Diane sighed. “I’ll take it in my office. Andie, could I get you to run down to the restaurant and get me a sandwich?”
“Sure. What kind?”
“Oh, how about a BLT and a glass of iced tea.”
“You got it.”
Andie went off to the restaurant. Diane sat down at her desk and picked up the phone.
“Diane Fallon.”
“Diane, what the hell are you trying to do to me? Just what the hell are you playing at?”
Diane didn’t say anything. For a second she didn’t recognize his voice. “Alan, is that you?”
Chapter 30
“Yes, it’s me. Who the hell do you think it is?”
“Alan, what’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter! How can you ask that? Dammit, are you trying to ruin me?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, even though she knew. He didn’t like being investigated.
“This guy from the Rosewood police called me and wanted to know my whereabouts when you were stabbed. God, how could you think I would do such a thing?”
“When you creep into my room at night and sniff my clothes, you make yourself a suspect.”
There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. It stretched out so long, Diane was about to say something when he finally spoke.
“How did you. . ” He didn’t finish.
“It doesn’t matter. What in God’s name were you doing?” she asked.
“I wanted to talk to you,” he said.
“I didn’t know if you were awake. I wanted to see first.”
Diane rolled her eyes. “Alan, do you know how lame that sounds?”
“I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“It was not appropriate. We aren’t married. My bedroom is private.”
“God, Diane, what’s the big deal? For that you turn me in to the police?”
“The act made you a suspect, and I had to check you out.”
“I told them you invited me and then got cold feet.” His voice sounded smug.
David hadn’t told her that. She smiled grimly. Alan didn’t know that the policeman who called was actually one of her employees. David probably introduced himself as a criminalist from the Rosewood Police Department. Alan probably didn’t know what a criminalist was.
“I doubt he believed you, Alan.”
He gave a derisive snort. “You don’t think so? I told him you’ve always had a hard time accepting our divorce. It’s your word against mine, and I am very convincing.” His voice had regained its confidence.
“Alan, let me clue you in. You are the one who moved to the town where my parents live and kept up a relationship with them. I’m the one who lives a state away and hardly ever visits. Who does it look like won’t let go?”
Alan was silent again for a long moment. “Why are you doing this?”
“I’m not doing anything. Believe it or not, I wanted to rule you out as a suspect. I asked that they be discreet.”
“Well, when the police guy talked to my dentist he told him he thought I was witness to a car accident in Atlanta,” he admitted.
“See? That doesn’t make you look like a deranged killer.”
“The policeman wasn’t so nice when he talked to me.” Diane smiled and tried not to laugh. “Don’t take it personally. They talk that way to everyone.”
“How else should I take it?”
“Look, if Mother can get though Tombsberg, you can take a little questioning. Alan, what’s happening to you? You didn’t used to be. . well, mean.”
“Mean? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about what you did to Gerald and Susan. They have always supported you.”
“They told you about that, did they? Gerald was trying to make me look bad to the partners in my firm.”
“As I understand it, he was just trying to tell the truth.”
“What would it have hurt to go along with me? They aren’t his employers.”
“I don’t know the details, but presumably you did something wrong with the firm’s accounts and he had to straighten them out. Gerald wouldn’t go along with your lie, so you tried to destroy his marriage. What kind of friend are you?”
“You don’t know it was a lie.”
“Alan, you just told me you lied to the police about me. What am I supposed to think about your veracity?”
“You always did like to play with words, twist them around in your favor.”
“Alan, I have to go.”
He was silent again. He never used to have so hard a time searching for a comeback. Diane wondered if she should just hang up, but she was starting to pity him.
“Alan, please fix things with Susan and Gerald. I don’t know why you are separated from your wife, but it might be good to work on that. You have two kids. They should be a joy in your life. Nothing else should matter.”
“I was hoping we could start talking again,” he said.
“No. That’s not a good idea. You have so many things going for you. Don’t self-destruct.”
“It was good seeing you again. I. . I wasn’t being a pervert. I was just smelling your perfume,” he said, then abruptly hung up the phone.
Andie peeked her head in. “One BLT and cold iced tea, coming up.” She walked in and set the sandwich and glass on Diane’s desk.
Diane was hungry now. The sandwich looked good.
“Thanks, Andie. Anything going on that I should know about?”
“We have several more letters from researchers insisting on access to the mummy.”
“You send them the standard reply we crafted? No access, but we’ll share the data we’ve collected?”
“With some of them that isn’t working. They have research needs that we didn’t cover in our own research, apparently.”
“If it becomes a problem, take their number and I’ll call them and say no.”
“Aquatics and Insects want to change the curators’ meeting to next Friday.” Andie always referred to the curators by their subject names when she spoke to Diane about museum business. Diane didn’t know if it was to keep things organized in her mind or it tickled her sensibilities. “Avians, Mammals and Dinosaurs said they don’t care. Archaeology said it isn’t convenient, but he’ll go with the majority. As usual, Reptiles is afraid to voice an opinion, and I can’t get hold of Rocks.”
