Dead Guilty

your assign ments.’’ Diane stood up. ‘‘I’m going to be working in the museum if you need me.’’
‘‘You seem hyper today,’’ said David.
‘‘Hand-to-hand combat does that to you.’’
‘‘You weren’t hurt, were you?’’ he asked.
‘‘I’m fine. When I finally got to a safe bed, I got a good night’s sleep.’’
    ‘‘You’ve had some reporters calling,’’ said Andie, eying Diane as she came through the office.
‘‘What did you tell them?’’
‘‘That I didn’t know what the heck they were talk ing about. What the heck were they talking about?’’
Diane described the events of the previous evening, trying to make it sound casual, but failing miserably.
‘‘He’s in critical condition. Have no idea who he is.’’
Andie stared at her with her mouth open. ‘‘Is that the guy who sent the flowers?’’
‘‘Yes.’’
‘‘How is it that you attract all these weirdos?’’
‘‘I have no idea. I’m contemplating hiring someone to steal that interview the TV station has on file so they can’t play the damn thing again. I thought I was just giving generic answers, but they certainly seemed to set this guy off.’’
‘‘He was in your bedroom all the while?’’
‘‘Apparently so.’’
‘‘That’s creepy, not to mention scary.’’
‘‘I’m going to get some work done. I want only museum business calls. Send all reporters to the police for information.’’
‘‘Dr. F.’’ Korey stood in the doorway. ‘‘I’ve got something you need to see.’’
‘‘What’s that?’’
‘‘It’s up in the conservation room.’’
Diane nodded. ‘‘Sure.’’
She walked with Korey to the conservation lab lo cated on the second floor.
‘‘How did our mummy fare on his outing?’’ she asked.
‘‘He did fine. When we got him back, I went back in with the endoscope and took a sample of the tumor. That ought to be interesting.’’
Diane quickened her pace.
‘‘You have the amulets up there?’’
‘‘Sure do. Great stuff. You haven’t seen them?’’
‘‘No, and I would like to.’’
Korey grinned. ‘‘You’re going to like this, then.’’
Mike Seger was in the conservation room looking at the amulets when Diane arrived.
‘‘You tell her what you found?’’
‘‘Not yet. She wanted to see the amulets first.’’
‘‘This sounds mysterious.’’ Diane stopped at a table where twenty-one Egyptian artifacts were laid out on a piece of batting. ‘‘These are absolutely lovely.’’
They were small. The largest piece was a scarab about four inches long. Each piece had a card next to it saying what it was and what materials it was made from.
The scarab was alabaster and probably had been over his heart. Several small fish figurines made of alabaster and lapis lazuli lay in two rows. An in scribed cylinder of sandstone had the name Senusret III written on it, according to the card. There was another row
figure made
SHABTIS.
of several limestone figurines and a of black steatite that was labeled
‘‘That’s a Get Out of Work Free card for the after life,’’ said Korey, as Diane picked up the shabtis and turned it over in her hand. ‘‘According to Jonas, the writing on the back is a spell to let the person send the shabtis in his place if he was ever asked to do work. It seems that’s what the rich folk did in life too. When there was mandatory work to be done, they could send in a sub. The work they were opting out of was the hard labor variety. Seems that ancient Egypt had a big public works program. Very useful when the Nile flooded.’’
Two figures lying next
    pottery. colored glazed FAIENCE.’’

    ‘‘Kendel says to each other looked like The card was labeled

    faience ceramic is made of lime,
    crushed quartz and alkali and makes a glaze when it’s fired,’’ said Korey. ‘‘She says a lot of their jewelry was made that way.’’
    ‘‘These are wonderful,’’ said Diane. ‘‘They’ll make an incredible exhibit.’’
‘‘The designers are already at it. I’ve just about had to run them out of here to get any work done. Can’t blame them, though. This is really fine stuff.’’
‘‘Now, what did you ask me up here for?’’
‘‘The lawyer for Raymond Waller called and asked us if we could make the arrangement to send the base ball collection to the Negro Leagues Baseball Mu seum. I told him sure, we interact with museums all the time.’’
‘‘Certainly, we can handle it. Is there a