Part 14 (1/2)

”Fine,” said Diane. It wasn't true at the moment, but Andie was asking about her health.

”There's a guy from the FBI who wants to talk to you about the artifacts,” said Andie.

”The FBI. Great. Tell him he has to take a number,” said Diane.

”What?” said Andie.

”Just hold the phone a minute, Andie,” said Diane. She put her phone on mute and looked at the others. The marshals looked amused. The DA looked a little happier. Garnett was still frowning.

”Can we wait until I speak with the FBI before you take me downtown?” she said.

”Look,” said Garnett. He turned to the DA. ”I think it's premature to arrest Dr. Fallon at this point.

The barbiturates in her system do give her an alibi, and I would hate to make a mistake that we all would regret. Remember, no one in the apartment building heard anything either-not the neighbors across the hall, nor the ones above, below, or beside her. You will agree that is odd. In addition to the unpleasantness in her apartment early this morning, Dr. Fallon was attacked at the hospital by an unknown a.s.sailant wielding a knife. I think we can cut her some slack, especially since I'm sure she is sorry”-he looked at her when he said the word sorry sorry-”for not being as cooperative as she could, but that's understandable.”

He looked at Diane and gestured with his head toward Riddmann.

Diane knew what he meant. He wanted her to apologize to the DA. d.a.m.n d.a.m.n. But the museum and the crime lab were worth more than her pride at the moment.

”Garnett is right,” said Diane. ”Mr. Riddmann, I'm sorry. You are certainly due more cooperation than I have given, especially in front of guests.” She nodded at the marshals. ”I'm also sorry for the misuse of statistics. I hate it when other people do it and I regret doing it myself.”

Riddmann had been smiling-or smirking-at her, she couldn't really tell the difference, but now he looked confused. Diane turned to the marshals. ”The police commissioner in Rosewood asked the DA's office to accept cases that have weaker evidence than they would normally prosecute. The aim is for Rosewood to get as many criminals off the streets as it can. Although we do get more people off the streets, a consequence is a statistically lower conviction rate for the DA's office.” A policy which Diane, herself, disagreed with because another consequence was that too many innocents got convicted. ”If Rosewood had the same policy as, say Atlanta, the conviction rate stats would be much higher.”

Riddmann looked as though he hadn't realized that before. He probably tucked it away to use in his next campaign.

”I didn't know you were attacked at the hospital,”

said Riddmann. ”With this new evidence, I think we can wait.”

”Thank you,” she said, and Garnett looked relieved. ”This attack,” asked Deputy Marshal Merrick, ”do you think it was connected to the incident in your apartment?”

”I don't know,” said Diane.

She didn't say that she thought it was connected to the museum, and she wasn't sure she was going to tell the FBI. She believed she had a better chance of solving it than they did. If someone thought she was dirty and was willing to kill her for it, the FBI would, of course, see her as a suspect for buying stolen antiquities. That would be a blind alley, and valuable time would be lost. But leaving out important information when talking to the FBI was very risky business. Diane was beginning to feel stuck-like she was fighting wars on too many fronts.

She got back on the phone with Andie. ”Ask him to wait in my office. I'll be right there.”

”Where are you coming from exactly?” asked Andie. Diane smiled into the phone. ”I'm in the crime lab.” ”Oh, okay. I'll tell him you'll just be a few minutes, then,” she said.

”Thank you, Andie.” Diane hung up the phone. ”We will be in the area a few more days,” said Merrick. ”If...”

”Why are you still on the case?” asked Riddmann.

”We have jurisdiction now.”

”Because we don't have Clymene's body,” said Merrick. ”It makes the paperwork harder.” Merrick turned to Diane. ”If your apartment is a crime scene, where will you be staying?”

”I'm staying with Frank Duncan; he's a detective in-”

”We know Frank,” said Drew. ”We apprehended one of his white-collar fugitives. Good guy to work with.”

”If we need you, then you will be either at his house or here, somewhere in this building,” said Merrick. ”Yes,” said Diane.

She saw them out of the crime lab on its private elevator side, the side that didn't go through the museum. She supposed she should be grateful that Riddmann appeared to be satisfied with her apology, but the whole thing left a sour taste in her mouth. By the time he got to his office, she imagined Riddmann would have the story embellished to the point that Diane got on her knees and begged him to forgive her. Before leaving the lab and going to her museum office, she called down to the bas.e.m.e.nt. She was right.

That's where her crew was waiting.

”How'd it go, Boss?” said Jin.

”I'll tell you later. I have to go meet with the FBI now,” said Diane.

”Gee, Boss, you don't get a break, do you?” he said.

”Apparently not. I want you to know I appreciate you guys,” she said.

”Sure-” he began.

”Jin, did you find anything about the artifacts- anything on NSAF?”

”The artifacts. Right. The girdle, the one that looks like it was made of cowrie sh.e.l.ls, was stolen from the Cairo Museum in 1957,” he said. ”It was the only one of the artifacts in the database. The stone artifacts had soil residue on them, but I haven't had a chance to process the sample yet. We've been kind of busy.” ”I know. Thanks, Jin. It's about time for you guys to go home,” she said.

”We'll wait. We want to know what happened with the marshals,” said Jin.

Oh, I'm not sure you do, thought Diane. ”I don't thought Diane. ”I don't know how long I'll be,” she said.

”That's okay. Neva and David want to know if it's all right if they go back up to the lab,” said Jin. ”Yes. Everyone's gone,” said Diane.

”Well, tell me this, did they try to hang it on you?”

Jin was in his usual joking manner and she could tell he really didn't believe they would seriously consider Diane to be a suspect.

”Yes,” she said, ”they did.”

”Really, Boss?” said Jin. ”I'm sorry...did they really?”

”It's all right. Thanks to Garnett, I didn't get hauled off to the station.” She looked at her watch. ”I need to get going. The FBI is waiting. I'll tell you about it later.”

Diane left the crime lab and walked across the dinosaur overlook through to the bank of elevators in the middle of the building. She pa.s.sed several museum staff. A few looked as if they wanted to engage her in conversation but she waved them off, smiling, hoping she didn't look as overwhelmed as she felt. She would really like to sit down and take a break, drink some hot tea, skip town. But there wasn't time. She took the elevator down to the first floor and walked to her office. Andie was there engaging the FBI agent in an animated conversation about dinosaurs. He rose, smiled, and held out a hand when Diane came into the room. ”I'm Agent Shane Jacobs. I understand you have some antiquities that may not be yours.”

Chapter 24.

You have antiquities that may not be yours-it sounded like a princ.i.p.al gently scolding a naughty student.

”I'm afraid we might,” said Diane, ”I'm sorry to say.” She took his hand.

Shane Jacobs had a firm handshake, salt-and-pepper wavy hair, and a slim tanned face with sharp features. He looked younger than Diane by a few years. His dark suit, smooth-shaven face, and short hair made him look like the stereotypical FBI agent. He pulled out his FBI identification to let her inspect it.