Dead Secret

pockets studying Caver Doe, waiting for instructions as Diane collected her calipers, forms and pen and set them on the table in preparation for the examination. She stuck her forms in her clipboard and looked up at him.
    “I want you to investigate Annette Lymon. I want to know if she could have stabbed Mike and me or if she could have had it done.”
    “Do you think she could have?” he said.
    “You want to start with a preconceived notion of what I think?” said Diane, putting a hand on the dome of Caver Doe’s skull.
    “I’m not starting with a preconceived notion. I’m investigating. You’re the first witness. She’s someone you are acquainted with.”
    Diane laughed and felt another rush of the sublime brain chemicals that soothed her body and cleared her head. She was glad she had opted for the Tylenol and not the Percocet.
    “I can’t see her acting with the finesse it took to stab both of us without our knowing it and then getting away clean. I’ve been going over the faces at the funeral in my mind, and I didn’t see her. I would have recognized her. So would Mike. On the other hand, I wasn’t really looking at the faces.” Diane stopped working and thought for a moment. “Lymon is a good bit shorter than Mike and a couple of inches shorter than me. Not the right height, judging by the angle of Mike’s wound.”
    David seemed to ponder that for a moment. “Would she know how to hire it done? Would she know those kind of people? I know that is rather extreme, but . . . would she?”
    “I doubt it, but I don’t know that much about her personal life or her background. Maybe she recruited a graduate student to do it.”
    “Is it that easy for professors to get their students to commit murder for them?”
    Diane laughed. It was starting to sound ridiculous. David chuckled with her. “I wouldn’t have thought so,” she said. “But who knows what hold she may have on someone. When I was in graduate school, there were a few crazy students.”
    David’s face sobered. “This harassment—Mike’s probably not the first. You can’t keep it a secret. You know she’ll do it again.”
    Diane stared at the blank form on the clipboard as if it had an answer for her. She nodded. “I know. I haven’t decided yet how to handle it. I need information and time. And first I want to know if she was involved in the stabbing.”
    “You can’t protect everyone by yourself. I like Neva too, but . . .”
    “I can protect people here, and I will.” She said it so vehemently that David was startled. She put the calipers and clipboard down on the table with a clink.
    “What’s up with you?” he said.
    Diane pressed her lips together and looked away. “First Ariel and all our friends at the mission were slaughtered, then Frank was shot last year, now Mike’s been hurt—again. Except for now, all connected with people I was investigating, so who is the common denominator for all of them?” She turned and stared at David as if daring him not to say it was her.
    “The common denominator is men who are willing to kill to get what they want,” said David. “Not you.”
    “It feels like me. I know I can’t fix everything, but I can help Neva and Mike. And I can control what goes on in my museum.” She paused a moment, putting a hand to her forehead. “Mike gave me a dynamite job proposal. He didn’t tell me he needed the job because he had lost his assistantship. I gave the proposal to Kendel. She likes it too, so I’m going to hire him.”
    David smiled. “Have I told you lately that I appreciate your hiring me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, I do. We’ve brought more people to justice in the short time I’ve been here than we ever did working in human rights, and that’s been very healing for me.”
    Diane understood how he felt. When they worked in human rights investigation, they collected mass amounts of evidence, but rarely were they able to take anyone to court.
    “It’s been cathartic for me too.”
    David smiled at her. “I’m sure Mike will appreciate a job here as much as I do.”
    “He’ll be half-time. His Journey to the Center of the Earth display looks like it will be a big success. The advertising is going well. Early response indicates it’s likely to be just behind the dinosaurs and the Egyptian exhibit in popularity. It’s projected to bring in enough extra revenue to pay his salary. He’s earning his keep.”
    “I didn’t think you would hire him if he couldn’t