Scattered Graves

Fallon already had the few first ones that were found. Jennifer told him there wasn’t much Dr. Fallon could do with a handful of bone fragments, that they were too damaged and the DNA was probably de cayed.’’
‘‘Was Jennifer in with them?’’ asked the chief.
‘‘No, I didn’t get that impression. Bryce told her he wanted her to be the one to identify the bones and not Dr. Fallon. That’s how he explained his interest. But I do think Bryce and the others thought they could turn her. Jennifer was just out of the university, and Bryce knew she wanted the job badly. She’d put her career on hold while her husband went to school and she raised the rug rats. Now she was old and desperate. Bryce thought that would make her easier to handle. He also thought she was having an affair with the new medical examiner and he was going to hold that over her. I told you, these were mean guys— Bryce, Jefferies, and Peeks.’’ Rikki smiled.
No loyalty there for Jennifer, thought Diane.
‘‘It might interest you to know that Dr. Fallon did discover the identity of the person who the handful of broken bones came from,’’ said the chief. He said it as if he wanted her to know that the home team were better all-around players than Jefferies’ team.
Rikki grinned. ‘‘You’ll have to tell that to Jennifer. She’ll have a cow. She got really jealous the way things turned out.’’
‘‘What happened to the bones that disappeared?’’ asked Chief Monroe.
‘‘Curtis took them and threw them in the river,’’ she said.
‘‘Where is the hard disk you took? Is that in the river too?’’ asked the police chief.
‘‘Yes,’’ she said.
Diane wondered if they were regretting the great deal they gave her. Immunity is a great thing when you’re up to your neck in crime.
‘‘When Jefferies was killed, who did Peeks and Bryce think did it?’’ the police chief asked.
‘‘They didn’t know. We all talked about it. For about a minute I thought Bryce had. Jefferies was always on his butt for something, but he was really rattled by their deaths. I think Bryce did depend on them—even though they depended on him for their homework in that ivy league school they went to,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘I guess you noticed their pinky rings. So seventh grade.’’
‘‘Did Bryce or Peeks name anyone at all who they thought might have committed the murders?’’ asked the chief again.
‘‘When it came down to it, they really thought Garnett may have done it. The only other people they mentioned were some of the hackers they hired, but they had no idea who. Peeks planned on going through the files to see if he could come up with anything. But as I said, their best guess was Garnett. Jefferies was really after him, and they thought he found out about them,’’ said Rikki.
So they were back where they started, thought Diane. Back to Garnett. The chief would probably order him released, but Garnett would still have a cloud over him unless they could find out who killed Jefferies.
Diane thought of one person who would know.
‘‘Let’s go back to the museum,’’ she said to Frank.
When the police chief came out of the interview room, Diane thanked him for letting her listen to the confession. He nodded. The chief was calm in the room with Rikki, but his face was red with anger when he came out.
‘‘What do you make of all that?’’ he said.
‘‘Right now, I’m shocked,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I can imagine you are. I am. I’m going to talk with Edward. He’ll be outraged when he finds out his mother was on a hit list. Tell me, what were the voters thinking about when they went to the polls?’’ he said. ‘‘I wonder if you can sue voters; they’re always so anxious to hold people accountable.’’
Diane didn’t answer. She didn’t think he really ex pected one. He was angry, and practically everyone to be angry with was dead.
‘‘I’ve sent a car out to pick up Lloyd Bryce and Curtis Crabtree. Janice is going to the bank to get the evidence from the safety deposit box. She’ll send it to the GBI for analysis, if that’s all right with you. Ed ward said you have some repairs to make in the crime lab before it’s ready for use again. I tell you, they’re like an infestation of rats. And from the sound of things, there are a lot more of them out there lurking in peoples’ businesses. Thank God we have a list.’’
‘‘You can have Janice bring the evidence to us if you want. Jin can