Chapter 32
Before going to her appointment with Laura, Diane walked upstairs to the crime lab. It was early and she didn’t expect anyone to be there, but she would leave a note. To her surprise, all three of her crew were in the lab working.
“Do you guys spend the night here?” asked Diane.
“Just about,” said Neva. “You can get only so much warmth from a webcam, so I might as well work. By the way, Mike told me to go by and have a look at the crystal skull he got for you-do you have it yet?”
“It’s in my museum office on my desk. It’s very nice. I like it a lot.”
“Crystal skull? Like the Mayan skull, the Mitchell-Hedges skull?” asked David. “Really? Are you going to display it?”
“It’s similar to the Mitchell-Hedges skull,” said Diane. “Jonas Briggs wants to put on an exhibit on archaeology and legend or false archaeology, something like that. The provenances are suspect on all the crystal skulls, but there’s a lot of myth and superstition surrounding them. Jonas said he’s been working up an exhibit. Apparently everyone but me knew I was getting one.”
Before Mike began dating Neva, it was no secret he was interested in Diane, an interest she made it plain she could not accept or reciprocate. Even now he played at flirting on occasion but never seriously. Diane sometimes felt uncomfortable with his faux flirtations because of Neva, but Neva seemed to recognize it as no more than teasing. Mike appeared always to be up front with Neva in everything he did. Diane was relieved to know that. They were all caving partners, she, Neva and Mike-and Jin, too, now. Because of his skills in rock climbing and caving, Mike was the best caving partner she’d ever had. She was loath to lose that. In any other instance she would never accept such a gift from someone she was not involved with, but this was, after all, a crystal skull.
“Enough about the skull,” said Diane. “I just found out something I need to talk with you about.”
“What’s that, Boss?” said Jin.
“I’d like to go see the skull,” said David. “You know they are all supposed to communicate with each other?”
“Who?” asked Jin.
“All the crystal skulls,” said David.
“Are you serious?” said Jin, giving David a sidelong look. “You don’t believe that?”
“Why not? Transmitters are made from quartz crystals,” said David. “And it makes more sense than that white noise you listened to trying to hear dead voices all last month-driving us all crazy. I still hear white noise in my sleep.”
“Any dead voices?” asked Jin.
“Seriously, the skulls are supposed to possess an aura,” said David.
“Jonas Briggs is going to love talking with you,” said Diane. “The skull’s in my office. You can go ask Andie to let you in. In the meantime…” Diane jerked her thumb to the round table where they debriefed and discussed matters of crime. When they were seated she told them about Darcy Kincaid and Blake Stanton.
“Well, that clears up one mystery,” said Neva. “How Blake got access to the museum.”
“I think there are a lot of things we have to rethink,” said Diane. “Darcy was at the ill-fated party. So was Blake. I think we can assume it was a date. We’ll know more when we can talk to Darcy. But it’s possible he may have known no more about the meth lab than the other victims.”
“His and McNair’s murders may not be related,” said David. “Is that what you are saying?”
“I don’t know,” said Diane. “I just brought it to you guys to think about. Blake Stanton’s murder may have had to do with his thievery and not be related to McNair at all. Maybe someone was supposed to meet him to purchase something, but killed him and took the item instead-or something along those lines.”
“Maybe McNair was involved with him in his stealing,” said Neva. “Maybe he had nothing to do with the meth lab, either. Maybe the thefts are the connection and why they were killed in a similar manner.”
“I know,” Diane said, “This raises more questions than answers.”
She told them about Vanessa Van Ross’ diamond being found in the dirt of the potted palm.
“Maybe buyers were expecting Blake to have the stones, and when he didn’t deliver, they killed him. I don’t know. Think about it.” She looked at her watch. “I have an appointment. You guys come up with something.”
Diane left them sitting at the table reworking their theories. On her way to Laura’s she stopped and bought a vanilla milk shake.
Laura’s office was a small cottage with a picket fence and a flower garden. Right now the picket fence was capped with snow and the flower beds were covered over and glistened white. But in the spring and summer it was awash with colors and butterflies. It didn’t look like you were heading to a psychiatrist’s office when you came through the gate and up the walk to the door.
Inside, the cottage was as cozy as the outside. There was even a fire in the grate. The receptionist told Diane to go on into Laura’s office. It also had a fireplace with a warm and gentle fire. The room looked more like a snug den than a doctor’s office. Diane imagined that the atmosphere must put everyone at ease.
Laura’s blue eyes twinkled as she greeted Diane. “I knew you would find something,” she said.
She was dressed in a lime green silk suit. Her blond hair was shoulder length and turned under. Laura always looked so well groomed, thought Diane. She and Kendel would make a pair.
“I’m not sure I have,” said Diane. “I wanted to bounce it off you first.”
“Bounce away. Can I get you some coffee first? Tea?”
Diane shook her head. “Just had a milk shake.”
“How do you do that and stay so slim? I have to watch everything I eat,” said Laura.
“I burn it, I suppose. Nervous energy.”
Diane sat down on a small sofa next to the warm fire. Laura sat opposite her in a comfortable looking wingback chair.
“I looked over the information you sent. Only two things caught my attention in the reports. One was the jogger who fell, and the other was the kid next door who heard Juliet say something suggestive to someone.”
“I agree about the child next door, but what about the jogger?”
“I think the jogger’s fall was a ruse to divert attention while the kidnapper grabbed Juliet. I’ll call the authorities in Arizona where she was kidnapped and find out if a composite sketch was ever drawn of her. But the main thing I wanted to talk with you about is this: Listening to the tape of her talking about her memories of that time, I had an epiphany.”
“What’s that?” Laura leaned forward, her elbows on the arms of her chair.
“I don’t think her memories are of one crime, but are of two separate crimes,” said Diane.
Laura sat back in her chair, shocked.
“How in the world?” said Laura. “Two crimes? Tell me.”
“Remember, it’s a tenuous thread I’m working with here,” warned Diane.
“It would have to be. If it were obvious, I’d have seen it. This is why I asked you to look at it. Please, go on. I’m all ears.”
“In what Juliet was saying on the tape, she is having a hard time separating her dreams and her fears from her memories.”
Laura nodded. “That’s common, especially in early memories.”
“Sometimes those memories are in code,” said Diane.
“OK…” Laura was more tentative in her affirmation this time.
“When you asked Juliet what she meant by new dolls, she said “dolls in boxes.” I don’t think she meant that. I think her brain has combined memories.”
“Combining memories is common even when a person is an adult,” agreed Laura.
Diane was trying to explain her reasoning in a linear fashion to Laura, but the idea had come to her all at once and she wasn’t sure where to begin.
“Juliet said her grandmother accused her of stealing a doll. I think this was real and occurred near the time of Event One-Event Two being her kidnapping. And because the grandmother’s accusation was close in time to the
