The Night Killer

it?”
    Diane closed the folders in front of her and gave Andie her attention.
    “Two days—yes, but it’s not too soon to fall in love with the possibility of being in love. I caught a glimpse of ... What is his name, by the way?”
    “William Dugal. He goes by Liam. You saw him. Isn’t he gorgeous?” Andie said, her auburn curls bobbing as she nodded her head.
    “From what I could see, definitely,” said Diane, smiling at her. “I was hoping to meet him, but I had to run over to the crime lab.”
    “I’m hoping he’ll be around awhile,” said Andie, unconsciously dipping her fingers into Diane’s desk fountain and letting the water run over them.
    “What does he do?” asked Diane. “You mentioned something about the military?”
    “He recently retired from the military and is thinking about going to school,” said Andie. “He’s been looking at different universities.”
    “Retired?” said Diane.
    “Yeah, he’s kind of older than I am—by about twelve years,” she said, making the kind of face that Diane knew meant she was afraid Diane was going to disapprove.
    “He certainly looks a lot younger,” said Diane. “Obviously keeps in shape.”
    “He definitely does that.” Andie grinned.
    “Did you say he is interested in museums?”
    Andie nodded. “I gave him one of our booklets on museology. He likes the traveling part especially. I think he’d enjoy acquiring pieces for a museum. He’s particularly interested in geology and archaeology. I thought I’d introduce him to Mike and Jonas when they get back. He really enjoyed the exhibits in their departments. He was impressed with Mike’s organized approach, and thought our mummy was cool, but wanted to see more Native American artifacts. I told him we had a collection of points donated to us that were very striking. I didn’t talk about the Barres.” Andie’s face grew solemn. “That didn’t seem to be appropriate.”
    She paused and, as if just realizing she had a hand in Diane’s fountain, she snatched it away. Diane handed her a tissue to dry her fingers.
    “Anyway,” Andie continued, “we’re going to have dinner and a movie tomorrow evening in Atlanta. And I’m talking a lot, aren’t I? I hope I don’t do that with him.”
    “I’m glad you’re having a good time,” said Diane.
    Andie bobbed her head up and down again. “Me too. It’s so nice to have someone who likes to listen to me go on about the museum. Speaking of the museum, I was wondering if I could have tomorrow off. I know I didn’t put in ahead of time, but . . .”
    “Sure, just have someone cover for you here,” said Diane.
    “Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Oh, by the way, the first of the T-shirts arrived today. They are really cool. Very detailed and sparkly.”
    “Which ones arrived?” asked Diane.
    “ ‘Geology Rocks,’ ‘Archaeology Is a Thing of the Past,’ ‘Seashells by the Seashore,’ and the Vitruvian Man ,” said Andie.
    Diane smiled. She was particularly interested in seeing Vitruvian Man . That was the design she had picked out for the primate department. Diane had asked every department to submit designs for T-shirts for the docents to wear and to sell in the museum shop. Her staff was very big on T-shirts and jumped into the project with such enthusiasm she thought that overnight they had become couturiers.
    “I hope the dinosaur shirts arrive soon,” said Andie. “I think they are going to be really popular. The designs are very dramatic.” She stood up abruptly. “I’d better get back to work.” She started to leave, but hesitated. “I appreciate the time off on short notice; really, I do. Thanks.” She darted out of the office before Diane could say anything.
    Diane finished reviewing the ideas for the ocean exhibit that was to combine collections from several of the museum’s departments. She wrote up her comments on the computer and sent them to the planners.
    She sat at her desk a moment before summoning up the strength to go to the crime lab and look at the newest crime scene photos. She told Andie she was crossing over to her other job and walked to the Dark Side, as her staff liked to call the section that housed the crime lab and her osteology lab. She went to her vault to view the photographs, cocooned in her own secure space.
    David had already entered the photographic information into the crime scene reconstruction program. She knew he would do it quickly. She looked at the