Dead Guilty Part 36

"Did he really accuse you?"

"He kept asking if maybe Raymond found them in Chris Edwards' clothes."

"Chris Edwards wasn't wearing any clothes," said Diane.

"Don't think I didn't tell him that. He suggested that they may have been hidden in his shorts. Now, I ask you. I would have noticed if Raymond found any thing in Chris Edwards' tighty whiteys. Then he asked me about the clothes on the hanging bodies. Well, I told him you were there for the first two, and there was nothing in Red's clothing."

Diane took Lynn to the second floor, and for the second time today she took the diamonds from the safe. She set them down on a table in the lab and opened the box and eyed Lynn closely.

"They don't look like diamonds."

"They're uncut," said Diane.

"They look large."

"They are."

"And these were in Raymond's things?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Raymond, what were you into?" she whispered.

Diane put the diamonds back in the safe and es corted Lynn to the lobby. By the time they got there, Lynn's anger had abated and she was all sugar again. Diane had about decided that the next flare-up, she wasn't going to coddle her anymore. As she opened the door for Lynn, Diane's cell rang.

Finally, she thought, as she looked at the display. Garnett had called back. she thought, as she looked at the display. Garnett had called back.

"John Doe is dead," he said, before she could tell him about the Hooten cousins. "It looks like someone killed him."

Chapter 41.

"What happened?" Diane asked Garnett when she arrived at the hospital.

They sat in the waiting room near the critical care unit. Sheriff Braden was twirling his hat in his hands, not saying much.

"Apparently, someone came in and slit his throat," said Garnett. "The nurse had just left to check on another patient. She remembers an orderly. It must have happened quickly. When she got back, he was bleeding out. They tried to save him, but he had lost too much blood. And what with his other injury, well, he didn't make it."

"This is strange."

"That's one word to describe it," said Garnett.

"Somebody is mighty desperate for something." "If we can identify the victims," said Braden, "I can close this d.a.m.n case. Are you any closer to finding out who they are?" he asked Garnett.

Garnett looked annoyed, and she guessed that he and Braden had had a disagreement. Cobber's Wood was the only one of the crime scenes in Braden's juris diction, and she got the idea he probably didn't care if Garnett solved his cases or not, even if they were all related.

"I may know who they are. I've been trying to call,"

said Diane.

This got Braden's attention.

"The sheriff and I were called back here as soon as we got back to our offices," said Garnett. "They made us turn off our cell phones inside the hospital, so we didn't get your call. You know who the victims were?" "Maybe. I told you about the discussion boards and lists Neva was checking on the Internet. She got a hit from a plastic surgeon in upstate New York. He sent photos of two of his patients, and I have to tell you, they look a lot like our victims."

"She get names?"

"Yes." Diane related the entire story she got from Neva. "When I couldn't get you on the phone, I called the numbers the doctor gave her for them. Justin Hooten's family wasn't home. Ashlyn Hooten's father brushed me off. I think that they've had some dealings with the law before."

If Braden or Garnett were angry at her initiative, neither showed it, so she pressed on. "I'd like to try again."

"Be my guest," said the sheriff. "The sooner this is out of my hair, the better." He rose and stalked off toward the restrooms.

"What's that about?" asked Diane.

"I was pretty hard on Lynn Webber. I was thinking that maybe the diamonds were on Chris Edwards'

person-hiding in his underwear, some place an in truder might not look. And then I thought, if not Ed wards' clothes, why not the hanging victims'? She seemed to take offense at my tone of voice. She told him about it. I tell you, the guy's hopeless." Diane was only half listening to what Garnett was saying. What had caught her eye was a poster for colon cancer screening.

"She was saying," continued Garnett, "that you were there when they removed Blue and Green's clothes and you took them with you, and Red's clothes were bagged immediately. It seemed to me like a way to connect up Braden's murders with mine." "And it was," said Diane, staring at the poster.

"There was something Raymond did by himself that wasn't in sight of either me or Lynn Webber." "What was that?"

"He cleaned the bones."

"What?"

"Before I do a thorough a.n.a.lysis of bones, they are cleaned by a process that dissolves all the flesh and cartilage. Raymond is the one who cleaned them.

When he strained the solution to capture any of the small bones that might be trapped in it, that's where he found the diamonds. I'll bet one of the victims had swallowed the diamonds, maybe to smuggle them, like they do cocaine."

"You know, that makes sense. Raymond had never been in trouble, even as a teenager. It bothered me that he would suddenly turn to something this big. But if he found them, he probably counted himself lucky- poor fellow."

"That would also explain why he was targeted.

Someone out there knew where the diamonds were hidden, and with a little asking around about what happens to bodies, could have figured out Raymond was the one who had them."

Diane felt more comfortable with this explanation of how Raymond Waller got the diamonds than she did with the idea of his being in league with Edwards and Mayberry. She turned it over in her mind as she drove back to the museum.

If Raymond happened upon diamonds, why not Chris Edwards and Steven Mayberry? They were out doing their timber cruises all over the woods for days.

From their explanation of what a timber cruise is, they walked over every inch of ground. What if they also had the misfortune of stumbling across more of the diamonds? But if she were right and Blue, Green and Red Doe had swallowed theirs, then where would the ones have come from that Edwards and Mayberry might have found?

Her head was beginning to ache. When she got back to the museum, she changed into the running clothes she kept in her museum office. If she was going caving on the weekend, she needed to start exercising again.

She hadn't done anything in a week.

"Andie, I'm going for a run on the nature trail. Go ahead and lock the offices when you leave. I have a key."

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

The nature trail made a tangled loop a little over half a mile long around the back of the museum. It was an exhibit in itself and Diane considered it an important part of a museum of natural history. It was a wooded trail, full of more species of trees than Diane could name. When the leaves turned in the fall, it was dazzling. In the spring and summer, it was the flowers and shrubs that s.h.i.+ned: rhododendrons, aza leas, bluet, violets, trilliums. She tried to remember the names as she pa.s.sed the plants. Late summer, the museum staff liked to pick blackberries that grew along the trail, and Diane was thinking about having a staff blackberry picnic in July. The crowning jewel of the nature trail was the swan pond in the center- a small, quiet lake that could have come from a fairy tale.

She never tired of running the nature trail and she always saw something she hadn't seen before. Nor mally, there were many people running in the evening, but it had been so hot that a lot of people headed for the treadmills in an air-conditioned gym. She was mainly alone, only occasionally spotting a runner through the trees.

She wanted to run five miles. That usually took her anywhere from thirty-five to forty minutes, depending on how leisurely she wanted to make it. She looked at her watch. It wasn't too late.

Today, she felt like running fast. She sprinted through the trail. Her heart beat fast. It felt good. She thought she heard the steady rhythm of footfalls be hind her. Another runner, Another runner, she thought. It sounded like she thought. It sounded like a runner. She barely heard it, but she felt the rhythm.

She speeded up her pace. The rhythm was still there.

She glanced back, but she'd just pa.s.sed a turn and the trail behind her was hidden by rhododendrons. Recent events had made her paranoid, and she was starting to become a little worried. She rounded an other turn, stopped and stepped behind a cl.u.s.ter of forsythia bushes and waited for several seconds. She heard the footfalls coming. She stepped back farther in the bushes, ready to run. Around the turn, pa.s.sing her, ran Mike Seger.

"Mike," she called.

He stopped and turned, breathing hard.

"Dr. Fallon. d.a.m.n. You are hard to catch up with.

You run fast for an old lady. Andie told me you came for a run. I run here every day too, but usually in the morning."

Diane walked back onto the trail and started run ning again, but at a slower pace. He caught up with her.

"So, is this your second run today?" she asked. "No, not today. I had to proctor a makeup exam at the university this morning. What are you doing out here by yourself anyway?"

"The guy who attacked me is dead."

"Oh."

They ran almost a half-mile loop without talking.

While she ran, Diane's mind kept turning over the diamonds-cut and uncut.

"Tell me," Diane asked, "where's the closest place to have a diamond cut?"

"I'd say New York. No. There's a guy who teaches at the tech school. They have courses in diamond cut ting. Just started last year, one of the very few places you can learn in the United States."

"What's his name?" asked Diane.

Mike thought a moment. "Joseph something. Jo seph Isaacson. I think he's from Belgium." "Thanks."

"In my car I have a map of the cave we are going to visit. I brought you a copy. I thought you might like to see it. It's just the easy section, but that's all we are doing this time. Maybe later we can map the wild sections. Like you said, that would be a good project for the club."

"Great. How far do you usually run?"

"I usually make about twenty laps."

"Then why are you breathing so hard?"

"I told you, trying to catch up with you. I have a friend opening up a new gym in town. It has a great rock-climbing wall. You might check it out." "I might do that. I've let my weight training go this week."

"I wouldn't worry. You still have some pretty hard deltoids." He reached over and touched her bare shoulder.

Diane ran faster.

Chapter 42.

While she waited for a decent time to call the Hooten household again, Diane sat at her desk, studying the map Mike had given her of the cave they were going to explore. It was not a particularly well-done map. In fact, it was amateurish. She should have suspected by his grin when he showed it to her. It had its own way of describing features, drops, slopes and escarp ments, instead of using any of the normal mapping conventions. But it also had its own charm. It was sort of like an old-fas.h.i.+oned treasure map. Diane had to fight the urge to copy it off on parchment paper. But it did have entrances and branches clearly labeled, and it showed tunnels and pa.s.sages in ways that were probably recognizable-with names such as Fish Scale Way, the Silo, Crawl-Belly Tunnel.

The section they were going to traverse included a half mile of easy cave. Neva was a novice, and Diane wanted it to be easy. But the easy part was still inter esting. It included several turns and several different elevations. The mapper had clearly marked the branches that led to the wild parts-Abandon All Hope and There Be Dragons pa.s.sages.

She looked at her watch-a little after 9:00 P.M. She picked up the phone to call, but instead of dialing the Hooten residence, she thought better of it and got the number for the Buffalo police. She called and intro duced herself and explained that she was trying to identify three bodies that she had reason to believe originally resided in Buffalo. The person on the other end listened patiently.

"Is there anyone there familiar with an Ashlyn or Justin Hooten?" she said finally.

"Hold the phone, ma'am."

She held the line for a full ten minutes. Finally, someone picked up. "Detective James LaSalle here. How can I help you?"

Detective LaSalle had a very friendly voice. Diane hoped that also meant he would be helpful. She ex plained again what she was after.

"I'm very familiar with little Ashlyn and Justin Hooten. Stereotypical ignored rich kids who get into trouble and their parents get them out, but other than that, don't pay any attention to them. They have the reputation of being bullies. You say you think they are dead?"

"I don't know. I'm trying to identify the remains of three individuals. Two of them fit their description. The bodies were badly decomposed and we did an artist's reconstruction of their faces. One had plastic surgery. That's how we got a lead."

"Nose job on Ashlyn, right?"

"Yes," said Diane.

"d.a.m.n, this doesn't look good."

Diane went on to describe the other characteristics they had discovered-tattoos, heart condition. She also described Red Doe, her tattoos, ballet, back prob lems and the fact she was probably half Asian. "I realize I'm grabbing at straws here," she said. "No, I don't think you are. They have a friend.

Cathy Chu. She wore a back brace for a while. And you say the parents don't know they're missing. That's not surprising."