He moved his fingers over the sand, looking.
“Here we go.”
They stood around Mike so they could see what he was pointing to.
“I don’t see anything,” said Neva.
“Here, that tiny flake. That’s gold.”
“That’s it?” said Neva.
“That’s pretty good,” said Mike, “for just one handful of sand. Panning for gold is labor-intensive.” He dropped the sand on the bank of the creek and dusted off his hands.
“How sad,” said Neva. “Do you think they thought all this was gold?”
“Probably,” said Mike. “Unless they were rock hounds too.”
They looked inquiringly at Liam.
“They probably thought it was gold,” Liam said. “Life was a fantasy to Larken, and Bruce was sure he was going to find a treasure.”
They took the evidence back with them to the primary site. Somehow the couple’s deaths seemed all the sadder to think they were chasing windmills.
Diane went home with Frank to shower and change clothes. Her muscles ached from fighting with the drunkards in Conrad’s jail the day before. She dressed in an emerald green blouse and gray linen trousers with a matching jacket.
“You look beautiful,” said Frank.
“I feel clean,” she said. “I’m not much either for running around in the thickets.”
“My grandmother used to wash herself down with kerosene after going blackberry picking,” said Frank.
Diane wrinkled her nose. “Seems like that would be harmful,” she said.
“She lived to be eighty-six. I don’t know if she would have lived longer if she hadn’t doused herself with kerosene every summer.”
Diane put her arms around him. He smelled fresh and clean. “What are you going to be doing the rest of the day?” she asked.
“I’m going to check on what Gil Mathews is up to. He’s a good friend but the GBI likes to take the lead on cases they’re involved in, and I’d like to make sure my division gets its due. You got something better in mind?”
“Yeah, I do, but I have to get back to the museum. I thought maybe we could have a late date tonight here at home-maybe dinner and a movie,” she said.
Frank embraced her tighter. “I like it when you call this home. That sounds like a terrific idea. I’ll bring food back and a movie.” He held her at arm’s length and looked at her. “You all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m still angry about what Conrad did to me. Do you know how many instances of that behavior I investigated in other countries? And it happened here. I wonder what else he’s done in his little fiefdom. I’m glad the GBI is working so fast,” she said.
“They have been looking at him for quite a while, according to Gil. Intimidation is a big part of the way Conrad defines his job. Don’t take this to heart, but the GBI is kind of glad he did what he did to someone who has clout and credibility. It gives them a lot of ammunition,” he said.
“I can see their point, but. .” She let the thought trail off.
Frank pulled her back to him. “I’ll give you a call when I can get away,” he said.
“Me too,” Diane said.
Diane went to her museum office. First thing she wanted to do was call Lynn Webber. Diane had just sent her two bodies without asking her or giving her a heads-up.
Andie was in her office sporting Diane’s
“How does it look?” said Andie.
“Great,” said Diane. “I really like it.”
“I put one in your office. I think these T-shirts are going to be popular. I hope so, anyway. I like them a lot,” said Andie. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” said Diane. “I’ll be in my office. I have to make a few calls.”
Diane went to her office and sat down behind her desk and dialed Lynn Webber’s number.
Chapter 50
Hector answered the phone at the Rosewood morgue. That was a relief to Diane. She had asked the GBI agent taking the bodies to the morgue to request that Lynn Webber call Hector and Scott and have them come and take tissue samples. That meant the agent had remembered, Lynn had made the call, Hector and Scott were there, and the autopsies were probably in progress.
“This is Diane Fallon, Hector. Is Dr. Webber available?”
“Oh, hi, Dr. Fallon. She’s kind of in the middle, literally. I’ll ask,” he said.
While Diane waited on the line she checked her e-mail. There was a mountain of it she needed to deal with personally and she began sorting through it until Lynn came on the phone.
“Diane, so sweet of you to call,” Lynn said.
“Lynn, I’m sorry about the surprise. I was in the woods with no cell service and, of course, when we found the condition of the bodies, well, I told the agent in charge he needed to give them to you. This is a big case and there is no one I trust like I trust you with it. I’m also grateful for your getting in touch with Scott and Hector.”
“I’m happy to help out,” said Lynn. “Actually, I think I can get a paper out of this. Interesting series of bodies-all killed the same way. I’m not finished yet, but I’d be willing to bet my job that we’re going to find these two were killed with the same weapon as the others. Really interesting.”
“
“That too,” Lynn said.
“Thanks for doing this,” said Diane. “We owe you a big one.”
Neva often complained that Diane had to stroke Lynn Webber’s ego a little too much, which might be true. But Diane also used Lynn. Lynn Webber was in a traditionally men’s field and had to work doubly hard to make sure she stood out. Diane knew that Lynn would be willing to do anything that was intriguing and would give her an edge in her field.
“Like I said, it will make a good paper. I’m going to make casts of the vertebrae as I did with the others. I’m getting quite a collection. Interesting that this was a couple too-but a young couple. And they were killed in a cave, the agent said?”
“They were killed outside nearby and dumped in the cave,” said Diane.
“And they were killed before the Barres. I wonder what a profiler would make of that,” she said.
“I don’t know,” said Diane. “Raises lots of questions.”
“I’ll send you my report,” Lynn said. “Hector and Scott are quite excited that their samples will be used to pinpoint time of death in these two-unlike their samples in the other cases.”
Diane thanked her again and hung up the phone. Before tackling the e-mails, she called Beth in Archives to see how the speed-readers were progressing. Beth put Fisher on the line.
“Hi, Dr. Fallon,” he said. “We’re making good progress. The gold mine you wanted to know about is mentioned in the second diary. Only he identified it as a cave. The author of the diary and a friend were exploring a cave when they found a cavern with deposits of gold-a vein about three to six inches thick and bits of sparkling pieces in the wall. The two were very excited and made a pact to keep it a secret between them and to come back and mine it themselves.
“There was no further mention of it in that diary or in any of the others written when he was a kid. He actually seemed more interested in arrowheads. That’s his main focus throughout. There was a big event when he was sixteen. They had several days of hard rain that caused widespread mud slides. He found a whole cache of arrowheads that had washed out of the hillside road embankment not far from his home. That was the highlight of
