Scattered Graves

the third floor. To morrow I’ll tell Bryce the guard cannot return. If I can’t get any satisfaction from him, I’ll call the chief of police—Peeks will be piqued by that. Oh, and a couple of other things happened lately too.’’
She related the stories about Jin’s job applicant at the DNA lab and the incident with Goldilocks, the new forensic anthropologist. She left out the conversa tion in the closet and the lost bones.
‘‘This guy Bryce is out of control. Lucky for us. I’ll start on the paperwork.’’
He said that the same way Diane would say she was going caving. He loved his work. Diane smiled.
‘‘Thanks. Again, I’m sorry to disturb you,’’ she said.
‘‘Not a problem.’’
‘‘Wow,’’ said Andie when Diane had hung up. ‘‘Are you really going to kick them out? What’s wrong with Bryce?’’
‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Diane. ‘‘But right now I have to go upstairs and ask the people working on the third floor to go home.’’
‘‘I think the archivist is working late too,’’ said Emily.
The third floor was mainly offices and work space. The docents’ offices were there, so were Exhibit Prep arations, the Library and Archives, and Education.
‘‘I’ll make sure everyone is out,’’ said Diane.
Emily’s hazel eyes clouded. ‘‘Do you really think he is dangerous?’’ she asked.
Diane smiled. ‘‘Can’t take a chance, can we?’’ she said.
Emily still looked worried, and Diane felt guilty. Part of her did feel that Bryce and some of his people were out of control, but she didn’t really think the guard would shoot anyone. She was just taking advan tage of the opportunity to use Bryce’s bad judgment against him.
‘‘Most of this is just posturing by Bryce,’’ she said. ‘‘But I need to stop it, and I want to make sure no one from the museum has to cross his path until I get it cleared up. No one should be afraid they will face a man with a bad attitude and a gun during the course of their day at the museum.’’
Emily nodded and gave Diane a faint smile, and Diane patted her on the shoulder.
‘‘This guy is the definition of hostile workplace ,’’ said Emily. ‘‘It’s just so weird.’’
‘‘I’ll say,’’ said Andie. ‘‘But weird is what we do here.’’ She grinned at Diane.
‘‘Good night, Andie,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’ll see you in the morning.’’
Andie nodded, said good-bye, and started to leave. She lingered at the door momentarily, as if there might yet be fireworks to see. Diane shooed her away.
‘‘Mike, you mind coming with me? There’s some thing I’d like you to help me with,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Sure thing, Doc.’’ Mike grinned. ‘‘I love working here. Always something going on.’’
‘‘I’ll go too. I need to get my purse,’’ said Emily. ‘‘It’s in the docents’ office.’’
The three walked out to the elevator and rode up to the third floor. The guard was still there. Diane saw him at the far side of the building as she was about to enter Exhibit Preparations. He was sitting in the chair looking like a troll guarding the bridge, popping something—candy or popcorn—into his mouth and staring down the hallway.
Mike looked down the long hallway at him. ‘‘So tell me,’’ he said. ‘‘Which Billy Goat Gruff am I?’’
‘‘Well, I know I’m the littlest one,’’ said Emily, ‘‘so I’m out of here.’’ She waved at them and went to the docents’ office.
Diane went to each department on the third floor and told her employees to go home. That done, she told Mike what she was planning and the two of them walked down toward the west wing overlook. The guard stood up as she approached, expecting, no doubt, another confrontation. He was grinning, ready for it.
Shipman. That was the name on his uniform. G. Shipman. He was a large, broad-shouldered fellow with short dark hair and a broad face with a nose that looked like it had been broken at least once. Diane wondered whether he was a bully when he was in school.
‘‘You’re going to have to bring someone bigger than that skinny runt,’’ he said, pointing at Mike. ‘‘He’s not much better than the broad you brought last time.’’
They ignored him, and before Shipman realized what Diane was about, she’d pulled the metal accor dion gate from its slot in the wall. He ran at her, lunging at the expanding door, trying to wrestle it from her, grinning and staring her in the eyes the whole time.