Scattered Graves

has something to do with sci ence fiction, right? Mother said you are a fan. We got a lot of science fiction at the family reunion.’’
    ‘‘So I understand,’’ said Diane.
He seemed bemused by the whole idea.
‘‘Didn’t the report say you’re having to rewire the
    security cameras back into the grid Bryce had discon nected?’’ said Edward. ‘‘I think we can call this a grace period—adjusting back to your rule.’’
    My rule. An interesting phrase, thought Diane. ‘‘The cameras will be back in the security net tomorrow,’’ she said.
    ‘‘What I came to talk about is Izzy Wallace,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’d like him to be part of my team. I need someone to replace Jin in the crime lab, and Izzy has expressed a desire. He’s also been very helpful and has shown a willingness to learn the process.’’
    Chief Monroe nodded his head as though he liked the idea. Diane thought it was probably a done deal as far as the police were concerned. She suspected that perhaps Izzy had already set everything in motion.
    ‘‘We have an officer who’s injured and we want to put him on a desk job,’’ said Chief Monroe, ‘‘so this will be a good move. Izzy’s a good guy. It’s a shame what happened to his family. What happened to a lot of families,’’ he added.
    ‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘That was one of Rosewood’s worst times.’’ Worse than now, she thought, because it was young people who died then.
    ‘‘I’ll put through the paperwork,’’ said the chief.
    Diane went back downstairs. She spotted Izzy car rying a file to one of the detectives and waved to attract his attention.
    ‘‘I’ve cleared it with Monroe,’’ she said when he walked over to her. ‘‘If you want to back out, now’s the time, before he gets the paperwork in.’’
    Izzy grinned. ‘‘When do I start?’’
    ‘‘Chief Monroe will let you know. I imagine it will be right away,’’ she said.
Izzy rubbed his hands together and looked around the room grinning. Diane realized this was his end run around the politics and bureaucracy that hadn’t let him become a detective. He wouldn’t be a detective now, exactly, but he would look like one and on occa sion would get to do what detectives do. She really hoped this was the right course of action.
Janice motioned for Diane to come to her desk. She held a phone next to her ear and looked as if she was waiting.
‘‘At first it looked like all Garnett’s reference bul lets were accounted for,’’ Janice said. ‘‘But the clerk noticed that his file had been tampered with. I told him to verify all the bullets again. I also called the gun range and asked if Edgar Peeks liked to collect rounds. He did. Interesting, huh?’’ said Janice. She looked happy.
‘‘This looks like a good lead, then,’’ said Diane.
Janice nodded. ‘‘I’ll let you know when I find out anything.’’ She got back on the phone and Diane left for the museum.
The desktop screen with all the little rows of soft ware icons was still showing on Jefferies’ computer when she walked into her office sitting room. It looked as if David and Frank had not made any progress. But they both looked upbeat. There were several flash drives lying beside the computer. She pulled up a chair. Frank reached over and squeezed her hand.
‘‘The two of you look happy,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re making progress. David and I pooled our decryption tools,’’ said Frank. ‘‘David has written some impressive ones himself.’’
‘‘Is that what’s on all the flash drives?’’ she said.
Frank nodded. ‘‘We had an idea. Neva’s gone over to the crime lab to get a gadget the mayor had.’’
‘‘A gadget?’’ said Diane.
‘‘You’ll see,’’ said David. ‘‘At first we thought it was a webcam. Actually it is a camera, but I noticed the other day it is also something else. In the mean time, Frank and I have been able to get into several programs. Unfortunately, none of which does us any good unless we want to play solitaire or work in Pho toshop. We can’t get into word processing, spread sheets, calendars, or anything that might have useful information in it.’’
Neva came through the door carrying a box and handed it to David. He opened it and took out what indeed looked to be a webcam. The labeling on the box said it was an iris scanner.
‘‘Iris scanner?’’ said Diane.
‘‘The mayor liked gadgets. He had a lot of them. Most of them we left in the