Part 23 (1/2)
Chapter 37.
Arachnid was David's baby. He compared it to Rosemary's Baby.
”It's essentially evil,” he said.
”No,” Diane had told him. ”It is not evil. Someone could put it to evil use, but then the evil would reside in the use of it, not in the system itself.”
Her argument fell on deaf ears because David was paranoid. He admitted it and embraced it. The irony of Arachnid was that David had created what he was afraid of. Big Brother. This was not lost on him, and he felt guilty about it. But there it was, sitting in the bas.e.m.e.nt, the ultimate spider.
Diane wanted carrels in the museum for people to rent and work on scholarly things. The entire bas.e.m.e.nt and subbas.e.m.e.nt were being renovated for storage vaults and work areas. The DNA lab and David were the first occupants. David rented s.p.a.ce for his photography. He occasionally taught cla.s.ses in photography in the museum, so it made sense that he should have s.p.a.ce. He had a darkroom, a workroom, and a study. All very small, but big enough for David's needs. Arachnid was in the study.
David was the insect and spider expert in the crime lab. If insects needed to be reared to discern time of a victim's death, David was the one with the rearing chambers. He liked bugs. He didn't particularly like spiders.
”They just look evil,” he told her on many occasions. That is why he named his creation Arachnid- that and its basic function, to search the Web.
David had married search engine algorithms and face recognition algorithms. He thought it a terrible invasion of privacy, but he had done it anyway because he loved algorithms. He swore Diane to secrecy-neither Jin nor Neva knew about Arachnid.
”It's probably illegal. If it isn't, it should be,” he had told Diane.
Arachnid searched the Web for images, picked out faces, and compared them with the photo to be identified. If the faces of Clymene or her sisters were anywhere on the Web, Arachnid would find them.
”You know, you could make a lot of money with this software,” she told him.
”Blood money,” he had said.
Diane had rolled her eyes. ”You know someone is going to come up with this. It just makes sense. They probably already have.”
”I'm sure some black ops have invented it too, but it's still evil. We can only use it for good.”
”David, you worry me sometimes,” Diane told him.
”I worry myself,” he had answered.
Diane walked down to the bas.e.m.e.nt and let herself into David's s.p.a.ce. Arachnid was sitting there looking like a sleeping cyclops. That's what monitors looked like to Diane. Some kind of one-eyed creature. Arachnid's monitor was black, which added to the illusion. She turned the computer on and waited. The face of a spider came on the screen and told Diane how to proceed, asking her each step if she really wanted to do this, that once it's done, she couldn't turn back the clock.
”David,” she whispered, making a face, ”I swear, you're nuts.”
She scanned Clymene's mug shot into Arachnid and told it to search. This would take a while-possibly a long while. Diane locked up his study and left.
While she was downstairs, she went to the DNA lab. It looked like a futuristic medical facility. Everything was gla.s.s, metal, or white. Jin was sitting outside the lab at a desk with a computer.
”Hey,” he said, pulling out a chair for her. ”I've got the computer searching for relatives.” He pointed to another computer running in the corner. ”Some people post their DNA to look for family and for various other reasons. I'm looking through those files too.” He paused while Diane sat down. ”You think we'll find her?”
”I don't think she has a chance,” said Diane. ”With the number of things we're trying, one is bound to turn up something. Do you know how the detectives in White County are doing with the Rivers murder?”
Jin shook his head and shoved his black hair behind his ears. ”We've given them everything we found at the crime scene, which wasn't much. I think everyone is a.s.suming Clymene was the perp and they aren't following any other leads. I heard you got kicked out of your apartment.”
”How did you find out?” she asked.
”Neva called. You going to stay with Frank?” he asked.
”For a while. I haven't decided. I might like to get a house,” she said.
”I think it's a good thing,” said Jin. ”Your neighbors are nuts. You got those people who like funerals and death memorabilia living across the hall and now you have a member of the Donner family in the bas.e.m.e.nt...you need to get away from there.”
Diane smiled. ”The apartment was very small and I would like to have a yard.”
”Oh, speaking of dirt, I have the a.n.a.lysis of the soil on that sphinx. The region came up Egypt. Specifically in the area of Abydos. It didn't have the amount of dust on it to suggest it had been lying around in a warehouse for fifty years. I think it was looted fairly recently. The stone face and the bust both had a mixture of dust that didn't point to any identifiable region of the world.”
”We know the girdle was stolen from the Cairo Museum fifty years ago, and the sphinx may have been looted recently. That really doesn't tell us anything, does it?” said Diane.
”That the artifacts are all over the board,” said Jin. ”I guess they were selected because they kind of look like what the doc.u.ments describe. But why do it?”
”I don't know.” Diane looked at her watch. ”I have a meeting with the board.”
”Again?” said Jin.
”I called it this time. I thought if I keep them upto-date they won't get so edgy.”
”Good luck,” said Jin.
Diane took the elevator to the third floor and walked to the meeting room. Most everyone was there and it was still early. Must be anxious to hear the latest, Must be anxious to hear the latest, she thought. Barclay looked sullen. She wondered if Vanessa had spoken with him. she thought. Barclay looked sullen. She wondered if Vanessa had spoken with him.
”Since everyone is here, I'll go ahead and start early. I wanted to bring you up-to-date on the progress so far with the Egyptian artifacts,” she said. ”The artifacts that arrived here do not match the artifacts we purchased and do not match the doc.u.mentation. The doc.u.mentation does match what we were buying, and those items, wherever they are, are legitimate.”
”So this was a mistake?” said Harvey Phelps.
”I don't know if it was simply a mistake. One of the pieces turned up in the National Stolen Art File as being stolen from Egypt fifty years ago. We don't yet know where the rest are from. One shows signs of perhaps being recently looted, but that's not confirmed.”
”Where does that leave us?” asked Anne Pascal. She had a quiet voice and a kind face. She hadn't said much in the last meeting. Perhaps she felt she could get a word in during this one. But then, Diane was being cynical.
”It leaves us without the artifacts we were in the process of purchasing and for which we made a partial payment,” she said. ”I think the FBI agent will help us locate them. There is a chance they were burned in a fire that consumed the antiquities dealer we purchased them from.”
”Did you check out this place before you bought from them?” Apparently Barclay couldn't hold his tongue any longer. Still has to scold. It must be embedded in his personal makeup. Must scold every day. Still has to scold. It must be embedded in his personal makeup. Must scold every day.
”Golden Antiquities is-was-one of the most reputable dealers in the state. However, it just pa.s.sed from father to son when the elder Cunningham retired. The younger Cunningham might not have been as honest as his father. However, he died in the fire. And the FBI is having a hard time finding witnesses.”
”What has the FBI person said about Kendel?” asked Laura.
”He has interviewed her. He hasn't indicated to me that he is interested in her as the culprit who did this.” Diane looked around the table at each of them.
”One thing; I did discover who called the Lanie LaRu radio program and asked if we were laundering stolen antiquities,” said Diane.
”Who?” said Vanessa.
”My source tells me DA Riddmann asked someone in his office to make the call. He wanted to poke Vanessa in the eye, and he thought tras.h.i.+ng the museum on the radio was just too good an opportunity to pa.s.s up,” said Diane.