Scattered Graves

forensic anthropologist had the bones and it was hoped she would be able to shed light on the identity of the victim. Diane noticed that he was careful not to say victims . Rumors of more than one woodchipper murder would become a nightmare. The re porter asked if the forensic anthropologist was Diane Fallon of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History. Canfield said yes. Diane frowned again. The last thing she wanted was the reporter calling her.
    The interviewer asked the sheriff about possible DNA, and he went into a lengthy explanation of DNA and why they might not be able to find any in the bones. Diane had to smile, listening to the lecture she had given him just yesterday. He must be having fun.
    She was about halfway to the museum and in the deepest part of the wooded area when she saw blue flashes of light behind her and the intermittent siren that meant to pull over. She found a wide place on the side of the road, pulled her SUV onto the shoul der, and waited with her hands on the steering wheel. She looked in her rearview mirror at the approaching officer. She knew him. Not good. It was Harve Dela more, and he was grinning like he’d just caught his biggest fish ever.
    Last year Douglas Garnett, the chief of detectives for the city of Rosewood and Diane’s former boss when she was head of the crime scene unit, had put a repri mand in Delamore’s file for overly aggressive behavior with a suspect. Diane had given a sworn statement as a witness to the incident. Diane was not Delamore’s favorite person.
    He looked different than last time she’d seen him— a little leaner, and he’d shaved his head the way a lot of men do these days when they are going bald. Dela more was in a patrolman’s uniform. It was a summer uniform even though the temperature had been near freezing overnight. The term hot-blooded fit him, she thought as he approached. The uniform meant he had been demoted from his rank of detective for some reason. Probably some additional offense. Harve didn’t strike her as a man who learned very quickly.
    Damn, he’s probably going to be in a mood , she thought. Probably write me up for everything he can think of. Well, damn .
    Diane rolled down her window as he approached. She decided not to say anything until he spoke, asking for her driver’s license, probably her insurance papers, probably the deed to the museum. She really didn’t have time for this. She knew her brake lights were in working order; she hadn’t been speeding; there had been no stop signs or red lights to run. He just wanted to jerk her around.
    She turned her head toward Officer Delamore as he bent down to the open window. Before she realized what was happening, he’d reached through the win dow and grabbed her arm with one hand and opened the door with the other. He held her tight through the window as the door swung open. Diane reached be hind her, feeling for her cell phone in the center con sole. She got her fingers on it, but he jerked her hard toward the open door and she dropped it.
    ‘‘Well, if it’s not the bitch who messed up my life.’’ His voice was a snarl and his face was twisted in some kind of weird satisfied rage.
    She was pissed herself. ‘‘What the hell are you doing?’’ Diane screamed at him. ‘‘Have you gone nuts?’’ That reprimand was a year ago. What had set him off now? she wondered.
    ‘‘Shut up, bitch.’’
    Harve reached inside the open door and dragged her out of the vehicle. Her cell phone clattered to the pavement. He looked down at it, smirked, and ground his foot onto the top of it.
    ‘‘Uh-oh, no signal,’’ he said.
    Diane loved this road because she was usually the only one on it. Now she prayed for someone to drive by. But no one did. She was alone.
    ‘‘Harve, think about what you’re doing. This will ruin you,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I told you to shut up, you damn stupid bitch. You’re going to get what’s coming to you.’’
He had her by her left arm, which meant she had one arm and two legs free. She put them to good use. She kicked his shin hard, kneed him in the groin, and rammed the palm of her right hand into his nose with all the strength she could summon. He didn’t see it coming. He was stunned and let go, and she jerked away. She had been lucky. She’d caught him off guard. It wouldn’t happen again. She had to get away from him.
He was blocking access back into her SUV, so she had to run. She sprinted for the woods, thinking maybe