Dead Guilty

death.
‘‘Family members of the donor are reported to have some in their possession. I’m told that sometimes there were as many as a hundred such amulets. They would add a lot to the value of the mummy.’’
‘‘This is so exciting,’’ said Madge. ‘‘An Egyptian exhibit will be so good for the museum.’’
‘‘We have a CT scan scheduled next week for him. That may give us more information about who he was.’’
Thankfully, all the conversation was taken up with the mummy and Diane was able to adjourn the meet ing in a good mood. She counted herself lucky. Per haps in time the board members who were queasy about the location of the crime lab inside the museum would become proud of the work that was done there.
Madge took Diane’s arm as the board members were dispersing. ‘‘When we open the Egyptian exhibit, we must have another party. You know I missed the one for the museum opening.’’
Madge gave Diane that I-wasn’t-told-about-the party look that she adorned her face with on any occa sion she could bring it up. Diane had stopped ex plaining to her that it was she who wrote the wrong date on her calendar. Diane simply smiled and told Madge a party would be a great idea.
Diane went back to her office to finish some more paperwork—and to see if Garnett had left a message. She hadn’t heard what happened with Lynn Webber. Perhaps no news was good news.
Andie was getting ready to leave as Diane arrived. She had changed from her more conservative museum uniform to her clubbing costume, as she described her various forms of dress.
‘‘Got a date?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Yes. In the middle of the week—can you believe it? We’re going to a jazz concert on campus.’’
‘‘Sounds like fun. Have a good time. Did I get any messages?’’
‘‘They’re on your desk. Just routine stuff, nothing out of the ordinary.’’
Diane laughed. She was sorry that life at the mu seum was such that ‘‘ordinary’’ and ‘‘out of the ordi nary’’ were frequent distinctions Andie had to make.
‘‘Perhaps things are settling down.’’ At her desk, she called up to the crime lab. David answered. ‘‘Isn’t it time for you to go home?’’ she asked.
‘‘Just seeing about my bugs.’’
‘‘Any messages from Garnett?’’
‘‘No, it’s actually been pretty quiet around here. Neva’s been working on some stuff you’ll be pleased with. She’s already gone, but I think she works on the artwork at home.’’
‘‘I think I’ve gotten Garnett off her back. Maybe she can settle down and be comfortable around here.’’
Diane told David how her meeting with Garnett and the sheriff broke up.
‘‘Damn,’’ exclaimed David. ‘‘Someone went after Webber? What’s this about?’’
‘‘I don’t know. Go home and take care. I mean it.’’
When she hung up, Diane dialed Garnett’s cell phone.
‘‘This is Diane Fallon,’’ she said when he answered. ‘‘I was concerned about Dr. Webber.’’
‘‘She’s fine. It turned out to be a false alarm.’’ ‘‘False alarm?’’
‘‘She was on the second floor of her condo and saw some guy who looked like he was trying to break into her back door. Turns out it was a new neighbor who just moved in. He was trying to open her screen to knock on the door. The poor guy and his wife are probably going to move again after all the grilling they got.’’
‘‘I’m relieved.’’
‘‘So were we. Lynn . . . Dr. Webber was still shaken. We need to clear this up as quickly as we can.’’
‘‘I agree.’’
We who? thought Diane when she hung up the phone. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She had almost dozed off when the ringing of her phone jerked her awake. Frank, she thought and looked at the caller ID. It said Denver, Colorado.

Chapter 25
    Diane steadied her hand as she reached out to pick up the phone.
‘‘Hello.’’ She hoped her voice was calm.
‘‘It’s me again. Are we alone?’’
‘‘What’s your name?’’
‘‘I can’t tell you that.’’
‘‘Okay. What do you want?’’
‘‘I want you to understand. I want to talk about what you said about killing being evil.’’
‘‘As I recall, I said something about it taking a dedi cated community of criminal investigators to combat the evil of murder...’’
‘‘Yes, but I saw your eyes when you said ‘the evil of murder,’ and it bothered me.’’ The man’s voice was both deep and soft and had a sincere quality to it