“Maybe,” said Diane. “It’s just a thought.”
“A good one,” said Neva.
David still looked skeptical, but relented that it was a possibility.
“I need to give Hanks a call. He needs to know about the connection between the crimes so he can coordinate with Hall County.”
Diane started to key in his number when headlights came up the drive.
“That must be the policemen coming back from their rounds,” she said.
“No,” said David, standing up. “Everybody in the house! Now!”
Chapter 36
They didn’t linger. All four of them jumped to their feet and headed for the door. David was the closest and reached the door first. He opened it and pulled everyone in, turned out the lights, and locked the door.
“Everybody stay away from the front windows,” he said in an urgent half whisper.
“Okay,” Diane whispered back from the darkness of the dining room. “Why are we here?”
“Those headlights aren’t from the police car,” said David. “They’re set too high.”
He stood near the doorway trying to see out the window. The lights went dark and they heard a door slam. Diane’s heart beat faster. Neva, next to Diane, had her hand under her coat, ready to pull out her off-duty weapon. Diane could see Mike looking around the room, probably searching for a possible weapon. Knowing him, he probably didn’t really believe anything was wrong, but he wouldn’t be taking any chances.
“You mean like an SUV,” said Neva.
“Yes,” said David, “just like an SUV.”
Diane had to admire David for noticing. She hadn’t.
“What the hell are you guys doing in there?”
Detective Hanks.
David turned on the light and found all of them staring at him. He winced and rubbed his hand over his balding head.
“Well, I’m not right all the time.” He shrugged. “I never said I was. Sometimes paranoia is just that. Besides, had it been the bad guys, we would be safe.”
Mike visibly relaxed his tense body. Neva shook her head and opened the door. Detective Hanks was standing on the porch looking puzzled. He wasn’t wearing his neck brace, but his arm was still immobilized in a sling and he favored his wounded leg.
“What was that all about?” he said. “I drive up and all of you make a mad dash for the house and turn off the lights?”
Diane smiled at him. “You have a new haircut,” she said, and invited him into the house.
He stroked his short hair. “When your arm’s in a sling and you’re limping from being shot in the leg, you can’t afford to have your hair standing up on end or blowing in the wind like a wild man,” he said. “Now, what the heck…? You guys looked like you were running for your lives. Who were you expecting?” He had the twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
Diane explained about the possibility of Neva being followed.
“My SUV’s not black,” he said.
“It’s pitch-dark out. You can’t make out colors in the dark,” said Diane. “And your headlights were blinding.”
“But that’s still quite an overreaction,” he said.
“Not considering we were shot at and a man was killed last time we were here,” said Diane. “You aren’t going to let us live this down, are you?”
“Not on your life. You should have seen you guys.” He grinned. “And who are you? Just so I can get the story right,” he asked Mike.
Diane introduced Hanks to her geology curator. They shook hands and Mike grinned at him. Mike often said it was entertaining to be with Diane and her team. He looked very entertained at the moment.
“And what are you doing out here?” asked Diane.
“I was at the hospital with some pictures for Marcella to look at. I hoped she might recognize some of Dildy’s day laborer friends as people who might have worked on her house. She didn’t. As I was leaving I saw the paramedics who brought me to the hospital the other day. They told me they had another run here tonight. Said something about some bones being found? Is that right?” he asked.
“We have several things to tell you,” said Diane, “so you’d better sit down.”
“Does Neva being followed have anything to do with this?” he asked.
From the set of his jaw, Diane could see he had gone from being amused by them to being suspicious again that Diane was leaving him out of the loop. He was probably wondering why she hadn’t called him.
“We believe it might,” said Diane. “The case has taken an unusual turn. And there could be someone after her.”
They started to sit down when a pair of headlights suddenly shined in the window, blinding them for a moment.
“Well, shit,” said Hanks. He unholstered his gun and went to the door and waited.
Diane and the others stood back with their arms folded. They heard two car doors slam. In a minute or so, they heard footfalls on the porch and a knock on the door.
“Everything okay in there?”
Hanks opened the door to the two policemen. Diane rose to greet them.
“We’re fine,” she said.
“Hi, Detective Hanks. Saw your vehicle. Guess you heard about all the excitement,” said one of the policemen.
Hanks nodded.
The policeman looked at Diane. “All clear around the road. Nothing going on. We’ll be out here making our rounds around the property,” he said.
Diane could see the two of them were trying very hard to be conscientious. Probably sitting in their car and making an occasional circuit would be fine.
“Thanks,” she said. “We’ll be here for a little while.”
He touched his hand to his hat and the two of them left.
Diane closed the door and grinned at Hanks. “It could happen to anyone. Want to renegotiate the thing about not letting us live that little episode down?”
Hanks smiled back. “I’m sure I wasn’t as energetic as all of you were in jumping to conclusions.”
“Perhaps not, but we sometimes exaggerate.” She smiled sweetly at him.
He laughed. “That sounds like blackmail.”
Thankfully, Hanks did seem to have a sense of humor and it seemed to have mellowed him again.
“I was just about to call you to tell you about the latest developments, when you showed up,” Diane said. “Have a seat and I’ll go through all of it with you.”
“Should we be using this woman’s house?” he asked.
“Marcella’s daughter gave my team permission to camp out in her living room while we carry out our experiments,” said Diane.
“Experiments?” he asked, laughing. “You’re conducting experiments? That sounds ominous.”
He chose a large leather chair to sit in. He stretched out his bad leg and shifted until he found a comfortable position. Diane was sure it was a relief not to have to wear the neck brace, but trying to go through a daily routine while your arm was in a sling and your leg hurt had to be difficult.
Neva sat leaning against Mike on one end of the sofa. David sat cross-legged in his sock feet on the other end. Diane chose the other stuffed chair, settled in comfortably, and started telling about the mask Marcella had
