Dead Hunt

sphinx is from the region of Abydos in Egypt,’’ she said. ‘‘Jin thinks it may have been dug up recently. There was very little other contamination to suggest it had been sitting in a warehouse or some other place for any length of time.’’
‘‘That’s good information. Thanks,’’ he said.
‘‘You’re welcome,’’ said Diane.
‘‘So,’’ said Andie when Diane was off the phone, ‘‘you know where the stuff came from?’’
‘‘Not exactly. But we are a fraction closer.’’
‘‘What about that money?’’ whispered Andie.
‘‘I don’t know.’’ She stood up and slipped her cell in her pocket. ‘‘Call if you need anything. I’m going up to the crime lab.’’
Her crew was there—Jin, Neva, and David. Jin had news; Diane could tell by the look on his face, as if the news would fly out of his mouth at any moment or he would choke. But before she sat down with them for a debriefing she went to check on the progress of the searches. The face recognition software was working away, applying its formula to each face in the official databases at lightning speed, but so far there was nothing. Diane felt a stab of disappointment. She checked her e-mail. Nothing from Colonel Kade yet either. She was hoping to wake up this morning and everything would be solved—or at the very least there would be a clue. Of course, there was still Arachnid. She would go down later and see whether it had found anything.
Diane did have some results from her query of Internet Listservs—five e-mails from disgruntled lawyers. They were short, basically polite, but terse statements, like ‘‘this isn’t appropriate’’ or ‘‘I’ve spoken with the list owner.’’ One was more explicit, asking her if she knew ‘‘how f**ing long’’ it took him to download the picture. Diane thought that only five complaints out of the hundreds of attorneys on the various lists was pretty good, especially from a group of people who file complaints for a living. There was no telling how many complaints the list owners got. But she imagined they were used to putting out fires.
Her crew had been looking over her shoulder as she checked the progress.
‘‘Nothing, huh, Boss?’’ said Jin.
‘‘It’s early yet,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You guys want to tell me what progress we’ve made so far?’’ Diane got up from the chair, and after casting a wistful glance at the face recognition program still running, she went to the debriefing table and sat down.
‘‘What I want to know,’’ said David as he sat down, ‘‘is what’s with the money? There’s four thousand dollars in there. Did someone just send it to you?’’
‘‘What money?’’ said Jin and Neva together.
‘‘Yes, someone just sent it to me,’’ said Diane. ‘‘With the note. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a bribe, a payoff, or a donation from an angry contributor who still wants to give but is pissed at me.’’
‘‘What are you talking about?’’ said Neva.
‘‘Yesterday, when we had a room full of law enforcers—with guns,’’ said David, ‘‘Diane hands me this envelope filled with packets of one-hundreddollar bills.’’
‘‘You’re kidding,’’ said Jin. ‘‘Someone sent you bundles of money?’’
‘‘Yes, and I haven’t a clue what it’s about. We can add it to the long and growing list of things I don’t know anything about.’’ She looked at David. ‘‘Were you able to find anything on it?’’
‘‘Yes, I did. You know that tiny piece of paper with blood on it I gave you, Jin?’’ said David.
‘‘That piece was cut from money? Is that legal?’’ asked Jin.
‘‘It was cut from one of the wrappers,’’ said David, glaring at him. ‘‘Apparently the guy got a paper cut.’’
‘‘Wow, Boss, that’s my news,’’ Jin said. ‘‘We’re making some progress, now.’’ He rubbed his hands together.
‘‘Well finally,’’ said Diane. ‘‘What is it?’’
‘‘The blood on the money wrapper has the same DNA as the hair pulled off Andie’s purse, the one she hit your attacker with.’’
Diane stared at him. She wasn’t sure her surprise was because the attacker and the money sender were the same, or because they had actually found out something.
‘‘Are you sure?’’ she said.
‘‘Of course I’m sure,’’ said Jin. ‘‘And neither one is Clymene or even related to her.’’
‘‘Is he in the system?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘No,’’ said