One Grave Less

don’t know what it is,” she repeated.
    She stared at the bone. The epiphyses—ends of the long bones and the place of growth—were missing. They had become detached because they hadn’t yet fused.
    “The bone is from a child. A young child.”
    Each of them sat down around the table and stared, as if getting off their feet would give them more energy to figure out what the collection meant. They studied the items without speaking. The various machines in the glassed-in cubicles of the crime lab gave off a soft, quiet background hum. The jarring sound of the opening of the elevator doors startled them.
    There were two main entrances to the crime lab—one on the museum side and one from an elevator that went up the outside of the west wing of the building. The entrances could be accessed only by members of the crime lab, so none were surprised when David stepped out of the elevator into the room. He made his way through the warren of glass cubicles to the stainless-steel table.
    “You weren’t going to call me on something like this?” he said. He looked at Diane as he pulled up another chair and sat down.
    David Goldstein was a friend from World Accord International. He knew Simone. Like all the members of the WAI team, he suffered from the loss of their friends. After drifting around the country and after the breakup of his marriage, he had come to Diane for a job. She was glad to have him. He was one of the best forensic investigators.
    “We figured that since you were out doing something normal for a change, we wouldn’t bother you,” said Jin.
    David made an exasperated face at Jin. He rubbed the dark fringe of hair around his balding head as his attention focused on the contents of the bag.
    David had been out on a date. One of the rare times he ventured away from work to do something simply for the fun of it. Diane had been reluctant to disturb him.
    “How did you find out?” asked Diane.
    “I have my sources,” he said.
    “David, you’re going to have to learn to unplug yourself sometime,” said Diane.
    He gave her a half smile. “Like you do? What are you doing here this late? Why aren’t you getting fitted for a wedding dress or something? What actually happened here anyway, and what is this stuff?” He gestured to the screen. Then paused. “Was it really Simone?”
    Diane nodded. “Yes. I don’t know what she was doing here. And I’m not sure what all these items mean. Have you heard from Simone anytime recently?”
    David shook his head. “She flew home to her family shortly after . . . after we all came home. I haven’t heard from her since. But I’m not the best at keeping in touch.”
    “Nor am I,” said Diane.
    “But she said something,” said David.
    “She said, ‘It was one of us.’ That was all,” said Diane. “I don’t know what it refers to, or who exactly us includes.”
    “I’ll contact her employers and her family tomorrow,” said Garnett. “Perhaps they can shed some light on what she was doing here, and whether she was carrying around this bag of voodoo trinkets. I know you don’t know what this collection of things means, but can you identify the individual items?”
    “The feathers, I believe, are from a macaw,” said Diane. “The beak is from a toucan. I don’t know what kind of monkey is represented by the paws. The teeth are canines from a predator, but I don’t know the species. I don’t know what animals the talons were taken from. But we will know tomorrow after we process.”
    “What about the bag?” said Garnett. “Looks kind of nativelike.”
    “I’m not familiar with the design,” said Diane. “But we can identify it.”
    Garnett rose. “I’ll talk with you tomorrow, then,” he said. “I think it would be a good idea if, officially, you let Neva, Izzy, or Jin work on the evidence, since you and David know this Simone woman.”
    “Please let us know what you find out about her,” said Diane. “She was a friend and she came here for a reason.”
    A growing unease that started with a chill in her spine was now resting in the pit of Diane’s stomach.
    “I’ll keep in touch,” he said.
    It sounded noncommittal, but Diane knew he would keep her in the loop.
    “Right now, I’m treating this like a theft gone wrong,” he said. “That’s what it looks like.”
    Diane knew that Garnett sensed there was something more to this. But he was going to take the easy way with the press. Not let them speculate. In a way, that