Dead Guilty

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 ass,’’ 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?’’
‘‘Practice, apparently.’’ Diane shrugged. ‘‘Fear’s just an emotion. You deal with it.’’
‘‘I did pretty well in my police training. I do pretty well confronting suspects. It’s authority figures I can’t handle. Garnett terrifies me.’’
‘‘I know.’’
‘‘I know you know, and I appreciate your helping me out with him.’’
‘‘You can help yourself out by dealing with him in a straightforward way.’’
‘‘How?’’
‘‘Just pretend you aren’t afraid of him. What can he do to you anyway?’’
‘‘He can fire me, for one thing.’’
‘‘So. Is that the worst?’’
‘‘Well, yes.’’
‘‘You could walk out of here today and find another job. Perhaps a better one.’’
Neva shook her head as though she didn’t believe her. ‘‘It isn’t that easy—to pretend you aren’t afraid.’’
‘‘Yes, it is. You haven’t tried it. It’s harder to think about than it is to do. It starts by