Dead Secret

he’ll go with the majority. As usual, Reptiles is afraid to voice an opinion, and I can’t get hold of Rocks.”
    “You know we have a new geology curator,” said Diane.
    “Yes,” Andie replied, nodding her head excitedly. “Is that immediate?”
    Diane was glad to see that everyone she talked to was enthusiastic about Mike’s coming on board as curator. That would certainly make it an easy transition for him.
    “For the purpose of museum business, yes. But while Mike is recovering, work around him.”
    “There are some proposals and acquisition requests for you to look at in your in box, and the velociraptors are due to arrive next week. Paleontology wants to know if he can shut down the dinosaur room while they’re being assembled.”
    Diane knew they wanted to work on the velociraptors without the constant clamor of visitors, but visitors to the museum loved seeing dinosaurs being put together. Besides that, she really couldn’t afford to close down the most popular attraction for as long as it took to put the raptors together.
    Diane thought a moment. “We’ll temporarily reroute people to the overlooks. That way they can watch them being assembled, but not be too close.”
    “That’s everything. I’m glad Mike’ll be curator. Lymon was always hard to reach and difficult to deal with.”
    “So am I. Mike has a lot of interesting ideas for special exhibits.”

    Diane had gone through a handful of papers from her in box by the time she finished her sandwich and tea. The rest she put in her briefcase to take home. She took the elevators to the third floor and walked to the exhibit-preparation room to check on the progress of the Journey to the Center of the Earth exhibit and on the text for the velociraptors. After getting an update, she walked to the west wing and the crime lab.
    David was at the computer. Diane looked over his shoulder. He had the mystery photo from the quarry on the screen.
    “Trying out different filters,” he said. “Jin’s back. He and Korey are working on the wood samples from the quarry. Neva will be back soon. She went to check on Mike.”
    Jin and Korey were in one of the rooms making slices of wood. Korey’s back was to her, his dreadlocks tied together in a low ponytail. Away from machinery, she thought. Jin turned off the saw when she entered.
    Korey shifted his safety glasses to the top of his head. “Hello, Dr. F. We were just making some thin sections, but I can tell you right now, the wood hasn’t been in the water long at all.”
    “Months, weeks?” asked Diane.
    “Days,” said Korey. “It’s hardly wet, really—no more than from several days of hard rain.”
    “Thank you, Korey. Jin, photograph the sections, and, if you will, Korey, write up your findings. We need to show that they aren’t waterlogged.”
    “Sure thing. Glad to help.”
    Diane turned to Jin. “Did you find anything else at the quarry?” she asked.
    “Went down the deer trail like you said and followed it for about a quarter of a mile. Just beyond where the trail ends is an old residential section. Neva and I drove by and had a look. Most of the houses are old, but they’re being fixed up by some real estate developer. Some of them look kind of nice now. Anyway, thought the sheriff might want to canvass the area. Sombody may have seen something. You never know. Other than the sample of branches, we didn’t find anything new.”
    Just as well, thought Diane. They had enough to process already.
    Diane left Korey and Jin and went back out to where David was working with the photograph.
    “That tangle of wood that was on top of Scuba Doe has only been in the water a few days at most,” she said.
    “The bodies had been in the water only a few days,” David responded. “So what are you thinking, the brush was used to hold him down?”
    “Or stage the crime scene. Have you looked at the hose on the tanks yet? Do we know if it was really a twig that punctured it?”
    “No. Jin checked the tanks, but I don’t think he’s looked at the hose yet. I’ve checked for trace evidence, but that’s all. Let’s go have a look. I need to take a break from this.”
    The evidence for the quarry victims was laid out neatly on a table. The number of evidence bags had grown as David collected trace from the objects found at the scene. He put the air hose under a dissecting microscope and examined the hole in it.
    “It’s a puncture,” he said, “but not from a stick.” He stepped