Dead Secret

and I understand that you have too.”
    “Yes, I have. Mr. Rose, I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but someone broke in here and stole your bones the night before last. We are doing everything we can to recover them. I can’t tell you how sorry—”
    “No, dear lady, it is you who are owed an apology. And I sincerely do apologize.”
    Diane was taken aback. Had he come to get them? she wondered. No, of course not. He wouldn’t have broken in—and stolen other things too.
    “I don’t understand,” she said.
    “The bones are safe. I wanted to tell you before they arrived that the bones I sent were those of a roe. I suspected something like this would happen. I heard Charlotte Hawkins was traveling to the United States, and I just knew she would try to steal my bones, or that Dean Denning would. He is the owner of Moonhater Cave.”
    Diane was speechless. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or angry. “Well, Mr. Rose, I don’t quite know what to say.”
    “I can well imagine. And I am very sorry to have played such a trick on you. I well intended to talk to you sooner, but I had to be out unexpectedly. I do want you to look at the genuine bones, please. Sir Gregory says you are the best. The real ones will be arriving at your door within the week by special courier.”
    “All right. At least I now have some possible suspects. We had some other things taken as well.”
    “Oh, dear. I’ve let you in for a spot of trouble indeed, haven’t I? Please forgive me.”
    “That’s all right. I’m just glad they aren’t missing. I’ll let you know when your bones arrive.” Diane paused a moment. “Did I hear you say Sir Gregory?”
    “Yes. He was knighted just last week.”
    “He didn’t tell me, but he was never one to talk about his own achievements.” Nevertheless, Diane felt a little hurt that he didn’t share his news with her.
    “That’s him. Very nice fellow. Wonderful family.”
    Diane cradled the phone and sat a moment, shaking her head. At least she should be grateful that the witch bones had not been stolen. She pulled a card with Charlotte Hawkins’s local address on it out of her desk drawer and slipped it into her pocket.
    “Andie, I’ll be in the crime lab. Call me if you need me.”
    “Will do,” said Andie as Diane went out the door.

    The crime lab was on the third floor of the west wing of the building. The room was a warren of glassed-in workspaces outfitted with all the modern forensic equipment for various kinds of microscopic analysis, gas chromatography, spectral analysis, electrostatic detection and computer analysis. The computers held national and international databases for fingerprint and DNA identification, as well as databases for fibers, shoe prints, bullet casings, tire treads, paint, hair, cigarette butts and several others that David had added. In addition, the computers had software that matched, categorized, imaged, mapped and correlated all manner of data. The lab also had bug-rearing chambers. The crime lab was a separate entity from the museum, though Diane often consulted with the museum when she needed an expert on such things as pollen analysis, soil analysis or animal identification.
    David, Chief Garnett and Lane Emery, head of security for the crime lab, sat at the round metal table in a corner of the lab.
    “I was beginning to wonder where you were,” said Garnett, looking at his watch. He slid his hand over his salt-and-pepper hair.
    Diane ignored Garnett’s cross tone. She was rather cross herself. “Tell me what happened,” she asked Emery.
    The head of crime lab security looked to Garnett as if for permission. Diane hadn’t hired him—the Rosewood police had—and he looked to Garnett as his boss. Diane didn’t like that, but so far it hadn’t been a battle she wanted to fight. She suspected that that would now change.
    “Mr. Emery, tell me what happened,” Diane repeated in a firmer tone.
    “Oh, sure. At three sixteen A.M., someone bypassed the security system and broke into the crime lab. They hit Lee Carey, the night receptionist, with a stun gun and chloroformed him. Did the same with one guard, Joe Rich, and stole two microscopes, along with a box of evidence—I’m not sure what was in it.” He looked at David.
    “The box contained railroad spikes, the Moon Pie wrappers, the rope and the Mickey Mouse flashlight from the cave. Korey had the clothes, and Jin had the rest of Caver Doe’s stuff locked up in his