Dust to Dust

to watch the interrogation. We’ll do the same,” said Hanks.
    Both Braden and Hanks had been very matter-of-fact, assuming that Gainesville PD would reopen the Dance case. They didn’t know anything about the politics or the biases that closed it in the first place. They were just looking at the evidence. Diane suspected Stark and perhaps Fisher noticed that about them, the lack of guile.
    “All right,” said Chief Nancy Stark. “We’ll take another look. I’m not making any promises.”
    “There’s something else,” said Kingsley.
    “What’s that?” asked Stark, frowning.
    “I almost hate to say, because it’s going to turn someone’s world upside down,” said Kingsley. “But she knows it’s coming. You know the young woman who discovered the body of Stacy Dance?”
    “The gal from Ohio, cousin to the drummer?” said Fisher. “I suppose I need to get her back here.”
    “She’s not the drummer’s cousin,” said Kingsley. “Her name is Samantha Carruthers. She’s the sister of Ellie Carruthers—the teenager Stacy Dance’s brother was convicted of killing.”
    “What?” said Fisher. “The hell you say. You are not serious?”
    “Unfortunately, yes,” said Kingsley.
    “What the hell was she doing hanging out with the Dance girl?” Fisher said.
    “Several reasons,” said Kingsley. “Among them, I suspect Samantha Carruthers had doubts about the identity of her sister’s murderer. I think it was something subconscious, but I believe it was there.”
    “How did they get together?” asked Fisher.
    “They were in the same college class,” said Kingsley. “Stacy had a band. Samantha played the guitar and wanted to join the band.”
    “How did you find out?” he said.
    “I was retracing Stacy Dance’s last days. I spoke with her band members. Samantha Carruthers was there, but she was introduced to me only as the drummer’s cousin, visiting from out of town. I went to meet with the Carruthers family, as Stacy had, and Samantha showed up at home—literally walked in through the front door—while I was interviewing Mrs. Carruthers. ‘Hi, Mom. Hi, dear.’ Imagine my surprise.”
    “Damn, imagine my surprise,” said Fisher. “Why didn’t she tell me when I interviewed her? Why the fake name?”
    “She said she didn’t want her parents to know. You can imagine what their reaction would be. I didn’t give her away. I knew something must be up. She met with Diane and me later and spilled the beans. Samantha’s moved out now. I’m not sure where, but the drummer probably knows. I told her you would be finding out. Your showing up won’t be a surprise to her, but it will be to her parents. Like I said, I hadn’t wanted to turn her world upside down. I still don’t.”
    Kingsley didn’t mention the diary. It had more to do with the Carruthers murder, and the Gainesville visitors wouldn’t have wanted to revisit that. If the diary came up later, he told Diane, he would give it to them. Diane thought they were about ready to go. Then Stark spoke up.
    “What about that newspaper article?” said Stark. “That has been very uncomfortable for us, and unfair.”
    Diane was hoping they wouldn’t mention it.
    “I sympathize,” Diane said. “As I am director of the museum, newspaper articles have been the bane of my existence lately. We didn’t have anything to do with the article.”
    By we , Diane meant Kingsley and herself. They would assume, however, she also meant Webber. If Lynn wanted to come clean, fine, but Diane doubted she would. Too much to lose.
    Stark nodded. “It had a lot of inaccuracies,” she said.
    “I agree,” said Diane.
    The meeting broke up and Diane called Frank and asked if he felt like having a guest. She knew he had been busy all day repairing the house. She wished she had been there with him.
    “Sure. I’ll order Mexican,” he said. “And I have an idea about the names I couldn’t decipher.”

Chapter 48
    Diane cleared the table after the dinner of enchiladas, Spanish rice, and chiles rellenos Frank had ordered, and brought out fresh brewed raspberry-chocolate coffee. Frank was laying out the decoded diary pages on the table and explaining to Kingsley what they meant.
    “You’ve impressed me,” said Kingsley. “You talk like this was easy.”
    “It was fairly easy,” said Frank. “Just a little time-consuming. Fortunately, there’s not much to do in a motel room.”
    “That’s right, you just got back from, where was it,