would only interfere.
Diane stood, and Sylvia rose with her. It was then that Sylvia noticed Diane’s bandaged arm. “Are you hurt?”
Diane rubbed her upper arm. “Whoever stabbed Mike got me too. Apparently the knife was so sharp that neither of us noticed it at first.”
“Oh, my God. I hadn’t heard. What kind of maniac is out there? It makes me afraid to walk to my car.”
“I think it was just some nut at the funeral. But you should ask one of the security guards to walk you to your car. They don’t mind.”
Diane walked to the door with Sylvia and again locked her osteology lab, retracing her steps back across the overlook and past the staff lounge. At the elevator she met Jin and David getting off.
“You want me to take you home?” asked David. “I’ll drive your SUV and Jin can follow in mine.”
Diane thought for a moment. She could drive, but her arm hurt and she was tired, and it would be an opportunity to tell David about her conversation with Sylvia. “Yes, if you wouldn’t mind.”
She looked at her watch it was just after eight. It was too late to go by the hospital to visit Mike. Too bad; she was looking forward to telling him of her decision to accept his proposal. It would have to wait until morning. On the way to her house she told David about Sylvia’s confession.
“That lets Neva off the hook,” said David. “Now that you have heard the story from another source.”
“She’ll be relieved.” Diane sighed. “Maybe this is the first time Dr. Lymon has done such a thing. Maybe it was triggered by her husband leaving.”
“That’s possible,” said David. “You still want this investigation to be on the QT?”
“Yes. For now let’s keep it that way.”
Diane was getting drowsy sitting in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle. If she laid her head back, she’d probably fall asleep. Her thoughts kept going to her bed at home and the crisp, clean sheets she’d put on that morning.
“Are the detectives making any headway in the funeral stabbings?” Diane realized as she said it that she still talked about it as if she weren’t one of the victims. David chuckled. She supposed it did sound funny.
“No. But I imagine it’ll take a while to talk to everyone who attended the graveside service.” David pulled up to the curb in front of Diane’s apartment, and Jin pulled in behind them. David looked up at the old building. “Why don’t you move and get away from your creepy neighbors?” he said.
Diane followed his gaze. “But that means I couldn’t entertain you with stories about them.” She opened the door and started to get out.
“I’ll walk you to your door,” said David. He stopped abruptly and looked at Diane. “Did your neighbors go to the funeral?”
Diane returned David’s look of dawning apprehension. Her elderly neighbors’ hobby was attending funerals- even funerals of strangers.
“I don’t know. They must have. It was the type of funeral that would be of interest to them. You know, they like to give a running critique of funerals to anyone who will listen.”
“Maybe I’ll visit them tomorrow,” said David. “Unless you’d rather speak with them?”
“They don’t really like me. They may open up more to you. But I don’t know if they came to the graveside service afterward.”
“I’ll find out.”
David walked Diane up the staircase to her door. Just as she was about to put in the key, it opened. Diane was startled. David stepped in front of her.
“Hey, guys. Uncle Frank asked me to come and spend the night. I brought pizza, in case you’re hungry. It’s warming in the oven,” said a very familiar young voice.
“Star,” said Diane. Star, Frank’s adopted daughter, stood in the middle of the room grinning happily.
“I’ll leave you guys to your pizza,” said David, putting his hand over his heart and shaking his head.
“Thanks, and thank Jin for me,” Diane called after him. She stepped inside the apartment, then locked and bolted the door behind her.
“You sit down and rest,” said Star. “I’ll get the pizza.”
Diane didn’t have the heart to tell her she wasn’t hungry and that all she really wanted to do was go to bed. Frank had adopted Star when her parents, who were his best friends, and younger brother were murdered. The police had thought Star had killed her family, and Diane had helped clear her. Though now his daughter, she still called him Uncle Frank like she always had when her parents were alive. Diane’s latest contribution to Star’s upbringing was the somewhat rash offer to take her to Paris and buy her a new wardrobe if she would go to college for at least one year and make a 2.7 grade point average. Star, who just a few months ago was adamantly against going to college, would be starting at Bartram in the fall.
“It was nice of you to come over,” said Diane.
“It’ll be fun. Like a slumber party. We’ll stay up and you can tell me all about how you got hurt. How’s Mike? He’s the real cute guy, isn’t he?” Her dark eyes sparkled.
“We have a lot of real cute guys at the museum. But yes, I think you met him on one of your visits. He’s a geologist.”
“Yeah, rocks and stuff,” Star said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Diane collapsed on the couch and leaned back against the pillows, listening to Star knocking around in the kitchen.
“I started to look for some music,” Star called. “I hope you don’t mind; I just looked in the stereo cabinet, not your personal stuff. All I could find was classical. Do you have any good music?”
Diane laughed to herself. “I’ll see what I can find.” She located a CD of Ray Charles and put it on the player.
“Okay, now see, that’s good.”
“I’m glad you like it. You going to take music appreciation next fall?”
“You’re real funny-like I’d ever think that classical stuff was good.” Star came in carrying a dish with three pizza slices and a Dr Pepper for Diane.
“This is a gracious plenty,” said Diane, looking at the large slices, and Star laughed.
“We can eat the leftovers for breakfast. That’s the best thing about pizza: You can eat it anytime, cold or hot. I hope you like pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms.” Star left, came back with her own plate, and sat down on the floor at the coffee table across from Diane.
“It is good,” said Diane after taking a few bites. “Did you pick it up on your way over?”
“Yes. It’s Calystos. My favorite.”
“You need some money?”
Star shook her head. “You’re going to be buying me a whole bunch of expensive clothes. I can spring for pizza.”
“I’m glad you’re taking a positive attitude toward school.” Diane took a bite of pizza, realizing that Star’s positive attitude was going to cost her plenty. She smiled to herself.
“My friend Jessica suggested that maybe we could go to Italy to get some shoes. I’ve been saving money. What do you think?”
“That’s possible. I have a friend in England. I thought we could visit him and his family while we are across the ocean.”
“That’ll be fun.” Star took a bite of her pizza and washed it down with a drink of Dr Pepper.
“Your hair looks good,” said Diane. “New cut?”
“Jessica did it. She’s pretty good, isn’t she?”
Diane reached across the coffee table and put a hand on Star’s dark hair. “Nice to see it all one color for a change.”
Star giggled. Diane liked seeing her happy. Star was still having a difficult time dealing with her feelings of guilt over her parents’ death. Diane understood those dark and aching pains that kept yelling into your brain-if only you had done something different; if only you could go back and do things over. Frank said that Star still cried at night when she thought he couldn’t hear. Diane understood that too. Her pillow was soaked with thousands of tears. She was lost in that thought when the telephone rang. Diane jumped.
“I’ll get it,” said Star. “Uncle Frank wants me to take care of you.”
