The Night Killer Part 17

"Tammy could make a good argument that she meant well," said Diane.

"Maybe, and maybe not," said Ben, raising a hand over his notes and pointing a finger as if at Tammy herself. "Mrs. Fuller said that at night Tammy brought her hot chocolate and it made her sleep well," said Ben. "Tammy told her it was the milk. I'm wondering what was in the chocolate."

"Oh, my," said Diane.

"That's not all," said Frank. "Every morning she gave her a health drink. Mrs. Fuller said it was a fiber drink-to keep her digestion healthy. She'd had them before, but the taste was a little different from what she was used to and she felt jittery during the day. I think Tammy gave her an over-the-counter fiber drink and spiked it with an energy drink. They would have similar citrus tastes. The energy drink would act to offset the feelings of weakness that would result from the deficient calorie intake. But with Mrs. Fuller's high blood pressure, it would be dangerous."

"For someone with precarious health, you don't have to shoot them to kill them," said Ben. "There're a lot of things you can buy at the grocery store that'll do the job just fine. Take a little longer, but harder to detect. It would look like natural causes."

"What kind of impact did it have on her health?" said Diane.

"Not good. Like I said, we interviewed her in the hospital. Her blood pressure was through the roof and she was malnourished."

"Is she going to be all right?" Diane asked.

"The doctors think so. She's elderly and, like I said, her health is precarious. But she has genuine help now."

"What happened the night of the storm?" asked Diane.

"She hadn't drunk her cocoa," said Ben. "She said she was feeling nauseated that day and the milk made it worse, so she was awake. She said the storm was frightening and the roof started to leak in her room. She heard the tree fall and said Slick rushed out to take a look. After that, she told us, things got hectic around there. She heard Tammy and Slick rus.h.i.+ng around, arguing with each other. Slick issuing orders about the dogs and for Tammy to do what she could about cleaning up the tree. He said he would come back and move the big logs. Mrs. Fuller heard him say something about Tammy needing to make sure she got all the pieces. Mrs. Fuller thought that meant the tree."

"We guess he meant the bones," said Frank.

"Mrs. Fuller said she finally got to sleep, but several hours later she heard voices outside. That was when you and Deputy Conrad got there," said Ben. "She went out on the porch to see what was going on and Tammy shooed her back inside."

"The next morning," said Frank, "they loaded her into the truck and told her they had to take her back, that a family emergency had come up."

"Mrs. Fuller protested, especially because, earlier in the week, Tammy had taken her to the bank to change her account and have her Social Security check direct-deposited to a joint account in both her and Tammy's names. Tammy had convinced her that what she was going to do was teach her how to budget her money so that she could afford an apartment and be independent. She told her that with the money she saved by living with them, she would have a nest egg before she knew it," said Ben.

"How did Tammy explain putting her own name on the account?" asked Diane.

"Tammy said it would make it easier for her to put a little money in Mrs. Fuller's savings account, help pay her bills, and get her medicine for her if Tammy's name was on the account too," said Ben. "And that's where we can get her."

"The morning they took Mrs. Fuller back to the shelter, Tammy refused to go by the bank to change the account back to the way it had been. She said she would do it later," said Frank. "Norma Fuller is worried about her money. She doesn't remember which bank they went to and she doesn't have the checkbook. And remember, she knew Tammy as Tracy Tanner. Mrs. Fuller doesn't know how to get in touch with Tammy. She doesn't really know where Tammy took her in the mountains. Tammy gave her the fict.i.tious name of some town she made up. She's afraid the shelter is going to put her on a ward in a nursing home. She is a very frightened woman."

"We spoke with a friend in the GBI and we think we have enough to cla.s.sify this as an Atlanta crime and require Sheriff Conrad to cooperate."

"Leland Conrad is going to hate that," said Diane.

"He can hate it all he wants," said Ben. "He is about to be forced to do his job."

They spent the remainder of the evening talking about a recent trip Frank and Ben had made to Nashville to find an embezzler who was stealing in order to fund his ambition to become a country music star. The two of them had Diane laughing so hard it hurt by the time Ben was ready to leave.

Tammy had been right about one thing: Laughter was good medicine. Diane was back to her centered sense of peace by the time she got in bed and cuddled up against Frank.

Diane spent all the next morning telling the police and Chief Garnett her harrowing tale of road rage. She didn't expect there was much of anything they could do. She just needed the report on record.

The patrolman who took her statement seemed to think it was probably a garden- variety maniac and that it wasn't personal. He opined that it was a long stretch of road with not a lot of traffic, and so it was a good play-ground for dragsters, and he would put the area under regular patrol so that it wouldn't happen again.

Diane thanked him and the chief and drove to the museum, parking her battered vehicle in the impound lot at the west end of the museum.

Earlier that morning she had collected paint samples where the truck had rear-ended and sideswiped her. She headed to the crime lab with the samples and checked them in. David and Izzy were busy, and she waved at them through the gla.s.s part.i.tions and locked the evidence in the safe.

Diane went to the restaurant to grab a quick lunch. She was standing near the front, near the bank of Internet computers, waiting for her takeout. Just as the waitress handed her boxed lunch to her, she heard a voice that drifted her way, and the sound went though her like an electric shock. A voice that was deep, smooth, with a slight nasal quality and not a hint of North Georgia tw.a.n.g to it. The voice of the mystery man in the woods the night of the storm. He was somewhere nearby in the restaurant.

Chapter 31

Diane's gaze swept the room in the same methodical manner she searched a crime scene. But it was another voice that led her to him, one she knew even better. It was the voice of Andie, her a.s.sistant. He was sitting with Andie, sans beard and rain gear. It was Andie's new boyfriend, the one she was falling for, head over heels.

The lighting in the restaurant, with its dark decor, was kept dim even at lunchtime. Diane stepped back into the shadows of one of the Gothic arches and watched. A waitress brought them more tea. She picked up the old gla.s.ses and put them on a tray. Diane didn't take her eyes off the tray, and when the waitress was within a few feet of her, Diane stopped her and, taking a napkin from her take-out bag, lifted the gla.s.s from the tray, holding it as near the bottom as she could with the clean napkin.

"An experiment," she said, and smiled at the waitress.

The waitress didn't seem to find it odd and just smiled as Diane took the gla.s.s. Diane quickly turned on her heel and walked from the restaurant to the bank of elevators. She used her key to take the private elevator to the third floor, where she walked to the crime lab. On the way she called Deven Jin, her director of the DNA lab.

"Jin, meet me in the crime lab immediately," she said when he answered.

"Sure, boss, is something-"

"Now," she said, and closed the phone.

Diane pocketed her phone, punched her code into the security keypad outside the entrance to the crime lab, and opened the door. There was no one in the lab. She was about to call David when the elevator doors opened and he entered, followed by Izzy. They were carrying their crime scene cases. She sat down at the meeting table while they stored their evidence bags and washed up, drumming her fingers on the table as she waited.

Her mind reeled with a combination of surprise, anger, and triumph at finding the stranger in the woods. He had helped her when she desperately needed help and she had felt grat.i.tude. But now it looked as if he was using Andie.

How? her mind asked. her mind asked.

She couldn't answer that, but his presence at the museum, easing himself into Andie's life, was too much of a coincidence. It had to have something to do with Diane herself.

What? I don't know, she answered herself.

She was afraid he was involved with the Barres' death-and he had Andie falling in love with him.

Jin came in through the museum side, followed by Scott and Hector. Diane wondered why they had tagged along. The DNA lab was a very busy lab. Then she remembered it was lunchtime and conceded that even her lab personnel had to eat.

"What's up, boss?" asked Jin.

"Hey, Diane," said David.

The two of them sat down opposite Diane and stared at her. Scott and Hector pulled up chairs nearby but away from the table.

"You look like you're ready to rip someone a new one," David said.

Diane c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. "Do I? I'll have to work on hiding my emotions," she said. "I want you to run the fingerprints on this gla.s.s. Use all methods at your disposal to identify them. It's your highest priority."

David looked startled; so did Jin. Diane didn't think Izzy was in the loop on David's access to databases. But Jin was. Some of David's resources were rarely used, because he wasn't supposed to have access to them. They were to be used in dire emergencies only.

"Okay," David said, stretching out the word.

Diane turned to Jin. "I want you to take the DNA from this gla.s.s and give me a photograph of what this man looks like," she said. She emphasized the word photograph photograph.

"Dr. Fallon, one can't get a photograph from an a.n.a.lysis of . . ."

Diane shot a look at Scott. She had learned to tell them apart without noticing what color s.h.i.+rts they had on-Hector, the older one, always wore a s.h.i.+rt with a color of higher wavelength than Scott. Of course, their names on their lab coats helped.

"She's speaking in hyperbole," said Hector.

"Oh," said Scott.

Diane looked back at Jin. "I want a complete genetic profile," she said. She encompa.s.sed both David and Jin with her gaze. "And I want it three days ago."

"Wow," said Jin. "Whose gla.s.s is this?"

"That is what you are going to tell me," she said, and stood up, still unconsciously drumming her fingers on the table. "I have to get back to the museum. Is everything running smoothly here?"

"Slick as can be," said David.

"Izzy, I left my SUV in the impound lot," she said.

"We saw it when we came in," he said. "Did you have an accident?"

"Not exactly," said Diane. "When you have time, I need you to have a look at the paint traces I collected. I locked them in the vault. I would also like you to check it from b.u.mper to b.u.mper and see if I missed anything that could be used to find the truck that hit me."

"A couple of things," said Izzy. "You know, you told these guys you wanted the information ASAP. And you asked me to do it when I can get to it. I'm feeling kind of left out of the drama here."

"What's the other thing?" said Diane.

"You said you didn't exactly have an accident, but your SUV says otherwise, and it looks like you're trying to identify a hit-and-run driver," he said.

"The damage was done on purpose," she said.

"Something's happened," said David.

"Yes, but I really don't want to talk about it right now. I'll tell you later." Diane thanked them and turned to go. After a few steps she turned back to Hector and Scott.

"Have you gotten a call yet from Dr. Webber?" she asked.

"Yes," they said together; then Scott deferred to Hector.

"She will be starting late this afternoon. We're going to join her. She said there will be four bodies and it will take a couple of days," he said.

Diane nodded. "Spence Barre must have gotten the Watsons' children to give permission. That's good," she said, more to herself than to them.

"How about we all have an early dinner in the restaurant," said David. "I'll have information for you then."

"Sure," she said, nodding. She gave them a small smile. "Thanks. I really do appreciate the work you do."

"We know," said David.

"It's always so exciting," said Scott.

"I'd like to be able to tone down the excitement," she said as she headed for the door.

Diane went back to her museum office, hoping Andie had brought her new beau to introduce him, and half dreading such a meeting. But Andie wasn't in the office when she got there. There was a note from her saying she was having a meeting with the exhibit designers. Diane called to make sure.

"Hi, Dr. Fallon," said Andie's voice, and Diane's heart stopped pumping so hard.

"How are you?" she said, and immediately knew she sounded rather stupid. "Did you have a good time yesterday?" she added.

"We had a great time," she said in a low voice, and Diane realized she was still in her meeting.

"Come by the office when you're finished," said Diane.

That must have sounded rather strange too. Of course Andie would come by the office when she finished. Diane sat down at her desk to get some work done, but her mind was too filled with the stranger and what he was up to. She had a mind to go find him. She could go to Security and take a look at the monitors to try to locate him in the museum.

No, she would speak with Andie first. Diane dreaded it. Andie probably wouldn't be receptive to any caution Diane might offer about him. In fact, she would see him as heroic. After all, he wasn't guilty of anything at the moment, except coming to Diane's aid.

She was still deep in thought when someone knocked on her door. It opened and Neva and Mike walked in carrying a flat package.

Chapter 32

Neva was another member of Diane's forensic team. She was sent to Diane from the Rosewood Police Department. A reluctant a.s.signment for the young policewoman at first, but one Neva had grown into. When Diane discovered that Neva possessed considerable artistic skills, Diane introduced her to forensic art and taught her how to reconstruct a face from a skull.

Mike Seger was the curator of the geology collection and had built one of the best rock and mineral reference collections in the country. Students from several large university geology departments in the region had begun using the museum's collection for research since he took over as curator. Mike also worked for a company that searched for and collected extremophiles, organisms that lived in the harshest environs on the planet. Mike and Neva were two of Diane's caving partners and she enjoyed seeing them become a couple.

Diane rushed around her desk and hugged the two of them.

"I have missed you both," she said.