Scattered Graves

the page with the diagram. ‘‘You were able to network only the peo ple who were actually seen together. Any one of us could have made this diagram from what we knew about the official relationships among these people. Consider the possibility that this is all that’s meant to be seen. Are there others involved we are unaware of? How many people in the police department are in on whatever it is? For that matter, what about other areas of the government, or businesses in Rosewood? What about the people the mayor and his buddies put in the police department? What are they doing now? Taking up the banner? I hate to say it, but I think you have to continue doing what you are doing until you can answer those questions.’’
David didn’t say anything for a moment. He just rubbed his hand over his bald head. ‘‘Right now I’m at a loss for where to look,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s why I wanted to listen to what went on in the mayor’s house. I was hoping for a new lead. I mean, what the hell was his goal? It had to be more than what we see.’’
‘‘He lived in Atlanta before he moved to Rose wood,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Perhaps the answer lies there. Does he have any relatives still here?’’
‘‘No relatives. His grandparents are dead,’’ said David. ‘‘He had an advertising business in Atlanta, the same one he still owned when he was murdered. They do local Atlanta commercials. From what I could find out, they are squeaky clean.’’
‘‘Have you looked at companies in any of the other principals’ names?’’ said Frank.
‘‘Peeks worked in a recruitment firm in Atlanta. Bryce was in banking—he was a vice president of a bank in Connecticut,’’ said David. ‘‘I haven’t been able to find anything suspicious so far. None of the companies are under any kind of investigation. I’m still looking. The only really suspicious thing is they all made a lot more money in their former jobs than they do here. Except the mayor. He’s the only one who still had ties to his former business—as far as I know now. As I said, I’m still looking.’’
‘‘That should tell us something right there,’’ said Diane. ‘‘My impression of them is that they don’t seem to be the type of people who would take a sub stantial downgrade in pay.’’
‘‘None of them had any shadow companies that I can find,’’ continued David. He shook his head. He seemed at a loss.
‘‘How about the next tier down in your chart?’’ said Frank. ‘‘Rikki, what’s her name.’’
David gave Frank a blank stare for a moment. ‘‘Damn. I didn’t think of Lollipop. That would have required a paradigm shift. I’ll do that.’’
‘‘There’s one place you can go that may already have quite a bit of information on Jefferies,’’ Frank said.
‘‘Where?’’ asked David.
‘‘Walter Sutton, the ex-mayor,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Of course. He would have investigated Jefferies during the campaign—hell, he would have had him followed.’’
David spent the night at Frank’s. They worked out a plan to interview the ex-mayor, Walter Sutton. It would be a little tricky. Diane didn’t really want the mayor to know exactly what was going on. He tended to be a sieve when it came to information. They de cided to tell him they were helping Garnett. The mayor liked Garnett. Or at least he did the last time they checked. Sutton was not above abandoning people he thought might be a political drag on him. They decided to give him one juicy bit of information to chew on. Diane hoped it would make him more eager to give her information. She had been afraid that Walter Sut ton might not want her to know the length he himself would go to to find information on an opponent.
Diane decided to do the interview herself and to go alone. She liked the idea of keeping David off the radar. Sutton would have it all over town that David was investigating. It didn’t matter if people knew Diane was looking into the murders. Everyone already knew she worked for Garnett’s lawyer.
Diane asked David where he had been holed up. He told her at the museum, in his rooms down in the basement. He’d been eating from the break room and the restaurant. It wasn’t that he was avoiding his home, but his computer in his museum basement of fice was more powerful and was linked to the crime lab—unknown to Bryce.
‘‘There’s another thing we have to find out about,’’ said Diane. ‘‘What Bryce was looking for in