The observation room door opened and Chief of Police Buford Monroe entered. He stood beside Diane and the others, nodding to them.
‘‘Finally getting somewhere,’’ he said. ‘‘You say your guy cracked the encryption?’’
‘‘Yes, David and Frank,’’ said Diane. ‘‘It had some very unusual aspects to it.’’
‘‘I’ll be anxious to hear about it,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to track down who encrypted it,’’ said Diane.
Janice started speaking. Diane watched Rikki. She didn’t look particularly defiant, and so far she hadn’t asked for a lawyer.
‘‘So tell me,’’ said Janice. ‘‘When did you decide to kill Jefferies and Peeks?’’
Rikki smiled. ‘‘I didn’t kill anyone. I swear.’’ She crossed her heart with her right index finger.
‘‘You didn’t, yet you knew about the money?’’ said Janice.
‘‘Well, yeah, we all knew about the money.’’
‘‘We all?’’ said Janice.
‘‘People close to Jefferies.’’
‘‘If you didn’t kill them, who did?’’ asked Janice.
‘‘For that, I need a deal and a lawyer,’’ Rikki said.
‘‘A deal?’’ said Janice.
But Monroe knocked on the glass. Rikki looked up, smiled, and waved as if she could see them on the other side.
‘‘She’s asked for a lawyer,’’ said Monroe. ‘‘I might ought to have had one of the more senior detectives question her.’’
‘‘Wouldn’t have made any difference,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Rikki’s working on Plan B.’’
Diane and the others waited for Rikki’s lawyer to show up. Diane tried to get a moment to speak to Janice, but she was busy running back and forth. Looking for ducks to get in a row, Diane supposed.
District Attorney Riddmann showed up first. He was another bureaucrat whom Diane had managed to offend with her unpolished diplomatic skills. But he was friendly enough. He commented sympathetically on Diane’s face. She looked forward to the day when the bruises would be gone.
Diane introduced the DA to Frank, but they knew each other already. Frank apparently could also have some unpolished diplomatic skills on occasion when it came to Riddmann.
‘‘You’re out of uniform, aren’t you, Izzy?’’ Ridd mann said, patting him on the arm.
‘‘Nope. I’m working with the crime lab now. Quite exciting it is too. I had no idea what those folks were into over there,’’ he said. ‘‘Why, decryption alone was worth the price of the ticket.’’ He grinned broadly.
Riddmann nodded as if he understood what Izzy was talking about. It was awkward all the way around. Riddmann was not an easy man to make small talk with, even had Diane been good at small talk herself. Janice joined them.
‘‘Sorry, I’ve been so busy. You’d think someone who has just stolen so much money could afford her own lawyer. The judge appointed LaCroix. She’ll be here shortly.’’
‘‘You think this will crack open the case?’’ asked Riddmann.
Janice shrugged. She looked at Diane. ‘‘Do you know what she has up her sleeve?’’
‘‘She wants to trade Bryce in exchange for a deal for herself,’’ said Diane.
Janice raised her eyebrows.
‘‘Does she have anything to deal with?’’ said Ridd mann. ‘‘I understand she’s been caught red-handed, as it were.’’
‘‘She has the forceps Bryce used to take the bullet out of Edgar Peeks’ skull, as well as the bullet,’’ said Diane. ‘‘And quite a story, I would imagine.’’
Chapter 44
Rikki’s lawyer came bustling in. She was a middleaged woman, heavyset, with chunky turquoise jewelry and black frizzy hair. Riddmann didn’t like her, mainly because he often lost to her, Diane knew.
Patsy LaCroix took one look at Diane and put her hand over her mouth. ‘‘Did the police do that to you?’’ she said.
‘‘Your client is in here,’’ said Janice. She ushered her into the interrogation room.
Diane thought she probably ought to go back to the museum, but she was curious to see how this turned out. She sat down with Frank on a bench out in the hallway. Izzy went to visit friends in the department, no doubt to tell them of his adventures so far. Ridd mann and Janice stood talking with the chief of police, probably planning strategies, thought Diane.
‘‘What did you make of the... I don’t know what to call him,’’ said Diane.
‘‘AI, instant messenger?’’ said Frank. ‘‘I’m not sure if he was real or not either. I didn’t detect any outside communications. What did I think of him? Interesting. Very intriguing.’’
‘‘Someone must have gotten a photograph of me and programmed it into the computer for the camera to recognize. Is that how it was done?’’ said Diane. ‘‘There are publicity photographs of me available from the museum. It would be easy enough to get one.’’
