One Grave Less

all? What if the real trigger was the announcement of your upcoming nuptials, Diane? I saw it in the New York Times . I imagine she did too.”
    Diane’s eyebrows shot up. New York Times ? Vanessa put her engagement in the New York Times ? Why? Maybe she was garnering some publicity for the museum. But still . . . However, Diane didn’t say anything to interrupt the flow of Steven’s ideas.
    “She admired Diane to the point that she idolized her,” said Steven. “But her greatest tragedy was the death of her fiancé, Oliver—the man she should now be married to. Sometimes fierce loyalty can turn into jealousy. Simone was fragile after the massacre—even before. You know that. She was good at her job, but she was vulnerable.”
    David frowned. Gregory looked impassive, but Diane knew he didn’t like where this was going. No more than she did. Frank simply looked interested. She wondered what his take on all of this was. He would be more objective—something Diane was having a hard time being at the moment.
    If Steven sensed anything from them, he didn’t show it.
    “The rumor about you, Diane, may have been generated out of anger that you were getting the life she had hoped for and should have had.”
    “What about Gregory? You? David?” said Diane. There was a sharper edge to her voice than she meant.
    “Fallout. If you were involved in drug smuggling, then chances are, we were too—close-knit group, peas in a pod sort of thing. In my case, I can see the DEA thinking they might make a high-profile arrest if it were true. What’s my career compared to theirs? Politics is a dog-eat-dog world.”
    “My slander wasn’t drugs,” said Gregory. “Apparently I was too stupid to enrich myself with drug money. I was consorting with prostitutes.”
    Steven shrugged. “Aren’t all politicians accused at one time or another of consorting with prostitutes?”
    Gregory gave him a wry smile.
    “What about the mystery coworker who called Simone’s mother?” asked David. Diane could hear the understated edge to his voice.
    “Probably was a coworker, hoping to cash in on her misfortune,” said Steven. “Developing a rapport with Simone’s parents. Next call, he’ll say he found out Simone was involved, after all, and he’ll have to tell the police. ‘No? Don’t tell? Really? You’ll give me money? How much?’ It happens all the time.”
    Diane took a big swallow of hot coffee. It burned her throat all the way down to her stomach. “You really think Simone would do this to me, to us?” Diane said. “You can believe she would do that?”
    “When the alternative is to believe that one of us orchestrated the slaughter of our friends and family? Damn straight, I can. And so can you,” he said.
    Diane pondered that for a moment. “It’s not elegant,” she said.
    “What the heck does that mean?” said Steven.
    “Too many coincidences,” said Diane. “Too many things happening to all of us from different sources. It’s simpler if one person is doing this to cover up something they did in South America. One person spreading the rumors, the same person controlling information to the Brooks family, the same person after Simone in the museum.”
    “Not everything follows the law of parsimony, Diane. Sometimes things are just complicated,” said Steven.
    They were all quiet for several moments. It was Steven who spoke first, spreading his fingers wide on the table in front of him.
    “Look, guys, you know my strong suit is playing the devil’s advocate. I’m not saying I like this explanation, or even believe it. David asked for an alternative theory. This is one—and a viable one. I believe the massacre was all Ivan Santos from beginning to end. Diane, you showed the world that he was a liar about the mass graves. He hated you for that. He hated all of us, but he particularly focused his hate on you. There may be another explanation for what’s happening to us. It may not be Simone. It may be something else we don’t even know about yet. She may have come here to ask your opinion about something related to her job. Didn’t you say she had a human bone? Who would she take that to, but you? Maybe the fallout on us is for the same reason—distraction—but maybe it’s from some completely different case she was working on. I’m just saying, it is going to take a lot to get me to believe that one of us was responsible for the slaughter in South America.”
    He paused. They were quiet. Diane