Dead Hunt

wanted to keep the board members focused
on the real harm of the article to the museum and not
think that her anger was in response to things Madge
had said about her personally.
Truth was, she didn’t care that Madge thought she
ran a loose ship or that the crime lab was taking too
much of Diane’s time and that too much responsibility
had been shifted to Kendel. She did care that Madge
verified the reporter’s accusation about stolen antiquities without having any real knowledge and without
thinking about the consequences to the museum or
to Kendel.
‘‘What about the reporter?’’ said Diane. ‘‘I suppose
you haven’t had time to speak with her.’’
David shook his head. ‘‘I haven’t tried. I called a
buddy at another paper and asked about Janet
Boville—that’s the Rosewood reporter’s name. He
said she’s an ambush reporter, very aggressive, and he
had little respect for her ethics. I was concerned that
if I approached her the wrong way, the next article
would be ‘Museum Director
This Reporter,’ or something
said David.
Panicking—Harassing equally tabloidlike,’’
    Diane nodded. ‘‘I wouldn’t have liked that. Did you find out anything else from Madge?’’
    ‘‘Not directly, but Boville had been tipped off by some informant; I think the informant scripted the questions,’’ said David.
    Diane sat up straight and leaned forward with her forearms on her knees. ‘‘Why do you say that?’’
‘‘Because of the questions she asked Madge—about the UNESCO convention and where the museum stands on its provisions. About whether the provenance matched the artifacts. I thought that one was interesting.’’
‘‘That is interesting. The informant obviously knew they didn’t match,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Yes,’’ said David. ‘‘Madge was clueless as to what the questions even meant, much less how to answer them.’’
‘‘How about Kendel?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘Did she have any helpful information?’’
‘‘Yes. She provided a model to work from. Now that I know the lay of the land, so to speak, I’ll know where to go to investigate.’’ He took a sip of his drink. ‘‘The Pearle Museum in Virginia had a nice collection of twelfth-dynasty Egyptian artifacts that Kendel wanted to get her hands on. She had seen them several years ago, and when you guys inherited the twelfthdynasty mummy, Kendel went back to Pearle and asked if they would like to sell the artifacts. The answer was no.’’ David stopped, sat up, and took another big swig of his drink.
Diane was familiar with the Pearle. It was a good museum, a little smaller than RiverTrail. They belonged to the same associations for small museums. RiverTrail, however, was unique in that even though it had a small number of holdings, it had a very large building.
‘‘But they changed their minds?’’ said Diane. ‘‘Kendel had asked them to notify her if they decided to sell the items. The director said he would. In the meantime, he took a job with the United Nations.’’
‘‘I remember,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Noah landed a very good position.’’
‘‘The new director, Brenda McCaffrey, didn’t know about the agreement to contact Kendel and she sold the items to Golden Antiquities to make room, and money, for an exhibit she had worked out with the Greek government,’’ said David. He stopped a moment. ‘‘You don’t need the history of the pieces, do you, like where they were before the Pearle?’’
‘‘I’ve seen the provenance. Go on,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Good, because you know when Kendel gets started telling you about something . . . Anyway, Kendel found out about the sale to Golden Antiquities and she started negotiations with them. Golden Antiquities has been in business for about thirty years. Started by a man named Randal Cunningham, Sr. He’s been gradually turning the business over to his son, Randal Cunningham, Jr. for some time,’’ said David.
‘‘Which one died in the fire?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I don’t know yet. I’ll find out more tomorrow. Kendel dealt with both the Cunninghams, Senior and Junior. She said she examined the artifacts and watched them being packed. She said she didn’t notice anything hinky during the transactions. Everything was very routine and normal.’’
‘‘Nothing unusual whatsoever?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I had her close her eyes and revisit each encounter to see if she could remember anything that would be helpful. The only