Dead Secret

smug.
    David hadn’t told her that. She smiled grimly. Alan didn’t know that the policeman who called was actually one of her employees. David probably introduced himself as a criminalist from the Rosewood Police Department. Alan probably didn’t know what a criminalist was.
    “I doubt he believed you, Alan.”
    He gave a derisive snort. “You don’t think so? I told him you’ve always had a hard time accepting our divorce. It’s your word against mine, and I am very convincing.” His voice had regained its confidence.
    “Alan, let me clue you in. You are the one who moved to the town where my parents live and kept up a relationship with them. I’m the one who lives a state away and hardly ever visits. Who does it look like won’t let go?”
    Alan was silent again for a long moment. “Why are you doing this?”
    “I’m not doing anything. Believe it or not, I wanted to rule you out as a suspect. I asked that they be discreet.”
    “Well, when the police guy talked to my dentist he told him he thought I was witness to a car accident in Atlanta,” he admitted.
    “See? That doesn’t make you look like a deranged killer.”
    “The policeman wasn’t so nice when he talked to me.” Diane smiled and tried not to laugh. “Don’t take it personally. They talk that way to everyone.”
    “How else should I take it?”
    “Look, if Mother can get though Tombsberg, you can take a little questioning. Alan, what’s happening to you? You didn’t used to be . . . well, mean.” Self-centered, maybe, but not deliberately mean.
    “Mean? What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about what you did to Gerald and Susan. They have always supported you.”
    “They told you about that, did they? Gerald was trying to make me look bad to the partners in my firm.”
    “As I understand it, he was just trying to tell the truth.”
    “What would it have hurt to go along with me? They aren’t his employers.”
    “I don’t know the details, but presumably you did something wrong with the firm’s accounts and he had to straighten them out. Gerald wouldn’t go along with your lie, so you tried to destroy his marriage. What kind of friend are you?”
    “You don’t know it was a lie.”
    “Alan, you just told me you lied to the police about me. What am I supposed to think about your veracity?”
    “You always did like to play with words, twist them around in your favor.”
    “Alan, I have to go.”
    He was silent again. He never used to have so hard a time searching for a comeback. Diane wondered if she should just hang up, but she was starting to pity him. God, where did that come from? she thought. Don’t start feeling sorry for him.
    “Alan, please fix things with Susan and Gerald. I don’t know why you are separated from your wife, but it might be good to work on that. You have two kids. They should be a joy in your life. Nothing else should matter.”
    “I was hoping we could start talking again,” he said.
    “No. That’s not a good idea. You have so many things going for you. Don’t self-destruct.”
    “It was good seeing you again. I . . . I wasn’t being a pervert. I was just smelling your perfume,” he said, then abruptly hung up the phone.
    As if my life isn’t complicated enough, Diane thought as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. God, the last thing she wanted to do was to feel sorry for Alan. She heard Andie’s office door open and close.
    Andie peeked her head in. “One BLT and cold iced tea, coming up.” She walked in and set the sandwich and glass on Diane’s desk.
    Diane was hungry now. The sandwich looked good.
    “Thanks, Andie. Anything going on that I should know about?”
    “We have several more letters from researchers insisting on access to the mummy.”
    “You send them the standard reply we crafted? No access, but we’ll share the data we’ve collected?”
    “With some of them that isn’t working. They have research needs that we didn’t cover in our own research, apparently.”
    “If it becomes a problem, take their number and I’ll call them and say no.”
    “Aquatics and Insects want to change the curators’ meeting to next Friday.” Andie always referred to the curators by their subject names when she spoke to Diane about museum business. Diane didn’t know if it was to keep things organized in her mind or it tickled her sensibilities. “Avians, Mammals and Dinosaurs said they don’t care. Archaeology said it isn’t convenient, but