Dead Past

basement with the unknown victim whose skull she partially reconstructed.
    Diane retrieved a flattened box from the van, put it together, and began packing the bones carefully inside. She was about to pack the last few bones when suddenly the section of warehouse was awash with light.
    She stood and gave the scene another look. The entire floor was filled with piles and piles of rubble from the fire. He had brought all of the evidence here to go through himself before taking it to the arson lab to be processed. What was he looking for? Anything else beside the bones, or just anything that might incriminate him? Looking around at the compromised evidence, Diane had no doubt that McNair had been up to his eyeballs in methamphetamine dealing.
    She finished packing the bones just as Garnett brought several members of the media in to take pictures of the dumped evidence. Diane ducked out before anyone could get a picture of her. Outside, David was standing near the van staring up at the ridge that overlooked the warehouse site.
    Diane loaded the box in the van, then followed his gaze. “What are you looking at?” She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
    “I’m trying to figure out what Jin is up to,” said David. “He’s been up on that ridge, taking pictures and walking back and forth.”
    Diane looked up on the ridge at Jin, who was squatting, looking at something on the ground. “He must have found something,” said Diane.
    “Looks like it,” said David.
    “Let’s go see what it is,” said Diane.
    “You’d better go. If we all disappear, the media will get suspicious and follow us,” said David.
    “Good thinking.” Diane got a flashlight from the van and walked alone up the rocky snow-covered ground to the ridge where Jin was taking pictures.
    “What did you find?” asked Diane.
    “Hey, Boss. Look at this.” Jin showed her a place among the weeds and bushes that was disturbed. There were no footprints, but the ground and vegetation were flattened.
    “I found these.” Jin held up a bag with cigarette butts. “We can get some DNA from these.”
    “Did you find any bones or evidence?” asked Diane.
    “No, but this is interesting.” He gestured toward the warehouse.
    Diane viewed the brick structure looking more and more like an ancient ruin as the sun’s rays faded into twilight. She saw nothing unusual. “Why were you photographing the building?”
    “Look for yourself.” Jin gave her the camera. He had screwed on a telephoto lens.
    Diane looked through the lens of the camera at the warehouse. Through one of the upper windows she had an almost perfect view of the lighted inside. She saw clearly McNair’s truck and the piles of defiled evidence.
    “This is interesting. You think someone was up here spying on McNair?” said Diane.
    “Yeah, I think so. There was a light snow the night McNair was murdered and there hasn’t been one since. The butts I found had a light covering of snow. They are recent, but not after the murder.”
    Diane looked through the lens again. She could see the reporters photographing the scene; she saw Garnett standing by watching. She saw Neva open the door to the truck. It was a good vantage point for spying.
    “Continue to scout around,” said Diane. “See if you can find any tracks. If we could get a line on a vehicle, that would be great. When you finish, help David and Neva. I’m going to hitch a ride back to the lab and work on the bones we found.”
    “The rest of the cook?” asked Jin.
    “I’m not sure now that the guy I reconstructed was the cook, or was the only cook. There was at least another person in the basement when it exploded.”
    “That’s good—I mean the more clues we have, the faster we can solve this thing,” said Jin. “Not that we have another dead body from the explosion.”
    “I’m hoping I have enough facial fragments for another reconstruction,” said Diane. “Carry on.”
    Diane worked her way down the embankment, slipping a couple of times in the snow. When she got back down she went inside, pulled Garnett away from the media, coaxed him into the van, and told him about the other person in the basement—and about Jin’s find.
    “This is good. I can tell the media how valuable information could have been lost if we hadn’t found where McNair hid it.”
    Get your mind off payback, thought Diane. “Have you found anyone alive who lived in the apartment house,” she asked. “What about the