Scattered Graves

blood sam ples from the Peeks and Jefferies scenes. Again, not enough samples. She took out the crime scene photo graphs. They were pretty good.
‘‘I took those,’’ said Rikki proudly.
‘‘These are good,’’ said Diane.
Rikki grinned broadly.
Diane studied the stills. The mayor was slumped on the floor, half on his back, beside a bar stool at the island in the kitchen. Blood was pooled under his head. There was a plate of what looked like nachos on the counter. Apparently a favorite of the mayor. A splatter of blood covered the counter in fine droplets.
Diane, David, and Neva laid out the victims’ clothes, using a different table for each of the victims. Peeks’ silk shirt and cashmere sweater were spattered with blood on the back. It was high-velocity spatter.
‘‘Did you take any blood samples from the clothes?’’ asked Diane.
Rikki shrugged. ‘‘Bryce handled all the blood. He took some samples from the scene. He said that when what has occurred is self-evident, you can sample the evidence. Anything more is a waste of time and money. That was the big criticism they had of you— you wasted money,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘Did he take a representative sample?’’ said Diane.
‘‘What?’’ asked Rikki.
‘‘Under his philosophy, he would have to take a representative sampling. Did he?’’ she asked again.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ Rikki said.
‘‘One of the things we need to do is make sure all the blood belongs to Jefferies. We may have the perp’s blood somewhere. That way we can reconstruct the crime scene.’’
‘‘Someone came in and shot the mayor,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘Where did he come from?’’ said David. ‘‘Was he in the house waiting for him? Did Jefferies let him in? Did he know him? Was it a stranger? There’s a lot of questions.’’
‘‘What do you think happened?’’ asked Rikki. ‘‘It looks to me like he had to let him in. I mean, the mayor’s house would have been hard to break in to.’’
‘‘Possibly,’’ said Diane. ‘‘But the only way you can get an accurate picture is to collect the evidence. If we are really lucky, the perp will have gotten a nose bleed.’’ She smiled at Rikki.
Diane looked at the clothes again. Both victims had expensive tastes—Ermenegildo Zegna, Just Cavalli, Armani, Ferragamo. She poured out the effects found in their pockets and on their bodies. The two had identical signet rings embossed with an image of Alex ander the Great. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
‘‘Look at this,’’ said David. He handed Diane a watch that belonged to Mayor Jefferies.
Diane cocked an eyebrow.
‘‘Expensive?’’ asked Izzy.
‘‘About fifteen thousand dollars expensive,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It’s a BRM Chrono-Automatic watch. Very limited number made.’’
‘‘Wow, can I hold it?’’ asked Izzy.
Diane handed it to him.
‘‘What does it do? Is it some kind of computer?’’
‘‘It’s a hand-crafted watch made with expensive ma terials,’’ said Diane.
Izzy looked at his watch, then at the mayor’s, and shook his head. ‘‘I could get me a good boat for fifteen thousand dollars,’’ he said.
Diane noticed how uncomfortable Rikki was get ting. She knew why.
‘‘That’s a nice watch you’re wearing,’’ Diane said.
Rikki gave a small self-conscious laugh. ‘‘My boy friend gave it to me. It’s a knockoff,’’ she said.
‘‘You’ll have to tell your boyfriend he made a good buy. It’s not a knockoff, it’s a real Cartier Tank Fran c¸aise. Very nice,’’ said Diane. She wondered whether that was the shiny object Officer Pendleton saw Rikki pocket at the crime scene.
‘‘Really?’’ Rikki laughed nervously again. ‘‘He’ll be pleased. How much is it worth, do you think?’’ she asked.
‘‘It’s also about fifteen thousand,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Wow,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘He’s not going to believe it.’’
Rikki sounded unconvincing to Diane, but maybe she was just prejudiced. Diane glanced at David and saw that he didn’t believe her either. What Diane was wondering now was what it would take for Rikki to quit, to be so afraid of being found out, she would take off. Diane suspected there was a very specific reason she was sticking around.
‘‘Well, it wasn’t a robbery,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘that’s for sure.’’
‘‘No,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It doesn’t seem to be a robbery.’’
She was wondering whether they all were that wealthy, or were