Dead Guilty

much younger man who works for you.’’
Garnett settled back in his chair and from the look on his face, he did realize how ridiculous it sounded for him to call her into his office for such a nebulous thing. She was sure when it was reported to him, prob ably through Izzy’s boss, it came out something like she was some slut robbing a cradle, putting moves on her underlings.
‘‘Define romantic.’’
‘‘Well, romantic, candlelight...’’
‘‘I think I see where this originated. I ate dinner with one of the geologists who works in the museum. We belong to the same caving club and we were dis cussing caving business. The restaurant was the one at the museum. It’s on the same floor as my office, and I use it frequently. In the evening all the tables have candles. It never occurred to me to blow it out, but then I’d have been sitting in the dark.
‘‘If your informant had seen me a week earlier, he’d have seen me having dinner in the candlelight with my head conservator, who’s about the same age as the geologist. However, he’s black and has dreadlocks, so I suppose that would have caused quite a stir with your informant. A month ago, I had lunch with one of the docent interns. He’s nineteen. One of the chil dren in his party hid in the museum and he couldn’t find him for an hour. It upset him greatly, and I had to calm him down. We ate lunch on the terrace, so that could have been construed as romantic. About once every two weeks I have lunch or dinner with my archaeologist, and we often play chess together. Of course, he is much older than me and I suppose the reversal of ages doesn’t impugn my character, so my association with him doesn’t count.
‘‘Douglas, I have had dinner or lunch with over half the people I work with. I’m head of the museum, and it is not a nine-to-five job for anyone. We often work over dinner. I will not stop interacting with my employees because it offends some busybody’s sense of propriety. If it comes up in court, I will handle it.’’
Diane had managed to keep her voice calm and even during her whole diatribe. When she finished, Garnett sat for a long moment without speaking.
‘‘I think I was probably misinformed,’’ he said.
‘‘Is that the only reason you wanted to see me?’’
‘‘We’re under a lot of pressure to make our crime lab work. I was just doing a little troubleshooting be fore anything got out of hand.’’
‘‘Our crime lab is functioning superbly. I think what is out of hand is gossipmongers and passive-aggressive bullies. I think you had better turn your attention to your stationhouse staff, who all appear to be preoccu pied with pettiness and character assassination, and ask yourself why they are failing in their surveillance duties.’’ Diane paused a moment. ‘‘If you can’t tell, this makes me very angry.’’
‘‘I can see.’’
‘‘No...I mean it makes me really angry.’’
‘‘I don’t doubt you.’’
‘‘The caller—on one of his calls when I was pushing for justifiable reasons for murder—he talked about gossip and bullying.’’
‘‘What are you getting at?’’
‘‘He used those as examples. It must have been for a reason. What might a gossip do to someone who’s on the edge? Whoever is calling me—if he’s the killer, his motive was not the motive of a serial killer. I think it was more specific and focused. He wanted to get even. He seems obsessed with personal justice. If that’s true, he probably knew the victim or victims— provided he really is the killer.’’
‘‘So you’re saying, if he killed the victims in Cob ber’s Wood, it had to do with revenge?’’
‘‘I suppose that’s what I’m saying. Look, Frank is expecting me to come to his house for dinner with him and his daughter. I’d like to not be late. I’ve put in very long hours, and I’d like to take this evening off.’’
‘‘Of course. I’m sorry for holding you up. And . . . I’m sorry for the other thing.’’
‘‘Douglas, I think I know who’s spreading this rumor. If it’s who I think it is, he’s a good friend of Frank. And since this person met me last year and heard those first unfounded rumors about me, he hasn’t wanted to let go of the notion that I’m not good enough for Frank. If you talk to him, advise him of how appropriate it is to mind his own business. Pettiness has no place in what we’re trying to do here.
‘‘And speaking of what we’re trying to do here, I