Scattered Graves

she was gone?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Any visitors to the lab?’’
‘‘No. I wasn’t there the whole time. I went to the bathroom and had a smoke, since the overlook was closed off,’’ she said.
Diane saw both Neva and David wince. She could swear they were about to duck.
‘‘What?’’ said Diane. ‘‘You smoked on the over look? Did you notice the signs that say this is a smokefree building? The collections here are sensitive to contaminants like smoke—not to mention the equip ment and the evidence. You don’t smoke in here, in the bathroom, or anyplace inside the building.’’
Rikki didn’t say anything, just hunched her shoul ders. Diane looked at David and Neva.
‘‘Did you know she was smoking?’’
‘‘I mentioned to her she wasn’t supposed to,’’ said Neva. ‘‘So did David. Bryce told her it was all right.’’
‘‘And you didn’t mention it to me?’’ said Diane.
‘‘What is the big deal?’’ said Rikki. ‘‘A couple of cigarettes a day. This is a big building. We are on the top floor.’’
‘‘It is a very big deal. And it is not to happen again. However, let’s get back to the bones. What happened when you came back from the bathroom? Did you see anyone approach Jennifer’s lab?’’ said Diane.
‘‘No. There was just me and Bryce. Curtis was here for a while. He goes back and forth from here to the police station. I can’t remember when he came or left,’’ she said.
‘‘How did you meet Bryce?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘This sounds like more of an interrogation,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘I haven’t done anything.’’
‘‘I’m just trying to verify your bona fides,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t know anything about you.’’
‘‘Well my re´sume is on file,’’ she said.
‘‘Do you want to work here? I haven’t asked you that. Perhaps you don’t,’’ said Diane.
‘‘He was at the job fair on campus. I graduated from Emory. He and the chief of police had a booth and were taking applications. They called me a month or so ago.’’
‘‘What about Curtis?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Do you know how he knows Bryce?’’
Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I have no idea.’’
‘‘Where is the evidence from asked Diane.
‘‘Evidence?’’ said Rikki.
‘‘The evidence you and Bryce mayor’s house from both crime scenes,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Locked up in the vault, I guess,’’ she said.
‘‘What do you think happened to the bones?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Jennifer’s bones?’’ Rikki shrugged. ‘‘I think she couldn’t do anything with them so she got rid of them and claimed they were stolen. Bryce thinks you took them,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘Okay, thank you for answering my questions, Rikki. First, I think we’ll take a look at the evidence from the mayor’s house,’’ said Diane.
Rikki’s face brightened.
Jefferies’ house?’’
    collected from the

Chapter 27
    Diane was puzzled by Rikki’s reaction. She found it interesting—but puzzling. Rikki certainly bore watching. ‘‘Is the computer in the vault?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘It was taken to the police station,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘I think Janice delivered it here,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘We didn’t have anybody there to deal with the encryption. Bryce said he would find someone.’’
The room containing the vault was one of the rooms that needed some serious dusting. Diane, Neva, and David cleaned the examination tables before opening the vault.
The vault was the size of a small walk-in closet. Shelves filled with boxes of evidence lined the walls. Diane didn’t think it looked quite as neat as when she last saw it, but perhaps she was being hypercritical.
The computer was there sitting on the shelf, its key board shoved in on its end beside it.
‘‘Let’s go through the evidence boxes first; then you take the computer, David, and see what you can do with it,’’ said Diane.
There were two cardboard boxes with evidence from the mayor’s house. Diane took the boxes from the Peeks and Jefferies murders to separate tables and opened them.
She took out the fingerprint cards first. There were four of them. One had Jefferies’ prints, one had Peeks’ prints, and two had Garnett’s prints—one from the hall chest and one from the kitchen counter. That was all.
‘‘Why aren’t there more prints?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘Bryce took the prints. I searched the house.’’
Diane took out evidence envelopes with