He followed her out. "I'd like to, yes."
'It wasn't in the workroom, you know. We'd already moved it across the hall."
'To the storage room." He could feel the stare of the departmental secretary as they crossed the outer office. "What are you doing hanging around here?" it said. "Why aren't you out catching the one who did this?" It was a stare he could identify at fifty paces just by the way it impacted with his back. Over the years, he'd learned to ignore it. Mostly.
'You'll find it's just a little large to maneuver around." Dr. Shane stopped across from the workroom and pulled out her keys. "That's why we moved it."
While the workroom doors were bright yellow, the storeroom doors bordered on day-glo orange.
'What's with the color scheme?" Celluci asked.
Dr. Shane's head swiveled between the two sets of doors. "I haven't," she said at last, forehead slightly puckered, "the faintest idea."
To Celluci's eyes the sarcophagus looked like a rectangular box of black rock. He had to actually run his fingers along the edge before he could find the seam where the top had been fitted into the sides. "How can you tell that something like this is Sixteenth Dynasty?" he asked, crouching down and peering in the open end.
'Mostly because the only other one ever found in this particular style was very definitely dated Sixteenth."
'But the coffin was Eighteenth?" He could see faint marks where the coffin had rested.
'No doubt about it."
'Is that unusual? Mixing time periods?"
Dr. Shane leaned on the sarcophagus and crossed her arms. "Well, we've never run into it before, but that may be because we've run into very few undisturbed grave sites. Usually, if we find a sarcophagus, the coffin is missing entirely."
'Hard to run away with one of these," Celluci muttered, straightening and having a look at the end panel. "Any theories?"
'On why this one was mixed?" Dr. Shane shrugged. "Maybe the family of the deceased was saving money."
Celluci looked up and smiled. "Got a good deal on it secondhand?"
Dr. Shane found herself smiling back. "Perhaps."
Moving the sliding panel into its grooves, Celluci let it gently down, then just as gently eased it up again. There was a three-inch lip on the inside that blocked the bottom edge. He frowned.
'What's the matter?" Dr. Shane asked, leaning forward a little anxiously. Pretty much indestructible or not, this was still a three-thousand-year-old artifact.
'They might also have chosen this style because once inside, it'd be the next thing to impossible to get out. There's no way to get a grip on this door and because it slides, brute force would do bugger all."
'Yes. But that's usually not a factor?"
'No, of course not." He released the panel and stepped back. Maybe Dave was right. Maybe he was fixating on this nonexistent mummy. "Just a random observation. You, uh, get used to throwing strange details together in this job."
'In my job, too."
She really did have a terrific smile. And she smelled great. He recognized Chanel No. 5, the same cologne Vicki used. "Look, it's?" He checked his watch. "? eleven forty-five. How about lunch?"
'Lunch?"
'You do eat, don't you?"
She thought about it for a moment, then she laughed. "Yes, I do."
'Then it's lunch?"
'I guess it is, Detective."
'Mike."