d better check it.” She sighed, suddenly out of breath.
“I need to know if the sta
bbings were connected to all these crimes. They denied they did the stabbings, but they don’t have a lot of credibility with me. See if you can connect Neva’s house breakin with them. Perhaps when we find them, we’ll see that one has something wrong with a finger.
“Now, I need to ask if any of you have mentioned anything about the current cases to anyone. This isn’t an accusation. I’m having to think about what I might have said to Frank. I was with him when I called David on the cell to discuss my revelation about the cave-witch bones. Someone might have overheard me.”
“I hardly talk about what I do,” said Jin. “I never discuss anything specific.”
“I don’t know anybody,” said David.
“Sometimes I tell Mike about drawings, but only in general terms. He was up here yesterday watching, but he knows not to mention anything about the crime lab, and he wouldn’t. . but I’ll check with him about it.”
“Okay, now I have to have the same conversation with the guys out there.” She pointed to Chief Garnett and the two sheriffs, who were waiting in suspense. “I have a feeling they aren’t going to be as nice as you guys about being questioned.”
Chapter 37
Chief Garnett, Sheriff Burns and Sheriff Canfield looked slightly put out when Diane sat down across from them. They shifted in their seats and finally leaned forward with their forearms on the table. She looked at each of them in turn, still trying to decide how much to say. She should tell Garnett everything, since he was not only Rosewood’s chief of detectives, but technically her boss when it came to the crime lab. The crime scene unit was his baby.
“We have a serious problem,” Diane began.
“You said on the phone that you have evidence that all the crimes are linked,” said Sheriff Canfield, obviously anxious to get on with it. His jurisdiction covered the quarry and the lake because they were in Rose County but outside of Rosewood city limits, where Garnett’s jurisdiction ended.
Canfield handed Diane a report that identified Quarry Doe as Donnie Martin-from his prison tattos. She wrote the name on the chart as she brought the board around to face them. “This is a chart of the crime scene evidence. Not all the evidence in the cases is represented, by any means. Just the pieces that connect two or more crime scenes. The Xs show the connections.” She watched their eyes to see if they were following.
She guided them through the links formed by the rare buttons, the same estimated date for the two old deaths, the picture of the submerged car, the items stolen from the lab, the blue wool fibers, and the powder residue.
The three stared at the table with wrinkled brows and frowns. Sheriff Canfield squinted his eyes, as if that made everything clearer.
“Logically, as you can see, all the crimes are connected,” Diane finished.
Sheriff Burns’s phone rang and Diane felt annoyed. It was stealing the power of the moment, and she needed the impact of the evidence in order to gain their cooperation. Burns grabbed the phone from his belt.
“Yeah?” He listened for a minute before speaking again. “Are you sure? You don’t say? I would’ve been surprised five minutes ago.” He hung up.
Sheriff Burns got up, took one of the dry markers and added to the chart. He wrote woods on the crime scene line and relatives over the evidence column and put an X where the relatives column crossed the quarry and woods lines.
They looked at him, puzzled.
“That was one my deputies. They just discovered that Flora Martin-a.k.a. Jane Doe in the woods-is the great-grandmother of Donnie Martin-a.k.a. Quarry Doe-over in your jurisdiction, Canfield.”
“So,” said Garnett, “all these cases are related. Any idea how?”
“Some,” said Diane, “but as I said, we-or rather, I-have a problem.” Diane decided to lay most of it on the table.
“I was late because two men chloroformed me in the elevator and took me to the basement, where they tied me up and proceeded to tell me that if I don’t destroy evidence, they will burn down the museum and harm my family.”
Like her staff, the three law officers stared at her in disbelief. Garnett’s face twisted into anger and he slammed his fist on the table.
“Here? Someone got you here?”
“What evidence do they want you to destroy?” said Sheriff Burns.
“Evidence from the cave and from the lake bottom.”
“For God’s sake, why?” said Sheriff Canfield. “Those are ancient cases.” He tapped the table. “Didn’t you say the lake-bottom victim could have died in 1942?”
“And if they all are connected, why not demand you destroy all the evidence?” asked Sheriff Burns.
“I’m guessing,” said Diane. “But I think when we find out what happened in the cave and at the bottom of the lake in 1942, the evidence will point directly to someone who, even after all these years, has a great deal to lose. My attackers were cocky. They think they’re too smart to get caught. They don’t think we can connect them to the murders of Jake Stanley, Donnie Martin and Flora Martin. And they realize that I can destroy the evidence from the cave without arousing a great deal of suspicion, but I can’t destroy evidence from current cases.”
“Do you know who they were?” asked Garnett.
“No. I have my staff looking for trace evidence.” Diane held back that she might have their DNA.
“We’ll give the museum extra protection, of course,” said Garnett.
“I’m going to be beefing up security, too. And I’ll have the day lighting stay on at night until we sort this out. That will make it easier for security.”
“So you weren’t tempted to destroy the evidence?” said Burns. It wasn’t an accusation, but simply a comment, something a reasonable person might do, given the alternatives.
“No,” said Diane. “Destroying evidence of a crime is not an option. Neither is having my museum burned to the ground or having my family harmed. What I’m going to do is get the sons of bitches.”
“We’ll help you,” said Burns. “Let us know.”
Diane gave them a brief description of what happened to her mother and how the two thugs bragged about it. “They were proud that they could get to anyone without leaving the house.”
“Son of a bitch,” echoed Sheriff Canfield. “People can do something like that?”
“Yes, they can,” said Garnett. “We have a unit that deals with computer fraud. It’s frightening what a hacker can do. So these guys are computer geeks?”
“At least one of them has to be.” Diane took a deep breath. Here she had to be her most diplomatic self. “One thing you can do,” said Diane. “I got the impression that the guys knew that we’re making progress. I’m checking my staff and phones to see if there is a leak, a bug or any way someone might have overheard a conversation between me and my staff. I’d like you all to do the same.”
They took the suggestion that they might have a leak much better than she had hoped.
“My big leaker is in the hospital,” said Burns. “Deputy Singer is our county commissioner’s brother-in-law and a pain in the butt. I try to keep him on easy things, like serving papers and the like. I understand he shoveled up the bones of Flora Martin and delivered her to you in a garbage bag.”
“Yes, he did.”
Burns shook his head. “That’s not how I taught him. I sent him to Atlanta for training with the GBI. I don’t know why he didn’t learn anything.”
Having Burns admit-in a manner of speaking-to a potential leak loosened up Canfield to the possibility.
“I’ll talk to my secretary and deputies. You know, we talk all the time about a break in this case or that, without giving details.”
“That’s the problem,” said Diane. “So do we, and that’s all the information they needed. They didn’t need details.”
“It’s impossible not to talk at all about a case within earshot of the people you work with,” said Garnett. “Like Canfield, we don’t give out details, just. . ‘we’re making progress’ kind of thing. Frankly, I’m sur
prised anyone takes that seriously.”
They all laughed.
“I may be all wrong,” said Diane. “Maybe they just assumed that we’d be making progress by this time.”
“If they’ve been hanging around the museum,” said Canfield, “they might have picked up something here.” He was not accusatory, but there was still a slight defensive edge to his voice.
“I agree. That’s most likely,” said Diane. She saw Canfield relax, but Garnett frowned. “That’s why I’m checking the phones. We know they have the ability to hack into secure computers. They also bypassed our electronic locks and alarms and disabled the security cameras for the lab break-in. They most likely have other electronic talents, such as tapping phones.”
“We’ll check our offices,” said Canfield.
Garnett’s frown softened. Diane knew it was important to him that the crime lab seem invincible and infallible, but she wasn’t going to get any cooperation from the two sheriffs if she put the burden of a possible leak entirely on their shoulders. In reality, she was concerned that someone overheard her phone call to David when she and Frank were in the restaurant.
“I appreciate all of your cooperation. I’ve got reports for you on the evidence found at your crime scenes.” Diane passed out papers from a stack David had put on the table in preparation for the meeting. She stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to my security personnel.”
Garnett stayed after the others left. Clearly he needed more debriefing.
“What are you doing to find these guys?”
“David is working the basement. He’ll also be searching the databases for hackers-maybe our guy did time, possibly as a juvenile. We’ll be reviewing the videotapes. Neva is interviewing museum personnel to see if anyone remembers seeing them on the third floor. We don’t have any exhibits up there. It’s all docents, exhibit planners, archives-and us. Jin is processing the evidence we do have.”
“I don’t like this at all. Someone thinks they can come in and bully their way out of trouble. We can’t allow them to get away with these kinds of tactics. I’m glad you didn’t succumb to their threats.”
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