Dead Hunt

‘‘Can we wait until I speak with the FBI before you

take me downtown?’’ she said.

‘‘Look,’’ said Garnett. He turned to the DA. ‘‘I

think it’s premature to arrest Dr. Fallon at this point.

The barbiturates in her system do give her an alibi,

and I would hate to make a mistake that we all would

regret. Remember, no one in the apartment building

heard anything either—not the neighbors across the

hall, nor the ones above, below, or beside her. You

will agree that is odd. In addition to the unpleasantness in her apartment early this morning, Dr. Fallon

was attacked at the hospital by an unknown assailant

wielding a knife. I think we can cut her some slack,

especially since I’m sure she is sorry’’—he looked at

her when he said the word sorry—‘‘for not being as

cooperative as she could, but that’s understandable.’’

He looked at Diane and gestured with his head

toward Riddmann.

Diane knew what he meant. He wanted her to apologize to the DA. Damn. But the museum and the

crime lab were worth more than her pride at the

moment.

‘‘Garnett is right,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Mr. Riddmann, I’m

sorry. You are certainly due more cooperation than I

have given, especially in front of guests.’’ She nodded

at the marshals. ‘‘I’m also sorry for the misuse of statistics. I hate it when other people do it and I regret

doing it myself.’’

Riddmann had been smiling—or smirking—at her,

she couldn’t really tell the difference, but now he

looked confused. Diane turned to the marshals. ‘‘The police commissioner in Rosewood asked the

DA’s office to accept cases that have weaker evidence

than they would normally prosecute. The aim is for

Rosewood to get as many criminals off the streets as it can. Although we do get more people off the streets, a consequence is a statistically lower conviction rate for the DA’s office.’’ A policy which Diane, herself, disagreed with because another consequence was that too many innocents got convicted. ‘‘If Rosewood had the same policy as, say Atlanta, the conviction rate

stats would be much higher.’’

Riddmann looked as though he hadn’t realized that

before. He probably tucked it away to use in his

next campaign.

‘‘I didn’t know you were attacked at the hospital,’’

said Riddmann. ‘‘With this new evidence, I think we

can wait.’’

‘‘Thank you,’’ she said, and Garnett looked relieved. ‘‘This attack,’’ asked Deputy Marshal Merrick, ‘‘do

you think it was connected to the incident in your

apartment?’’

‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Diane.

She didn’t say that she thought it was connected to

the museum, and she wasn’t sure she was going to tell

the FBI. She believed she had a better chance of solving it than they did. If someone thought she was dirty

and was willing to kill her for it, the FBI would, of