“Crime scene?”
Diane nodded and took a deep breath. “Neva, it’s your house. It apparently happened last night.”
Neva’s eyes grew wide and she looked from Mike to Diane. Mike reached out and took her hand.
“My house? What did they do?”
“David’s there now. He says it’s vandalized pretty bad. And. . ” Diane hesitated. “Whoever it was spray- painted some ugly things on your walls. I just wanted to prepare you for that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Jin and David are going to process it. David only wants you there to tell him if anything is missing.”
“But. . can’t I?”
“That’s the way it has to be. They’ll do a good job.”
Neva put her free hand to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose. Diane could see she was trying not to cry. Diane was thinking,
“You can stay at my apartment tonight,” said Diane. “I don’t want you to stay in your home for now.”
“You can stay in mine,” said Mike.
Frank had been listening quietly to the exchange between Diane and her staff. “Actually, I think you should stay at my house until yours is cleared up,” he said, surprising them all. He smiled. “You’ll like my daughter, and Diane can vouch for my character.”
Neva glanced back and forth between Diane and Frank, confusion written on her face.
“I don’t want to be an alarmist,” said Frank, “but I don’t like the math. Something has happened to Mike, Diane and now you. I don’t know if they are related, but if someone wants to get at you physically, he’d think to look at your boyfriend’s place, and maybe at your boss’s apartment, but not my house.”
Mike lifted his eyebrows and gave Frank a crooked smile. “It makes sense,” he said-rather reluctantly, Diane thought. She couldn’t help notice the amused glint in Frank’s eyes at Mike’s discomfort.
Neva nodded and looked at Diane. “If you think it’s best.”
At that moment Jin came in, looking his usual happy self. “Hi, guys. How you doing, Mike?”
“I’m thinking about trying to get out of here today.”
“No,” said Neva. “Mike, I’ll be all right.”
“I know, but if you’d been at home. .”
“But I wasn’t.” She bent down and kissed him.
“We’ll see she stays safe,” said Jin. He turned to Neva. “You ready?”
She nodded and started out the door with him. She paused and looked back at Mike. “I’ll call when I know something.” Her shoulders slumped, and she appeared vulnerable and frightened.
Diane felt uneasy about having to go out of town. She wished she could trust her family to do what needed to be done. She’d like to call and tell them how to proceed, who to contact, but she feared they were completely helpless in the face of the criminal justice system.
“I have to go to Alabama, Mike. It’ll be only for a couple of days, I hope. Don’t worry about reporting to work until your doctor says you can. I mean it.”
Mike nodded absently. “You know there are bullies in her neighborhood that Neva’s had to pull off some of the younger kids a time or two.”
“I’ll remind Neva to tell David,” said Diane. “If you think of anything else, let David know. He’s in charge of the crime lab while I’m gone. Kendel is in charge of the museum, if you have any questions. She’s very happy I hired you. She’s already approached the exhibit designers with your extremophile plan.”
“I can’t wait to get out of here and start on it.” He smiled, but his enthusiasm was weakened. “Frank, take care of my girl.”
“I’ll take good care of both of them.” Frank gave Mike one of what Diane called his prankish smiles.
“That’s funny,” said Mike.
“Seriously. Neva’ll be safe.” Frank fished a card and a pen from his pocket. “I’m writing my home phone and my cell phone on my card. If you need anything, give me a call.”
Mike took the card and looked at it and then back up at Frank. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Do what the doctors tell you. I know it’s frustrating, believe me. But you’re no good to anybody if you don’t take care of yourself first.”
Diane took Mike’s hand and squeezed it. His hands were rough from the heavy calluses he had developed rock climbing, and even ill he had a strong grip.
“Listen to Frank,” she said. “I expect a lot of work from you when you recover.”
He smiled, but his eyes still looked worried. Diane left feeling sorry for him.
“He’ll be all right,” said Frank as they reached the elevator.
“I know. It’s just that. . that I’m beginning to feel like some kind of bad-luck charm to everyone around me.”
The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. Frank put an arm around Diane’s shoulders and pulled her to him. “I know, but that’s not how it is. If Mike thought you were such bad luck, he wouldn’t still be interested in you.”
“He isn’t, really. It’s become sort of a game.”
“Oh, he’s interested.”
“You enjoyed yourself inviting Neva to stay at your house, didn’t you?”
“I am genuinely concerned about her.” Frank grinned. “Playing with Mike’s head was just a bonus.”
They walked out to the parking lot. As Frank started the engine and put his car in gear, Diane laid a hand on his arm. “Do we have time to run by Neva’s? It’s on the way.”
“Sure. What’s her address?”
Neva lived on a dead-end street in a neighborhood that was a combination of blue-collar and student housing. Two police cars were parked in front of her white frame house. Across the street a small crowd had formed. Half of them looked like students. Diane got out of the car and scanned the faces. A young woman, stout and squarely built, dressed in cutoffs and a tank top, yelled from the crowd.
“My house was robbed and I can’t get the police to even come and take my statement. One of their own gets robbed and you’d think it was the president’s house.”
Diane heard a couple of people shout their approval and someone else tell her to shut the fuck up. Frank and Diane ignored them and walked up to the porch.
“Neva,” she called.
Neva came to the door. “They’ve done the porch and front entry. David’s processed a walkway though the house. You can come in.”
Diane had been in Neva’s house several times, picking her up to go caving. Neva liked to call her decor “early attic.” Her furniture was a combination of hand-me-downs from her parents and inexpensive furniture from Wal- Mart and secondhand stores. Nonetheless, it had a style to it. Neva had an artist’s eye for decorating. It shocked Diane to see it now.
The sofa and stuffed chairs were slashed and the filling pulled out. Everything had been sprayed with a swath of black paint. All the chairs were overturned. On the wall over her sofa the words
“They did a number, didn’t they?” said Neva, surveying the ruins of her home. “Whoever it was spray-painted my clothes in the closets and drawers. I must have really pissed somebody off.” She blew her nose with a Kleenex and dried her eyes with another.
The glass shelves that used to stand against the wall were shattered. Among the shards of glass, Neva’s collection of polymer clay animals that she sculpted were lying in fragments.
David came in from the kitchen and stood beside her. “Notice anything funny about the glass shelves?”
Diane knelt and looked at the broken glass. Frank stared over her shoulder. She glanced at the overturned frame that once held the shelves and back at the pattern of broken shards.
“Whoever it was took the shelves apart, laid them on the floor, and stepped on them.”
David nodded. “That’s what it looks like. The police can’t find anyone who heard anything. From the look of
