Dead Hunt

about the artifacts—
anything on NSAF?’’
‘‘The artifacts. Right. The girdle, the one that looks
like it was made of cowrie shells, was stolen from the
Cairo Museum in 1957,’’ he said. ‘‘It was the only one
of the artifacts in the database. The stone artifacts had
soil residue on them, but I haven’t had a chance to
process the sample yet. We’ve been kind of busy.’’ ‘‘I know. Thanks, Jin. It’s about time for you guys
to go home,’’ she said.
‘‘We’ll wait. We want to know what happened with
the marshals,’’ said Jin.
Oh, I’m not sure you do, thought Diane. ‘‘I don’t
know how long I’ll be,’’ she said.
‘‘That’s okay. Neva and David want to know if it’s
all right if they go back up to the lab,’’ said Jin. ‘‘Yes. Everyone’s gone,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Well, tell me this, did they try to hang it on you?’’
Jin was in his usual joking manner and she could tell
he really didn’t believe they would seriously consider
Diane to be a suspect.
‘‘Yes,’’ she said, ‘‘they did.’’
‘‘Really, Boss?’’ said Jin. ‘‘I’m sorry...did they
really?’’
‘‘It’s all right. Thanks to Garnett, I didn’t get hauled
off to the station.’’ She looked at her watch. ‘‘I need
to get going. The FBI is waiting. I’ll tell you about
it later.’’
Diane left the crime lab and walked across the dinosaur overlook through to the bank of elevators in the
middle of the building. She passed several museum
staff. A few looked as if they wanted to engage her
in conversation but she waved them off, smiling, hoping she didn’t look as overwhelmed as she felt. She would really like to sit down and take a break, drink some hot tea, skip town. But there wasn’t time. She took the elevator down to the first floor and walked to her office. Andie was there engaging the FBI agent
in an animated conversation about dinosaurs. He rose, smiled, and held out a hand when Diane
came into the room. ‘‘I’m Agent Shane Jacobs. I understand you have some antiquities that may not be
yours.’’

Chapter 24
    You have antiquities that may not be yours —it sounded like a principal gently scolding a naughty student.
    ‘‘I’m afraid we might,’’ said Diane, ‘‘I’m sorry to say.’’ She took his hand.
Shane Jacobs had a firm handshake, salt-and-pepper wavy hair, and a slim tanned face with sharp features. He looked younger than Diane by a few years. His dark suit, smooth-shaven face, and short hair made him look like the stereotypical FBI agent. He pulled out his FBI identification to let her inspect it.
‘‘I would like to see the artifacts,’’ he said.
He wasn’t somber like the law enforcement officers she had just dealt with, but smiled broadly at her as if he could just as well have been coming to buy the artifacts. He looked at his watch.
‘‘I know it’s getting late, but I’d also like to speak with Dr. Kendel Williams and the curator of your Egyptian exhibits,’’ he said.
He seemed friendly enough, but Diane was sure that was just his method of gaining the confidence of the person he was interviewing. She was getting weary of being on the suspect end of investigations.
Diane turned to Andie. ‘‘Has Kendel left for the day?’’ she asked.
‘‘I’ll call,’’ said Andie as she picked up the phone.
‘‘If she’s in, tell her to wait,’’ said Diane. ‘‘If not, call her home and ask her to come to the museum.’’
Andie nodded. ‘‘Got it.’’
‘‘Is Jonas back?’’ she asked Andie. Ironically, Jonas Briggs had been at an Egyptology conference.
‘‘I saw him earlier. He was looking for you,’’ said Andie.
‘‘He and everyone else on the planet,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We’ll be going by his office. I’ll stop in.’’
Diane led Agent Jacobs out of Andie’s office and down the hall toward the main bank of elevators.
‘‘The artifacts are in the conservation lab on the second floor,’’ she said.
‘‘I appreciate your cooperation in this,’’ said Jacobs. ‘‘As you can guess, I get a lot of ‘where’s your warrant.’ ’’
‘‘This has been dreadful for us,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We would like it cleared up as soon as possible.’’ As she walked, she explained everything that she had discovered so far. ‘‘We didn’t know anything was wrong until the newspaper articles began coming out. The artifacts had just arrived and hadn’t even been opened