Dead Guilty

at their best.’’ Mike put the box in a jeweler’s bag and handed it to Diane.
‘‘I feel like I need a guard to go back down to my office.’’
‘‘I’d be happy to oblige,’’ said Mike, holding out an arm for Diane to pass.
Diane walked with Korey and Mike out of the vault as Alicia, one of Korey’s assistants, was entering.
‘‘Dr. Fallon? Andie told me about last night. That must have been terrifying. Jeez, two nights in a row. You must be feeling besieged.’’
‘‘I’m fine. Thanks, Alicia.’’
‘‘You were attacked again?’’ asked Mike and Korey at the same time.
Diane gave them the briefest description of the events. The two of them gawked at her.
‘‘A few cuts on the soles of my feet from having to flee the house without my shoes, but other than that, I’m fine.’’
‘‘But they caught the guy?’’
‘‘Yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘They have him.’’
‘‘You be careful, Dr. F.,’’ said Korey when Diane and Mike left the conservation lab.
‘‘Could you use that technique to compare the cut stone I was telling you about with these to see if they were from the same place?’’ Diane asked Mike.
‘‘Yes, but that stone’s already been cut. The owner might not want even a microscopic hole in it. You could ask her.’’
‘‘No, I can’t. She was murdered.’’
Mike stopped in his tracks. ‘‘Her diamond?’’
‘‘Gone.’’
‘‘Damn, Boss. Do you think you should stay in your apartment?’’
‘‘I’m not. I’m staying with Frank.’’
‘‘He’s got a gun, right?’’
Diane frowned. ‘‘It looks like they have the guy.’’
‘‘He’s the one doing all the killings?’’
‘‘That’s what the crime lab is trying to determine.’’ ‘‘If there’s anything you need...’’
‘‘Thanks, Mike. I’d like to relax in a nice, cool dark cave.’’
‘‘Now you’re talking. How about next weekend?’’
‘‘Sounds good. I’ll tell Neva.’’
Mike escorted Diane to her office. She sat down behind her desk, found the business card for Russell Keating, Raymond Waller’s attorney, and gave him a call.
‘‘Mr. Keating, we’ve found items in the baseball memorabilia that probably don’t belong with the base ball bequests. It may be the reason he was murdered, so I need to tell Chief Garnett about it too. Could you come to the museum this afternoon?’’
‘‘This is going to cause me problems with the twins, isn’t it?’’
‘‘I think so.’’
‘‘Lord have mercy.’’ He paused and shuffled some of his papers on his desk. ‘‘I can be there at three thirty.’’
    Russell Keating and Chief Douglas Garnett sat in front of Diane’s desk staring at the stones she had in front of her.
    ‘‘And you say these are worth how much?’’ asked
    Keating.
‘‘Our geologist says they would be worth more than
two hundred thousand dollars after they were cut.’’ ‘‘That’s what his murderer was after,’’ said Garnett.
‘‘It has to be. We’ll have to hold these as evidence.’’ ‘‘Hold on now, evidence of what? Of your idea that
this is what the murderer was after? You thought the
murderer was after the collection and you didn’t hold
it as evidence. You told me you brought it to the
museum for safekeeping.’’
‘‘We don’t know who the diamonds belong to,’’
said Garnett.
‘‘The hell we don’t. They belong to Raymond Wal
ler’s estate. They were in his possession.’’
‘‘Where did he get diamonds that valuable on his
salary as a morgue assistant?’’
‘‘It doesn’t matter,’’ said Keating. ‘‘He could have
found them in his backyard. He owned his house and
property, including the mineral rights. These aren’t cut
diamonds. They are the way God made them.’’ ‘‘This is Georgia. We don’t have diamonds just lying
around,’’ said Garnett.
Diane cleared her throat, and they both looked at her. ‘‘According to Mike, in the 1800s when prospectors
panned for gold in Georgia, occasionally they’d find
small diamonds. It sparked a few diamond rushes, but
no one has been able to find the source.’’
‘‘So he could have found these in his backyard,’’
said Keating.
‘‘None has ever been found this large. I believe
Mike told me the largest ever found was about two
carats. I think it would be unlikely he’d find three
significantly larger ones in his backyard.’’
‘‘But not impossible,’’ said lawyer Keating. ‘‘Mr. Keating. Why don’t you let us