Dead Secret

growing, and became a fixed part of their chemical makeup. The proportions of the chemicals deposited in the teeth were different in different locales throughout the world. The chemical analyses would tell where she grew up.
    Diane could see the appeal of archaeology. There was something satisfying and calming about looking at the bones of the ancient dead, trying to figure out not just how they had died, but what their lives were like.
    I really should have Jonas Briggs here with me while I’m doing this, she thought. When the museum is cleared, I’ll bring him in on the analysis.
    Time was short, so Diane decided to look over the bones quickly and go back for a more thorough examination later. She focused on the ribs—on something she had spotted when she laid out the bones.
    The right eighth rib was in two pieces that had been glued back together. She would ask Korey the best way to dissolve the glue. The seventh and ninth ribs on the right side were a quarter and a half cut through, respectively. The cut on the seventh was on the bottom of the rib. On the ninth the cut was on the top. She did a quick calculation on her notepad. That would encompass a width of about two inches.
    A glance at the sternum—the breastbone—revealed about a half-inch chunk missing on the left side. Diane looked again at the cuts in the seventh and ninth ribs. The cuts were V-shaped, and the bone displacement went from back to front.
    It looked like she had been stabbed in the back with a double-edged sword. The blade had cut through the eighth rib, slicing the edges of the two adjacent ribs, passed though and nicked a chunk out of the breastbone. The sword would have gotten the heart and liver, and possibly several other organs. It was a blow that killed instantly.
    Diane didn’t know much about swords, but a two-inch-wide blade struck her as a rather sizable weapon. She would measure the width of the cuts and other variables that the bones showed and come up with a rough facsimile of the blade. Maybe John Rose could discover what kind of sword it was.
    “Finding anything interesting?” Neva came in from the crime lab smiling. “I just talked to Mike. He says you really owe him.”
    “MacGregor wearing thin already?”
    “Sort of. He says David has a great home theater system, though.”
    “I think Mike’s feeling like he should be here protecting you, rather than hiding out in David’s condo,” said Diane.
    “I know. It doesn’t help that I can’t tell him what’s going on.”
    “I feel bad about that too, but hopefully it’ll all be over soon.” Diane looked at her watch. “Garnett should be arriving any minute now. I’m going down to meet him. Why don’t you stay here and work on our witch’s face?”

Chapter 41
    David ushered Garnett from the loading dock into the Pleistocene room. Behind them followed men from the bomb squad with their dogs. Each officer had a map of the museum from subbasement to attic.
    The dogs, German shepherds and Labrador retrievers, stood quietly and looked around the room expectantly, wagging their tails. If they were surprised at the sight of the huge Pleistocene animals, they didn’t show it.
    “I appreciate this, Chief Garnett,” she said.
    “It’s important that we get this settled. We can’t have this kind of threat to the crime lab—or the museum. However, I think you’re dead wrong about Emery. He’s a decorated marine. I know him.”
    “I hope I am wrong,” said Diane. “I don’t want it to be anyone connected to the crime lab or the museum.”
    Garnett nodded curtly. “Okay,” he said, “let’s get started.”
    “Don’t you worry, Miss Fallon; if there’s something here, the dogs will find it.”
    “Thank you, Sergeant . . .”
    “Remington, ma’am.”
    “Good name for a police officer.”
    “I think so, ma’am.”
    “Everyone should be gone except for my crime lab staff.”
    “And they will be going shortly?”
    “We thought we would stay.”
    “No, ma’am. No one can be here except us. That’s the rules. If we have to get out in a hurry, we can’t be hunting for civilians.”
    “I understand. But we—”
    He was shaking his head. “No, ma’am.”
    “There’s an experiment that has to be attended to every four hours.”
    “I’m real sorry about that. I hope it wasn’t one that was going to cure cancer.”

    “No.”
    “Good.”
    Sergeant Remington was good-natured throughout, but Diane could see he was going to win this