Dead Secret

ask me to turn the bones over to her. I talked her into giving me a swab so I could check her DNA against the bones to verify whether she truly is a descendant.”
    Garnett shook his head as though trying to clear water out of an ear. “That’s strange. Did she want them badly enough to hire professionals?”
    “I don’t know. Would professionals risk breaking into a crime lab?” asked Diane.
    “I’ve known people who’ll go anywhere for enough money,” said Emery.
    “Do you know where this Charlotte Hawkins is staying?” asked Garnett.
    Diane gave him the card Charlotte Hawkins had given her.
    Garnett dropped the card into an evidence envelope and put it in his coat pocket. “I’ll look into it. Diane, we are trying to keep it quiet that the crime lab was burglarized. We don’t want any defense lawyers getting the idea that evidence has been compromised. When David called it in he had the good sense to say it was the museum that was broken into. We need to find out what happened as soon as we can. I’m handling this one myself.”
    “If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll be going,” said Emery. “I want to solve this too. I don’t like this happening on my watch. I know a few people I can talk to about who might be for hire.”
    Emery stood up, looked around as if searching for something he’d forgotten, then left the lab by way of the elevator. Diane thought she noticed that his shoulders slumped. This was a blow. He had recommended the security system they had.
    “I assume he’s been been checked out,” said David.
    “He will be. We aren’t leaving anyone out.” Garnett smiled, and David smiled back at him.
    “Is there any news about the stabbings at the funeral?” Diane asked.
    Garnett shook his head. “It’s hard to believe, but no one saw a thing.”
    “David, did the Odells provide you with anything useful?”
    “The Odells?” asked Garnett.
    “My neighbors,” Diane explained.
    “The Addams Family,” said David.
    “They attend all funerals of any interest,” said Diane. “And take notes.”

Chapter 27
    Garnett looked from Diane to David, wondering, no doubt, if they were pulling his leg.
    “Did the Odells see anything suspicious?” Garnett asked finally.
    “Not at the funeral itself,” said David. “But at the grave there were several people who did not possess the solemnity that they should have. And there was one person who moved around a lot—going from one side of the gathering to the other. At first they thought he might be a reporter. They said he couldn’t have been a mourner. He was too mobile, and his long black raincoat was not of good quality—it didn’t hang right or something.”
    Diane smiled, trying to imagine what went on in the Odells’ minds.
    “I asked them to describe the person. All I could get was male, medium height, dark hair, and several inches taller than Mavis Hatfield. Veda Odell did notice that he wore a ring with a bloodred stone, and one of his fingers looked like it had something wrong with it. She couldn’t see what. She said they were never too near him.”
    “Who is Mavis Hatfield, and how tall is she?” asked Garnett.
    “One of the mourners,” said David. “And she’s five-foot-three. I told the detective on the case that the perp might have been standing next to her, so maybe he could interview her to see if she saw something.” Diane could tell from the position of David’s eyebrows that he didn’t believe the detective would follow through.
    “How much weight should I give this?” asked Garnett.
    “I’m not sure,” said Diane. “They are familiar with how people act at funerals, and they go there to watch, so they would notice things out of the ordinary in that respect. That’s all I can say. . . .”
    “Oh, they did say that they would never use that funeral home,” David said, grinning.
    “Why?” asked Diane.
    “They said they didn’t do a good job embalming and the casket wasn’t sealed right. Seems they got a whiff of an unpleasant odor.”
    Diane laughed. “God, what people.”
    “Odell, did you say? I believe one of my detectives tried to interview them because their name was in the guest book. He didn’t get very far.”
    “I guess he didn’t have David’s savoir faire,” said Diane.
    David scowled at her.
    Garnett rose from the table. His tailored suit hung well on his lean body. Diane didn’t think she had ever seen him when he wasn’t well dressed. He smoothed his hair with a