‘‘Other office? At the station house?’’
‘‘How much about me did Garnett reveal to you?’’
‘‘Not a lot. That you are a forensic anthropologist who used to do human rights investigations. We lis tened to the tapes of you and the caller. Most of my time so far has been spent looking at the reports of the crime scenes.’’
‘‘I have an office in the museum. That’s where you’ll find personal items, including a rather nice photograph of me dangling on the end of a rope.’’
‘‘In the museum? This one connected to the crime lab?’’
‘‘Yes. I’m the director.’’
That caught him by surprise. Diane wondered why they hadn’t told him. Perhaps Garnett just hadn’t con sidered it pertinent. She could almost see Kingsley revising his profile of her.
‘‘I see. Well, that’s certainly interesting. You must be a busy woman.’’
‘‘I am.’’
‘‘You don’t have any cognitive’’—he waved a hand in the air—‘‘dissonance switching from one job to the other?’’
‘‘No. Actually, they go together better than you might expect. I have within a couple of floors experts in a great many fields—geologists, biologists, entomol ogists, archaeologists. Sometimes my duties overlap. For instance, we just inherited a mummy. He’s getting the same analysis that a modern body would. For me and my forensic staff, being next to the museum has very definite benefits. After working a gruesome crime scene, it’s amazingly calming to go look at the collec tion of seashells, or at the giant dinosaurs.’’
‘‘I’ll bet it is. This is interesting. Very unexpected. So, why do you think this guy is calling you?’’
Diane wasn’t fazed by his abrupt change of subject. She suspected that was why he did it—to see if she really could switch attention on a dime.
‘‘I don’t know. He says he wants me to understand his position. It sounds like he wants my approval. I don’t know why.’’
‘‘Do you think it was he who attacked you last night?’’
‘‘In the last conversation with him, I had a sense he was frustrated that I wouldn’t tell him he was right. I assumed it was him, but I don’t know. Nor do I know who else might have done it.’’
‘‘That’s a good question. Did you get a sense of how old the caller is?’’
‘‘Twenties was my impression. I’d say not much into his thirties, if that old. But that is just an impression.’’
Kingsley looked at his notes. ‘‘You say that the per son who tied the ropes that hung the people in the forest wasn’t the same person who tied the ropes that hung the guy in the house. Is that something you’re sure of?’’
‘‘Yes.’’
‘‘Would you explain that to me?’’
Diane went through the same explanation that she gave Chief Garnett and Sheriff Braden about how the knots were tied.
‘‘So the person who tied’’—he looked down at his notes—‘‘Chris Edwards’ knots did not know how to tie a proper knot?’’
‘‘No. He tied a granny knot.’’
Kingsley referred to his notes again. ‘‘You mention that all the knots tied by the person who tied the hanging victims in the forest had... what did you call it?...a stopper knot on the tail end of each?’’
‘‘Yes.’’
‘‘Would you call this compulsive behavior? I mean, why did he do this with all the knots he tied?’’
‘‘No, I wouldn’t call it compulsive. One thing you have to make sure of is that the end of the rope doesn’t slip through the knot you just tied when weight is put on the knot. That’s what a stopper knot is for. This guy used a stevedore’s knot. I use a figure eight when I need a stopper knot. A stevedore is like a figure eight, just with an extra turn. It might say something about where he learned to tie his knots.’’
Kingsley nodded. ‘‘And this length of rope you found. You actually re-created the knot that was once tied in it?’’
‘‘I found a knot that I could make correspond to the kinks left by previous knots and that also corres ponds to a specific spiral wear pattern on the rope. That’s not to say I am right.’’
He smiled. ‘‘I appreciate your careful use of words. Say you were right. You mention that it is a knot used by truckers.’’
‘‘I don’t know how commonly it is used by them, but it is a knot used by that group. It’s a knot for tying up and securing a load. When the tension is released, the knot is easy to untie. In knots, being able to untie them is almost as important as being able to tie them.’’
‘‘I find this interesting. This is the kind of thing I don’t usually get from evidence. Tell me this. Suppose for a moment that the person who is calling you is the one who killed the victims in the forest. Is he smart enough to try to fool you?’’
‘‘Dr. Kingsley, anyone is smart enough to try to fool me.’’
‘‘I guess you’re right. Let me rephrase. What I’m getting at is, would this person tie the wrong kind of knot on purpose at a second crime scene just to throw you off track?’’
