“But what’s right is right. Leland is a good man and we don’t want you smearing his name.”
“It’s out of my hands,” said Diane. “Good men don’t do what he did. And good people don’t approve of it.”
Maud sucked in her breath.
“Well, just how did you survive it?” said Earl. His confident manner suggested he’d thought of some loop-hole in Diane’s logic. “They were three strong men.”
“I fought,” said Diane. “I know anatomy and I know how to hit where it will hurt. The man with me-the one Conrad put in a cell for no reason whatsoever-is a retired military officer with combat experience. He told me what to do to try to save myself, and he was able to grab one of the men through the bars who was coming for me. I fought,” Diane said again. “I fought hard to not let that happen to me, and I was lucky. Good people came with the GBI to get me out.”
Earl frowned and his lips quivered. Diane could see his anger and it pissed her off. How could they think it was right to do that to anyone?
“The sheriff said you don’t have faith,” said Maud.
“Is that what he said?” said Diane.
“It’s this place.” Maud pointed at the museum. She reached out and grabbed Diane’s sleeve. Her voice was soft and had a sincerity to it. “What you teach-it’s robbed you of your faith.” She let go of Diane’s sleeve and clasped her hands together.
Diane supposed it was a brief attempt at what Maud considered kindness. Diane didn’t feel kindness. She didn’t feel kind, at the moment.
“I’m not even going there,” said Diane.
“I can see there’s no reasoning with you,” said Earl. “Let’s go, Maud.”
He and his wife got back in their car and Diane watched them drive away.
She turned to get in the museum’s SUV. Hers hadn’t yet come back from being repaired. She noticed Andie’s car was still there. Liam’s black Mercury Cougar was gone. Diane smiled. Maybe he had taken her out after all. She shook off the bad taste Maud and Earl had left her with, got in her vehicle, and drove home, looking forward to seeing Frank. Looking forward to some sane conversation and some affection.
Diane arrived home and enjoyed an evening with Frank, leaving thoughts of murder, Sheriff Conrad, and Rendell County behind her. She showered, changed into soft, comfortable, blue-gray drawstring pants and a matching tee. Frank brought food from a French restaurant this time, salmon marinated in vodka and orange juice, roasted vegetables, French onion soup, and
“Well, this is heavenly,” said Diane.
“Not bad,” said Frank, smiling. “There’s some of your favorite science fiction on tonight. I thought we’d curl up on the couch, watch a little, and turn in early.”
“Great plan,” she said.
Diane arose a couple of hours later than usual the next morning feeling refreshed. She rolled out of bed, stretched, showered, dressed, downed a protein drink, and drove to the museum. The parking lot was full and there was a tour bus of schoolchildren from Atlanta. She hurried up the steps and walked to Andie’s office. She turned the knob but the door was locked. She took out her keys and opened it. Andie wasn’t at her desk. Diane wondered if she was meeting with the webcam project committee. She went into her own office and booted up her computer. There were no messages from Andie on her desk. That was fine with Diane; she could use a slow morning. She felt refreshed, but she was still sore. The six-mile hike to the cave and back didn’t work out as many kinks from her muscles as she would have liked.
She worked for several minutes at the computer, responding to e-mail replies to the ones she sent the day before. She noticed that the phones weren’t ringing in her or Andie’s office-something unheard-of around there. Were the phones out? She picked up the phone. Dial tone. Fine.
Diane called Sierra the secretary. Dorette down the hall in Publicity answered.
“This is Diane. Where is Sierra?”
“Oh, Dr. Fallon, there was a problem with the tour from Atlanta and she went to check on it. I’m catching the phones. I’ve got lots of messages if you want them.”
“Where is Andie?” asked Diane.
“Well, we thought maybe she was coming in late too,” said Dorette.
“Her car is here,” said Diane.
“Is it? Then I guess she’s somewhere in the building.”
“Thank you, Dorette. Are any of the messages urgent?”
“Well, I don’t know.” She paused. “I’m good at publicity,” she said. “God, that sounded lame, didn’t it?”
Diane smiled. “I understand. I’ll go see what the problem is with the tour.”
She hung up the phone and left the office in search of Sierra. She met her in the hall.
“What happened with the tour?” asked Diane.
“Wrong day,” said Sierra. “I don’t know who made the error-us or them-but I got one of the docents to take charge of it. There was another group coming at the same time, so we combined them, and I called in another docent who was on her day off. I think it will all work out.”
“Good thinking. Have you seen Andie?” asked Diane.
“No, but her car is here. When the problem with the tour group came up and I found her office dark, I called her home-thinking, like, maybe her car wouldn’t start and she got a ride home last night and needed one back today. I got her answering machine. She didn’t answer her cell either,” said Sierra. “But she’s got a bunch of meetings scheduled, so I just figured that’s where she is.”
“Thanks. You did well,” said Diane.
Diane went back to her office and tried Andie’s home phone again and her cell. Still no answer at home and the cell just rolled over to voice mail. Diane called Liam as she checked her e-mail again. Sometimes Andie left messages for her there. She heard Liam’s voice on the phone say, “Hello,” but all she could do was stare at the computer screen. She placed her phone back in its cradle and put her hand over her mouth.
Chapter 53
Diane sat at her desk shaking.
She reached for the phone-the private one connected to the crime lab.
“David here.”
“David, who’s in the crime lab?” she asked.
“Me, Neva, and Izzy. We’re all doing lab work today. Why, what’s wrong?”
“Get Jin up there with you. Tell him to put one of the Spearmans in charge of the DNA lab. Get the messages from my museum computer. Be discreet. I’ll be right there.”
Diane hung up her desk phone and picked up her cell and started a text message, then stopped. Could it be compromised in some way? She wished she’d listened when David was going on about cells, the way he often did about electronic things. She turned off her computer and went to Sierra’s office.
“Sierra, may I borrow your cell phone?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Sierra.
Diane almost grabbed the cell from her hand, fumbling with it, but finally sent Frank a text message saying she needed him at the crime lab. . now.
“Sierra, I have to attend to something. You’re in charge of the museum. Call Archives and ask Beth to come down and help. Call me. . in the crime lab. . only if the problem is dire.”
“Is something wrong?” asked Sierra.
“Please don’t ask any questions right now. I’ll keep in touch,” she said.
“Okay, Dr. Fallon,” said Sierra, frowning. She looked worried, but Diane couldn’t help it.
Diane left the office wing and took the quickest route to the crime lab, which was the elevator in the lobby to
