All the visitors got out on the second floor. The third floor was dedicated to exhibit preparation, library and archives, and offices. Except the west wing. That was the crime lab.
‘‘You know, you didn’t have to cooperate with me,’’ said Jacobs. ‘‘You could have stonewalled me.’’
‘‘We don’t want objects that are not ours. We would like to have the ones that are ours. I couldn’t see how not cooperating would help in any way.’’
They were walking past the staff lounge when a hand reached out and tapped Diane’s shoulder. She jumped back, ready to fight—or run.
‘‘I’m sorry, Dr. Fallon. I didn’t mean to startle you.’’ Diane caught her breath. ‘‘That’s alright, Dr. Albright. What can I do for you?’’
Dr. Albert T. Albright was the curator of dinosaurs and had helped acquire a couple of very nice velociraptors.
‘‘I had this idea for an exhibit,’’ he said.
Diane could see the excitement dancing in his eyes. She hated to brush him off.
‘‘Dr. Albright,I...’’ she began.
‘‘We make this life-size model of a dinosaur, probably a T. rex—that would be the most exciting for the youngsters. Anyway, we use’’—he motioned quickly with his hands—‘‘whatever that stuff is they use in Hollywood to make dinosaur skin look real. The exhibit would allow the kids to go through the dinosaur, starting through it’s mouth and walk through the throat and down to the stomach—you know, to show digestion—and finally the kids are pooped out the back end. I think they would love it,’’ he said.
‘‘I... don’t know exactly what to say,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I think you need to run your idea by Janine, the exhibit planner. Do you have it on paper?’’
‘‘No, I thought of it just now as I was eating some popcorn,’’ he said.
‘‘See what the two of you come up with and I’ll take a look at it,’’ said Diane.
He nodded happily and went on his way toward Exhibit Preparations.
Shane Jacobs stood trying to laugh silently.
‘‘You going to do it?’’ he asked.
‘‘The exhibit?’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’m going to let Janine take care of it. Right now I’m not thinking about new and unusual exhibits.’’
They walked across the dinosaur overlook and Jacobs stopped to look at the real giants of the museum—the Jurassic dinosaurs. The Brachiosaurus that stood on the first floor came all the way up to the third floor. They were staring at his head. The T. rex was only half as tall. That surprised most kids because T. rex, with his carnivorous behavior, was king.
‘‘Now, this is fun,’’ said Jacobs.
‘‘It is. I enjoy the dinosaurs,’’ said Diane. She stepped away from the fenced railing. ‘‘We’re crossing over to what the rest of the museum staff call the dark side, and the things that go on there are dark matters.’’
She proceeded forward to see what dark matters the marshals and Rosewood police had come about.
Chapter 32
The first thing Diane noticed when she walked into the crime lab was the two tabletop Christmas trees.
‘‘I must have overslept,’’ she said, eying the trees, one with red ornaments, the other with blue. She exchanged glances with Jacobs. He grinned.
The chairs weren’t around the debriefing table but were facing a flip chart. It looked like someone was going to give a lecture. Garnett was there. So was Kingsley. They were talking to the marshals. Jacobs caught Kingsley’s eye and walked over to him.
David was about to look under a piece of fabric draped over some object sitting behind the trees. Instead he stepped over to Diane and whispered in her ear.
‘‘I didn’t know when I talked to Andie that it was
Jin who set up this meeting.’’
‘‘Jin?’’ said Diane. ‘‘Where is he?’’
David shrugged. Diane looked over at Neva. She
shrugged too.
‘‘What’s with the Christmas trees?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘I have no idea,’’ said David.
Again Neva shrugged. ‘‘You know Jin,’’ she said. ‘‘I can tell you he’s really got his motor revved up. And you know how that is.’’
Garnett walked over to the three of them. ‘‘You didn’t know about this?’’ he asked.
‘‘No,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Is he allowed to do this... call this kind of meeting on his own?’’ Garnett asked.
She had never told Jin he couldn’t. It never occurred to her to say, Jin, don’t call meetings of U.S. marshals and the chief of detectives without my approval.
Diane pinched the bridge of her nose. The thing about her crew was you had to be specific with instructions.
‘‘I see he didn’t ask Riddmann to attend,’’ said Diane, looking around her. ‘‘That’s a plus.’’
‘‘I have some news for you about Riddmann,’’ said Garnett in a low voice.
Diane raised her eyebrows. ‘‘He’s moving to Alaska, I hope?’’
Garnett ignored her. ‘‘You know how guilty he looked when you accused him of leaking to the press about the museum issue?’’ he said.
‘‘I remember very well. Don’t tell me he’s behind it,’’ said Diane.
‘‘No, I don’t think he is. At least my sources tell me he isn’t. But he did do something to twist the knife a little. He had one of his staff call in to the radio talk show and ask questions designed to embarrass the museum. It was aimed at Mrs. Van Ross.’’
‘‘Well, he hit his mark. It upset her, which is not a good thing,’’ said Diane. ‘‘He has to know that sometimes payback’s a bitch.’’
‘‘That’s why he did it anonymously. And it would have stayed that way, but I have an ear in his department. Just thought you’d like to know.’’
‘‘You never know who’s listening in Rosewood, do you? I’m glad you found out,’’ said Diane. ‘‘And I’m glad you told me. That little pissant.’’
‘‘Any idea what this is about?’’ Garnett gestured to the Christmas trees and the lined-up chairs.
‘‘Not a clue,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Neither does David. When he called I thought you were here to tell me you had found Clymene’s body.’’
‘‘We’ve come up empty so far on that,’’ he said.
‘‘How about my attacker?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Nothing yet. I’m still waiting for DNA results from Jin on the hair snagged on Andie’s purse.’’
‘‘It takes time. We just got the lab calibrated and certified and we already have people sending us samples. The backlog of DNA analysis in this country is . . .’’
Jin appeared through the elevator doors. He was carrying what looked like handouts. What on earth? thought Diane.
‘‘Jin,’’ she said. ‘‘What’s this about?’’