“He could have come and gone up any one of them,” he said.
“He was sure quiet,” said Jin.
“This snow,” said Archie. “It cushions your footsteps.”
“Come on, Jin,” Diane said. “I need to get back with the bones and you need to see a doctor.”
“Really, Boss…”
“That’s an order, Jin,” said Diane.
She, Jin, and Izzy worked their way down off the ridge by the light of their flashlights.
“I’ll be back for you, Archie,” called Izzy.
“No problem, Izzy,” he called back.
“You and Archie riding together?” said Diane.
“Yeah, temporarily. I’m not really back officially, and Archie usually works in the evidence locker. We’re just a couple of old guys waiting for retirement, trying to make a difference.”
Izzy wasn’t that old; neither was Archie for that matter-perhaps in their early fifties at most-but Diane imagined Izzy felt old right now. The death of a child puts the weight of the world on you.
Diane put Jin in the front, and she rode in the backseat.
“How are you and your wife doing, Izzy?” asked Diane.
“Not good. Her sister’s come to stay with us for a while. I need to find out who did all this. I’m supposed to protect people, and I can’t even protect my own son from the people I should be arresting.”
Diane could relate to that. She couldn’t protect her daughter from the man she’d been trying to bring to trial for the atrocities he committed. To say it makes you feel like a failure doesn’t even begin to describe the impact it has on you.
“Bobby Coleman’s mom tried to kill herself,” continued Izzy. “They’re saying it was an accidental overdose, but we all know different. You don’t plan on outliving your kids. It’s just too awful.”
It is, agreed Diane silently. Just too awful.
Izzy dropped Diane and Jin off at the museum and she drove Jin to the emergency room. She stayed in the waiting room until he came out.
“Nothing to it,” said Jin. “The doctor put three stitches in my head and told me to call if I have pain, nausea, or dizziness-usual stuff.”
“Didn’t he say to go home and rest?” said Diane.
“Well, yeah, but they always say that. They’re just covering themselves. I’m fine.”
Diane drove him home and watched as he went into his apartment building. She headed back to the museum, but just as she was about to turn the corner, she saw his car backing out of his parking space. He was going back to the warehouse. She shook her head, reached for her phone, and dialed David.
“How’s Jin?” said David.
“He’s fine. Got three stitches. I just called to tell you that I think he’s headed back to you guys. Watch him,” said Diane.
“We will. Neva will get on his case. That usually works.”
“Finding anything interesting?” asked Diane.
“The basement of the apartment house had a kitchen, so we’ve got lots of metal. We’re looking for anything we can trace back to a person, but mostly it’s just stuff that’s part of the house. We’ve found some bone. One looks like a piece of one of the long bones. But it’s slim. Has kind of an oval cross section.”
“Sounds like it might be a radius.”
“We’ll bring all the bones to you. We’re thinking we’ll leave the other evidence here with a guard. Garnett’s bringing in an arson investigator whom he trusts to have a look.”
“Keep me informed.” Diane hung up the phone and drove the rest of the way to the museum. She parked by the outside elevator dedicated to the crime lab.
The night guard was already in the small first-floor reception room that contained the elevator. She spoke to him and rode up to the crime lab, keyed in her code, and, carrying the box of bones, walked through to her lab.
Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket just as she set the box down on the table. The display said LAURA HILLARD.
“Hi, Laura,” said Diane.
“I just called with some information. Juliet’s grandmother’s name is Ruby Torkel. She’s still alive and lives in Glendale-Marsh, Florida. She’s lived there all her life.”
“Just a minute, let me get a pen.”
Diane fished a pen from her purse, uncapped it, and looked around for a piece of paper. She found a pad in a drawer and wrote down the information.
“I don’t suppose you have a number.”
“Sure do.” Laura gave Diane the phone number. “Juliet says she’s rather cranky.”
“I deal with cranky every day. How is Juliet?”
“She’s good, considering the crime spree we’ve been having. I’m getting a lot of calls from people just needing to debrief and, unfortunately, from people needing help with their grief. Poor Juliet’s trying not to freak out over the murder in her apartment complex.”
“Her apartment complex? Where does she live?” asked Diane.
“Applewood Apartments. You know, where the Cipriano girl was murdered.”
“Juliet lives at Applewood? The poor girl. As if she doesn’t have enough problems.”
“Yes. She says it has everyone in the apartments calling locksmiths. All the people with a 131-something address similar to the victim’s are a little upset, including Juliet. She lives in 131 H. It was several buildings away from the murder apartment, 131 C, but it’s still spooky to have an address so similar to the murder victim’s.”
“What a coincidence,” said Diane.
“Yes, that’s what I told Juliet. When they ran out of the alphabet on those buildings, they started designating them AA, BB, and so on. Imagine how spooked the people are in 131 CC. Anyway, I know you’re busy, I just wanted to give you the info on her grandmother.”
“Thanks. I’ll get on it tomorrow,” Diane said. She flipped her phone shut and just stood in place for a moment. That’s odd, she thought. She slipped on a pair of gloves. It was an odd coincidence, too, that Joana Cipriano had blond hair and blue eyes-not as light as Juliet’s, but still, it was an odd coincidence. Diane felt a sense of unease as she started laying the bones out on the table.
Chapter 36
Among the bones from the warehouse, a lot were missing and most were broken, either from the explosion and fire or from McNair’s handling. None of the carpels or tarsal bones were present, nor were the terminal phalanges of the hands and feet. In fact, all the smaller bones of the skeleton were missing.
There were more than one of several bones-two left femora, two first, ninth, and eleventh thoracic vertebrae, two right ulnae, four innominates, and three scapulae. Diane didn’t try to separate out the skeletons, but laid duplicate bones beside each other. It was a strange and sketchy skeleton, an incomplete bony overlapping of two victims.
Diane went into the vault, retrieved the bones collected from the apartment house basement, and laid them out on another table-not mixing bones that had a clear provenance with those that did not. She also brought out the partially reconstructed skull, fully expecting to find some of the missing parts among the new batch of bones.
She selected out all the skull fragments from the warehouse bones and began piecing them together. It was another long, painstaking process, but one she hoped would come close to putting the whole picture together. She had the back of the second cranium assembled when she looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was in the wee hours of the morning. Time to quit. She left everything in place and locked the door behind her.
Because of the late hour and her exhaustion, she decided to stay the remainder of the night in her museum office. She’d slept on her couch before and had blankets and pillows for that purpose. She had a full bathroom, and a change of clothes in the closet.
The staff lounge was on the way to her office and she stopped to raid the vending machines of candy bars and peanuts to make up for missing dinner.