Dust to Dust

making policy, rather than merely expressing his opinion. He would have liked very much to be able to fire Diane, or at least to curtail her powers. Not being able to do either, he made an effort to be polite.
    “All right. I’ll tell him the police will be handling it. I’m sure that will be a comfort,” he said.
    “I’m sure it will. You said he is usually very sensible,” said Diane. “How well do you know him?” Diane thought it very odd that he would call with such a vehement request. She could see him asking Barclay to look into it, or to find out what was going on. But to request that she be fired? That was a little over-the-top. Had Wendy leaned hard on him for Marsha Carruthers’ sake?
    “Oh, we go back,” said Barclay in his best bank president’s voice. “He owns several businesses in Gainesville and Atlanta.” He said it as if that were Everett Walters’ measure of worth. She supposed that for Barclay it was.
    “Everett Business Supplies, Walter Ace Parcel Delivery, Night Couriers. His son is chief of oncology at the big hospital in Gainesville and is being looked at to run for a congressional seat. Has a grandson in law school. Good solid family. His father was the one who started the family business. Good tradition. Everett’s not given to histrionics—I wouldn’t have thought.”
    Apparently Walters’ call sounded a little over-the-top to Barclay too. That was interesting.
    “It’s unfortunate he bothered you with this,” said Diane. “I assure you, he has exaggerated to the point of absurdity. There is no reason to worry. I hope the rest of your evening is uneventful.”
    “Yes, ah, yours too. Terrible about the home invasion. Just terrible. Here in Rosewood you don’t expect that kind of thing. Well, good-bye, Diane.”
    Diane bid him good-bye and hung up the phone. She took the phone to its station and went back to the table.
    “What was that?” asked Frank.
    “Thomas Barclay, from the bank—a member of the museum board. Wendy Walters’ father-in-law is calling museum board members. Or rather, he called Thomas Barclay, at any rate, and asked him to fire me for harassing Marsha Carruthers and her family.”
    Kingsley looked at her with an expression of puzzlement. “You’re serious? He did that?”
    “That’s what he said.”
    “It sounds like the Carruthers are using their neighbors to put pressure on you to stop the investigation,” said Frank. “A little late for that.”
    Diane didn’t say anything. She was staring at the drawings.
    “Diane? Are you there?”
    It was Kingsley’s voice. But Diane didn’t say anything. She barely heard him, she was so interested in Ellie Rose’s doodles.

Chapter 49
    “Diane,” said Frank, “you thought of something. I can tell by the trance you’re in.”
    Diane didn’t answer. She walked over to one of the bookcases in the living room and pulled out a desk encyclopedia and flipped through the pages. She was coming to understand how Ellie Rose’s mind worked too. Diane put the encyclopedia back and pulled down a travel book, thumbed through it, and replaced it. She pulled out a geography book and looked through it. It had the picture she wanted. She grabbed a bookmark from the basketful Frank kept on the shelf and marked the page. She took the book to the table, sat down, and pulled the drawings over to her and studied them.
    “Did Ellie Rose ever truncate a name in her representation of it?” Diane asked Frank.
    “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “For example, if she were writing about me, might she use a drawing of dice, or rather one die, to represent the syllable Di , rather than symbolizing the whole word Diane ?”
    “Sure. The symbol she used for Atlanta was a sun with squiggly rays,” Frank said.
    “I don’t get it,” said Kingsley.
    “Hotlanta,” both Diane and Frank said together.
    “Oh, of course.” Kingsley grinned.
    “Okay,” said Diane, pointing to the drawing of the snake. She paused, trying to organize her thoughts. “We called this a snake because this top triangle looks kind of like the head of a snake, and the elongated, curved diamond shape below it looks like the body of a snake—and maybe she did that on purpose—making a symbol with a double meaning. But this drawing could also represent a tie,” said Diane.
    “A tie?” said Kingsley. “Like neck ornamentation?” he said, pulling at his own brown and tan striped tie.
    “It could,” said Frank.
    His eyes twinkled.