When she reached the main foyer, it was not the mixture of excitement from children and admonitions from teachers that caught her attention. It was the wooden anthropoid coffin lying on its back on a large metal cart next to the information desk.

Diane walked over to the large mummy case in the shape of a human figure and looked over at Jennifer on duty in the information station.

"They brought it in about an hour ago."

"They?"

"Some guys. Kendel-uh, Ms. Williams was with them."

At that moment a line of students with two adults at each end came into the museum.

"We're from the Rosewood Summer Library Pro gram," one of the adults announced to Jennifer and then turned and cautioned the children-five girls and three boys-to stay together. They weren't listening. Their attention had immediately focused on the coffin.

"Is there a real mummy inside there?" asked a lit tle girl.

That's what I'd like to know, thought Diane. thought Diane.

Jennifer, dressed in black slacks and a museum teeshirt, stepped from the booth and greeted them. She nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes, there is. It just arrived, and it will be going up to our conservation lab. We're all very excited. We believe it's from the twelfth dynasty in Egypt. That was about four thousand years ago."

Jennifer was more forthcoming to the children than to Diane. That seemed to be one of her characteristics. She was good with children, somewhat absent with adults.

"Can we see him?" asked a blond curly-haired boy of about eight.

The docent arrived before Jennifer had to answer, taking charge of the group in a way that was both firm and kind. The herd of children, pulling the adults behind them, skipped and bounced out of sight on the first leg of their tour.

Diane turned back to Jennifer. "What's this?" she began, just as Kendel Williams came through the dou ble doors leading from the administrative offices.

Kendel had fine brown hair turned under in a 1940s style, cut to a length just above the padded shoulders of her gray tailored suit. She had brown eyes, straight posture, and a soft voice. Ladylike was how Andie had described her to Diane when Kendel had come to interview for the position of a.s.sistant director.

In looks and manner Kendel was the opposite of Diane-soft where Diane was hard. One of the things she had liked about Kendel was that her looks were deceptive. Like all the applicants, she had several years' of experience in upper museum administration. What Diane had discovered in the interview and from the people she called for references was that Kendal was tough when it came to championing her museum and acquiring holdings. What's more, Kendel knew museum culture.

That was a strength Diane didn't have. She under stood the museum's structure and administration, but she was also an outsider among those career museum people who had come up through the ranks. Diane had been plucked from the technical field of forensic anthropology and hired as director. She knew that some people inside the museum culture resented that.

The relationships among museums were a mixture of intense compet.i.tion and helpful collaboration. Kendel was familiar with most of the major museums and how they worked and who she could work with. Diane liked her. She'd never asked Kendel how she felt about snakes.

"Dr. Fallon," she said breathlessly, "I'm so sorry about yesterday morning. I don't usually go off like that."

"It's all right. I understand that you didn't expect to find a snake coiled up in your desk drawer the second day on the job."

The elusive museum snake had made a rare appearance-unfortunately, in Kendel's desk drawer- giving Diane another opportunity to rue the day she had told the herpetologists they could create a terrar ium for live snakes.

"Only nonpoisonous snakes," she had told them. "And make sure the terrarium is escape proof."

At least they were able to keep one of her condi tions. It was a harmless black snake that escaped. The only ones who ever ran across it were people who wouldn't think of trying to catch it. The herpetologist and his a.s.sistants hadn't even caught a glimpse of it.

Kendel was quickly followed by Andie Layne, Di ane's a.s.sistant; Jonas Briggs, staff archaeologist; and Korey Jordan, head conservator. They gathered with Diane around the mummy case.

Diane looked at Andie. "I seem to remember saying something about not wanting to see any orders for mummies come across my desk."

Andie's Orphan Annie curly brown-red hair bounced as she laughed. "And you won't. This is a donation."

"Nice," said Korey. He placed a gloved hand on the case. "This is in good condition. Can't wait to see inside it." His white teeth were bright against his brown skin.

"It's from a James Lionel-Kirk," said Kendel. "Lionel-Kirk inherited it from his father in New York around twenty years ago. His father had inherited it from his grandfather in England, who inherited it from his father, we think. We're working provenance now."

"Is there anything in it?"

Jonas Briggs answered. Retired from Bartram Uni versity in Rosewood, and now the museum's only ar chaeologist, he had been the first to express a desire for an exhibit on Egyptology. At the moment, he was beaming. "There is indeed. There is a mummy inside."

"A mummy."

All nodded their heads vigorously. "We can't be sure it's the mummy that belongs with the case," Kendel warned. "At the time this was acquired, mummies were a popular tourist item and the Egyptian sellers did some mixing and matching of mummy cases and mummies."

"He's apparently unwrapped," said Jonas. "We think he-or she-was the centerpiece of a Victorian mummy unwrapping party. They were all the rage at one time."

"You're kidding."

"Not at all," said Kendel. "The guests would sit around and watch the host unwrap a mummy. We're lucky this one survived. Most from unwrapping parties were burnt as firewood."

"We were just about to take it up to the conserva tion lab and have a look," said Korey.

Diane motioned toward the elevator. "By all means. Let's have a look at our mummy."

Chapter 7.

The conservation laboratory on the second floor was s.p.a.cious, containing six shiny metal worktables, each with a microscope and a large swivel-mounted magni fying gla.s.s and light. Cabinets filled with chemicals used in conserving fragile objects of wood, paper, fab ric, metal, and bone lined the walls. There were a fume hood, sinks, and more microscopes on the countertops. From the ceiling hung the framework for mounting cameras.

It was a cool, shiny, clean room managed by Korey. Three of his a.s.sistants were seated at tables, busy at work.

Across from the lab was the X-ray room, complete with used endoscopy and low level X-ray equipment- Korey's newest babies that he'd found at a medical surplus auction.

They wheeled the mummy case past the tables into the temperatureand humidity-controlled storage vault in the back of the lab. The small room was crowded with the five of them and the mummy. They all gathered around the case of heavy wood and inlay and lifted it onto a worktable.

"We'll lay the lid on the table," said Korey. "I checked it when it came in. It's not sealed. Okay, on three."

It was heavier than Diane had suspected but man ageable as the five of them lifted the top off and laid it aside.

"Oh, this is nice," said Jonas as they looked into the coffin.

The mummy, a mixture of brown, red and dark gray, looked as if it had been fashioned from resin. The face was especially well preserved. The skin ap peared as though it were pulled tight, and the outline of bones and ligaments could be seen under the flesh. The brow ridge and jawline looked male.

The arms were crossed over the chest. On its legs were piles of yellow-brown wrappings that looked like a bundle of well-worn rags.

"Other than some patches of fungi, he looks really good," said Korey.

"He does, doesn't he?" agreed Kendel.

"It's a he he?" asked Andie.

"I believe so," said Diane.

"A pharaoh?" she asked.

"I doubt it," said Diane.

"We may never know," said Kendel. "However, his hands are crossed. That's significant."

"It is, indeed," agreed Jonas.

"How is that significant?" asked Andie.

"It's a royal burial position," said Jonas. "Plus he had a top-notch embalming job done on himself."

Andie rubbed her hands together. "I'll bet we got ourselves a king."

"Arrange a CT scan at the hospital," said Diane.

They all looked at one another, sharing the excite ment, both surprised and pleased that Diane had de cided to spring for the expense of a scan.

"Korey, you'll have to package him so he doesn't contaminate the hospital," Diane said.

"I can do that. I'll take care of any infestations first, then we'll wrap him in plastic wrap on a board."

"Plastic wrap?" said Andie.

"Sure. He'll be wrapped up like a mummy."

A groan from Andie. "Oh, please."

"We'll need tissue samples for dating and other a.n.a.lysis," said Diane. "Jonas, I'll depend on your knowledge of embalming techniques for the various dynasties to help us narrow in on the time and place of origin for this guy."

"Already been collecting my references," he said.

"Korey, let me know when you set up the scan." Diane left them excitedly discussing the mummy and headed for her office.

She sat down behind her desk, closed her eyes and lis tened to the water bubbling over the rocks of the fountain decorating the side table in her office. She had designed and constructed the fountain to remind her of the inside of a cave. When she closed her eyes and listened, she was in some deep dark grotto. She could almost feel the cool of the rock around her-the perfect peace.

"d.a.m.n, I'm sorry to disturb you."

Diane opened her eyes. Peace was always shortlived. "Mike. Can I help you?"

Mike Seger, graduate a.s.sistant to the geology cura tor, pulled up a chair and laid a folder on her desk. "Saw your interview on TV last night," Mike said "Last night? Interview?"

"About the bodies in the woods."

"I didn't give an interview."

"It looked like file footage taken at the official opening of the crime lab. You talked about justice, the objectivity of evidence, the evil of murder-"

"Great. My mailbox will be filled with more com plaints about the crime lab being in the museum."

A handful of people-including a few on her board-objected to having something as tawdry as a crime lab in the pristine learning environment of the museum, and they liked to E-mail her about it, having somehow gotten her private E-mail address.

From the look of her mail, she was right. Amid Email from various members of her staff was some from people she recognized as dissenters.

"I have photographs of the model in progress," Mike said. "Of the Journey to the Center of the Earth exhibit."

"Have you shown it to Kendel?"

"Yes. But since it was your idea..."

Mike's light brown eyes glittered with what looked to Diane like mischief. She processed her E-mail as Mike laid out photographs of the model he and the exhibit designers were constructing.

There was a message from a man who lamented that everywhere he turned there was forensics-books, mov ies, TV networks, learning channels, and darn it all, now his museum. And an E-mail from a woman who insisted Diane resign rather than serve two masters-the sublime and the grotesque. Another one began with something about an eye for an eye, and what did a museum director know about evil? And several wanted her to include the crime lab on the museum tour. She hesitated a moment, wondering whether to forward the messages to Andie for reply, or simply delete. She deleted all of them.

Mike was enthusiastic as he arranged the photos.

"It'll look just like they're descending through lay ers of the earth. It will be especially cool when they get to the fossil layer."

"This is what I had in mind," she said. "I like it."

"I thought perhaps we could discuss it over dinner sometime."

"If the exhibit designer would like to, you don't need my permission. You can meet anywhere you want."

Mike grinned broadly. For a moment she thought his teeth actually sparkled.

He leaned forward with his forearms on her desk. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"No?"

"I thought you and I could discuss it."

"I haven't the time or the inclination to microma nage the exhibits. Most of my people know their jobs. I like to leave them alone."

"All right, I can handle that. How about going cav ing?" He gave her a one-sided dimpled smile and pulled a folded paper from his shirt pocket and handed her a list. "These are some good caves to start with. Some of us from the Bartram Caving Club's been to all of them."

Diane read the list. Blowing Cave, Climax Caverns, Glory Hole Caverns, Kingston Saltpeter Cave Pre serve. She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"What?" He took the list and studied it for several seconds before he burst out laughing. "I didn't name them."