DF06 - Scattered Graves by Beverly Connor

Author:Beverly Connor [Connor, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Forensic
ISBN: 9780749941833
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Published: 2009-07-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Diane walked to her SUV in the city hall parking lot. She stopped several feet away and looked at it for a moment. A ray of sunlight peeked through the blanket of winter clouds and reflected off the bright red finish. It looked pretty. She liked her vehicle. At least it didn’t get trashed this time. She thought about the number of times her attackers had taken their anger out not only on her but also on her car.

As she was about to get in, she saw Janice Warrick and Izzy coming toward her.

‘‘You need to put a steak or something on that face,’’ said Izzy, squinting as if it hurt to look at her. ‘‘It still looks pretty bad.’’

‘‘I know. I tried makeup, but I end up looking like a corpse,’’ said Diane. She stood and waited. From their expressions, she could tell they wanted to talk, probably about Garnett. Izzy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Janice studied the ground, moving a pebble with the toe of her shoe. They both believed Garnett killed Peeks, and they felt guilty about believing it, thought Diane. They wanted her to tell them they were wrong.

‘‘It doesn’t look good for Garnett,’’ said Izzy.

‘‘What about Shane Eastling?’’ said Diane. ‘‘He’s been acting kind of... kind of like he’s on the other side. Could he have substituted the bullet?’’

Janice shook her head. ‘‘I was at the autopsy. So was Izzy. We wanted to get the bullet to ballistics as soon as possible.’’

‘‘We saw Eastling dig it out of Peeks’ brain,’’ said Izzy, wrinkling his face.

Diane wondered whether that was the first autopsy he had ever attended. She couldn’t imagine it. He’d been a policeman for a long time.

‘‘Chief Monroe is getting less inclined to look for another killer,’’ said Janice. ‘‘He wants everything wrapped up real quick. I’m afraid they are going to cut Garnett loose,’’ she said.

‘‘We still want you to look into it,’’ said Izzy.

‘‘I will,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I have a hard time believing he killed Peeks. There has to be an answer.’’

Izzy and Janice both seemed to relax.

‘‘Even if, by some . . . Even if he did kill Peeks,’’ said Izzy, ‘‘there must have been a reason that he doesn’t want to talk about—like protecting somebody, something like that. And the evidence against him for doing Jefferies is nothing, in my book.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘I’m afraid they’ll want to lump all the murders to gether just to get this over with.’’

‘‘I don’t intend to let it go,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You know I’m back in charge of the crime lab.’’

‘‘We heard,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘That’s great. Bryce is in this up to his eyeballs in some way.’’

‘‘He’s slippery,’’ said Janice. ‘‘I interviewed him about how he worked the Jefferies crime scene. He denied framing Garnett. Gave some razzle-dazzle about first finding prints with black lights before lifting them. I told him he’d still have to use special pow ders.’’ Janice smiled proudly. ‘‘He tried to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about.

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