Scattered Graves

approached. Diane rolled down her window so she could see better and listen for sounds.
Frank drove slowly past the place where Diane thought she saw the car. It was there in the bushes, only half concealed. He stopped the Camaro and called in their location. Izzy jumped out, pulled his gun, and ran in a crouch to the rear of the Geo. Cau tiously, gun at the ready, he took a quick look through the windows of the vehicle and scanned the area. He turned toward them and shook his head.
‘‘Up ahead,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I hear a car.’’
Izzy heard it too. He ran back and jumped in the backseat.
‘‘I think she’s abandoned it all right,’’ he said. He reached out his window and patted the roof of Frank’s car. ‘‘Let’s go,’’ he said.
Frank looked over at Diane and smiled. He drove the narrow road at a speed greater than Diane felt comfortable with, but she said nothing and held on. Ahead of them they saw the rear of a dark blue Saturn just going out of sight around a curve in the road. Frank drove faster and the ride got bumpier.
As they rounded the curve, the Saturn was just ahead. The road was smoother here, mainly dirt, and the blue sedan was accelerating and kicking up dust. The Saturn drove out of sight again.
Frank sped up.
They popped over a low rise and suddenly they saw it again. It was backing fast toward them, running from police and museum security cars coming fast, head-on. Frank slid to a stop. Diane braced for impact. The Saturn’s brake lights were glaring red; the car skidded to a stop just inches before it hit the front end of Frank’s Camaro.
Izzy jumped out of the car, leaving the door open, and drew his gun—as did Frank. Diane opened her door and stayed behind it. She had no gun.
She heard Janice’s voice calling for the occupant of the car to come out, hands on head.
Diane watched the person sitting behind the steer ing wheel in the car. She saw black hair, she thought, but it was hard to see much with the glare of the sun on the window.
Janice repeated the command.
The door opened and Rikki stepped out, hands in the air. She was wearing a black wig. That was a relief. The thought had crossed Diane’s mind that perhaps they had disturbed some innocent nature lovers who thought they were being chased by maniacs in a white Camaro. Janice spread Rikki against the car, patted her down, and put handcuffs on her. Only then did Diane stand up and Frank and Izzy let their guards down.
Rikki cast a wicked glance back at Diane.
    Diane, Frank, and Izzy went to the interrogation room at the police station where Rikki was taken. They stood and looked through the two-way mirror at her sitting with her hands on top of the desk, beating out a tune with her palms.
    ‘‘She doesn’t look too worried,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Why is that, I wonder?’’
‘‘She has a Plan B,’’ said Diane. ‘‘What I wonder is, did she have time to shift the money in the offshore accounts to some other bank account? How hard is that to do? Can you do it with a cell? A BlackBerry? An iPod?’’ she asked, smiling.
Frank laughed. ‘‘You can do it with a cell or a BlackBerry. It would be hard with an iPod.’’
‘‘Is it difficult to track?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Depends,’’ said Frank. ‘‘Could be very difficult. Even if you find it, you have to prove the money doesn’t belong to the person who opened the account. Not easy with some of the offshore banking laws.’’
‘‘What’s her Plan B?’’ asked Izzy.
Janice Warrick entered the interview room and sat down opposite Rikki.
The observation room door opened and Chief of Police Buford Monroe entered. He stood beside Diane and the others, nodding to them.
‘‘Finally getting somewhere,’’ he said. ‘‘You say your guy cracked the encryption?’’
‘‘Yes, David and Frank,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It had some very unusual aspects to it.’’
‘‘I’ll be anxious to hear about it,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to track down who encrypted it,’’ said Diane.
Janice started speaking. Diane watched Rikki. She didn’t look particularly defiant, and so far she hadn’t asked for a lawyer.
‘‘So tell me,’’ said Janice. ‘‘When did you decide to kill Jefferies and Peeks?’’
Rikki smiled. ‘‘I didn’t kill anyone. I swear.’’ She crossed her heart with her right index finger.
‘‘You didn’t, yet you knew about the money?’’ said Janice.
‘‘Well, yeah, we all knew about the