One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor Read Free Book Online

Harvey Phelps, opposite Mark, leaving his arm to gather air. Donald was there. Diane met his gaze briefly. She wondered if somehow he was responsible for ordering almost a hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of unneeded museum exhibits and signing her name to the order. Donald was a good illustrator. Did that translate into the ability to forge a signature?
    “Good news?” she asked Mark. She glanced at Harvey, who raised a bushy eyebrow in her direction. “Tell me.”
    “The price on the old Vista Building has come down considerably.”
    “And?” Diane prompted.
    “With those picture windows, big rooms, and its central location, it would make a great museum. The board can sell this property for a premium price and have money left over for some of the other things on Milo’s wish list.”
    “I’ve seen the Vista. It has only one large room. The rest are too small for our needs. The parking is miserable. There is absolutely no place for a nature trail, and I suspect the price is dropping because it’s hard to sell, sitting as it is on the edge of a high-crime area. Besides, we’ve spent quite a bit restoring this place, and I think it’s wonderful.”
    Mark’s face hardened. The others looked into their drinks. “This building’s much too big for our needs. Besides, it’s a steep climb up here in the winter,” he said. “It could be dangerous for busloads of children.”
    Harvey Phelps slapped him on the back. “Oh, I don’t know, Mark. We haven’t had a decent winter in years.”
    Diane gave Harvey’s arm a squeeze and left them talking about the weather. She sought out Frank and Kevin. “I hope you guys are having a good time,” she said.
    “Great.” Kevin answered for everybody. “Do you have any human bones?”
    “Yes, we do. Actually, a great many of our skeletal exhibits are made from casts of real skeletons. They aren’t real bones, but they’re exact replicas. We have a nice exhibit of Homo sapiens and his distant ancestors in the primate room.”
    “Do you have any bones from murder victims?”
    Diane shook her head. “This is strictly natural history. We have rocks, shells, bugs, dinosaurs, mammals and plants. But no murder.”
    “Why did you quit investigating murders?” he asked.
    “Kevin!” cautioned his mother.
    “Yes, Diane, why did you quit?” This was from Gordon Atwell, president of the bank that held the museum’s mortgage.
    “Traveling all over the world got tiring. I wanted to settle down in one spot. Lead a normal, quiet life, for a change.”
    “I guess when you’ve seen one mass grave, you’ve seen them all, huh?” He patted her on the shoulder. “There’s Amberson. I need to talk to him.”
    Diane was glad to see him go off in another direction.
    “What do I need to take in school to learn about bones?” asked Kevin.
    “What grade are you in?”
    “Eighth.”
    “You need to be strong in your sciences, especially biology. You need math. If you have any anatomy courses, that would be good. You’ll need chemistry later on. And, of course, you have to learn your bones.”
    Kevin frowned. “Why do I need math?”
    “There’s a lot of measuring and calculations to do. Bones have a consistent size relationship with each other. You get as much information from the size indexes and ratios as you do from the physical examination of the bones themselves.”
    “You should see what she told me about a piece of collarbone,” said Frank. “Darn near told me what the guy had for his last meal.”
    Diane started to laugh with the others when a thought flashed through her mind. She looked at Frank. “I think I can tell you what he ate.”
    Frank looked shocked for a moment. “I was joking. You mean you can? From a bone?”
    “Not his last meal, but we may find a bit of information that might help identify him.”
    “How?” asked Kevin. “How can you tell what he ate by looking at his bone?”
    “You have to remove the collagen—that’s one of the