Chapter 10
Frank wasn’t home, but he hadn’t left a message say ing he wasn’t coming. Diane sat down at the piano to practice as soon as she had put her things down. Frank had a baby grand piano, and he was teaching her how to play. When she had first seen his piano, she re marked, the way people do when they see a beautiful piano, ‘‘Oh, I wish I could play.’’ He said he would teach her, but she resisted the idea at first. She thought she should learn on some lesser piano. Somehow, the quality of her playing and the quality of the sound of such a fine piano didn’t seem like a good match. But there was something heavenly about sitting down and listening to the sound of the hammers striking the strings, even if all you could play was ‘‘Off We Go to Music Land.’’ Today she played to keep her mind fo cused more than anything else.
Fortunately she had progressed since those begin ning lessons and was now learning a nocturne by Chopin. It was from a book of easy classic pieces for the piano; most of the notes were taken out, leaving the basic melody and some harmonic chords. But it was pretty and she could play it—a little.
She hadn’t been playing long when she heard the door open. She stopped.
‘‘Don’t stop on my account,’’ said Frank. ‘‘It’s sound ing good.’’
‘‘It’s still not right, and I’m not sure...’’
She heard him put his car keys in the small ceramic tray he used for that purpose, then his watch, and the change in his pockets. After a moment she smelled the scent of him—a mixture of Frank and aftershave. He came up behind her, put his face next to hers, and kissed her jawline.
‘‘You’re treating the measures as if there were a slight rest at the end of each one. Measures are just that—a unit of measure. Play right through it.’’ He put his hands around her, under her arms, and began playing the piece. After a moment he switched to the full Chopin, adding the notes that had been left out for beginners like her. He included the grace notes, the trills, the full range of keys along the keyboard. He stopped abruptly.
‘‘See?’’ he said.
Diane laughed, stood up, turned, and kissed him. ‘‘Yeah, I get it. I need more practice.’’
Frank’s jaw dropped when he got a look at her face. ‘‘Diane, my God, what happened?’’
‘‘Did you hear anything on the news?’’ said Diane.
‘‘No,’’ he said. He came around the piano bench and touched her face and put his arms around her. ‘‘What happened?’’ he said again.
They sat down on the sofa and Diane leaned against him and told him about Delamore, the cliff, the death.
‘‘You almost died,’’ he said. ‘‘Diane . . . why didn’t you call me?’’
‘‘I didn’t want to upset you, and I was all right. As it turned out, he was in more danger than I was.’’
‘‘Diane...,’’ he said again, as if saying her name over and over would ensure she was really there. ‘‘Really, now I’m serious. I’ve had some experience with trauma and death—’’
‘‘As I well know.’’
‘‘Well, yes,’’ he said. ‘‘You have to believe me, for your own emotional well-being, please have someone get me whenever you are involved in any way in a severe trauma. Death and near-death experiences af fect you in ways you cannot handle alone.’’
‘‘Are you saying I need your strong shoulder to lean against?’’
‘‘Yes, that’s what I’m saying. It’s no weakness on your part...or mine. It’s a human need.’’
‘‘So, when you get shot up, you need my shoulder as well?’’ she said.
‘‘You know very well that I do,’’ Frank said.
‘‘That’s very sweet,’’ Diane said.
‘‘Call me if anything even remotely like this ever happens to you again.’’
‘‘Okay, I will.’’
‘‘You promise?’’ he said.
‘‘I promise.’’
‘‘Okay. Tell me the rest of it,’’ Frank said.
‘‘Edgar Peeks thinks I killed him,’’ she said. ‘‘I be lieve he would have arrested me had not Colin Pre hoda arrived to spring me.’’
‘‘Peeks strikes me as incompetent. Spence Jefferies wants to hire people who are loyal to him regardless of their qualifications. I doubt if Peeks can make a case even when he has one.’’
‘‘Maybe not, but he can leak it to the papers that I’m a suspect. That wouldn’t be good for me or the museum.’’
‘‘Don’t worry about it now.’’ Frank kissed the top of her head. ‘‘Other than hanging on the side of the cliff, how was the rest of your day?’’
She told Frank about Bryce hiring Goldilocks the forensic anthropologist from California and putting her in the museum forensic anthropology office. She told him about Jin having to strong-arm Curtis Crab tree, who was apparently also a detective. Then she told him about the closet.
Frank laughed during the whole narrative.
‘‘They were in the closet having a conversation?’’ he said, with a characteristic twinkle in his eye. ‘‘How big is the closet?’’
‘‘Pretty big,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Small room size. I sup pose that was the most private place they could find.’’
