Dead Secret

“Real-men-don’t-eat-quiche kind of thing.”
    Neva nodded. “I introduced Mike, and Uncle Brad shook his hand and started his squeeze routine. But Mike’s a rock climber. I didn’t tell Uncle Brad that Mike often has to lift his body weight up by his fingers. Well, Mike could squeeze harder than Uncle Brad.” Neva grinned. “They stood there holding hands, Uncle Brad’s face getting redder by the second. Finally, Mike said that if they didn’t quit holding hands, people were going to start talking. Ever since then, Uncle Brad keeps talking about how he’d hurt his hand at work and it wasn’t as strong as it usually was. He’s the kind who can dish things out but can’t take them.” Neva shrugged. “But the phone calls are weird even for him.” As she spoke, Neva looked at the board with David’s crime scene and evidence chart. “What’s this?”
    Jin explained to her about the possibility that Caver Doe was the real focus of the lab theft and the witch bones had been stolen by mistake.
    “That makes sense. I have to tell you, I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around the theory that Druids broke in. So are you telling me that all our crime scenes are related?”
    “The evidence and the logic say they are,” said Diane. “It’s something to look into. We need to get Detective Garnett, Sheriff Burns and Sheriff Canfield in here together to discuss this. They’re going to love that. There’s nothing like cross-jurisdictional cases to deal with. Okay, let’s finish the trace evidence. I’ll go call Garnett and the others.”
    “I was just thinking,” said Neva. “Why don’t I use our software and age the girl in the snapshot—the one found with Caver Doe? Show what she might look like today. I could do another drawing. Maybe two drawings. One where she ages well and one where she doesn’t.”
    “That’s a good idea,” said Diane. “She might still be alive, and people would more likely recognize her face as it is now rather than the way she looked when she was young.”>
    “Good thinking,” said Jin, gently shoving her. “You’ve been doing a lot of that lately.”
    Diane went to her office and called Garnett, Burns and Canfield. All were surprised at the connections. Burns was skeptical. They agreed to come and discuss pooling resources. Garnett would like that, thought Diane. That was exactly what he and the mayor wanted—for Rosewood to become the place where all the surrounding counties came to get help solving their crimes.
    While Diane was at her desk, she gave Lynn Webber a belated call to thank her for working on Caver Doe.
    “Why, you’re welcome,” said Lynn. “It was interesting to work on mummified remains. I hope the bones were nice and clean when you got them. I miss Raymond every day that goes by, but my new assistant, Grover, is just precious. Have you met him?”
    “No. I haven’t had the pleasure yet. But he did a fine job on the bones. Did you know he put them in separate boxes according to their side? Got it right too.”
    “Did he really?” Webber laughed with that mirthful laugh that Diane noticed men just loved, but she found grating. “Why am I not surprised?” she said.
    “He is obviously very conscientious in his work.”
    “Next time you’re over here, I’ll introduce you. He worked as a mortician’s assistant before he applied for Raymond’s job. He knew Raymond. I think they may even be related, like third cousins. He’s a really big guy with a large round face and hands as big as dinner plates. But he has a delicate touch with the cadavers when it’s called for. He talks to them too, and is so solemn all the time that I have to make an effort not to laugh. You know how Raymond had that great sense of humor. Grover is completely opposite. But I’m pleased with his work.”
    Lynn Webber obviously still grieved for her former assistant, who was murdered not that long ago.
    “I’m looking forward to it,” said Diane. “I won’t keep you. I just wanted to thank you for your work on Caver Doe.”
    “Anytime—well, not anytime—but I like interesting challenges. How are you? I’ve been hearing the most alarming things—that you got stabbed at a funeral? That can’t be right.”
    “I did. Some maniac, I imagine. We don’t know who did it. But I’m healing fine. It wasn’t serious. Just very annoying. Thanks for asking.”
    Diane got off the phone before Lynn started asking about the break-in and other questions