Scattered Graves

didn’t know quite how to pro
ceed. He didn’t laugh.
‘‘You better rethink this. You don’t know what you
are getting into,’’ he said.
‘‘Mr. Crabtree,’’ said Diane, ‘‘I think you had better
go. Even if we were hiring right now, you’ve disquali
fied yourself by your aggressive behavior.’’
‘‘What? You’re kidding. I was just defending myself.
He started it.’’ Crabtree pointed to Jin.
‘‘Jin started it,’’ Diane repeated. ‘‘Are you in the
third grade?’’ She pointed to the stairs. ‘‘Please leave.
This area is off-limits to you.’’
Crabtree narrowed his eyes to slits. ‘‘You’re a fool
ish woman,’’ he said. ‘‘A very foolish woman.’’ He stood there in front of them for several moments as if deciding whether or not to dig his heels in. Sud denly he turned and headed for the stairs. Diane and
Jin watched him leave.
‘‘Cheeky bastards,’’ said Jin.
‘‘Aren’t they,’’ said Diane. She took her cell from
her jacket pocket and called the crime lab and asked
for Lloyd Bryce.
‘‘I think there has been a misunderstanding,’’ said
Bryce when Diane had briefed him on the encounter.
‘‘Curtis is enthusiastic in everything he does. He was
probably just being an assertive applicant. Your guy
is just overly sensitive.’’
Diane sat down on one of the leather chairs in the
small sitting area near the entrance to the lab. She
put her feet up on the oak coffee table and rubbed
the middle of her forehead with the tips of her fingers.
Jin sat in a chair opposite her and leaned forward, his
elbows on his knees.
‘‘Enthusiasm aside, Mr. Crabtree’s behavior was in
appropriate,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I explained that we cannot
accommodate your DNA requirements. Our protocols
don’t allow it.’’
‘‘I believe we can come to some compromise on
this,’’ Bryce said.
‘‘What kind of compromise?’’ said Diane. ‘‘Certifi
cation standards require that we use only highly trained
technicians who function under our direct supervision
and authority.’’
‘‘I have another employee whom I can recommend,’’
he began.
‘‘Neva would be acceptable, if you wish to transfer
her to us. But she would need extensive training and,
as I said, she would function one hundred percent
under our authority.’’
Jin grinned. He would like to have Neva. They were
a team when he worked in the crime scene unit. Neva
was a former police officer given to Diane by the
Rosewood Police Department when Diane started the
crime scene unit. Now that Diane was no longer head
of the unit, Neva worked for Bryce.
‘‘I’d rather keep Neva working crime scenes,’’ said
Bryce. ‘‘I was thinking of Rikki Gillinick. She’s very
bright.’’
‘‘Rikki Gillinick?’’ repeated Diane.
Jin jumped out of the chair and came at Diane shak
ing his head. Diane waved him back.
David had told Diane about Rikki, also known as
Lollipop, and her inability to understand the differ
ence between what she knew and what she believed,
and how she carried her preconceptions with her to
crime scenes.
David was another of Diane’s former crime scene
crew. He was a friend she had worked with doing
human rights investigations. David took the news that
Diane was being replaced hard and more than once
had said he was going to quit. He and Neva frequently
joked about the unit over their weekly dinners with
Diane, their way of debriefing, Diane supposed. Their
biggest complaints were Bryce’s assigning David to do
only lab work, taking him out of the field, and putting
the inexperienced Rikki on the larger cases—like the
murder of Judge Karen McNevin. Neva was sent to
process a downtown break-in while Bryce and Rikki
worked the judge’s scene. David analyzed the evi
dence collected by Bryce and Rikki, and the police
arrested the brother of a man the judge had put away.
It was a slam dunk according to Bryce, but Diane had
sensed that David was not satisfied with the way it
was handled.
Rikki as a DNA tech was out of the question. ‘‘We are committed to the protocols that regulate
us and ensure the quality of our work,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I’ll tell you what I told Mr. Crabtree. The GBI has
a fine DNA lab. Perhaps you can work out something
with them.’’
‘‘Look, Diane, I know you are ticked at being re
placed as the crime lab director, but don’t let your
emotions cause you to overlook the merits of working
with us.’’
That did pique Diane’s ire. She