Dead Past

job.”
    “Marcus’ men collected the evidence in the basement,” said Diane. “There have to be more bone parts from there. I have a couple of long bones, a rib, and the skull fragments from the basement, that’s it.”
    “Maybe it was all obliterated,” said Garnett.
    “Do you know how hard it is to obliterate bone?” asked Diane.
    “I’ll check on it,” he said.
    “Have you been able to look at any of the other evidence from the basement area?”
    “No. McNair’s unit is working on it. They’ll let me know when they have something.” Garnett thanked her again and hung up.
    Diane thought he was in rather a hurry to get off the phone.
    “Well,” said Diane, “Patrice had the same idea . . . but she’s asked for police protection from me.”
    The three of them laughed. She didn’t think it was funny.
    “I’ll be going through the books we brought from the Cipriano apartment,” said Diane, “while you guys work on the other two cases.”
    The books were stacked in boxes in one of the glassed-in workrooms of the crime lab. The ones David had already gone through were on the table. He had made a list of the titles, authors, copyright dates, editions, and subject matter. She scanned the list, looking for a title, a name, or anything that might sound like the phrase Jere Bowden thought she heard. Nothing sprang from David’s page of notes.
    Diane continued where he left off. She flipped through the books, looking for margin notes or anything stuck between the pages. She went through about twenty books and . . . nothing. David was right. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you have a hard time finding it.
    She had started on a second boxful when Neva came into the room.
    “I got a call from one of my sources,” she said. “I have some information.” She dragged up a chair and sat down. “It was another jogger who found McNair on the path. He said when he parked his car he saw a guy walking up the road. He was wearing a synthetic black winter coat and bill cap that matched, jeans, and work boots. He had graying dark hair, from what he could see. He noticed him because he didn’t look like either a jogger or hiker. Does that sound familiar?”
    “That’s the description of the guy Jere Bowden saw at Joana Cipriano’s apartment,” said Diane.
    “That’s what they are thinking at Homicide,” said Neva.
    “So the murders are tied together somehow,” said Diane. “How? We haven’t found any evidence that Joana was involved in anything criminal.” For that matter, she thought, they didn’t really know if McNair was involved in anything illegal.
    “I suppose it could be a coincidence,” said Neva. “I mean, after all, it’s not like those are unusual clothes. You could go around the city and find a half dozen men dressed like that this time of year.”
    “I supposed they asked Joana’s ex-husband if she knew McNair?” said Diane.
    “They did, and he said he’d never heard of him. Neither had her mother or her friends,” said Neva.
    “Did the witness have any other information?” asked Diane.
    “Just that he thought the hat was new or the guy was a dork.”
    “Excuse me?” said Diane.
    “The bill on his cap was straight, not curved. You know, you have to train your cap bill to have that curve in it. Most new hats don’t have it. It’s dorky to not train your cap bill.”
    “Of course.” Diane had rolled up many a baseball cap bill and stuck it in a glass to get that curve in it. “If he saw the bill of the cap, did he see a face?”
    “Partial face. The guy’s collar was pulled up and he had his head turtled down and his hands in his pocket as though he was cold.”
    “Thanks, Neva. That’s a good lead. Thank your informant for me.”
    “Sure. The police are kind of funny on this one,” said Neva. “Normally, a member of the fire department like McNair would be held in the same regard as a member of the police department. They would pull out all the stops to find his killer. But McNair was considered lower than Internal Affairs because of the way he’s gotten so many good cops in trouble.” She shook her head. “He was a nasty fellow and he’s sure caused a lot of problems. Garnett has to report directly to the mayor every day. They said he’s pulling his hair out trying to deal with all of this—and he has a nice full head of hair.”
    “I can imagine. When Garnett gets the report on trace from both the crime scenes, get me a copy. I’m