Scattered Graves

do the DNA faster and he can lift the prints in his lab. When he’s finished he can send the bullet to Ballistics,’’ said Diane.
The police chief nodded. ‘‘I like that better. Yes, I do. Let the people know we’re on top of things despite all the rats’ nests we have to clear out.’’ He went to find Janice before she left for the bank.
‘‘How do you feel?’’ asked Frank when they were ensconced in his car on the way back to the museum.
‘‘Like I just escaped a bullet,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m more astonished than angry at the moment. I can’t believe what I just heard. Do you think she was telling the truth?’’
‘‘Most of it. I think she lightened her involvement considerably and she’s been enjoying the life of a gun moll all this time.’’
‘‘Could she have killed Jefferies and Peeks?’’ said Diane.
‘‘It’s a possibility they will look into,’’ said Frank. ‘‘My gut feeling right now is, no. She is very driven by gathering things to herself. I can’t see her murder ing them unless she expected to get something big from it, and I can’t see what that would be.’’
‘‘How about all that money?’’ said Diane.
‘‘I think she was after that anyway. That’s why she listened in on conversations. Whether they were alive or dead, she was planning on stealing the money. When she held a gun on us, it was unloaded. She specifically did not want to do anything that would land her hard jail time. I may be wrong,’’ he added.
‘‘She wasn’t afraid Jefferies would come after her if she stole his money?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘She thought she could get away. She knew Jefferies’ influence was local. He was in the process of building a gang. He didn’t have members all over the country. He may have had sleepers in businesses in several places, but his organization was still new enough that he couldn’t reach her every place she might go. I hope,’’ he added.
‘‘Doesn’t she have immunity now?’’ said Diane.
Frank shook his head. ‘‘If she lies, all bets are off. At least that’s the way we do it in Atlanta.’’
    The crime lab was clean and almost ready to resume operation. The delicate machines were scheduled to be calibrated tomorrow. It looked and smelled cleaner when they walked in the door. David, Jin, and Neva were there. Diane had called and told them she was on her way.
    Jin was having a fit. Apparently he had been in a tirade, as much of a tirade as Jin got in, ever since they told him about the computer person, or whatever it was. They were all at a loss as to what to call it.
    ‘‘Why didn’t anybody call me?’’ he said. ‘‘Something that cool is going on and nobody thinks to call me and let me see? How could you do that to me?’’
    ‘‘Jin, get over it already,’’ said Neva. ‘‘It was proba bly just a guy on the other end of his instant messen ger anyway.’’
    ‘‘I’m glad you’re back,’’ said David. ‘‘Maybe you can do something with him.’’
Diane started to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door. They all turned and looked accusingly at the door, as if it had done it. Visits from the museum side were unusual.
Diane opened the door. Jonas Briggs, the archaeol ogist, was standing on the other side, grinning. He had his laptop under his arm.
‘‘It’s the darnedest thing, but I thought I’d better tell you. So, this is the dark side,’’ he said, coming in and looking around. It was what every museum staffer said when they came over.
‘‘This is it,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You said something is the darnedest thing?’’
‘‘Yes. This little guy who sounds for all the world like the physicist Stephen Hawking came up on my computer and asked me to play chess.’’

Chapter 47
    They all stared at Jonas for several moments as he stood with his laptop under his arm, stretching his neck, looking around at the lab.
    ‘‘He’s in the system,’’ said Diane to no one in partic ular. ‘‘What did you say in reply?’’ she asked Jonas.
‘‘Nothing,’’ Jonas said. ‘‘I started to. He knew my name. He called me Jonas, but I thought it might be a virus so I just turned off my computer. I hope that was right.’’
‘‘That was fine, Jonas,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We’ll take it from here. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.’’ She smiled, feeling like she was hurrying him out too fast. ‘‘Can we have your computer?’’
‘‘You said he’s in the