Dead Secret

I’m sorry, but it happened in my museum and I have to deal with it.”
    Mike looked startled, almost as if he were about to be fired just after he had been hired. “What?” he asked.
    Diane related almost verbatim the story that Dr. Mercer had told her. She stopped and stared at Mike, waiting for him to respond.
    Mike was quiet for a moment. “Well, that explains the big bouquet of flowers and the card saying she was sorry.”
    “She was very sorry. Like I said, she was ashamed to tell me.”
    Mike shook his head. “She needn’t feel bad.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “It was between me and Dr. Lymon. That wasn’t why you decided to hire me, was it?” He looked down at the envelope as if it weren’t a prize after all.
    Diane shook her head. “You should know me better than that. I made the decision before I talked with Sylvia. I can afford to hire a groundskeeper for a favor, but I have to have curators who are qualified.” She gestured toward the paper and winced when the back of her arm stung from the quick movement. “Everyone you’ve worked with has given you glowing recommendations. I know your work. The Journey to the Center of the Earth exhibit is terrific. I passed your proposal by my assistant director and she’s enthusiastic. No, Mike, you earned the position. I only wish it could be full-time.”
    His frown turned to a grin. “This will work out better. I’ll have time to work on my dissertation.”
    “Good. Okay, now, David will probably come to interview you.”
    Mike rearranged himself in his bed, as if to get more comfortable. “David? Your crime scene guy? About the stabbing? I thought the police were handling that.”
    “They are. This is a discreet investigation that I hope can stay that way. But it has to be done. You understand that upon hearing about Dr. Lymon’s actions, I had to put her on the list of suspects.”
    “Dr. Lymon?”
    “She has motive—at least in your case.”
    Mike was quiet for several moments, looking out the window. “Perhaps in yours too,” he said, looking back at her.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Something she said to me after the . . .” He paused, leaned his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes for just a moment. “After the episode. She thought you and I were . . . well, you know.”
    “I see.” Diane wondered if anyone else in the museum thought that she and Mike were having an affair.
    “I don’t know why she thought that, really. I told her she had it all wrong. That we just do caving. But . . . ” He shook his head. “I know she had a hard time when her husband left her, and she’s always been kind of mean, but I really can’t see her going postal on me.”
    “Frankly, neither can I. That’s why I hope the investigation can stay discreet. David won’t go to the detectives unless he finds something.”
    “You’re being very nice to her.” He stretched out his hand for his water on the stand beside his bed, but it was just out of his reach. Diane handed it to him and he took a sip.
    “Too nice, perhaps,” she said. “Do you know if you’re the only one she has approached in that way?”
    Mike shrugged and set the water down. “I haven’t heard anything. It came as a surprise to me. I don’t know what came over her. I never got a hint that she had any kind of feelings for me at all, much less sexual ones.”
    Mike’s room phone rang and Diane went to get Neva and Frank as he answered it.
    “It’s for you,” said Mike, when Diane came back in. “It’s David.”
    Diane took the phone. “David, what’s up?”
    “A nasty situation. Jin’s on his way over to pick up Neva,” he said.

Chapter 19
    “You have a crime scene?” asked Diane.
    “Yes, we do. Unfortunately, it’s Neva’s house. The police couldn’t get in touch with her so they called here. Jin is coming to help me process it. I want Neva to see what’s missing. I’m at her house now and I’m a little concerned. It’s tossed and ripped up pretty bad, and they spray-painted some pretty vile things on her walls— ‘stupid fucking bitch’ —stuff like that. Her neighbor saw her door open this morning when he went out for his paper and he noticed that it was still open when he was leaving for work. He went to the door to check on her and found this.”
    Diane was stunned. “I’ll give her the news. Did anyone see or hear anything?”
    “No witnesses so far. The police are canvassing the neighborhood right now.”
    Diane hung up