Scattered Graves

good lab. Diane was proud of it. Now she had to see what Bryce had done to it.
She inspected each room. It didn’t look too bad, but in some of the rooms she was dismayed to see a thin layer of dust.
‘‘Something’s happened to the air filtration,’’ said Diane.
‘‘We tried to keep the equipment clean,’’ said Neva. ‘‘But . . .’’ She didn’t finish her sentence.
Diane knew by we Neva meant herself and David. Rikki’s cubicle was the worst. There were food crumbs, coffee rings, and clutter all over her work space. And a jar filled with suckers—lollipops.
‘‘You can drink coffee at the conference table, but nowhere else. No food is allowed in the lab at all,’’ Diane said to her.
Rikki’s frown deepened. ‘‘Bryce let me eat in my own space,’’ she said.
‘‘That’s irrelevant,’’ said Diane. ‘‘These are the rules now.’’
Rikki didn’t say anything. Diane could see she wanted to glare at her but had the good sense not to. Diane wondered if she would quit. And if she didn’t, why? She had been thinking about Edward’s suggestion—let Rikki work here and see if she led her to any information about what the heck was going on. She may be just an innocent person who wasn’t trained right, or she may be involved in whatever Bryce was. Diane wanted to find out.
‘‘David is going to be assistant director of the crime lab,’’ Diane continued. ‘‘In my absence, he’s the boss. Miss Gillinick, since you’re new here, you will be going on calls with either Neva or David until you get used to the way we do things.’’
‘‘I’ve gone on lots of crime scenes by myself,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘I do good work.’’
‘‘That may be true, but I do things a little differently. Just consider this a refresher course,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Now, David, call TechClean and have them go over the lab. This would be a good time to get a mainte nance check on the equipment and have instruments recalibrated. Find out what is wrong with the air fil tration. Do whatever it takes.’’
‘‘Sure thing, boss,’’ said David. Diane thought he gave the word boss a little too heavy an emphasis.
‘‘Neva, I want you to catch me up on all the pending cases. We’re also going back to Jefferies’ house to go over the crime scenes again.’’ Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rikki come alert. Diane couldn’t tell whether she liked or disliked the idea. Maybe this would be a good learning experience for all of them.
Diane motioned to the conference table. ‘‘Rikki, I would like you to sit down and tell me everything you know about Sheriff Canfield’s bones.’’
Rikki looked startled. ‘‘What? I don’t know anything about them,’’ she said.
‘‘I just want you to tell me what you remember about them. Please, sit down,’’ said Diane.
Rikki reluctantly walked over to the table and sat down, interlacing her fingers in front of her. The oth ers sat around the table, including Izzy. Diane was surprised he didn’t take his leave.
‘‘What do you remember about the bones?’’ said Diane. ‘‘We need to try to find them. It’s important.’’
‘‘It has nothing to do with me. That was Jennifer’s thing,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘But you’re a member of the team; we need you to help. What do you remember?’’
Rikki looked very uncomfortable with all their eyes on her.
‘‘Bryce brought them up here. He said the sheriff’s deputy gave them to him in the parking lot, and I believe him.’’ Rikki lifted her chin as if daring them to disagree. ‘‘He gave them to Jennifer and she took them to the darkroom that Bryce told her to make into a lab.’’ Rikki smirked. ‘‘Jennifer was really pissed about having to go from that big lab to a dinky dark room. She hated it.’’
‘‘What did she do with the bones?’’ said Diane.
‘‘She got some plastic tubs and started sorting them. I watched her for a while. It’s boring work. I don’t know how she was sorting them. They all looked about the same to me. Just chunks of bone. I quit watching after a while. She worked for a long time.’’
‘‘Who asked her to get coffee?’’ asked Diane.
Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I don’t remember. She came out for a break and we just talked about getting coffee. We had to take the elevator and go down and around to the restaurant—it’s better coffee than the break room. I think she volunteered. I don’t remember.’’
‘‘Did anyone else come up while