One Grave Less

taking too damn long.”
    “This way,” said Diane, and she led him through a door to the stairs located by the first-aid station.
    “It’s on the second floor,” she said.
    “The second floor? Why were we taking the fucking elevator anyway? No wonder you people are so out of shape.”
    They walked up the stairs to the second floor, coming out at the archaeology office. She hoped Jonas Briggs was home in bed and the custodial staff had finished with this part of the building.
    “The vault is in the geology lab,” she said.
    “This is the place where we retrieved our guy,” he said.
    “Yes, the Special Exhibit Room is on this floor,” she said. She looked at the hall door to Mike’s office. He always put a notice up when he was gone. She was glad he wasn’t there. He usually worked late, often very late. She didn’t want any more people hurt by this man. She walked around through the Geology Room to the door of the lab where the vault was housed.
    “Why did you put the package in the geology vault?” he said.
    “It has valuable gemstones in it. It’s one of our more secure vaults.” Not completely the truth. They did keep a fortune in gemstones in it, but all the vaults were secure.
    “What kind of gemstones?” he said.
    Going to do a little larceny while he collects the package , she thought. “Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, gold, silver, platinum . . . the usual. It’s the geology vault,” she said.
    “They are valuable?” he said.
    “Yes,” she answered, “very.”
    “I’ll take them with me,” he said.
    “You have something to carry them in?” she said.
    “Pockets,” he said.
    She looked at him. “Your pockets aren’t that big.”
    “What do you mean?” he asked, as if she had just insulted a piece of his anatomy.
    “We have drawers and drawers of them. How much were you planning on taking?” she said.
    “Surely you have a sack around here somewhere. You can pick out the most valuable.”
    Diane shrugged. “I’m really not understanding why you guys didn’t know about the vaults,” she said. “It seems like a big oversight.”
    “You can believe I’m going to smack our guy around for it. Stupid pissant.”
    Guy , she thought. A guy who is still alive . Not Madge. But why was Madge in the mailroom snooping around? She wasn’t looking for a catalog.
    Diane’s hand shook as she keyed in the lock code to the geology lab. It didn’t unlock.
    Well, shit , she thought. Did Mike change it? More likely I got it wrong .
    “What’s the matter? You better not be pulling something.”
    “Look, I just want to survive the night, okay? I’m not pulling anything. I’m just nervous, though I don’t know why I should be.”
    She keyed in the code again. This time the lock disengaged.
    “Try being more careful.”
    Diane had a thousand retorts, but she let them die on her tongue. No use antagonizing any more than he was already. She looked around the lab. Scrupulously clean. Mike hated a mess. Still, his staff could have left a geology pick or two lying around. The only thing she saw was big rocks.
    “What are you looking for? It had better not be a weapon.”
    “A sack,” said Diane. “You said you want to take some of the gemstones.”
    “Get the package first. Is this the vault over here?” He pointed to a steel door.
    “That’s it,” she said. She walked over to it, wondering if she had time to jump in after she opened it and close the door before he could do anything about it. Probably not. But she was going to try.
    She keyed in a code.
    “How do you remember all these combinations?” he asked.
    Diane shrugged. “I just do. I know everything about the museum. It’s my job.”
    “I appreciate a person who knows how to do their job,” he said, as if they could be friends after all.
    My job also is to protect the museum and the people in it , she thought, as the first of the locks released.
    “This is a four-part process,” she said. Be patient .
    She keyed in another sequence of code, and another lock released. She repeated the process another two times and the vault clicked open.
    She moved around the door to enter. He was right behind her, stuck like glue, holding the back of her neck. She tried to shrug him off.
    “Will you stop that? I’m nervous enough the way it is,” she said.
    “Don’t try anything.”
    “What the hell would I try?”
    She flipped on the light and the vault lit up. It was a medium-sized room lined floor to ceiling with