Dead Hunt

wouldn’t be in prison. And I’ll be the first to admit that quite a few prisoners are a couple of standard deviations left of the mean on intelligence. But quite a few are also like Clymene—very smart and very cunning.’’
Diane stood up. ‘‘I need to go to the other side of the building to my other job. David’s probably wondering if I was carried off in chains by the U.S. Marshals.’’
She looked up at the clock on the wall. It was past quitting time for the museum staff, but Andie would be in her office waiting for her. Diane needed to speak with her so Andie could go home. The muffled ringing of the phone in Andie’s office had been continuous while she and Kingsley were being questioned by the marshals. Andie must have had an onerous day herself, fielding calls from concerned, irate contributors, not to mention the media.
‘‘Do you have a night crime scene team?’’ said Kingsley, standing up and smoothing his jacket.
Diane grinned. ‘‘Yes. It’s the same one as the day team. We have a night receptionist who receives requests and forwards them to whoever is on call. We take turns. So far the crime rate has been low enough to allow us some sleep.’’ Diane yawned. ‘‘Which I’m in need of. The DA has probably worn out his carpet waiting for my call. You going to speak with him tonight?’’
‘‘Yes, I will. He’ll probably blame both of us for breaking Clymene out,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I’ll have to put on my FBI attitude.’’
Diane walked Kingsley through Andie’s office on his way out.
‘‘I’ll give you a call tomorrow,’’ he said, waving as he left.
Diane turned her attention to Andie. ‘‘I heard the constant ringing of the telephone. I hope things haven’t been too bad for you today.’’
‘‘Me?’’ said Andie. ‘‘How about you? I didn’t have the U.S. Marshals after me. What was that about?’’ She looked more than ever like Orphan Annie when her eyes were large and round like they were now, staring up at Diane.
‘‘It wasn’t about the museum,’’ she said.
‘‘Oh, dark matter,’’ said Andie. ‘‘That’s a relief.’’
Not really, thought Diane. ‘‘What’s been going on here? What have the calls been like?’’
‘‘That DA is a pest. I tell you, come next election he doesn’t get my vote. We’ve been getting some calls from people asking about the scandal. I tell them that it’s being looked into. Some of them say they are contributors and they want to know what’s being done. I just tell them that you are on top of it. Of course, then they want to talk with you and I have to tell them you are busy being on top of things. Some want to give Kendel a piece of their mind. Really, people can be so mean. I want to tell them, like they’ve got a piece of mind to spare.’’ Andie stopped to take a breath.
‘‘I’ll work on an e-mail tomorrow to send to the contributors,’’ said Diane. When I think of what to tell them , she thought. ‘‘Go home, Andie. I’ll see you tomorrow.’’
Andie grabbed her purse. ‘‘Things will be better tomorrow,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m sure of it. You always fix things.’’
‘‘I hope so,’’ said Diane. She didn’t feel as though she could fix anything right now. She felt weary to the bone.
Diane walked from her office to the bank of elevators in the center of the museum and rode to the third floor. From there she walked to the west wing. She waved at the night guard as she entered her code in the keypad and opened the door to the crime lab.
The warren of glassed-in rooms looked empty. Then she saw Jin and Neva near the elevator. They were carrying crime scene kits and appeared to be preparing to leave. When they saw Diane they set their cases down and walked along the glassed-in hallway to where she stood. David popped up from a computer station inside one of the rooms. He mouthed a greeting and came out to join them.
‘‘You have a scene to process?’’ Diane asked Jin and Neva.
Neva nodded. ‘‘In White County. How are things with you?’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ said Jin, ‘‘David said the U.S. Marshals took you and the FBI guy away.’’
‘‘I said no such thing,’’ said David, frowning at Jin. ‘‘I said they left the restaurant together.’’
‘‘Clymene escaped today sometime after my visit with her,’’ said Diane.
They all walked over to a round table sitting in the corner that they used for debriefing. They all looked so alert. I miss young,