Scattered Graves

know. I tried makeup, but I end up looking like a corpse,’’ said Diane. She stood and waited. From their expressions, she could tell they wanted to talk, probably about Garnett. Izzy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Janice studied the ground, mov ing a pebble with the toe of her shoe. They both be lieved Garnett killed Peeks, and they felt guilty about believing it, thought Diane. They wanted her to tell them they were wrong.
‘‘It doesn’t look good for Garnett,’’ said Izzy.
‘‘What about Shane Eastling?’’ said Diane. ‘‘He’s been acting kind of... kind of like he’s on the other side. Could he have substituted the bullet?’’
Janice shook her head. ‘‘I was at the autopsy. So was Izzy. We wanted to get the bullet to ballistics as soon as possible.’’
‘‘We saw Eastling dig it out of Peeks’ brain,’’ said Izzy, wrinkling his face.
Diane wondered whether that was the first autopsy he had ever attended. She couldn’t imagine it. He’d been a policeman for a long time.
‘‘Chief Monroe is getting less inclined to look for another killer,’’ said Janice. ‘‘He wants everything wrapped up real quick. I’m afraid they are going to cut Garnett loose,’’ she said.
‘‘We still want you to look into it,’’ said Izzy.
‘‘I will,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I have a hard time believing he killed Peeks. There has to be an answer.’’
Izzy and Janice both seemed to relax.
‘‘Even if, by some . . . Even if he did kill Peeks,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘there must have been a reason that he doesn’t want to talk about—like protecting somebody, something like that. And the evidence against him for doing Jefferies is nothing, in my book.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘I’m afraid they’ll want to lump all the murders to gether just to get this over with.’’
‘‘I don’t intend to let it go,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You know I’m back in charge of the crime lab.’’
‘‘We heard,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘That’s great. Bryce is in this up to his eyeballs in some way.’’
‘‘He’s slippery,’’ said Janice. ‘‘I interviewed him about how he worked the Jefferies crime scene. He denied framing Garnett. Gave some razzle-dazzle about first finding prints with black lights before lifting them. I told him he’d still have to use special pow ders.’’ Janice smiled proudly. ‘‘He tried to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said both of the surfaces where he got the prints were shiny and he could see that only one set of prints was there. And I said, ‘Even on the kitchen counter?’ He stuck to his story. The chief thought he was just trying to look incompetent rather than guilty. I don’t know. Like I said, Bryce is slippery.’’
‘‘Bryce and Rikki were looking for a list at the crime scene,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Did Bryce say anything about a list?’’
Janice raised her eyebrows and shrugged. ‘‘They were looking for something, I’d wager, but I don’t know what. Want me to get Bryce back in?’’ she asked.
Diane shook her head. ‘‘Let’s keep it to ourselves right now. Van Ross suggested I might want to keep Rikki on for a while to see if she reveals anything.’’
‘‘I never realized he could be so sneaky,’’ said Ja nice, smiling. ‘‘He seems so nice.’’
The cold was getting to Diane and she started to shiver. ‘‘I’m going to the museum. There are a few leads I’m working on. I don’t know how I’m going to prove who killed Jefferies and Peeks, but I will.’’ She stopped and looked sharply at Janice. ‘‘Who took Garnett’s gun at the crime scene?’’
Janice Warrick frowned. ‘‘I did.’’
Diane’s face fell. She thought she was on to some thing.
‘‘I’ll figure it out,’’ she said and got in her car. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out.
Diane drove to the museum and parked in her space. She sat there watching people come and go, thinking she should have driven around back and en tered by a rear door. She was looking so bad, worse than when Delamore first attacked her. No kind of makeup is going to hide this, she thought. And she’d planned on trying to see the former mayor today. Well, hell. She got out and walked into the museum and to her office. She got a few stares, but no one said anything. Good. Maybe it looked bad only in the sunlight.
David was in Andie’s office waiting for her. Appar ently he hadn’t slept too late. He looked