The Night Killer

into them.”
    “How many bodies were there?” asked Diane.
    “Counting the one in the tree, eleven,” he said. “We suspect there may be more from the time before she hooked up with Slick. We’re looking into it.”
    “That’s a lot of Social Security and pension checks,” Diane said. “Looks like she could have lived better than she did. I guess you never know why some people do what they do. Thanks for bringing me up-to-date.”
    “Sure. Don’t worry about that guy and his leg. If he hadn’t tried to attack you, all he’d have right now is a hangover.”
    “Let me know if there’s anything you need from me or the lab here,” said Diane. “I assume Lynn Webber called you about the bodies—or she will when she finishes.”
    “I’ve spoken with her,” he said. “Things are moving well. We’re going to get a strong case.”
    When she hung up, she focused on Liam again. “So you’re going tonight to get the Social Security number?”
    He nodded. “I’ll go up and speak with your archivist-genealogist first.” He rose from the chair. “Do I understand that they have arrested Conrad?” he asked.
    “Yes,” said Diane. “They think he committed the murders.”
    “But you don’t?” he said.
    “I didn’t say that,” Diane said.
    “Your face.” He waved a hand in front of his own. “It looks like you don’t believe it.”
    “I don’t disbelieve it. I suppose it’s too anticlimactic,” she said.
    “I would think you’d welcome something that isn’t dramatic,” he said.
    “That would be too good to be true,” said Diane, smiling.
    Liam went out the door and Diane settled into answering her correspondence.
    It was late when she answered the last e-mail—a museum in another state wanting to know if she would loan out the Egyptian exhibit. Diane had to explain to them that she had nothing to replace it with, that RiverTrail was a small museum and they displayed virtually all their holdings.
    Andie was already gone. She had stuck her head in earlier and said she was taking Liam up to Archives and maybe to have a quick bite at the restaurant. Diane was glad to see her happy, and was glad to see that Liam turned out not to be a jerk after all.
    Frank had called to say he was going to be late. It hadn’t surprised her. There was a lot going on in the case and it was going to consume time, especially if they were trying to find out what Tammy was doing before she met Slick.
    Diane walked to the crime lab for a meeting with David and her forensic team before she left for home. She was feeling the effects of the last few days deep in her muscles and she thought she would sleep in a couple of hours tomorrow, so she needed to speak with them tonight.
    On the way she visited the geology exhibit and had a look at the pyrite collection. They had a pyrite sphere and several pyrite nodules. The sphere looked like it could have been a very fanciful marble. The pyrite collection also contained pyrite suns, flat disks of pyrite with rays radiating from the center; chalcopyrite, copper with the iron sulfide; a fossil pyrite ammonite, an ancient sea animal mineralized by pyrite; pyrite cubes; pyrite inclusions in quartz; plus many other combinations. It was an impressive and beautiful collection. She could see how it could be mistaken for gold. Something this beautiful looked as if it had to be valuable. One part of the exhibit showed pyrite nodules next to gold octahedral nuggets. There was a similarity.
    Diane spent about thirty minutes at the conference table in the crime lab with David, Neva, and Izzy going over the cases that were under way. When they finished David told her what they knew so far about the bodies in the cave.
    “It looks like they died between three and four weeks ago. The Spearman brothers believe they can tighten up the time line,” said David. “The blood you collected at the creek bank is consistent with the blood types of the victims. Jin will have the DNA info tomorrow.”
    Diane nodded at David. Between three and four weeks , she thought. They had already been dead two or three weeks when Liam was hired to find them. “Did you find any usable prints?” she asked.
    “The fingerprints on the gold pan were mostly too obliterated to read,” said Neva. “But I did get half a print that was similar to Bruce Gregory’s left thumbprint. There were partial fingerprints on the shiny surfaces of the pyrite that could be a match to Bruce Gregory and Larken MacAlister.