Diane asked museum security to post someone at the information desk to greet her guests and bring them downstairs to the DNA lab. Ross Kingsley arrived first, looking, as usual, professorial. Lynn Webber came shortly after, looking rather stunning in a black gabardine suit with an olive silk taffeta blouse. She was dressed to be a presence in the room. Her black hair had a lustrous sheen and her makeup was perfectly applied.
Diane wondered whether she had remembered to run a comb though her own hair.
Sheriff Braden, who was in charge of the Mary Phyllis Lassiter investigation in the neighboring county, arrived shortly after Webber. He hadn’t changed from his sheriff’s uniform. Jin was already there, working in the DNA lab. Detective Hanks arrived after Braden. Now it was only the Gainesville contingent who had yet to arrive-Detective Ralph Fisher, Chief of Detectives Nancy Stark, and Medical Examiner Oran Doppelmeyer.
When Diane called Sheriff Braden, she had asked him to sit on one side of Lynn Webber. Diane was going to put Detective Hanks on the other side. Diane told Braden about her encounter with Doppelmeyer in the parking garage at the hospital and that she didn’t want him to get aggressive. Sheriff Braden, of course, was outraged. He was known to be fond of Dr. Webber ever since she arrived in the Rosewood area. Putting her between Hanks and Braden was to protect Webber from herself as much as from Doppelmeyer. Diane had a gut feeling that Lynn wasn’t ready to turn loose of him yet.
Diane mentally went over her ducks and calculated whether or not they were in a row. Close enough. The only problem she had with the meeting was any fallout for the Rosewood PD. Gainesville PD assumed that Rosewood had butted into their jurisdiction. She could see how that would piss them off. She hoped refusing to have Garnett there would reinforce her message that Rosewood wasn’t involved.
Diane served coffee, and as they waited she told Kingsley about the diary.
“He translated it?” Kingsley seemed surprised.
“He said it was pretty easy,” said Diane. “I don’t have it with me, but you could come over tomorrow, or this evening, and Frank can go over it with you.”
“Anything of interest?” asked Kingsley.
“There were a few entries about people she described as creepy. It’s hard to say who they were because proper names were harder to decipher. Frank can tell you about it.”
The people from Gainesville arrived. They didn’t look happy. Chief of Detectives Nancy Stark wore a plain brown suit and white blouse. It was wrinkled, as if she’d had it on all day and then had to drive here in it. Stark’s short dark brown hair was just beginning to gray. Her dark blue eyes looked suspicious as Diane made introductions. The detective, the one who closed Stacy Dance’s case as an accident, was in his mid-fifties. He had a thick shock of white hair and black eyebrows. He frowned at all of them. From the way Doppelmeyer glowered at Lynn, he was as angry now as during their run-in at the hospital. This was going to be a fun meeting. Diane ran her fingers through her hair.
They all did shake hands. That was a start. She and Lynn managed to avoid Doppelmeyer’s handshake. Not hard, since there were so many people. Diane directed them to the table and offered coffee. They declined. Perhaps later, she thought. Right now they probably felt that Rosewood was telling them they did a piss-poor job of investigating one of their own crimes. Diane understood their anger.
Chief Stark turned to Hanks. “You are Ms. Fallon’s supervisor?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. I don’t think she has one.” He laughed.
If he was hoping to relieve the tension, he hadn’t. Rosewood’s inside jokes didn’t play to a Gainesville audience. However, Kingsley smiled, as did Lynn.
“Your counterpart, Chief Garnett, is my supervisor when I work for the City of Rosewood,” said Diane. “In the Stacy Dance death, I am not working for Rosewood. I am a consultant to the private firm of Darley, Dunn, and Upshaw, represented here by Ross Kingsley.”
“What are they doing here, then?” Stark asked of Detective Hanks and Sheriff Braden.
“They are working on cases that have a certain overlap of evidence. I thought it would benefit everyone for them to be here,” said Diane.
“You shared our evidence with them?” Fisher said. It was more of an accusation than a question.
“It’s my understanding that the Stacy Dance case is closed. This is evidence we collected at the behest of her father. As yet, it isn’t your evidence,” said Diane.
“What are the patrolmen doing here?” said Chief Stark. “Why are we in Rosewood’s lab?”
“This is the museum’s DNA lab,” said Diane. “As for the patrolmen, they are bodyguards assigned to me by Chief Garnett.”
“That’s an insult,” said Fisher, in a voice louder than he meant. The acoustics of the room were quite good. His white hair highlighted his reddened ears and face. “I know there’ve been some accusations thrown around. I believe Dr. Doppelmeyer here, that he’s behaved with the utmost propriety. However, if you need calming down, you have my guarantee you are safe from him.”
“Detective Fisher,” said Diane. She kept her voice calm and even and maintained eye contact with him. “Here in the museum, the DNA lab, and crime lab, we place a particular importance on the difference between what we believe and what we know. I know that Dr. Doppelmeyer accosted Dr. Webber in the parking garage. I know, because I was there. I understand that you believe he did not. I hope you understand that, logically, I can’t accept your guarantee.”
“Jesus save us,” he mumbled, turning his face away.
“I understand that sometimes in a darkened garage, perceptions might not be as accurate as we like,” said Chief Stark. “I agree with Detective Fisher. Bodyguards are an overreaction to the situation, one that insults us and our integrity.”
“They were assigned to me because last night a man was sent to my home to kill me. He shot his way into the house. I fled to the attic where he followed and shot his way through that door also. He was about a second away from shooting me, point-blank, with a shotgun blast. Fortunately, I shot him first. We don’t know who sent him. The guards will be with me until we find out and the situation is resolved.”
Kingsley looked at her openmouthed. “Are you all right? How’s Frank?”
“He wasn’t home. I was alone,” Diane said, still looking at Stark.
“I heard something about a home invasion in Rosewood,” said Stark. “That was you?”
“Yes,” said Diane. “You will forgive me if, today, I am a little cranky.”
“You think it was me?” said Doppelmeyer. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t think you did. I really don’t. I think it had something to do with another case I’m working on. But that’s what I believe. I don’t know.” She turned back to Chief Stark. “I understand that some people are panicked when confronted, even in a mild way, in the dark confines of a parking garage. That’s not true of me or Dr. Webber,” said Diane. “We viewed the situation accurately.”
“So did the security cameras,” said Lynn Webber. “Hospital security can make them available if you want to see them.”
Doppelmeyer looked at Lynn and snarled. “You vindictive freaking bitch.”
Both Fisher and Stark jerked their attention to him. She could see they were surprised by his vehemence-and his inability to keep his temper in check.
Sheriff Braden stood up and faced him. “I don’t know where you were raised, but here we don’t talk to a lady that way.”
Diane was suspecting that there was something more to Doppelmeyer and Lynn’s enmity than what Lynn had described. She was willing to bet that Lynn had rebuffed his attentions and that was a large part of what led to him getting her fired.
“You know,” said Ross Kingsley, “normally in these kinds of meetings, we try to break the ice with small talk and jokes. And I’m ashamed to say that I find this more entertaining, but we have some evidence we would like to show you.”
“That’s why we’re here,” said Stark.
Jin had been standing by a credenza with the box of evidence on top of it. He came over with the box and set it between Diane and Ross.
“This is Deven Jin,” said Diane. “He’s the director of the DNA lab. He was formerly on my crime scene team. He helped gather the evidence and he processed it.”
“Hi.” Jin grinned, as if they were all good friends.
“Dr. Webber has her autopsy report that she will go over with you,” said Diane.
“Let’s get it over with, then,” said Detective Fisher.