“You haven’t said anything, Mr. Emery,” said Diane.
He had been sitting silently, his lips in a thin grim line.
“I don’t like to give in to terrorists either, but I say we close down the museum-say for the weekend-so we can give it a thorough search.”
“Search?”
“Burning down a place like this wouldn’t be easy; it’s not like they can light a match to a set of draperies. From what you said, it sounds like they’re confident they can carry out their threats. If they’ve been able to come and go at will, they may have already planted a device in the building.”
“Device? Like a bomb?” asked Diane.
Emery nodded. “They could use incendiary bombs loaded with jellied gasoline. There may be more than one. Down deep, I think they’re bluffing. But if we shut down just for the weekend-and say something like, ‘The environmental controls broke down’-we can get dogs in here. If there is a device here, we can find it. But we’ll need everybody out of the building.”
Diane closed her eyes and thought about all the options, everything that everyone had said. Her thoughts were churning. Was the threat credible? She had no choice but to treat it as if it were. There was a silence that began to get uncomfortable. Throats were cleared; there was some squirming in the creaking chairs. A decision suddenly came to her in a flash of insight-or paranoia; she didn’t know which. She opened her eyes and looked at Emery.
“Mr. Emery, I think your points are well-founded. Prudence dictates that we take every reasonable precaution. I want you to organize the search, but let’s do it in such a way as to minimize the disruption. This is Friday. When normal quitting time for the day staff arrives at five o’clock, I want the museum closed, and to remain closed for the weekend.”
There were sounds of surprise from some of the staff. Chanell looked taken aback. After all, she was head of security for the museum. For a moment Diane thought Chanell was going to object. She looked at Diane and shook her head, but then gazed down at her hands and said nothing. It probably seemed to her, thought Diane, that she was being taken out of the loop.
“Andie, I need you to see what tour groups and special activities we have scheduled for the weekend. Offer our apologies and ask them to reschedule. Offer them a seventy percent discount if they will.”
Andie nodded.
“I would hope that twenty-four hours is plenty of time to make all preparations for the search. So let’s say the search will officially begin tomorrow at six P.M. Mr. Emery, can you make arrangements?”
“Yes. I’ll get right on it.”
Diane looked at her watch. “It’s three o’clock now. We’re locking down at six o’clock today, including the restaurant. The only people who will stay will be museum security personnel and the crime lab crew. Mr. Emery, I want your security people fresh when the bomb unit gets here tomorrow, so you and yours can go home now for rest, and Chanell’s people can secure the building until tomorrow afternoon. Is that okay with you, Chanell?”
She nodded. “I’ll notify my people and call in a couple of officers on leave to double up until Mr. Emery’s people come in tomorrow,” she said.
“Okay, all of you tell any of your people who will be affected,” Diane said. “But do not discuss with anyone what has been said in this room. The official reason for closing is a breakdown of environmental controls, to be repaired over the weekend. Security is extremely important. We can’t take the chance that any information might leak out of here about what we’re doing. Maybe we’ll get lucky and resolve this whole thing in a few days and can get back to normal.”
That was possible, she thought. Sometimes it was like falling dominoes when they got a critical mass of evidence-just one more piece could make them start falling, and suddenly a case was solved.
Maybe that critical evidence would be the DNA. Diane realized that she was counting on their getting DNA that she had tricked her captors into giving her. There was a good chance that the spittle didn’t contain any, or there wasn’t enough.
She sent the staff away to make plans. Now came the task that she dreaded most-calling her parents and telling them that
Diane called Daniel Reynolds first. She told him part of the story-leaving out the danger to the museum. The fewer people who knew about that the better.
“I need you to contact the federal marshals’ office, the FBI, and the Bureau of Prison authorities; alert them that the danger might not be over, that someone still may hack into their systems to hurt a member of my family.”
“That must be some kind of case you’re working on, to worry someone this much,” he said.
“That’s just it-the events that started this whole thing happened in 1942. Most of the people involved would be very old or dead.”
“Their descendants wouldn’t.”
Diane was silent for a moment. Of course, she thought, people didn’t live out their lives in a vacuum. They had children and grandchildren. And great-grandchildren, just like Jane Doe-Flora Martin had a great-grandchild. People built lives, reputations and fortunes, and their descendants often depended on those reputations and fortunes. Reynolds’s remark put her mind on had a new line of inquiry, a new way to look at the problem.
“From the silence, I must have gotten you thinking,” said the lawyer.
“You did, indeed. And it seems so obvious.”
“I’ll get on this right away. I suppose you’ll be calling your folks.”
“Yes. After I hang up with you.”
“Then I won’t keep you. Don’t worry about this end. I’ll see that the right people get on this.”
She called Gerald first. She caught him at his office and told him essentially what she had told Daniel Reynolds.
“I just wanted you to know, because they are going to be needing support, and they won’t want it from me.”
“God, Diane. I’m not sure I understand this. This sounds more like the Russian mob or something.”
“It is extreme, I agree. Are you and Susan doing okay?”
“We’re still living under the same roof and being civil to each other, so I guess we’re doing fine. Alan took some vacation time, I understand. Apparently, it was a blow to him for you to think he’d stab you.”
“That, and being wrong. He always had a hard time with that.”
“Your dad’s been at home all week with your mother, so they should be together. You want me to call Susan and give her a heads-up?”
“Yes, thanks. She might want to go on over there.”
When Diane hung up, she waited with her hand on the phone, dreading what was coming. A knot formed in her stomach, making her nauseated. She thought about calling Gerald back and asking him to tell them. But instead, she dialed her parents’ number.
Chapter 38
Diane sat alone at her desk, her head down on her arms, sobbing.
“Diane?”
She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Mike’s voice. She didn’t remember him ever using her first name. Surprised and embarrassed, she lifted her head. She was still holding the telephone receiver tight in her hand. She put it back in its cradle.
“Mike. Sorry. You caught me at a bad time.”
Diane grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes. Mike stood in front of her desk, a deep crease between his brows, his light brown eyes filled with puzzled concern.
“Can I help? Is it Frank?”
