Dead Hunt Part 13

Like Diane, the marshals didn't gesture with their hands as they spoke. Merrick had his fingers laced together in front of him. Drew had his arms folded.

He sat back comfortably in the chair. Merrick leaned forward slightly. Diane's hands were laced together in front of her also. They looked each other straight in the eye as they spoke. The whole thing reminded her of her visit with Clymene-all trying not to give anything away.

"Rivers wanted to know what the evidence was that convicted Clymene. I went through it with him,"

said Diane.

"And why did he want that information?" asked Merrick.

"He didn't say," said Diane. "But Clymene had been a model prisoner and very helpful to the other inmates, according to Rivers. He had heard from her and perhaps from other prisoners that the evidence against her was not very good. I believe he had begun to doubt her guilt. But I don't know that for sure." "Do you think he would have helped her escape?"

asked Drew.

"I don't know. I have to tell you, though, Clymene is very gifted. I daresay she could make you like her,"

said Diane.

The two deputy marshals looked mildly startled and greatly skeptical. From the smirks on their faces, Diane knew they thought she greatly overrated the powers of Clymene O'Riley. Diane smiled back at them. "And how about you?" asked Merrick. "Do you like her?"

"I don't dislike her. It would be a stretch to say that I like her," said Diane. "She is, after all, a calculating, cold-blooded murderer."

"So, do you think she could have made Rivers help her escape?" said Merrick.

"I don't know. She's not a wizard. She can't make people do things they don't want to do. She can make them predisposed to believe her," said Diane. "How does she do that?" asked Drew, frowning now like he seriously wanted to know the source of her power.

"You'll have to ask FBI agent Kingsley. He would know more about the psychology involved. He says she's a natural profiler. She has an uncanny ability to size people up," said Diane.

"Why didn't you call me after your visit with her, as I requested?" asked DA Riddmann. Diane could see the marshals were annoyed at the interruption. Diane glanced at Riddmann. She could also see he was clearly angry with her. "Agent Kingsley said he was going to call you," she said.

"He didn't," said Riddmann.

"Then something must have come up," said Diane.

"I'm sure he will."

"Did Clymene perhaps get to you?" asked Riddmann.

"No," said Diane.

"Maybe-" he began, but Merrick cut in. "I understand you had a bit of trouble early this morning?" he said.

Riddmann started to open his mouth, but Merrick cut him a harsh look. Clearly the marshals weren't letting their jurisdiction go just yet. Probably because they didn't have a body. Probably wondering where I Probably wondering where I hid it, Diane decided.

"Yes, I did," said Diane.

"Would you go over it with us?" asked Merrick. Diane looked surprised only because it would have looked suspicious if she hadn't.

"You think what happened to me has something to do with Clymene?" she asked.

"Just tell us about it," said Drew.

Diane again repeated the incident of awaking in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of knocking at her door and slipping in the blood.

"Tell me," said Riddmann, glaring over at the marshals. "How much blood is in the human body? You would know that, being a forensic anthropologist, right?"

"We each have about ten pints," said Diane. "And how much can you lose and still live?" DA Riddmann asked.

"Less than three and a half pints. Any more than that and you are dead," said Diane.

"How much blood would you say was on your floor?" Riddmann asked, leaning forward. From the glitter in his eyes, Diane could see he was warming to the way he was building up his argument.

"I would say four pints or more," said Diane not taking her eyes off his.

"Can you distinguish, say, blood from a blood bank from fresh blood?" he asked.

"Yes. An anticoagulant preservative is added to stored blood," said Diane. "Among other things." "Okay, now . . . " He sat up in his chair and straightened his tie.

Going in for the kill, thought Diane. What she didn't understand was why. She cast a glance at Garnett while Riddmann's attention was averted to his tie. Garnett was staring at her intently. She knew Garnett would be on her side-at least she thought she did. She did know that Garnett and Riddmann didn't always see eye to eye. In a flash it dawned on her.

Councilman Albin Adler.

Riddmann was a friend and political crony of Adler.

When Adler's mental and physical health forced him to leave politics amid one of Rosewood's worst catastrophes-an explosion that killed more than thirty students-it left a vacuum his political opponents eagerly filled. Diane knew Adler's friends and family believed she had misdirected paramedics, causing Adler to be left in subfreezing temperatures overnight, resulting in severe harm to him. They were wrong. It was not her fault. But they still blamed her. And there was one thing about Adler's gang of friends. They were as vindictive as h.e.l.l.

Chapter 22.

"Can I get any of you something to drink?" said Diane. She wanted to add, while the DA is straightening his tie while the DA is straightening his tie, but didn't. Tie straightening was Riddmann's tell. Diane didn't think he knew it. "I have a refrigerator in my osteology office."

There was a round of "no" from the marshals and Garnett-just enough time to interrupt Riddmann's flow. He glared at her. Diane sat looking at him innocently. He stumbled for words for several moments before continuing.

"What if I told you the blood in your apartment was fresh and belonged to one person," he said.

"I would say that person is most likely dead," said Diane.

"What if I said the blood trail leads from your apartment to your car and that a knife from your apartment was found in the trunk along with more of the same blood that was in your apartment?" said Riddmann.

"I would be very surprised," said Diane. "Is that what you are saying?"

He didn't answer. Diane didn't think he would. She was starting to resent being treated like a perp. She would stop the whole thing, but Riddmann would probably make Garnett drag her b.u.t.t downtown.

"And what if I told you the blood belonged to Clymene O'Riley?" said Riddman.

Diane didn't say anything and again feigned astonishment. "Does it? Are you saying that Clymene was in my home?"

"Are you sticking to your story that you slept through a ma.s.sacre going on in your apartment?" said Riddmann.

Apparently all of my neighbors did too, she thought. This is where he wanted to entice her to start a cascade of confessions: Maybe I heard something, but didn't get out of bed; yes, I got out of bed but when I saw someone in my apartment I hid; well, maybe I did confront them but I didn't kill them-it was someone else; well, maybe they attacked me and I had to defend myself. And last: well, there I was ankle deep in blood and a body in the living room-what was I to do but dump it? she thought. This is where he wanted to entice her to start a cascade of confessions: Maybe I heard something, but didn't get out of bed; yes, I got out of bed but when I saw someone in my apartment I hid; well, maybe I did confront them but I didn't kill them-it was someone else; well, maybe they attacked me and I had to defend myself. And last: well, there I was ankle deep in blood and a body in the living room-what was I to do but dump it?

But there was nothing to confess. The fact was, she did sleep through it. And Riddmann knew she did. So what was this about? Comeuppance for Adler?

"Of course I'm sticking by my account," said Diane. "It's the truth."

"Maybe you just don't remember," said Riddmann.

"What would be the mechanism that would cause sudden amnesia in me?" said Diane.

"People do have experiences they don't remember later . . . for any number of reasons," said Riddmann.

"It would be unprecedented in me," said Diane. "Let's look for horses and not zebras. Blood and urine samples were taken from me at the hospital. Do you have the results?" asked Diane.

He glanced at his watch on his left wrist and back up at Diane. "You've been having a lot of stress at the museum. Then an escaped prisoner breaks into your home. Perhaps that caused some kind of mental break," he said.

The marshals s.h.i.+fted in their seats. Diane didn't think they were happy with Riddmann's questions. Maybe they sensed another agenda-or maybe they just wanted him to hurry and ask where she hid the body.

"No stress, just bad newspaper articles," said Diane. "If I blanked out every time there was stress at the museum, I would be in a constant state of sleepwalking. I didn't black out; I don't have amnesia. Do you have the tox screens back?"

"It's just a few more questions. What do you think happened?" he asked in a voice meant to tell her he was trying now to be friendly.

This was another of the trap questions. Get the suspect to come up with a scenario that will reveal that he, or she, has more information than he or she should. Diane rolled her eyes-and it set Riddmann off. He slammed his fist on the table.

"Look, we've been very accommodating to you. We could be having this conversation downtown with the press waiting outside. Anyone else, we would have. You've been getting a free ride because of your political connections, your status with the crime lab and with the museum. From your performance here and what I've been reading in the newspaper, you aren't doing a very good job in either."

Diane placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. She would have stood up, but under the circ.u.mstances Riddmann might think she was about to attack him. The mention of her political connections and the references to the newspaper articles about the museum tweaked her suspicions and she could feel her face flush. It was clear now what was going on. Vanessa Van Ross was politically opposite from Riddmann's mentor, Adler, and over the years had done considerable damage to Adler's and his friends' plans for the city. Vanessa was too wealthy and well connected to take on directly, but attacking the museum was a different matter. Everyone who knew Vanessa, knew the museum was like her child. Hurt the museum, hurt her.

"Are you the one feeding the press misinformation about the museum?" she asked.

Riddmann's eyes widened. He glanced down at his watch and back up at Diane. He hesitated too long to speak and Diane knew she was right. Or thought she was right. But what could this idiot know about Egyptian artifacts?

"Don't think you can deflect attention from yourself by accusing me," he said.

"I think there have been some misunderstandings," said Garnett. "No one is accusing anyone of anything. We are just fact finding. In answer to your question, Diane, yes, your tox screen came back positive for barbiturates. Do you take sleeping pills?"

"No," she said.

"She could have taken them after her run-in with Clymene," said Riddmann, clearly smarting from Diane's accusation.

Diane had wanted to tell him he should have left the questioning to the marshals, that he was no good at it-as his low conviction rate attested to. But she held her tongue. Her former boss and mentor at World Accord International was always telling her that silence is just as important in diplomacy as all manner of words-especially if the words you choose are wrong.

"Then I would have been forensically processed at the was drugged," said Diane. "I need to find out when and how. If someone had access to my apartment, then they had access to anything I ate or drank."

"Your own people didn't find anything," said Riddmann.

He glared at her and Diane knew that if he hadn't been an enemy before, he was now. That was the trouble with politics; you could just be minding your own business and still end up in the middle of trouble.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," said Diane. "If someone took a body from my apartment, they could easily have taken the source of the barbiturate."

"Let's get back to the point of why we came," said Merrick. "Drew and I still have some questions for Dr. Fallon. If that's all right with all of you? Now, Dr. Fallon, you said you got no indication that Clymene was going to escape. What do you think she did have planned? From what I'm hearing, she's not the kind of woman who would be content to stay in jail. She asked you there for some reason."

"I thought she was planning an appeal," said Diane.

"She had no grounds," began Riddmann. Merrick's glance at him had the impact of a shot across the bow. He closed his mouth.

"I think she might have," said Diane. "Some problematic information was allowed in at her trial. However, the reason I thought she was going to appeal was that she had been writing briefs for fellow inmates and had been fairly successful. She's a smart lady. I sleeping hospital. through being Apparently I thought her friends.h.i.+p with Rivers was to gain an advocate in her corner."

"The only reason I had to ask the judge to allow that evidence was because your crime scene evidence was so poor," said Riddmann.

Diane and the marshals ignored him.

"Did she say she was going to appeal?" asked Drew.

"No. But it made sense. I believe she would have won the appeal," said Diane.

"But an appeal would have only gotten her a new trial," said Merrick. "Would she have won without this problem evidence?"

"No," said Diane. "The crime scene evidence was strong."

"So, in that case, it makes sense that she would run, given that she wanted out," said Merrick.

"Putting it that way, yes," said Diane. "But as I said earlier, she had a lot of confidence in her powers of persuasion and she would be up against a DA's office with a fifty-four percent conviction rate. The next jury might side with her," said Diane. Okay, she'd said it. Not a wise thing to do. But it was done.

Garnett winced. Riddmann glared at her with such intensity that she thought his gaze might actually burn her skin. The marshals raised their eyebrows slightly.

"The fact of the matter," said Riddmann, "is that we have what can legally be described as a dead body in your your apartment. apartment. Your Your b.l.o.o.d.y knife in b.l.o.o.d.y knife in your your car with Clymene's blood in car with Clymene's blood in your your car trunk. I convicted Clymene herself on less. I'm ordering Garnett to arrest you." car trunk. I convicted Clymene herself on less. I'm ordering Garnett to arrest you."

Chapter 23.

"Okay, let's just talk about this," said Garnett. He cast Diane a glance that was more frustration than anger, clearly wanting to defuse the crisis. "There's time to sort this out, and Diane isn't going anywhere."

Diane's cell rang just as the DA opened his mouth to say something. She fished the phone out of the inside pocket of her jacket.

"Excuse me," she said as she looked at the display.

It was Andie, her a.s.sistant.

"Hi. Diane. I didn't know where you were, so I called your cell. Are you all right?"