Dead Guilty

passed a turn and the
trail behind her was hidden by rhododendrons. Recent events had made her paranoid, and she was
starting to become a little worried. She rounded an
other turn, stopped and stepped behind a cluster of
forsythia bushes and waited for several seconds. She
heard the footfalls coming. She stepped back farther
in the bushes, ready to run. Around the turn, passing
her, ran Mike Seger.
‘‘Mike,’’ she called.
He stopped and turned, breathing hard.
‘‘Dr. Fallon. Damn. You are hard to catch up with.
You run fast for an old lady. Andie told me you came
for a run. I run here every day too, but usually in
the morning.’’
Diane walked back onto the trail and started run ning again, but at a slower pace. He caught up with
her.
‘‘So, is this your second run today?’’ she asked. ‘‘No, not today. I had to proctor a makeup exam at
the university this morning. What are you doing out
here by yourself anyway?’’
‘‘The guy who attacked me is dead.’’
‘‘Oh.’’
They ran almost a half-mile loop without talking.
While she ran, Diane’s mind kept turning over the
diamonds—cut and uncut.
‘‘Tell me,’’ Diane asked, ‘‘where’s the closest place
to have a diamond cut?’’
‘‘I’d say New York. No. There’s a guy who teaches
at the tech school. They have courses in diamond cut
ting. Just started last year, one of the very few places
you can learn in the United States.’’
‘‘What’s his name?’’ asked Diane.
Mike thought a moment. ‘‘Joseph something. Jo
seph Isaacson. I think he’s from Belgium.’’ ‘‘Thanks.’’
‘‘In my car I have a map of the cave we are going
to visit. I brought you a copy. I thought you might
like to see it. It’s just the easy section, but that’s all
we are doing this time. Maybe later we can map the
wild sections. Like you said, that would be a good
project for the club.’’
‘‘Great. How far do you usually run?’’
‘‘I usually make about twenty laps.’’
‘‘Then why are you breathing so hard?’’
‘‘I told you, trying to catch up with you. I have a
friend opening up a new gym in town. It has a great
rock-climbing wall. You might check it out.’’ ‘‘I might do that. I’ve let my weight training go
this week.’’
‘‘I wouldn’t worry. You still have some pretty hard
deltoids.’’ He reached over and touched her bare
shoulder.
Diane ran faster.

Chapter 42
    While she waited for a decent time to call the Hooten household again, Diane sat at her desk, studying the map Mike had given her of the cave they were going to explore. It was not a particularly well-done map. In fact, it was amateurish. She should have suspected by his grin when he showed it to her. It had its own way of describing features, drops, slopes and escarp ments, instead of using any of the normal mapping conventions. But it also had its own charm. It was sort of like an old-fashioned treasure map. Diane had to fight the urge to copy it off on parchment paper. But it did have entrances and branches clearly labeled, and it showed tunnels and passages in ways that were probably recognizable—with names such as Fish Scale Way, the Silo, Crawl-Belly Tunnel.
    The section they were going to traverse included a half mile of easy cave. Neva was a novice, and Diane wanted it to be easy. But the easy part was still inter esting. It included several turns and several different elevations. The mapper had clearly marked the branches that led to the wild parts—Abandon All Hope and There Be Dragons passages.
    She looked at her watch—a little after 9:00 P.M. She picked up the phone to call, but instead of dialing the Hooten residence, she thought better of it and got the number for the Buffalo police. She called and intro duced herself and explained that she was trying to identify three bodies that she had reason to believe originally resided in Buffalo. The person on the other end listened patiently.
    ‘‘Is there anyone there familiar with an Ashlyn or
    Justin Hooten?’’ she said finally.
‘‘Hold the phone, ma’am.’’
She held the line for a full ten minutes. Finally,
    someone picked up. ‘‘Detective James LaSalle here. How can I help you?’’
    Detective LaSalle had a very friendly voice. Diane hoped that also meant he would be helpful. She ex plained again what she was after.
    ‘‘I’m very familiar with little Ashlyn and Justin Hooten. Stereotypical ignored rich kids who get into trouble and their parents