Dead Hunt

situation, but the death of Archer O’Riley was painful. Her previous husband, Robert Carthwright, died a painful death too. The odds that his death was an accident were dropping by the day. She killed wealthy men in a painful way. Her twist was to marry them first to get their money.
‘‘I appreciate what you do,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I know it has to be the most repugnant and emotionally draining undertaking.’’
‘‘I have some pictures people send me of them and their kids reunited. I posted them so I can look at them while I work at the computer. That gets me through. I know a little bit about your background and former line of work. That wasn’t easy either.’’
‘‘No,’’ said Diane simply.
‘‘The hard thing is that I know even when I find them and they go back home, their life will never be the same. They’ve always got to live with what was done to them. I saw on the news the other day about a new drug. Propranolol? It’s for high blood pressure, but they’re saying it might get rid of bad memories and traumatic events. I was thinking, when these kids come home, if they could be treated with something like that they might have a better chance at life,’’ he said. ‘‘Have you heard of that? You think it’s possible?’’
‘‘I haven’t heard of propranolol, but I’m sure something like that’s possible,’’ she said.
Diane wasn’t sure she believed that, but Alex Kade was a man who desperately wanted to give back a normal life to kidnapped and abused kids and their families. That was his hope and Diane didn’t want to take that away from him with doubts about the efficacy of such a drug.
‘‘Is there any information on what happened to the girl?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘No, not a thing,’’ he said.
‘‘This helps a lot,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Thank you.’’
‘‘Glad to be of service anytime,’’ he said.
‘‘Was that the guy who looks for missing children?’’ asked Jin when Diane hung up the phone.
‘‘That’s him. He found Clymene at around the age of fifteen,’’ she said. ‘‘Kingsley and I are thinking that her father sold her to the sex trade.’’
‘‘Kind of makes you feel sorry for her,’’ said Jin. ‘‘Like all she’s doing is getting even.’’
‘‘I think on one level she is getting even. But she’s a rational adult now and she knows what she is doing is wrong. If she applied her considerable skills to doing good, like Colonel Kade, think of all she could do.’’
‘‘I guess so. Hey, you want to go eat? I’m starving,’’ he said.
‘‘Yes, I do,’’ she said. ‘‘See if Neva and David would like to join us. I haven’t asked David if he found anything more about the artifacts.’’
‘‘Maybe Arachnid could be modified to look for stuff like that too,’’ said Jin. ‘‘What do you think?’’
‘‘You can bring it up with David,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ll meet you at the restaurant. I need to call Garnett first.’’

Chapter 42
    Garnett was in his office and Diane was put through immediately.
‘‘What’s up?’’ he said. He sounded busy.
‘‘Just updating you with some information,’’ she said. ‘‘I can call back if this isn’t convenient.’’
‘‘No, this is fine. Just doing a little paperwork. One of the necessary evils of this job,’’ he said. ‘‘But I really hate it.’’
Diane filled him in on everything they had discovered about Clymene. ‘‘I know this is in the marshals’ jurisdiction, but I just thought you would like to know the latest,’’ she said.
‘‘That’s quite a bit of information your team’s dug up,’’ he said. ‘‘My detectives here didn’t have any luck finding anything about her. Of course by that time she was already in the system and the DA had other murders to solve. I’d be interested to see how you did it,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of luck.’’
Here she was, fibbing again to protect David’s project. She told Garnett about the lawyer who called to scold her about e-mailing the Listserv and finding said lawyer in a picture with Clymene in one of her other lives.
‘‘Of course, I’m assuming it’s Clymene. It could be one of her sisters. At least we have some names and people to talk to. That’s more leads for the marshals.’’
Garnet was silent and Diane could hear paper rustling.
‘‘So, if it is Clymene,’’ he said after a moment, ‘‘she’s probably been doing this a long time. That was what? Ten years ago?