One Grave Too Many

you can persuade her of its good qualities.”
    Mike made a pained face. “She was thinking maybe a larger office is available.”
    “No, one isn’t.”
    “All right, I’ll try to sell her on the one we have.”
    “I would appreciate it.”
    Mike took the stairs to the second floor, and Diane headed down the hallway to her office. Instead of using her private entry, she went to Andie’s office.
    “Andie, how is everything this morning?”
    “Great. Some more of the Bartrum faculty curators are moving in today. So far, most of them like the facilities, especially the lab space. So did you and Frank go out last night?” Andie sat behind her desk, grinning, her hypercurly hair held on top of her head with Japanese hairpins.
    “In a manner of speaking. He asked me to examine the house where his friends were murdered.”
    “Oh, great. Dinner and a crime scene. I’m going to have to give him lessons on romantic evenings. He did at least feed you, didn’t he?”
    “We had takeout from Krystal.”
    “Lessons, definitely needs lessons.”
    Korey burst into Andie’s office looking winded. “Dr. Fallon, we had a break-in in the lab.”
    “A break-in? What was stolen?”
    “Nothing—that I can find. The drawers are pulled out, things scattered. It looks more like a vandal, or someone looking for something.”
    “Have you called security?”
    “I thought I’d call you first.”
    Diane had a pang of guilt for having not yet hired a chief of security. It was time she did that. She and Korey walked up the stairs to the second-floor conservation lab. On the way, Diane stopped at the security office and asked the guard on duty, Chanell Napier, a slender, round-faced black woman, to come with her.
    “Do you know who was on duty last night?”
    “Leonard and that new kid, the skinny one with the red hair.”
    “Bernie,” said Korey. “He’s the one scared of the skeletons in the primate room.”
    “Yeah, that’s the one.”
    Oh, great, thought Diane.
    Diane examined the lock on the second-floor lab door. It indeed had tool marks all over the brass plating. However, any tool the size of a screwdriver or larger would have gotten them into the room. Her guess was that they got in with a key.
    Inside she was greeted by a sullen group of Korey’s assistants, who stood in the middle of the room with their arms folded, angry that someone had violated their space and was now keeping them from their work. The room was in disarray—mostly open drawers and cabinets, supplies pulled out and dumped on the floor, equipment moved. A box of latex gloves lay with its contents scattered across the floor, along with packages of photographic paper, pens, exhibit forms. It looked to be mostly a mess, with no real destruction.
    “Any damage?” she asked.
    “I haven’t tested all the equipment, but I think it’s all right,” said Korey.
    “What about the vault?” Diane walked to the back of the room to the environmentally-controlled storage vault. Someone had pried at the handle, marked up the door jam, but it appeared that they were unsuccessful in gaining entry. Only she and Korey had a key to the vault.
    “Someone was looking for something.” Diane glanced around the room.
    “It doesn’t look like they found it. I checked the vault,” said Korey. “They didn’t get in.”
    As she walked around the room looking at what the intruder had done, her gaze stopped on one of the worktables. A handprint was visible on its polished surface—or rather the terminal and intermediate phalanges of four fingers, as if someone had gripped the tabletop and squatted down to pull out the drawer.
    “Does this belong to any of you?”
    They all came over to look, but all shook their heads.
    “I doubt it,” said one of the assistants. “The last thing we all do is clean the surfaces before we leave.”
    Korey nodded in agreement.
    “Don’t we have a fingerprint kit in the security office? Would you mind getting it for me?”
    The security guard nodded and left. Diane turned to Korey.
    “I wonder what they were after.”
    “I’ve no idea. Most of the really valuable stuff is in the exhibits.”
    “Was anyone working late last night?”
    “Barbara and I were here until nine. Nothing strange happened, no strangers hanging around.”
    “How about people who weren’t strangers?”
    “No. It was pretty quiet. Bernie came in and looked around on his rounds, but that’s all. That was a little after eight, I