One Grave Less

commented, studying his notes and tapping them with a pen.
    Diane was familiar with Gregory’s notation for the most part, but he frequently used a shorthand description of just one or two letters whose meaning was not obvious. Next to hers, David’s, and Gregory’s names he had put the letters F and A . By Simone Brooks, he had written a W . Her fiancé, Oliver Hill, had a line through his name and the letters I and M.
    Gregory had listed all of the people who worked for World Accord International. He had also listed the people who ran the mission—Father Joseph and his staff—along with some of the semiregular visitors.
    “What are the letters?” asked Diane. She pointed to the one by her and David’s names.
    “I’m labeling several variables. Neither David nor I have turned up any other member of the team who were the object of rumors. I don’t know about Simone. I’m hoping your Mr. Garnett will find out something from the brother.” He sighed. “I’ve been trying to find a difference between the three of us and the others who weren’t targeted.”
    “And?” asked Diane.
    “Nothing clear—but interesting, nonetheless. Among all the members of the team, only we three remained close friends after South America. I’ve called the others a couple of times a year. You know, to check up on them. But I can’t say I’ve stayed friends with any of the team except you and David. Martine Leveque asked me not to call anymore; she wanted to forget that part of her life.”
    Diane winced and Gregory smiled.
    “I didn’t take it personally. Anyway, Martine lived outside Paris the last we spoke. David hasn’t been able to get in touch with her.”
    “I don’t imagine she wants to hear from him either,” said Diane.
    Martine had been an interviewer, along with Simone. They often worked together with Steven and sometimes David. She, like all of them, was traumatized by what they found at the mission that day.
    “What about Steven Mays?” asked Diane.
    “He lives in Washington. I helped him get on at your Diplomatic Corps. I have a call in to him. Hopefully, he’ll call back soon. In the meantime, I spoke with a contact at your State Department. They know of no rumors flying around Steven.”
    “And Hannah?”
    Diane glanced down at the notebook. Hannah Payne had been their photographer. She meticulously documented the evidence they uncovered, the mass graves, the torture rooms. She had her camera, as she always did, when they returned to the mission. She went from body to body taking photographs, dispassionately recording every atrocity. When she finished, she started over, as if crawling into the camera would insulate her from the horror. David, Gregory, Steven, and several of their excavators armed themselves and searched the mission. David climbed to the top and looked out over the area to see if the perpetrators who had committed the horror were readying for another attack. And she had gone in search of Ariel. Simone wept over her fiancé. Hannah had caught it all on her camera.
    Diane shook her head to push back the memories that rose like bile in her throat.
    “Hannah freelances for several news sources,” said Gregory. “She’s traveling at the moment. I believe she prefers not to hear from me, though she wasn’t as blunt as Martine.” He tapped his pen on the page. “I’ve been able to find many of the other team members—Maxwell, Ellis, Sharon, and several of the excavators. None have had any problems like ours. It looks as if it is just the three of us.”
    “What do all your initials mean?” asked Diane again.
    “Oh, just observations. You and David are friends and adept— F and A . Simone is wounded, hence the W . Even before the death of her fiancé, she had a wounded air about her. I think that is why she was able to relate to witnesses so well. Oliver, her fiancé, was idealistic and meticulous. Hannah was armored— AR . She used her camera as a shield against the horrors of the world and against getting close to anyone. Steven was ambitious and sharp, that’s the AB and the S . Martine was afraid and aloof. I had a lot of A s to contend with in my variables.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if any of this will help, but it reminds me of the people we knew and what they were like. I was wondering if Simone would have confided in any of them. She and Martine were good friends—at least as friendly as Martine got.”
    Diane started to speak when she heard the