Dead Past

the crime lab are prone to that behavior. I don’t know that he did; he didn’t say, but I know David.”
    “I see. I’ll be sure to smile from now on whenever I look in David’s direction.”
    “If a pic does exist, I’d want to use it only as a last resort. I’d hate to expose us as the sneaky people we are.”
    She heard Garnett stifle a laugh. “I’ll have a long talk with the commissioner.”
    “There’s another thing. It may be perfectly innocent. . . .” She told Garnett her thoughts about possible drug trade at the student center and about the two girls she had seen.
    “When you think about it, that would be a likely place to deal. You didn’t happen to get the girls’ names, did you?”
    “Yes, I thought you might want to talk to them. They’re Jessica Davenport and Jamie Dempsey. I also have their picture.”
    “Their picture? Where did you get . . . ?”
    “Yes, I, well, I took it with my cell phone.”
    “I see,” he repeated. “You people in the crime lab are prone to sneaky cell phone behavior, Jeez. I’ve never even used the camera feature on my phone.”
    “Well, what can I say? We all grew up watching too many James Bond movies—or Rocky and Bull-winkle. As I said, what I saw may have been perfectly innocent.”
    “And it may be a lead. I’ll put a detective on it. And I’ll talk to the commissioner. McNair’s uncle has the commissioner spooked, but the commissioner doesn’t like him, and he does like us, so . . .”
    “I’ll leave all that to you.”
    After she hung up with Garnett, Diane called her assistant, Andie, to check on the museum.
    “We’re doing OK. Did you find Star?” She sounded subdued. Diane guessed everyone in Rosewood did. She could picture Andie’s usually bright, happy face masked with concern. They all knew Star, and Rosewood was a small town. They were all probably waiting to find out who among their friends were dead.
    “Yes, we did find her. She’s fine. She was studying on campus. She’s home with Frank now.”
    “Whew, that’s so good. I can’t tell you how worried we were here.”
    “We all were, but she’s fine.”
    “You know Darcy Kincaid?” asked Andie.
    “Sure. One of our exhibit planners,” said Diane. “Why?”
    “She was at the party.”

Chapter 11

    “Oh, no. Oh, Andie. Not Darcy. Not anyone from the museum.”
    “She survived the explosion and the fire, but she’s in a coma. They don’t know if she’ll come out of it. We’re all kind of bummed out around here.”
    “Do Darcy’s parents know?”
    “They flew in from Arkansas late yesterday. Kendel met them at the airport and I found them a hotel room near the hospital. If they have to stay in Rosewood for very long, several of the museum staff have offered them a place to stay for as long as they need.” Diane loved the museum and the people in it. She wasn’t surprised they were so forthcoming with help for Darcy and her family.
    She had taken Darcy to dinner, as she did all her employees, to get to know her, and they had consulted and worked together on planning and building museum displays. She remembered Darcy liked dolphins and worked one summer with them at an aquarium in Florida. She wore a silver dolphin charm on a chain around her neck. In all of her worry, the thought had not occurred to Diane that anyone from her museum might be among the victims.
    “I’ll stop by the hospital to check on her this morning.”
    “I heard someone tried to steal your car,” said Andie. “With all that’s going on, I forgot to ask. Is that true?”
    “It’s true. I don’t know who he was. Someone running from the fire, apparently. It ended well. He’s under arrest in the hospital. I’ll tell you all about it later. I’m glad you asked. My car is impounded as evidence. I need to use one of the museum vehicles. Would you have one parked out front in my space?”
    “Of course,” said Andie.
    “I’m calling a taxi and will be over shortly. Call on my cell if you need me, but it looks like you all have things well in hand.” Diane hurried to get off the phone, but Andie still seemed to need debriefing.
    “How long . . . ,” she asked. “How long will you be out there—at the scene?”
    “I don’t know, Andie.”
    “I guess it’s pretty bad.”
    “It’s worse than that.”
    “Nothing like this has ever happened in Rosewood.”
    “I hope nothing like this ever happens again.”
    Diane wished there were some way she could make sure that it