The Night Killer

But there weren’t enough points of identity to be positive. There were no others.”
    “The fiber you found in the woods is from fleece,” said Izzy. “It’s like the hoodie Bruce Gregory was wearing.”
    “So, where are we?” said Diane. She shifted in her seat, stretching her muscles.
    “Not much further along, if you ask me,” said Izzy. “But it’s not been a day yet.”
    “You’re doing good work, all of you,” said Diane.
    “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment,” said Izzy.
    “Yes, you were,” said Neva, punching him in the arm.
    “Okay, I was,” he said, grinning.
    Before she got up to go, Diane told them about the call from Agent Mathews of the GBI.
    “You mean they arrested Conrad on the basis of his name being on the wall of the cave?” said Izzy. “The guy’s an asshole, but that’s kind of strange.”
    “They also arrested him for what he did to me,” said Diane, with a little more sting in her voice than she intended. “Mathews said they have circumstantial evidence on the other murders. I don’t know the details. But what he said when they arrested him was really strange.” Diane related the odd statement that was not exactly a confession.
    “I think the guy’s going nuts,” said Neva. “You think he did all those murders?”
    “I don’t know,” said Diane. “Look, I’m going to sleep in a couple of hours tomorrow.”
    “A couple of hours?” said Izzy. “Somebody needs to tell you how to sleep in. Why don’t you take the day off?”
    David and Neva agreed.
    “There’s a lot to do,” said Diane. “The museum has a fund-raiser in Atlanta coming up at the end of the month. I have several new exhibit designs I need to look at. The board wants me to find out how much it would cost to convert the attic into environmentally controlled storage spaces.”
    “For what?” asked David. “The attic has to be a huge space.”
    “It is. It’s another full floor. I’m not sure what they have in mind. I suspect some members want to increase our holdings to the point that we can change out exhibits more often,” she said. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Diane rose and complimented them all again. She left by way of the museum and walked through to the east entrance, where her vehicle was parked.
    Outside, she was about to get in her SUV when a car drove up beside her. The occupants were the woman in blue and her husband from the First Baptist Church in Rendell County—Maud and Earl, she thought their names were. Earl got out first, walked around their car and opened the door for Maud.

Chapter 52
    What now? Diane subconsciously rubbed her aching lower back and wiggled her aching feet in her high heels.
    “I was just leaving,” she said as they approached her.
    They were well dressed, the two of them. Maud—whatever her last name was, Diane didn’t remember—was dressed in a red-gold silk blouse and cream linen slacks. Earl was in a tan linen suit. Maud’s makeup looked fresh, and she had a sparkly golden sheen to her blush that oddly matched her blouse. They looked like they were about to go out on the town. Diane wondered what they were doing here.
    “This won’t take long,” said Earl.
    For an instant, Diane wondered if he was going to shoot her right here in the parking lot—and they had dressed up to look good in their mug shots.
    “Very well,” said Diane. “What do you want?”
    They said nothing, just stood there looking at each other nervously. Well, hell , thought Diane, are they trying to work up the nerve to shoot me after all?
    “How can I help you?” said Diane.
    “This thing,” said Earl, “this thing about our sheriff. We want you to tell us it is a lie.”
    “Can you be more specific than ‘thing’?” said Diane. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but I don’t know exactly what thing you are referring to.”
    “People are saying he put you in a cell with a bunch of men who tried to . . . to violate you,” said Maud.
    “If by ‘bunch’ you mean three drunken men, then yes, it is true. Why would you want me to say it is not?”
    “It can’t be true,” she said. “Leland wouldn’t do that. He respects women.”
    “It is true. And it was terrifying. And I am very angry,” said Diane. “In my previous position, before I came back to Rosewood, it was my job to investigate petty dictators in third-world countries who used the same tactic to intimidate the population into submission. Such horrors are not