Dust to Dust

her house. She said it needs to be on If Walls Could Talk , you know, that home-and-garden show about old houses.”
    “I’m sure Dr. Fallon is right,” said Mark. “The detective has to understand her world before he can understand what happened to her. When he sees she’s not a woman who brings enemies around her, he’ll look outside her circle.” His wife smiled at him.
    Diane asked Jonas, “Did you ask Paloma what her mother’s words that night might have meant?”
    Jonas looked blankly at Diane for a moment. “Oh, I clean forgot. There’s just so much going on,” he said.
    “What?” asked Paloma.
    “When I found . . . While we were waiting for the ambulance, Marcella was conscious for a few moments. She said what sounded like ‘tiger after all loose moment.’ I don’t know if I heard it right. Her voice was faint,” said Jonas. “We couldn’t make anything out of it.”
    “She said, ‘Tiger after all. Lewis moment,’ ” said Paloma, nodding her head. She looked over at her husband, who agreed. “If she could make sense right after she was hurt, then there’s a chance she’ll not be permanently damaged. Don’t you think?” She gazed at all of them, as if looking for agreement.
    Mark nodded. “I think you’re right.” He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “That’s hopeful.”
    Diane and Jonas glanced at each other, shrugged slightly, and focused back on Paloma.
    “That makes sense to you?” asked Jonas.
    “Lewis Blaire is one of her colleagues at Arizona. He’s a cognitive archaeologist. His work is about—”
    “Perception,” said Jonas, nodding.
    “He has the idea we perceive things subconsciously before we do consciously, and that ability gave early man an edge to deal with fast predators like the saber-toothed tiger,” said Paloma.
    Diane cocked an eyebrow and looked at Jonas.
    “The idea is that you perceive a predator subconsciously and act instinctively before it has a chance to jump you. Kind of an early-warning system.” Jonas wiggled his hand. “I have my doubts, but the idea is supported by some brain-function research. I just don’t think it could help you outrun a sabertooth.”
    “Mother liked the concept because it happened to her,” said Paloma. “She was surface collecting in an overgrown field—I was with her—and suddenly out of the blue, she jumped way to the side and almost knocked me down. She scared me. I asked her what was wrong, why had she done that, and she said she didn’t know. Well, we looked down and saw there was a rattlesnake lying in the grass, and if she had taken another step forward, she would have stepped on it. If you believe Lewis’ concept, her subconscious perception had caused an instinctive involuntary physical reaction that saved her from the snake before she could even think about it. She calls those kind of phenomena ‘Lewis moments.’ ”
    “Interesting,” said Diane. “That means she probably had one of those moments before she was attacked.”
    Paloma nodded. “But the sabertooth got her anyway.”
    “So what does this mean, really?” asked Diane.“Marcella saw or heard something that didn’t register, but caused her to react in some way and—what?”
    They were silent for a minute, looking at each other in turn. Jonas spoke first.
    “I think that’s exactly what happened. She subconsciously detected some threat and reacted in some way, but no threat appeared immediately. That’s what she meant by ‘tiger after all.’ There was a sabertooth in the bushes after all and it attacked her.”

Chapter 13
    Diane suggested they all go to the museum restaurant for lunch. As they stepped into the elevator just outside Jonas’ office, Paloma wrapped her sweater tight around her and gave a little shiver. She looked fragile and frightened and very young. Mark put an arm around her shoulders.
    “I had to buy a sweater when I got here,” she told Diane. “I’m not used to it being so chilly this time of year.”
    “It’s a little colder than normal here,” said Diane. But what she thought was how vulnerable the young couple looked. He in his loafers and jeans and blue T-shirt, and she in her sandals and jeans and peasant blouse, they were innocents.
    “I’ve been trying not to turn my heat on at night,” said Jonas, “but in a few days, I’m going to have to give in.”
    The restaurant had a medieval atmosphere with its vaulted ceilings and rough-hewn wood tables. It was cozy, especially