Dead Hunt

politics; you could just be minding your own business and still end up in the middle of trouble.
‘‘Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,’’ said Diane. ‘‘If someone took a body from my apartment, they could easily have taken the source of the barbiturate.’’
‘‘Let’s get back to the point of why we came,’’ said Merrick. ‘‘Drew and I still have some questions for Dr. Fallon. If that’s all right with all of you? Now, Dr. Fallon, you said you got no indication that Clymene was going to escape. What do you think she did have planned? From what I’m hearing, she’s not the kind of woman who would be content to stay in jail. She asked you there for some reason.’’
‘‘I thought she was planning an appeal,’’ said Diane.
‘‘She had no grounds,’’ began Riddmann. Merrick’s glance at him had the impact of a shot across the bow. He closed his mouth.
‘‘I think she might have,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Some problematic information was allowed in at her trial. However, the reason I thought she was going to appeal was that she had been writing briefs for fellow inmates and had been fairly successful. She’s a smart lady. I sleeping hospital. through being Apparently I thought her friendship with Rivers was to gain an advocate in her corner.’’
‘‘The only reason I had to ask the judge to allow that evidence was because your crime scene evidence was so poor,’’ said Riddmann.
Diane and the marshals ignored him.
‘‘Did she say she was going to appeal?’’ asked Drew.
‘‘No. But it made sense. I believe she would have won the appeal,’’ said Diane.
‘‘But an appeal would have only gotten her a new trial,’’ said Merrick. ‘‘Would she have won without this problem evidence?’’
‘‘No,’’ said Diane. ‘‘The crime scene evidence was strong.’’
‘‘So, in that case, it makes sense that she would run, given that she wanted out,’’ said Merrick.
‘‘Putting it that way, yes,’’ said Diane. ‘‘But as I said earlier, she had a lot of confidence in her powers of persuasion and she would be up against a DA’s office with a fifty-four percent conviction rate. The next jury might side with her,’’ said Diane. Okay, she’d said it. Not a wise thing to do. But it was done.
Garnett winced. Riddmann glared at her with such intensity that she thought his gaze might actually burn her skin. The marshals raised their eyebrows slightly.
‘‘The fact of the matter,’’ said Riddmann, ‘‘is that we have what can legally be described as a dead body in your apartment. Your bloody knife in your car with Clymene’s blood in your car trunk. I convicted Clymene herself on less. I’m ordering Garnett to arrest you.’’

Chapter 23
    ‘‘Okay, let’s just talk about this,’’ said Garnett. He cast Diane a glance that was more frustration than anger, clearly wanting to defuse the crisis. ‘‘There’s time to sort this out, and Diane isn’t going anywhere.’’
    Diane’s cell rang just as the DA opened his mouth to say something. She fished the phone out of the inside pocket of her jacket.
    ‘‘Excuse me,’’ she said as she looked at the display.
    It was Andie, her assistant.
‘‘Hi. Diane. I didn’t know where you were, so I
called your cell. Are you all right?’’
‘‘Fine,’’ said Diane. It wasn’t true at the moment,
but Andie was asking about her health.
‘‘There’s a guy from the FBI who wants to talk to
you about the artifacts,’’ said Andie.
‘‘The FBI. Great. Tell him he has to take a number,’’ said Diane.
‘‘What?’’ said Andie.
‘‘Just hold the phone a minute, Andie,’’ said Diane. She put her phone on mute and looked at the others. The marshals looked amused. The DA looked a
little happier. Garnett was still frowning.
‘‘Can we wait until I speak with the FBI before you
take me downtown?’’ she said.
‘‘Look,’’ said Garnett. He turned to the DA. ‘‘I
think it’s premature to arrest Dr. Fallon at this point.
The barbiturates in her system do give her an alibi,
and I would hate to make a mistake that we all would
regret. Remember, no one in the apartment building
heard anything either—not the neighbors across the
hall, nor the ones above, below, or beside her. You
will agree that is odd. In addition to the unpleasantness in her apartment early this morning, Dr. Fallon
was attacked at the hospital by an unknown assailant
wielding a knife. I think we can cut