Dead Guilty Part 25

"The geologist."

"You bought him dinner?"

"He gave me some information about diamonds."

"He doesn't get a salary for that?"

"This was after hours."

"Okay, this just gets better. This is the guy who's got a thing for you?"

"Yes."

"So you admit it now?"

"He admitted it."

"I see."

"It's not serious. I believe it's just the challenge. I told him that I was not only seeing someone else, I was his boss and old enough to be his mother, though I didn't put it quite like that."

"Only if you had him when you were twelve. That's not that big an age difference."

"It is to me. I thought you were going to fix me something. I could use a cool gla.s.s of wine when I get out of the shower. There's some white zinfandel in the refrigerator."

Frank put his arms around her. "You doing okay?"

"I'm still shaking...and praying that this was just a random act of violence. Frank, I don't know how to handle that guy. It's like he wants to talk to me, but he won't say anything. And now this. Garnett said he hired a profiler."

"Do you know who?"

Diane shook her head. "Some consultant who used to work for the FBI. I hope he's good. We need some one to make some sense out of all this. I sure can't."

Chapter 29.

Her car looked worse in the light of day than it had that evening under the streetlight. She shook her head as the tow truck drove off with it.

"I don't think I'll be able to have that fixed," she said to Frank.

"It's all cosmetic, really," he told her.

"Cosmetic. It looks totaled."

Before Diane left for work, she took coffee and hot egg and bacon sandwiches out to the policemen on her stakeout. They were surprised and grateful.

"Will you be relieved soon?" she asked.

"In an hour," they a.s.sured her.

Frank drove her to the museum. She bought a paper on the way in and leafed through the pages, dreading what she would find. Another thing she'd have to deal with now-bad publicity for the museum, with her name attached.

"I don't see anything," she said.

But there it was in the police blotter-one line. CAR REPORTED VANDALIZED ON EAST ELM STREET.

"I don't believe it. Hardly a mention. With any luck, that'll be the end of it."

She was already letting go of the image of the phone calls, E-mails and letters about the attack-and the Itold-you-so Itold-you-so's from her board members.

"Dinner?" asked Frank, stopping in front of the museum.

Diane got out and leaned into the pa.s.senger's side of his car. "Yes. Let's go some place quiet."

"How about my place? Star will be there, but she'd enjoy seeing you."

"I'd like to see her too."

"You going to be all right today? That was quite an ordeal last night."

"I'll be fine. Thanks for the rescue."

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you did."

Diane went straight to the crime lab. Jin, David and Neva were already there. David peeked his head around the corner from where his rearing chambers were located.

"Aren't you due to give birth soon?" asked Diane.

"Yep, got lots of babies here now. We're coming along nicely. I'll be able to give you a good time of death soon."

Jin came out from his work s.p.a.ce when he heard Diane's voice.

"I have an ID on the orange carpet fiber."

"More good news," said Diane. "What is it?"

"It's an inexpensive make and, unfortunately, it's plentiful. Made by a company in Dalton, Georgia."

"I can't imagine that there is an expensive version of orange carpet," said Neva.

"I'll have you know that I have orange carpet, and it looks quite nice," said David.

Diane and Neva looked at him with raised eye brows.

"In case you're wondering, it's the expensive vari ety. I had Jin take a sample from it to doc.u.ment that we haven't contaminated anything."

"It is a nice carpet," said Jin. "Thick, low pile, soft. It's more of a burnt orange color. Our guy's carpet is bright orange, almost the color of a safety vest."

Diane and Neva laughed at the two of them talking about carpet.

"Neva has something to show you," said David, pointing to the conference table.

They all gathered around the table and looked into portraits of Blue, Red and Green Doe, first rendered by the computer, then as drawings enhanced by Neva. She had drawn a full face and profile of each victim. She had done as Diane asked, turning a computer graphic into realistic portraits of a Caucasian female and male and an Asian female. They looked like peo ple. They looked like someone their mothers would recognize.

"These are great," said Diane. "I mean it. This is really good."

"I made the two whites look too much alike. I tend to do that when I'm drawing faces freehand-make them all look alike. I must subconsciously still be doing that."

"The computer renditions of them look a little bit alike around the eyes and brow," said David.

"What I didn't tell you," Diane said to Neva, "be cause I didn't want to influence you, is that Blue"-she put a finger on the corner of Blue's drawing-"had a nose job."

Diane pointed to the profile of Green Doe with his large nose.

"If he had a nose job, it would have to be the same kind that Blue Doe had in order to reduce the size, and they would look very much alike. We'll have to see the DNA report, but I suspect they may be related-perhaps cousins, or sister and brother."

Neva looked at her, wide-eyed. "Then I did do it right."

"Way to go, Rembrandt," said Jin, b.u.mping into her, shoving her slightly. "I told you they're good."

"Go to the archives department in the museum and make several copies. Use the color copier. Even though these aren't color, the color copier will give you a better image," said Diane. "Then run a set to Garnett and Braden. Leave a couple of sets of copies here, and store the originals."

Neva nodded and gathered up her drawings.

"Before you do that, I need to tell all of you something."

Diane described the attack on her the previous evening-the shadow furiously wielding the bat. The three of them listened with varying degrees of open mouths.

"Last night?" said David. "After you left here?"

"Yes. Have any of you noticed anyone following you-anything out of the ordinary?"

The three of them shook their heads. "Nothing," said David. "And I'm paranoid."

"No," said Neva. "I would have noticed."

"Me too," said Jin.

"I want all of you to be extra watchful. I'm going to hire security to watch your homes until we solve this. Jin, I want you to process my car. It's in the police impound. I doubt you'll find anything useful, but you never know. Maybe the bat left some kind of distinctive paint or something. He slashed my tires. See if you can find a tool pattern that we could match to a knife."

"Sure, Boss," said Jin.

"I didn't see anything in the paper," said David.

"The police blotter had a one-liner," said Diane.

"The vandalism on Elm Street?" said David.

"That's it. I consider it lucky. The last thing I want is for this to be connected to the museum. I'm sur prised the media didn't pick up on the story."

"That's because Chief Garnett ordered that any calls concerning you, the lab or the museum be han dled off radio and on telephones so police scanners can't pick them up," said Neva.

Diane looked at her for a moment, puzzled, then it dawned on her. Garnett was as protective of the mu seum as she because he wanted to protect the crime lab. He knew that if push came to shove, she'd cut the lab loose from the museum and find some way to deal with the tax problem.

"I see. I hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the a.s.s," she said. She sent Neva to the copying ser vices, Jin to the police station, and she went to her crime lab office and settled down with a file on each of the murders, determined to find something that would help.

Diane was in the middle of the Cobber's Wood file when Neva came in with the copies of the drawings.

"You're right. The color copies are really good. I can't tell them from the originals." Neva lingered in front of the desk after she gave Diane two sets of copies.

"Is there something else?"

"Weren't you scared last night?"

Diane motioned for her to sit down, and Neva pulled up a chair.

"Yes. Terrified."

"Down at the department, they say you don't have any fear."

Diane couldn't contain a laugh. "What?"

First Mike and now Neva. What kind of impression was she giving people?

"That what happened to you in South America took all your fear away. Some say you have very little emo tion about anything."

"Where in the world did that come from?"

"The mayor's office."

"The mayor's office?"

Diane remembered now. Her encounter with the mayor when he tried to threaten her politically. She laughed again.

"I'm not afraid of the mayor, but a maniac wielding a bat in the darkness made my heart race."

"But you dealt with it."

"Yes."

"How?"