Dead Secret

theory, Boss?” asked Jin. “Everything is connected to everything?”
    “I agree with David,” Diane said. “Too many coincidences. Let’s follow the evidence. What key evidence do we have that is not matched to a suspect?”
    “We have Valentine and MacRae linked to the Donnie Martin crime scene,” said David. “But we don’t have anyone directly linked to the Flora Martin murder. We do have the knife tip you found in Flora Martin’s bone. If we find the knife, we can match it. That might point to Valentine and MacRae, or it might point to someone else.”
    “We have the unknown fingerprint in the bug terrarium,” said Jin.
    Diane looked at him for a moment, puzzled. “Oh, the break-in at the dermestarium on the university campus?”
    “Yeah, that,” said Jin. “We got that one fingerprint inside the bug box that doesn’t match any of our known exemplars. But that could be a long shot. Lots of people come and go from a university lab. The print could have come from almost anyone.”
    Diane looked at David. “I don’t suppose you can match the stolen bugs with the Flora Martin crime scene?”
    David shook his head. “They’re all Dermestes maculatus, wild and domestic. I can’t tell the wild ones from the others. I don’t really know if the dermestids stolen from the university are the same ones found on Flora Martin’s remains—just that she had more beetles than are usually found with a body in the wild. And speaking of bodies and beetles, has anybody noticed a smell in the museum?” asked David. “Kind of bad.”
    “I did,” said Diane.
    “Me, too,” said Neva. “I think a couple of the dogs took a dump somewhere.”
    “More like that snake crawled up somewhere and died,” said Jin.
    Diane laughed. “That’s the first thing that came to mind to me too.”
    “I just get a whiff and then it’s completely gone,” said David.
    “I’ll have the custodial staff go through the place when this is over,” said Diane. “And I hope it’s over soon.” She looked at her watch.
    “We have a bet going,” said Jin. “I say your suspicions about the museum break-in are wrong. David says you’re right—but he’s paranoid and doesn’t trust anybody. Neva’s with you, only because you have a good track record of being right. So I hope you’re wrong about Emery and I win a lot of money.”
    “So do I, Jin,” said Diane. “Is that all the information we have on any of this? Have we exhausted all leads?”
    “The sheriff brought diaries that belonged to Flora Martin and I took them to Korey,” said Jin. “He said it would take a while. They’re pretty bad off. Saturated with mud.”
    “Speak of the devil,” said David. “Here he comes in dreadlocks.”
    Korey came in carrying a folder, followed by Mike carrying several flat boxes.
    “Anybody order pizza?” said Mike.
    Korey and Mike pulled up chairs. Diane got everyone soft drinks from her refrigerator and they passed slices of pizza around the table.
    “I ran your samples, Doc,” said Mike. Diane looked blank for a moment. “The ones Neva gave me. She said they’re from England.”
    “The dirt samples, yes. What did you find out?”
    “Sample one, the dirt from the cave, and sample two, the dirt from the bones, are the same. Sample three, the mineral deposits on the bones, is sodium chloride.”
    “Salt?”
    “Salt.”
    “So the bones did come from the cave,” mused Diane.
    “According to the dirt,” said Mike.
    “I appreciate your analyzing them so quickly.”
    “As a show of your appreciation, can I stay here tonight, Doc? Don’t get me wrong, David; I really like your condo, and it was good of you to let me stay there. But I’m going to get a concussion banging my head against the wall,” said Mike.
    “MacGregor?” said Diane.
    “I like Mac, I really do, but in smaller doses. When we were cleaning David’s kitchen, he sang ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall’—all the way to the end. And then started over again.”
    Neva collapsed into giggles with the others and patted him on the back. “Poor baby.”
    “Okay, you can stay here,” said Diane.
    “Oh, thank you, Doc. You don’t know how I appreciate it. Does your evidence tell you who’s been making the prank calls to us?”
    “No.” Diane didn’t say she wasn’t sure the police were looking. She was suddenly filled with guilt. She hadn’t thought about the crank calls since she heard about them. “Did the police tap your