Dead Past

duty.
    “They tell me we had some excitement last night,” said Chanell. “Are you all right, Dr. Fallon?”
    “I’m fine, Chanell. Have you found out anything?”
    “The police caught the second guy. They have them both downtown. I expect they’ll let us know what it was about when they find out. You know how Chief Garnett hates anything to happen to the museum.”
    Diane did. He hated anything that might make Diane rethink her arrangement with Rosewood about having a crime lab in a wing of the museum. He and the mayor had promised that the crime lab wouldn’t attract anything dangerous to the museum. They hadn’t been able to keep that promise, but Garnett certainly tried.
    “Keep your ears open,” said Diane. “Find out if anyone else has had any problems at all going to their cars. But I actually came here on another matter. Aquatic Animals have had several valuable seashells stolen.” Diane handed her the folder that Whitney Lester had given her.
    “Here are pictures of the seashells. There is a sheet with the value in there, too. I think the theft amounts to over six thousand dollars.”
    Chanell shook her head. “Not another one. I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Diane.
    “Other departments have had losses. Always rare items and always small items.”
    “Why didn’t I know about this?” asked Diane.
    “Most of the complaints have come in just recently while you were at the explosion site. The collection managers just now noticed things missing. In some cases, less valuable items were substituted for the real ones, and it took a while to discover the difference.”
    “What’s been stolen?” asked Diane, horrified that systematic theft was happening in the museum.
    “Just yesterday, the Geology manager said three gem quality stones are missing, including a diamond donated by Vanessa Van Ross.”
    “Oh, no, not her ten-thousand-dollar diamond.”
    “I’m afraid so. They also have two valuable geodes missing. Entomology reported that a rare”—Chanell got a folder from her desk and opened it—“ Boloria improba acrocnema is missing.” She pronounced the name syllable by syllable. “That’s a butterfly. The curator said it’s worth about seven hundred dollars.”
    “Anything else?”
    “Paleontology reported fossils missing, including dinosaur eggs.” She waved a sheet with a list of items. “We don’t know the value yet, but right now we may be looking at about thirty thousand dollars worth of missing items.”
    “What’s being done to get to the bottom of it?”
    “I’m reviewing the videotapes. So far nothing stands out. The problem is we don’t have a specific time for any of the thefts. I’ve asked all the departments to tell me, as best they can, exactly when was the last time anyone can confirm that the missing items were still here. I’ve been in touch with the GBI and the FBI. Right now the value is not enough for them to sit up and take a lot of notice. But they are helping me look at collectors who are known to buy stolen property. I’ve asked all the departments to go over their inventory. That’s how Geology discovered the gemstones. The collection manager is beside herself. Someone put fake gems in place of the real ones so no one would notice anything was missing. She said Mike was going to be furious when he gets back from wherever he is.”
    “He’s searching for extremophiles in caves in Brazil.”
    “Lord have mercy . . . whatever that is. It’s an education every time I talk to one of these curators.”
    Diane smiled. “Has Archaeology suffered any losses? They have some valuable artifacts.”
    “I asked Jonas Briggs. He said no. I think he was a little offended.” She grinned. “But you know him.”
    “Keep on this,” she said. “Keep me informed of all developments.”
    “We will, Dr. Fallon. We’ve been talking with Dr. Williams while you’ve been working on those poor students’ remains. That whole business is just simply awful.”
    “Yes, it is. It’s caused a lot of profound grief. It’s going to take a long time to recover—if ever. You don’t really recover from the loss of a child.”
    “No, ma’am, you don’t.”
    Diane called Kendel Williams and asked her to meet her in front of Aquatics. She left Security, which was in the east wing, and walked to Aquatic Animals, which was in the west wing. On the way she passed the museum store and she wondered if they had had anything stolen. She